Author: BBC

Getty ImagesA child receiving a vaccinationThe UK is at a “tipping point”, with low uptake of routine vaccinations putting children at risk of catching severe diseases, health officials say.Stalling vaccination rates against some diseases, such as whooping cough and measles, means population immunity is no longer high enough to stop outbreaks.Latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), for January-March, show a small increase in some vaccinations, including a 0.3% rise in pre-school booster jabs given to under-fives.But targets are still being missed. The World Health Organization (WHO) target is for 95% of under-fives to be vaccinated.And for the…

3 hours agoBy Tom Richardson, BBC NewsbeatDominique TipperDominique Tipper’s best known for her work on The ExpanseA videogame set in a divided America starring a cast of diverse characters was always likely to ruffle feathers.But Dominique Tipper likes a challenge.The actress is best known for her work on The Expanse, a hit sci-fi show that ran for six seasons.More recently she’s been in New York, performing in a production of Grenfell: A Survivor’s Story.Her next project is Dustborn, that comic-book inspired videogame that takes place in a dystopian USA run by an authoritarian force known as Justice.Dominique voices Pax, the leader of…

Kenyan police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters in the capital, Nairobi, amid ongoing anti-tax demonstrations across the country.Businesses have been shut and transport has been paralysed in the city, with the police engaging in running battles with demonstrators.The youth-led protests are calling on MPs to reject proposed tax increases. The government, which has rowed back on some of the most controversial measures, says new taxes are needed to fund spending programmes and lessen the debt burden.An AFP journalist was quoted as hearing a police officer tell his colleagues to ” get the rubber bullets from…

7 hours agoBy Katy Austin, Transport correspondentGetty ImagesPicture this. You’ve reached the end of a much-anticipated holiday in sunnier climes with your family in tow. It’s time to fly home to the UK.But when you reach the crowded airport, delays are starting to build. You wait and wait and then your flight is cancelled. Information is patchy. The airline should help, but it seems overwhelmed – nobody seems to know what’s going on. Alternative flights are getting booked up quickly. So too are hotels. You end up stuck for days.That nightmare scenario is what thousands faced at the end of August last…

The world’s biggest record labels are suing two artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups over alleged copyright violation in a potentially landmark case.Firms including Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Records say Suno and Udio have committed copyright infringement on an “almost unimaginable scale”.They claim the pair’s software steals music to “spit out” similar work and ask for compensation of $150,000 (£118,200) per work. Suno and Udio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuits, announced on Monday by the Recording Industry Association of America, are part of a wave of lawsuits from authors, news organisations and other…

3 hours agoBy Jon Ironmonger, BBC Investigations, NorthamptonshireGetty ImagesA huge amount of Full Support Healthcare PPE was found in the New Forest last yearAbout £1.4bn worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been destroyed or written off in what is understood to be the most wasteful government deal of the pandemic.Figures obtained by the BBC reveal that at least 1.57 billion items of PPE provided by Full Support Healthcare, an NHS supplier based in Northamptonshire, will never be used, despite being manufactured to the proper standard. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), which was responsible for purchasing and delivering Covid…

1 hour agoBy Mark Savage, Music CorrespondentGetty imagesSophie performed at the 2019 Coachella Music FestivalA final, posthumous album by the experimental pop artist Sophie is to be released this year, her family have announced.The singer’s family revealed the news on Monday, saying it was drawn from material she had almost completed at the time of her death three years ago.The album was “lovingly finalised by those who hold her closest”, including Sophie’s brother and collaborator Ben Long, they added.The musician died at the age of 34 in an accidental fall after climbing to watch the full moon in Athens, Greece. Several months…

China’s lunar probe has returned to Earth with the first ever samples from the Moon’s unexplored far side.The Chang’e-6 landed in the Inner Mongolia desert on Tuesday, after a nearly two-month long mission that was fraught with risks.Scientists are eagerly awaiting the Chang’e-6 as the samples could answer key questions about how planets are formed.China is the only country to have landed on the far side of the Moon, having done so before in 2019.The far side – which faces away from Earth – is technically challenging to reach due to its distance, and its difficult terrain of giant craters…

36 minutes agoBy Nalini Sivathasan, Lorna Acquah and Emma Simpson, BBC NewsAlamyThe former Fujitsu engineer who helped design the faulty Horizon software at the centre of the Post Office scandal is under the spotlight this week.You might not have heard of Gareth Jenkins until now but he has become a key figure during the long-running Post Office Inquiry.He will be questioned at the inquiry over his involvement in the scandal, which saw more than 900 sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after Horizon made it look like money was missing from branch accounts.On Tuesday Mr Jenkins will begin giving evidence over…

9 hours agoBy Chris Baraniuk, Technology Reporter Linköping UniversityIt might look basic – but could this be the future of screens?At first glance, it looks like a relic from the 1980s. A tiny computer screen with flickering, low-resolution text scrolling across it. But this could be the future.The screen was made using perovskite light emitting diode (PeLED) technology. It is radically different to the LED technology used in your smartphone display today, and it could lead to devices that are thinner, cheaper and have longer battery life.Not only that, PeLEDs are very unusual in that they can absorb light as well as…