Author: BBC

A New Zealand tribunal has dismissed a woman’s claim against her then-partner after he failed to take her to the airport, leading her to miss her flight ahead of a concert with friends.She accused her boyfriend at the time of allegedly breaching a “verbal contract” in which he agreed to take her to the airport, stay in her house and look after her dogs.According to a legal document which only gives the applicant and respondent’s initials, the woman (CL) said she asked her boyfriend (HG) to collect her from her home and take her to the airport between 10:00 and…

10 hours agoBy Kevin Peachey, Cost of living correspondentGetty ImagesSome people already pay income tax on their state pension, a report suggests, despite a Conservative pledge that it will stay tax-free.The standard new state pension is currently below the threshold of £12,570 after which income tax is paid, but future rises may bring it above that level.The Conservative manifesto includes the triple lock plus – a plan to raise the tax-free threshold so the new state pension is not dragged into the income tax net.However, pensions consultancy LCP says the amount people already receive in the state pension varies and means some…

The US has announced plans to ban the sale of antivirus software made by Russian firm Kaspersky due to its alleged links to the Kremlin.Moscow’s influence over the company was found to pose a significant risk to US infrastructure and services, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Thursday.She said that the US was compelled to take action due to Russia’s “capacity and… intent to collect and weaponise the personal information of Americans”.”Kaspersky will generally no longer be able to, among other activities, sell its software within the United States or provide updates to software already in use,” the Commerce Department…

3 hours agoBy Joe Lemer, BBC News, Bristol • Carys Nally, BBC News, West of EnglandBBCOlympic silver medal-winning swimmer Siobhan-Marie O’Connor trained Daisy Ridley for her role in new biopic Young Woman and the SeaAn Olympic silver medal-winning swimmer said it was “surreal” to be involved in a new biopic based on the first woman to swim across the English Channel.Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, from Bath, spent six months training actress Daisy Ridley for her role as Trudy Ederle in the film Young Woman and the Sea.A silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics and Commonwealth Games champion, Ms O’Connor retired in 2021 after struggles with ulcerative…

Tens of thousands of supporters of Taiwan’s ruling party are expected to gather outside parliament on Friday after it pushed ahead with a hugely controversial “contempt of parliament” bill.The opposition Kuomintang party (KMT) says the new law is badly needed to redress the power imbalance between the legislature and Taiwan’s very powerful presidency.But the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says it’s an unconstitutional power grab, aimed at taking revenge on the DPP government led by President William Lai Ching-te.The bill will give Taiwan’s parliament more power to interrogate and investigate the executive – to subpoena government officials and private individuals,…

Government borrowing in May hit the highest since the Covid crisis but was lower than the UK’s fiscal watchdog had forecast. Borrowing reached £15bn last month, which was £800m higher than May last year. It means that the public sector spent more than it received in taxes and other income, leading the government to borrow billions of pounds. It is the third highest figure for May since records began in 1993, surpassed only by the pandemic years.However, borrowing was £600m less than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had expected. With the general election fast approaching, whichever party wins will…

Nvidia has handed back the position as the world’s most valuable company to Microsoft after its share price fell by more than 3.5% on Thursday.The artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant briefly held the top spot from Tuesday, with a stock market valuation of $3.34tn (£2.64tn).But Nvidia’s shares fell to $130.78 on Thursday, sending its value down to around $3.22tn, with Microsoft reclaiming the title as it held steady at more than $3.3tn.Nvidia’s rise has been fuelled by its dominance of what analysts call the “new gold or oil in the tech sector” – the chips that power AI.Nvidia, Microsoft and…

2 hours agoBy David Farrell, BBC Scotland NewsMarvel star Karen Gillan is not scared of being cancelledIt’s one of the worst things that can happen to a celebrity working and living a life in the public eye.But Karen Gillan hadn’t really considered being a victim of cancel culture. The Scots actress has managed to successfully navigate the perils of fame despite her A-list roles in Hollywood blockbusters including Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.But now the 36-year-old from Inverness has been forced to face the modern phenomenon.Karen’s new ITV drama Douglas Is Cancelled tells the story of news man, Douglas Bellowes, and…

Vladimir Putin has warned South Korea it would be making “a big mistake” if it arms Ukraine in the war against Russia. His comments come after Seoul said it was considering such a possibility, in response to Russia and North Korea’s new pact to help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country.Moscow “will… [make] decisions which are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea” if Seoul decides to supply arms to Kyiv, Mr Putin told reporters on Thursday.The Russian leader was speaking in Vietnam, shortly after a lavish visit to Pyongyang where he signed a…

The Italian government has fined a car company $6.4m (£5m) for allegedly branding vehicles that were made in China as being produced in Italy.DR Automobiles misleadingly marketed cars as being produced in Italy, even though they were mostly made in China, according to the country’s competition regulator.The firm said it would appeal against the fine as it had never claimed its vehicles were completely made in Italy.Southern Italy-based DR Automobiles assembles low-cost vehicles, using components produced by Chinese car makers Chery, BAIC and JAC.The regulator said cars under the company’s DR and EVO brands were sold as being Italian-made but…