Author: BBC

Dr Oscar DukeDoctor and BBC Morning Live expert, LondonGetty ImagesChances are you know someone coughing and spluttering – hopefully not directly on you – right now. There are lots of coughs and colds doing the rounds as autumn draws in.But why now, how do you know if it’s more than just a cold and how can you avoid the worst.Medical doctor Dr Oscar Duke, who is also a regular TV presenter including on the BBC’s Morning Live, shares his top tips.Does colder weather cause colds?Getty ImagesResearch on the extent to which cold weather impacts our immune systems remains unclear.But darker…

Suranjana TewariAsia Business CorrespondentBBC”Throw your current lifestyle overboard!” boasts the advert for Victoria Cruises Line (VCL), which bills itself as the world’s first affordable residential cruise.Cabins typically go for US$3,840 (£2,858) a month for a three-year voyage to 115 countries, and travellers from all over the world have the option of doing the route for as long as they like.For Australians Dennis and Taryna Wawn from Perth, excited by the prospect of a home at sea, the advert on Facebook couldn’t have come at a better time as they planned their retirement.Three years later, the ship has yet to sail.…

Apple has pulled apps that let users flag sightings of officers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).The tech giant said it had removed ICEBlock from its App Store after law enforcement made it aware of “safety risks” associated with it and “similar apps”.Another app called ICE Immigration Alerts has been removed from the App Store and Google Play. A third, Coqui, has also been taken down from Google Play.In a statement US Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had “demanded” the removal of ICEBlock saying it was “designed to put ICE agents at risk”.The app’s creator contacted BBC Verify…

Charlotte WrightPolitical Editor, South EastPA MediaGreen Party leader Zack Polanski spoke to Charlotte Wright ahead of the party’s annual conference in BournemouthThe leader of the Green Party says he wants to legalise all drugs, calling for an approach “led by public health experts, not politicians”.Speaking to BBC South East ahead of his party conference, Zack Polanski said he agreed with a Kent Green councillor, who earlier this year called for the legalisation of all drugs, including class A drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.Polanski said “the war on drugs has absolutely failed, and ultimately we need to be having a…

Renault’s UK customers are being warned to be vigilant after a company that looks after data for the carmaker was hacked.No customer financial data, such as passwords or bank account details, had been obtained, Renault said, but other personal data had been accessed from a third-party provider.The French-owned carmaker would not specify how many people could be affected “for ongoing security reasons” but said it did not anticipate any wider implications for the company, as none of Renault’s own systems had been hacked.It comes after rival Jaguar Land Rover and brewing giant Asahi have had production stopped by cyber-attacks on…

Japan is facing a shortage of Asahi products, including beer and bottled tea, as the drinks giant grapples with the impact of a major cyber-attack that has impacted its operations in the country.Most of the Asahi Group’s factories in Japan have been at a standstill since Monday, after the attack hit its ordering and delivering systems, the firm has said.Major Japanese retailers, including 7-Eleven and FamilyMart, have now warned customers to expect shortages of Asahi products.The BBC has contacted Asahi for comment.Asahi has temporarily suspended orders and shipments of its products with “no prospect of resumption”, FamilyMart said in a…

Michael BuchananSocial affairs correspondent andAdam EleyLinkedInKaren Booth carried out operations she wasn’t skilled enough to perform, an NHS investigation foundThe head of NHS England backed a doctor whose failures contributed to several deaths to resume her career as a heart surgeon.Sir Jim Mackey told the family of a patient who died following an operation carried out by Karen Booth that the consultant surgeon should be “supported” to continue working at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle, once she had undergone retraining.The BBC has obtained a recording of a meeting last year with the family of the man who died. In it,…

The boss of Tesco has warned the government against adding extra costs to UK retailers in the upcoming Budget.Ken Murphy said he did not want to see a repeat of the last Budget, when “the industry incurred substantial additional operating costs”, adding “enough is enough”.His comments came as the UK’s largest supermarket upgraded its profit forecast for the year.Chancellor Rachel Reeves will reveal her Budget on 26 November, with the widespread expectation that some taxes will increase.Many retailers have argued they have been hit with a wave of extra costs since April, including increased employer National Insurance contributions and higher…

Tesla boss Elon Musk has become the first person ever to achieve a net worth of more than $500bn (£370.9bn), as the value of the electric car company and his other businesses have risen this year.The tech magnate’s net worth briefly reached $500.1bn on Wednesday afternoon New York time, before dipping slightly to just over $499bn later in the day, the Forbes’ billionaires index reported. Alongside Tesla, valuations of his other ventures, including the artificial intelligence startup xAI and rocket company SpaceX, have also reportedly climbed in recent months.The milestone further cements Musk’s status as the world’s richest person, well…

BBCJonathan Jones was given chemotherapy tablets for 16 years, but NHS guidelines say they should only be taken for six monthsA brain cancer patient who says he was prescribed chemotherapy tablets for 16 years, even though NHS guidelines say they should only be taken for six months, has said he feels his youth was stolen from him. Jonathan Jones was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma in 2007 when he was 17 and took temozolomide tablets until November 2023, when he was 33.Since he has raised his case with lawyers, more than 30 other brain cancer patients at University Hospitals Coventry and…