Author: BBC

2 hours agoChristine Ro,Technology reporterGetty ImagesAI may one day mean that animals are not required for medical testingFrom animal lovers to laboratory technicians, no-one enjoys subjecting animals to scientific testing.It is instead done to help ensure that drugs and other substances are safe for eventual human use.Researchers have long sought non-animal alternatives. Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are now accelerating this work.One application of AI in this field is simple but said to be proving effective – using it to trawl through all the existing and available global animal testing results to prevent the need for unnecessary new tests.This is useful…

Getty ImagesBaldwin is well known for his role as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 RockActor Alec Baldwin and his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, are set to star in their own reality TV show about their family.The couple, who have seven children all under the age of 10, said The Baldwins will air on US cable network TLC in 2025.The family shared the announcement on Instagram with a teaser video, captioned: “We’ve got an exciting announcement to share!”However, the decision to do the show has been criticised due to Alec Baldwin’s forthcoming trial.The actor is set to stand trial in…

24 minutes agoKatya Adler,BBC Europe EditorMarianne BaisneeSurviving D-Day veterans, including Steve Melnikoff, have been the star attraction in Normandy this weekIt’s impossible not to be swept away by the warmth and energy in the stone-clad villages up and down the Normandy coastline this 80th anniversary of D-Day.British, US and Canadian flags flutter from garden gates and lampposts as far as the eye can see. Music from the 1940s drifts through village squares, while country lanes roar with column-upon-column of World War Two-era military jeeps.Driving them are laughing, waving men and women from all over Europe. Germans, Dutch, Belgians and Brits…

60 minutes agoMariko Oi,Business reporterGetty ImagesNommunication has traditionally played an important role in Japanese businessesFor thousands of years, alcohol has been used as a social lubricant. In Japan, it is known as nommunication – a combination of the Japanese word for drink, nomu, and communication.The idea is that drinking alcohol creates a more relaxed environment.Businesses have even tackled difficult issues in pubs, rather than conference rooms.The late former chairman of then-bankrupt Japan Airlines, Kazuo Inamori, explained in 2012 how he used beer to get his employees to open up.But there is now a whole new generation that chooses not to…

Ros DoweyMurray Dowey took his own life aged 16The mother of a teenager who ended his life after becoming the victim of a sextortion gang on Instagram says Meta has failed to hand over vital data which could assist the investigation into his death.Murray Dowey, from Dunblane, was 16 when he died last December.Murray’s mother, Ros Dowey, told BBC News that Meta, which owns Instagram, had not yet provided the information from Murray’s account despite a request from Police Scotland and a court order. Meta said its thoughts were with the family and that it was co-operating with the relevant…

Kanye West says he will counter-sue his former assistant, after she filed court documents accusing him of sexual harassment and breach of contract.In her lawsuit, Lauren Pisciotta alleged the star sent her vulgar texts and performed sex acts while on the phone with her.West’s legal representative has now called those accusations “baseless” and accused Pisciotta of engaging in “blackmail and extortion” after the star rejected her sexual advances.”In response to these baseless allegations, Ye will be filing a lawsuit against Ms. Pisciotta,” they added, using the rapper’s current preferred name.Pisciotta is believed to have worked for West from 2021 to…

Three weeks after Robert Fico was gunned down in central Slovakia, he’s made a full-throated return to political life – on the eve of the European elections.In a Facebook video apparently recorded at home in Bratislava, the Slovak prime minister laid the blame for the attack on Slovakia’s liberal opposition, the “anti-government media” and foreign-funded NGOs for creating a climate of hatred and intolerance that made the shooting possible.Mr Fico, who was critically injured on 15 May after being shot multiple times in the abdomen, said he forgave his attacker – identified by prosecutors as 71-year-old Juraj C – and…

7 hours agoMatt McGrath,Mark PoyntingGettyThe world’s fossil fuel industries should be banned from advertising to help save the world from climate change, the head of the United Nations said on Wednesday.UN Secretary General António Guterres called coal, oil and gas corporations the “godfathers of climate chaos” who had distorted the truth and deceived the public for decades. Just as tobacco advertising was banned because of the threat to health, the same should now apply to fossil fuels, he said.His remarks were his most damning condemnation yet of the industries responsible for the bulk of global warming. They came as new…

14 hours agoNoor Nanji,Culture reporter, @NoorNanjiBBCCillian Murphy won fans for his portrayal of a gang leader in Peaky BlindersA Peaky Blinders film is coming to Netflix, with Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy set to reprise his role as gangster Tommy Shelby.The streaming giant confirmed the news in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday night alongside a photograph of the script.”This is one for the fans,” said Irish actor Murphy, who will also co-produce the film.The hit BBC drama, which ran for six series from 2013 to 2022, followed the lives of Birmingham gangsters in the early 20th Century.Murphy played the…

Tens of thousands of Israelis, many from nationalist groups, have taken part in the annual Jerusalem Day flag march to mark the capture of the east of the city in the 1967 war.Crowds waving Israeli flags and shouting anti-Arab slogans gathered outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate before marching to the Western Wall through the Muslim Quarter – an act seen by Palestinians as a provocation.Palestinian shops along the procession route closed, amid a heavy Israeli police presence, with 3,000 officers deployed.Police later said that 18 people were arrested, including five for attacking journalists.Israel’s Haaretz newspaper – whose journalist Nir…