Author: BBC

Minrui Xie, 24, says that she started “dating” Dan after watching Lisa’s videos.The university student, from the northern province of Hebei, says she spends at least two hours every day chatting with Dan. As well as “dating”, they have started co-writing a love story with themselves as the lead characters. They have already written 19 chapters.“I remember the way you looked at me, with a glimmer of curiosity and a hint of warmth in your eyes. It was as if you already knew me,” the first chapter titled “The Encounter” reads.Minrui says she was drawn to the emotional support provided…

20 hours agoBy James Gallagher, @JamesTGallagher, Health and science correspondent, BBC NewsGettyThe £8m Longitude Prize has been won after a decade-long competition to find new tools to tackle the scourge of superbugs. It has been awarded for a test that rapidly detects whether an infection is caused by bacteria and identifies the right antibiotics to treat it. The test takes 45 minutes, compared with three days using traditional methods. The original work was done by Swedish researchers and the test is now being sold by the company Sysmex Astrego.Silent pandemicThe Longitude Prize – with a financial reward nearly 10 times that of a…

5 hours agoBy James FitzGerald and Nick Johnson, BBC News, LondonReuters/PA MediaActress Holly Valance (left) was believed to be hosting the Republican event – with fashion icon Anna Wintour hosting the rival Democratic fundraiserThe US election campaign came to London on Wednesday evening, as an Aussie pop star and the editor of Vogue hosted rival fundraising events to reel in thousands of dollars in donations.Holly Valance, the former Neighbours actress who topped the pop charts in the early 2000s, hosted the pro-Donald Trump event in West London at which ticket prices started at $10,000 (£7,800), one guest told the BBC. Vogue’s editor-in-chief…

The US Supreme Court has unanimously rejected an effort to sharply restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone.The decision is a major win for pro-choice activists and comes two years after the court rescinded the nationwide guarantee to an abortion.The justices decided the plaintiffs, a group of anti-abortion doctors and activists, did not have a legal right to sue.Mifepristone is one of two drugs used in a medication abortion, now the most common method of terminating pregnancies in the US. The plaintiffs, known as the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had argued that federal approval for the drug should be withdrawn.…

House buyers are putting off purchasing a new home until the Bank of England cuts interest rates, evidence suggests. UK housebuilder Crest Nicholson was forced to issue a profit warning after it said sales momentum had softened since Easter due to volatile mortgage rates as well as buyers now expecting borrowing costs to drop later this year.Meanwhile, a survey of chartered surveyors found that demand for homes had weakened in May.Financial markets are forecasting that the Bank of England could cut interest rates in August or September.Crest Nicholson reported a pre-tax loss of £30.9m for the six months to the…

Nasa has confirmed audio shared widely on social media of astronauts in distress was a simulation broadcast on its YouTube channel in error.In the clip, intended to be used for training purposes, a voice said an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) had a “tenuous” chance of survival.The broadcast of the clip on Wednesday evening sparked speculation online about a possible emergency in space – but Nasa said all members of the ISS are safe.”This audio was inadvertently misrouted from an ongoing simulation where crew members and ground teams train for various scenarios in space and is not related…

Getty ImagesThe hospital backlog in England has gone up slightly over the past month, latest NHS figures show.The waiting list hit 7.57 million at the end of April, up from 7.54 million the previous month.The numbers waiting for treatment has been a key election issue after the prime minister made it one of his five priorities for government.There had been signs the waiting list was coming down. But despite the rise, it is still lower than the September peak of 7.77 million.More than 300,000 of the waits have been for longer than a year.In many respects the rise in the…

3 hours agoBy Ian Youngs, Culture reporterWalt Disney StudiosThe puberty alarm goes off at the start of Inside Out 2The sequel to hit film Inside Out has brought some critics joy, but others felt a different emotion, which has become familiar from watching much of Pixar’s recent output – disappointment.Inside Out 2 revisits the emotions that controlled young Riley in the 2016 original – and are now joined by new, powerful feelings after she hits puberty.The sequel is “a triumphant creative return for Pixar”, according to Variety, while the Independent declared that the “cynicism-free sequel might just save Pixar”.However, other reviewers disagreed.…

Endangered wild horses have returned to the Golden Steppe of Kazakhstan for the first time in at least 200 years after decades-long efforts.The airlifts of seven Przewalski’s Horses from Europe to the Central Asian country took place in early June in an operation run by the Prague Zoo.Researchers told the BBC that the horses are already doing well two weeks in: roaming around the plains and even beginning the mating process.Zoo officials say it’s a triumph of generations of conservation work.”This is an endangered species returning to their ancestral lands, a species which went extinct in the wild in the…

Airports have criticised the government’s sudden re-introduction of 100ml limits on liquids in hand luggage last weekend.The Airport Operators Association (AOA) said it had left airports “frustrated” and created uncertainty and confusion for passengers as the busiest time of year approached.After installing high-tech new scanning equipment, some regional airports had scrapped liquid restrictions. Major hubs had not yet switched to the new rules, but are rolling out the machines.The transport secretary has insisted the re-imposition of the old limits is “temporary’” but it’s unclear how long the situation will last.The government requires all UK airports to upgrade to “next generation”…