Author: BBC

Nicki Minaj has apologised to fans after postponing a concert in Manchester following her arrest in the Netherlands. The rapper, 41, was due to play the city’s Co-op Live arena on Saturday, but had to cancel at the last minute after she was held on suspicion of exporting drugs.She was fined €350 (£300; $380) by Dutch police and allowed to continue her journey.Announcing that she would now play the Manchester venue next Monday, she posted on social media: “I apologise for all the inconvenience this has caused. I really hope you can make the June 3rd show. It’ll be really…

Papua New Guinea authorities say nearly 7,900 people living near the site of a deadly landslide are “at risk” as rock and debris continues to move down the hillside.An alert for potential evacuation has been put out, with a province official saying the mountain remains “very active”. Rescuers say it is increasingly unlikely that victims will be found alive in the rubble.The country’s disaster agency says it fears about 2,000 people were buried when a mountain side collapsed last Friday.This is much higher than the UN’s estimate of about 670 victims.The UN says it has been difficult to establish an…

Chelsea recalls landlords proposing that she pay six months’ rent upfront to gain a competitive advantage.”As a single mum, I was really on the back foot because I couldn’t offer that.” Chelsea claims that as soon as she mentioned that she was a single parent, she was put on the backburner. “I just wanted to put a roof over my kid’s head, and it was really hard.” Balancing her job and motherhood was a constant struggle, she says. “Mentally, I was a wreck all the time. I’m a chef, so I would be standing at work, cooking, and I would…

David Beckham has signed a deal to be a global ambassador for AliExpress, an online retail platform owned by Chinese technology giant Alibaba.The announcement comes as the Euros football tournament is due to kick off in Germany next month.The company did not reveal how much it is paying the former England captain.In March, AliExpress agreed an exclusive e-commerce platform partnership with European football’s governing body UEFA.Under the deal, the football superstar turned entrepreneur will be the face of AliExpress’ Score More promotion, which will run during games.“AliExpress is helping fans get even closer to UEFA EURO 2024 this summer, by…

An album so rare and valuable that only a few ears have ever listened to it is set to go on display at an Australian gallery, giving the public a taste of the uber-exclusive tracks.Housed in an ornate silver box, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin – recorded in secret by the Wu-Tang Clan over six years – was designed to be a piece of fine art. Only a single CD copy exists.The record by the pioneering hip-hop group is the most expensive ever sold, and has been has now been loaned to Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war against Hamas amid international condemnation of an air strike that killed scores of Palestinians in Rafah on Sunday.At least 45 people were killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, while hundreds more were treated for severe burns, fractures and shrapnel wounds.Speaking in the Israeli parliament, Mr Netanyahu said the strike was a “tragic mishap” but added: “I don’t intend to end the war before every goal has been achieved.”He said it was vital that Israel took “every precaution possible” to protect civilians and insisted that the Israel Defense Forces…

Shop price rises are back to “normal levels” as the cost of furniture, televisions and other non-food items have fallen, according to a UK retail industry body.Prices rose at an annual rate of 0.6% in May, down from 0.8% in the previous month, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and research firm NielsenIQ.The figures also showed that food inflation fell for the thirteenth month in a row to 3.2%.Household budgets have come under pressure as prices soared in the wake of the pandemic and the Ukraine war pushed up the cost of energy.The ease in shop price rises “was…

2 hours agoSusie Bearne,Technology ReporterUravuThe founders of Uravu (left to right) Govinda Balaji, Swapnil Shrivastav, Venkatesh RajaWhen a severe drought hit the Indian city of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, in 2016, residents including student Swapnil Shrivastav had access to a limited amount of water each day. “We were rationed to two buckets of water a day, which we collected from water tanks,” he says.While he says it’s not uncommon for water supply issues to impact parts of India, it was a tough month for Mr Shrivastav and others in the region. “It was a very humid area; it was…

1 hour agoIan Youngs,Entertainment & arts reporterHot Water ComedyOnline videos of Paul Smith roasting his audience members have made him a stand-up comedy star. He’s now able to fill arenas and has just launched the UK’s biggest comedy club, on home turf in Liverpool.It can be a common sight at comedy gigs for the front seats to be conspicuously empty, avoided by punters who don’t want to get picked on.Paul Smith’s early stand-up shows were no different. “People used to come in and we used to have to really cajole them into the front row,” he says.About five years ago,…

35 minutes agoAleem Maqbool,BBC Religion EditorReutersPope Francis is reported to have used extremely derogatory language in an incident that could have a profound impact on the way his attitude towards gay people is perceived.When asked at the Italian Bishops’ Conference if gay men should now be allowed to train for the priesthood as long as they remained celibate, Pope Francis said they should not.He is then believed to have continued by saying in Italian that there was, in the Church, already too much of an air of frociaggine.Although it was a meeting that happened behind closed doors, the Pope’s reported…