Author: BBC

Rising global conflict means countries will spend the next 10 years restocking arms, the boss of one of the UK’s largest weapons manufacturers has said.Chemring, which describes itself as a key supplier to Nato, said countries are reacting to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine as well as “an increasingly assertive China”.The firm wants sales, which are already hovering around record levels, to quadruple to nearly £1bn by 2030.“The increase in geo-political tensions around the world is driving a fundamental rearmament upcycle which is expected to last for at least the next decade,” said Chemring chief executive Michael Ord.The company…

Australia has abandoned a legal battle to have graphic footage of a church stabbing in Sydney removed from Elon Musk’s social media platform X.Declared a terror incident by police, the attack on bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in April was livestreamed online and led to riots outside the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley.Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, an independent regulator, threatened X and other social media companies with hefty fines if they did not remove videos of the stabbing, concerned it could incite further violence. The case was seen as a test of Australia’s ability to enforce its online safety rules…

3 hours agoYasmin Rufo,BBC News, @YasminRufoPamela Raith Actress Bex Hinds, who plays Stella, says she is excited to bring a musical about northerners to the West End The theatre landscape is changing. A few decades ago, the West End was packed with classic musicals and Shakespeare adaptations, but now they’re making way for a new type of show. Enter Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder, a musical about two true crime podcast-obsessed friends who find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery. “We’re two northerners singing about true crime, we really didn’t think it would make it to the…

More than 34 million Americans are preparing for extreme temperatures, as a heat dome descends on the western part of the US this week. Forecasters are warning residents in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona to prepare for temperatures to reach triple digits before Friday due to the weather phenomenon. Later in the week, extreme temperatures are expected to reach parts of the Pacific Northwest. Similar temperatures last year killed at least a dozen people in the American Southwest, and US Border Patrol in Texas has already issued a warning that four migrants attempting to enter the US died over the…

2 hours agoKevin Peachey,Cost of living correspondentBBCThe portrait is the only change to existing banknotesNew banknotes featuring the portrait of King Charles III have now entered circulation, but it may be some time before they are commonly seen in wallets and purses.The new Bank of England notes will gradually replace those which are damaged, or will be issued when demand increases.The King is only the second monarch to appear on these notes, with Queen Elizabeth II first featuring in 1960.Shoppers can still use current circulating £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes carrying the portrait of the late Queen.The reverse side…

TikTok says it is addressing a cyber-attack that targeted several brands and celebrities.The video-sharing app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, told the BBC that a “very limited” number of accounts had been compromised.It added that it was working with users to restore access to their accounts.TikTok did not share further details on the perpetrators of the cyber-attack, or how it was carried out.One of the compromised accounts belonged to news outlet CNN.”We have been collaborating closely with CNN to restore account access and implement enhanced security measures to safeguard their account moving forward,” a TikTok spokesperson said.”We are…

GettyGavin and Stacey star Joanna Page says she is “excited” for the final episodeGavin and Stacey star Joanna Page has said she thought it was “a dream” when she heard that the series would return for a final episode on Christmas Day.Co-creators Ruth Jones and James Corden, who star as Nessa and Smithy, confirmed the news last month following much speculation.Page, who plays Stacey, said she received the news in a message from Jones.”I was terrified because I woke up, and it was about 08:05, and Ruth had sent me a message saying ‘we’ve just released the news so feel…

Hunter Biden was a habitual user of crack cocaine when he drove his father’s Cadillac and illegally bought a gun, his criminal trial has heard as US First Lady Jill Biden looked on in court.The US president’s son is accused of knowingly lying on a form to buy a revolver and ammunition from a Wilmington, Delaware, gun shop on 12 October 2018.The defence said Mr Biden, 54, was in recovery at the time, so he was truthful when he wrote on the application that he was not a user of illicit drugs.It is the first time a sitting US president’s…

Indian stocks have fallen sharply after vote counting in the country’s general election indicated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party might not be able to form a majority government.The benchmark NSE Nifty 50 share index closed down nearly 6%, its steepest fall since India’s first Covid lockdowns in March 2020.Early results suggest Mr Modi’s political party may need to rely on allies and form a coalition government.That could lead to uncertainty over economic policies, some analysts said.The NSE Nifty 50, which comprises stocks in various big companies, had plunged 8.5% at one point but ended the day down 5.9% at 21,884.5…

13 minutes agoHannah Ritchie,BBC News, Sydney BBCSunDrive’s Maia Schweizer thinks Australia has what it takes to become a solar panel manufacturing hubHidden among thick bushland in the outer suburbs of southern Sydney sits an expansive facility housing a technological breakthrough.It’s here that Australian company SunDrive Solar makes its “special sauce”: a new – top secret – formula that it says has solved “a very high value problem”.Its big innovation? Finding a way to replace the silver used in solar cells with copper, which was previously thought impossible.“Silver is expensive, scarce and environmentally disastrous, and it limits how much solar can…