Author: BBC

ReutersCompetition for hotel rooms is fierce ahead of the Taylor Swift concerts in EdinburghA number of homeless people have been sent out of Edinburgh to make way for tourists ahead of Taylor Swift performing in the city, BBC News has learned.Shelter Scotland said several homeless people it supports had been sent via taxi to Aberdeen and Glasgow amid a shortage in accommodation, and one person was offered temporary accommodation as far away as Newcastle.The housing charity said it was “a blatant injustice” for homeless people to be “in direct competition” with tourists.Edinburgh City Council said it was working with affected…

In 2020, China introduced the National Security Law (NSL) for its territory of Hong Kong, transforming the legal and democratic rights of residents in the territory.Created in response to anti-China and pro-democracy protests which had taken over Hong Kong’s streets the year before, the law outlawed a wide range of dissenting acts.Beijing and Hong Kong authorities argued the law was necessary to maintain peace and stability in the city.But critics say it caused “the end of Hong Kong” as it was known, and has repressed free speech and political criticism.This year, Hong Kong authorities also imposed a second security law,…

Three black men have filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging that the carrier briefly removed them from a flight after a complaint about body odour. The men, who were not seated together and did not know each other, say that every black man was removed from the 5 January flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York. “American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us,” the men said in a joint statement on Wednesday.The Texas-based airline said it was investigating the matter as the allegations did not align with its values.According to a federal lawsuit…

1 hour agoSharon Barbour,Nat WrightErroll SmithDarnell Smith died at the age of 22 in hospitalIT system failures have been linked to the deaths of three patients and more than 100 instances of serious harm at NHS hospital trusts in England, BBC News has found.A Freedom of Information request also found 200,000 medical letters had gone unsent due to widespread problems with NHS computer systems.Nearly half of hospital trusts with electronic patient systems reported issues that could affect patients.NHS England says it has invested £900m over the past two years to help introduce new and improved systems.Introducing computerised records and making…

Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel, is reintroduced to audiences. Source link

A judge in the US state of Michigan was surprised when a defendant appeared for his remote court hearing while behind the wheel. Corey Harris, who is charged with driving on a suspended license, joined the call from a moving car. “I don’t even know why he would do that,” the judge said to the defendant’s lawyer. Source link

1 hour agoJennifer Meierhans,Business reporterGetty ImagesNew supermarket “challenges” that reward shoppers with extra loyalty points for buying more could lead to overspending, consumer groups have warned.Four of the UK’s biggest supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – are now offering members of their loyalty schemes bonus points if they hit spending targets.The supermarkets all say their schemes offer customers better value and more personalised savings. But consumer group Which? and debt charity StepChange warned that setting shopping challenges could encourage people to spend more than they can afford.These challenges are the latest development in supermarket loyalty card schemes which…

1 hour agoElna Schutz,Business reporterYasmin Shaheen-ZaffarYasmin Shaheen-Zaffar uses an AI chatbot to help with her writingWhile for many of us AI chatbots are perhaps just an interesting novelty, for some people they are proving to be transformational.Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar, from North Yorkshire, has dyslexia, dyspraxia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).As a result of these conditions, she would struggle with written assignments. Then AI came into her life.“It was a few years ago that I was introduced to [popular AI chatbot] Jasper, and that transformed my life,” says Ms Shaheen-Zaffar, who is a qualified psychotherapist. “It became my friend.”She uses Jasper…

22 minutes agoSandro Gvindadze,BBC Monitoring, TbilisiRybar.ruA Ukrainian soldier is portrayed surrendering and changing his name to its Russian versionWar-themed comic books are being used by the Kremlin to sell its vision of the war in Ukraine to the youth.During the first months following the start of invasion of Ukraine, a poll by the Russian state pollster suggested that young Russians were the least supportive of the war.It now seems the Kremlin is taking steps to ensure that changes. In April, the Russian defence and education ministries started distributing tens of thousands of comic books that praise the invasion of Ukraine…

US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has rejected political pressure to remove himself from crucial election-year cases after a controversy over flags outside his homes.Justice Alito, a conservative, said in a letter to Democratic senators that the banners in question had been flown by his wife.An upside-down US flag and a pine tree, or ‘Appeal to Heaven’, flag were pictured outside his home in suburban Virginia and a holiday home in New Jersey.Justice Alito said the matter did not affect his impartiality in cases involving Donald Trump and Capitol rioters.“My wife is fond of flying flags,” he wrote in a…