Author: BBC

A top Amazon executive has said the US technology giant has blocked more than 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents.North Koreans tried to apply for remote working IT jobs using stolen or fake identities, Amazon’s chief security officer Stephen Schmidt said in a LinkedIn post.”Their objective is typically straightforward: get hired, get paid, and funnel wages back to fund the regime’s weapons programs,” he said, adding that this trend is likely to be happening at scale across the industry, especially in the US.Authorities in the US and South Korea have warned about Pyongyang’s operatives carrying out online scams.Amazon…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a pill version of the weight-loss drug Wegovy, according to pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk.It is the first pill of its kind to receive approval from the regulator, marking a new era for weight-loss drugs.Wegovy’s Danish makers Novo Nordisk said the once-daily pill was a “convenient option” to the injectable and would provide the same weight loss as the shot. It comes after Wegovy was approved by the FDA specifically for weight loss.Others like Ozempic, which has similar weight-loss effects, were primarily approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.The BBC has…

The US Coast Guard is in “active pursuit” of another vessel in international waters near Venezuela as tensions in the region continue to escalate.US authorities have already seized two oil tankers this month – one of them on Saturday. Sunday’s pursuit related to a “sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion”, a US official told the BBC’s partner CBS News. “It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”Washington has accused Venezuela of using oil money to fund drug-related crime, while Venezuela has described the tanker seizures as “theft and kidnapping”.US President…

Ben MorrisTechnology of Business EditorTunnock’s robot packagingA stream of hot caramel runs through the Thomas Tunnock factory just outside Glasgow.From the second floor where it is made, it runs along conveyor belts down to the first floor, bringing a a sweet, warm aroma to the building.But working with caramel is not easy. Experienced workers have to check that it is at the right consistency, and it takes a team of 12 to spread the caramel in five layers that make up the Tunnock’s wafer biscuit.”We’re making roughly 20 tonnes of caramel a day,” says Stuart Louden, the firm’s engineering and…

A shortage of epidural kits in the UK is expected to last until at least March, the government’s medicines regulator has warned.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told healthcare providers in a patient safety alert earlier this month that the shortage followed manufacturing issues concerning epidural bags.Hospitals are being sent substitutes bags for the pain relief drug given to women in labour, while the Royal College of Anaesthetists is working with the NHS to advise hospitals on how to manage the situation.Medical staff have expressed concern about these plans, the BBC understands, though the NHS said women “should…

Katy McCloskey and Chris ClementsBBCSammy and Annie Dougherty believe they qualify for the Warm Home Discount, but their postcode isn’t recognised by the Scottish Gas online application form.People on low incomes could be losing out on a grant for winter heating bills because postcodes are missing from an energy supplier’s website.Scottish Gas were warned last autumn that customers on means-tested benefits living in a specific Glasgow postcode were unable to apply for the Warm Home Discount online. More than a year later, the website has still not been fixed.Tenants and charities have criticised the power company, with Energy Action Scotland…

Peter Hoskins,business reporterandLily Jamali,North America technology correspondentWatch: What does TikTok’s deal mean for America’s users?TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance has signed binding agreements with American and global investors to operate its business in the US, the video platform’s boss told employees on Thursday.Half of the joint venture will be owned by a group of investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX, according to a memo sent by chief executive Shou Zi Chew.The deal, which is set to close on 22 January, would end years of efforts by Washington to force ByteDance to sell its US operations over…

Young people will be hit hardest by successive governments’ failure to focus on financial and societal challenges caused by an ageing population, a House of Lords report has suggested.They will need to plan and prepare to work longer and save more from a much earlier age, the economic affairs committee said.The report also found that the crisis in adult social care “remains a scandal” which needs to be addressed urgently.Committee chair Lord Wood of Anfield told the BBC it was a “struggle to find where in government” there was a focus on ageing and the “transformational effects” it was going…

The ousted chair of Ben & Jerry’s has accused the company which owns the brand of threatening to launch a public smear campaign against her. Anuradha Mittal, who chaired Ben & Jerry’s independent board for seven years, told the BBC that Magnum had threatened to publish “defamatory statements” about her if she did not step down from her role.It relates to an increasingly bitter dispute between the Vermont-based activist ice cream maker and its owner over the independence of the board and its freedom to pursue its social missions.Magnum said in its view Mittal “no longer met the criteria to…

Laura Cress,Technology reporterandLily Jamali,North America technology correspondent, San FranciscoGetty ImagesTikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance has signed a deal with investors to run its business in the US.But what does this mean for the over 170 million Americans (or so the social media platform claims) who use the app?The key may lie in how TikTok’s recommendation algorithm – the powerful system that curates the platform’s For You Page to predict content you might watch – is managed when it changes hands.Social media industry expert Matt Navarra told the BBC the question will not be whether TikTok survives, but “what version of TikTok…