Author: BBC

51 minutes agoEmma Saunders ,Culture reporter at the Hay FestivalGetty ImagesMarian Keyes’ first book came out in 1995 and she has had 16 novels published in totalBestselling author Marian Keyes has said she would never have become a writer if she hadn’t got sober 30 years ago.The Irish writer, behind books including This Charming Man and The Break, told an audience at the Hay Festival: “I wouldn’t have had the discipline or self-belief.”But she joked: “I came to the writing business blessed (with material).”I suffer from depression, I have very frizzy hair and I was an addict!”She added: “I went…

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 50 people have been killed and scores injured in an explosion at a refugee camp near Rafah.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed carrying out an air strike targeting a Hamas compound in the area. It says it is reviewing the incident.Earlier in the day Hamas fired eight rockets from Rafah towards Tel Aviv, the first long-range attacks on the city since January.Videos from the southern Gaza Strip show a large explosion and intense fires burning. Hamas said an Israeli air strike had hit a camp for displaced Palestinians north-west of Rafah, away from…

16 minutes agoPhil Hendry,Senior producer, BBC NewsBBCRichard says he regrets ever buying his flat”The worst decision of my life,” reflects Richard Moore, as he sits in the small flat he bought as an investment to provide him with a pension in his old age.”My service charges have doubled from £4,000 to £8,000 a year. I feel like I’m being robbed”.Problems with the building’s cladding also render the flat effectively worthless unless it is fixed, he says.The flat Richard paid £300,000 for in 2016 is leasehold – which means he doesn’t own the physical flat – but a lease allowing him…

A cancer charity is warning people to do more to protect themselves from the sun as the number of melanoma skin-cancer cases in the UK continues to rise.Cancer Research UK predicts there will be a record 20,800 cases diagnosed this year – up from a yearly average of 19,300 between 2020 and 2022.Its analysis shows rates rose by almost a third between 2009 and 2019 – from 21 to 28 cases per 100,000 people.The rise in diagnoses is due partly to a growing ageing population and an increase in awareness of the signs of skin cancer.The report suggests around 17,000…

The three days have seen an estimated 100,000 music fans enjoy numerous performances.Drum and bass duo Chase & Status thrilled on Friday with surprise acts such as ArrDee, Stefflon Don and Clementine Douglas.They followed Becky Hill, Ella Henderson, Rudimental and Nathan Dawe who also performed on the Main Stage.Saturday saw Raye deliver a powerful, and at times emotional, performance.”When you’ve waited so long, for opportunities like this, I will be kicking myself if I didn’t give it everything,” she said.Charli XCX entertained fans in the sweaty New Music Tent, bringing a club night vibe.She admitted being “very scared” before going…

Hamas says it has launched a “big” rocket attack at the Tel Aviv area in central Israel, several of which were intercepted by air defence systems, according to the Israeli military.Hours later, Palestinian health and civilian officials said dozens of Palestinians had been killed and injured in an Israeli strike on an area in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where displaced people were sheltering.Many of the casualties were living in tents at the Tal al-Sultan camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said, adding that the death toll was likely to rise. An official for the Hamas-run media office said…

A video posted on Nicki Minaj’s Instagram shows an interaction between the rapper and an unnamed airport employee about her bags being searched. The man explains to the American performer that her luggage will have to be offloaded following a request from a police officer. He then proceeds to apologise twice to Minaj. Minaj was arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Saturday on suspicion of exporting soft drugs, before being fined and allowed to continue her journey, Dutch police said. But she missed a concert in Manchester as a result of the incident, leaving thousands of irate fans who were…

At least seven people have been killed after tornadoes ripped through the central US, destroying buildings and a fuel station that was sheltering dozens of people. Severe storms formed over Texas and Oklahoma on Saturday night, with Cooke County north of Dallas, Texas among the hardest-hit areas. Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington said five people had been killed, adding that the number of casualties was expected to rise.”We’re still in search and rescue mode right now. I hope we can still find survivors,” he told local media.Footage broadcast by local media showed a fuel station almost completely destroyed, with twisted…

She said Labour would raise some of the money by ending the VAT exemption for private schools and by extending the windfall tax on energy firms. The party has also said it will raise £5bn a year by tackling tax avoidance and evasion, and £2.6bn by closing “loopholes” in the government’s plans to abolish non-dom exemptions. Non-doms are UK residents whose permanent home for tax purposes is abroad, meaning they do not have to pay UK tax on money they earn overseas.”But in the end we have to grow the economy, we have to turn around this dire economic performance,”…

13 hours agoNoor Nanji,Culture reporter, @NoorNanjiGettyRiz Ahmed stars in Dammi, a short film which will be shown at the festivalA new film festival in the UK celebrating Muslim cinema will “showcase stories we don’t usually see”, its director has said.Sajid Varda has told BBC News that too often there is a “negative portrayal” of Muslims in the mainstream media, “so this festival is largely to reclaim the words Muslim and Islam”.The festival includes films featuring Oscar-winning actor Riz Ahmed and Informer’s Nabhaan Rizwan.It runs from 30 May to 2 June.GettyNabhaan Rizwan plays a struggling actor in In CameraThe festival will…