Author: BBC

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…

A Florida judge has set a $100,000 (£78,469) bond for rapper Sean Kingston, days after he was extradited to the Sunshine State.The 34-year-old was arrested in California in May, waived his right to challenge the extradition, and was booked into Florida’s Broward County jail on Sunday.Mr Kingston – whose legal name is Kisean Anderson – is accused of committing more than $1m in fraud and theft. His lawyer says he will plead not guilty.At his bond hearing on Monday, the judge listed the 10 criminal charges against him, which included grand theft, fraud and criminal use of personal identification.Mr Kingston’s…

The immigration issue is a growing threat to US President Joe Biden’s re-election hopes.Along with the economy, it is a dominant concern for voters in most polls – and the vast majority disapproves of Biden’s handing of it.Driven by growing conflict or instability in their home countries and drawn by the post-pandemic jobs gap in the US, immigrants have crossed the southern border at unprecedented numbers over the last three years.Those numbers began to rise in 2018, as Central Americans fled a series of complex crises, and then fell drastically in 2020 thanks to pandemic-era restrictions. They began climbing again…

2 hours agoDaniel Thomas,Business reporterVictoria ArthurVictoria Arthur and two of her children When Victoria Arthur’s Child Benefit was not paid on Monday, her immediate concern was that she would not be able to afford nappies and milk for her four month-old daughter. Like many, the mum-of-three from Romford relies on the £238 she gets each month to pay for essentials for her kids. But a payment processing error at HMRC has meant that almost 580,000 claimants did not receive their money as planned, sparking panic for many families. Unable to reach the tax agency and with nothing in her bank…

Instagram is testing adverts that users cannot skip past.The social media platform currently allows people to swipe or scroll past adverts that appear in its main feed of images and videos, as well as in its Stories and Reels feeds.But it is now trialling a feature called “ad break”, which users say they can not flick past as usual.Images shared online show a timer, which counts down to zero before normal functionality can resume.”Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you can keep browsing,” the Meta-owned platform tells those who click for more information.Instagram has confirmed to the…

38 minutes agoRiyah Collins,BBC NewsbeatITVJoey Essex has previously appeared on multiple reality and dating TV showsJoey Essex has become the first celebrity to enter the Love Island villa on the ITV reality dating show.In a cliffhanger during Monday’s first episode, the 33-year-old was introduced as the series’ first bombshell.Fans were divided by the revelation – some called it iconic while others argued the dating show should be for “normal people” and not celebs.But in an interview with The Sun newspaper, Joey claimed he had applied of his own accord and hadn’t been approached by the show’s producers. Several major betting…

MICHAELA STACHE/AFPWater levels in Passau have risen close to 10m (32ft) and the Danube has burst its banksFlood waters are continuing to rise in parts of southern Germany, and are now spreading down the Danube to Austria and Hungary.Five people are now known to have died since heavy rain led to rivers bursting their banks in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.One of the victims was a woman who died when her car left the road and became submerged west of Munich. A Bavarian firefighter is missing.Although the Germand DWD weather service has declared an end to the torrential rain that has hit…