Author: BBC

Renault’s UK customers are being warned to be vigilant after a company that looks after data for the carmaker was hacked.No customer financial data, such as passwords or bank account details, had been obtained, Renault said, but other personal data had been accessed from a third-party provider.The French-owned carmaker would not specify how many people could be affected “for ongoing security reasons” but said it did not anticipate any wider implications for the company, as none of Renault’s own systems had been hacked.It comes after rival Jaguar Land Rover and brewing giant Asahi have had production stopped by cyber-attacks on…

Japan is facing a shortage of Asahi products, including beer and bottled tea, as the drinks giant grapples with the impact of a major cyber-attack that has impacted its operations in the country.Most of the Asahi Group’s factories in Japan have been at a standstill since Monday, after the attack hit its ordering and delivering systems, the firm has said.Major Japanese retailers, including 7-Eleven and FamilyMart, have now warned customers to expect shortages of Asahi products.The BBC has contacted Asahi for comment.Asahi has temporarily suspended orders and shipments of its products with “no prospect of resumption”, FamilyMart said in a…

Michael BuchananSocial affairs correspondent andAdam EleyLinkedInKaren Booth carried out operations she wasn’t skilled enough to perform, an NHS investigation foundThe head of NHS England backed a doctor whose failures contributed to several deaths to resume her career as a heart surgeon.Sir Jim Mackey told the family of a patient who died following an operation carried out by Karen Booth that the consultant surgeon should be “supported” to continue working at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle, once she had undergone retraining.The BBC has obtained a recording of a meeting last year with the family of the man who died. In it,…

The boss of Tesco has warned the government against adding extra costs to UK retailers in the upcoming Budget.Ken Murphy said he did not want to see a repeat of the last Budget, when “the industry incurred substantial additional operating costs”, adding “enough is enough”.His comments came as the UK’s largest supermarket upgraded its profit forecast for the year.Chancellor Rachel Reeves will reveal her Budget on 26 November, with the widespread expectation that some taxes will increase.Many retailers have argued they have been hit with a wave of extra costs since April, including increased employer National Insurance contributions and higher…

Tesla boss Elon Musk has become the first person ever to achieve a net worth of more than $500bn (£370.9bn), as the value of the electric car company and his other businesses have risen this year.The tech magnate’s net worth briefly reached $500.1bn on Wednesday afternoon New York time, before dipping slightly to just over $499bn later in the day, the Forbes’ billionaires index reported. Alongside Tesla, valuations of his other ventures, including the artificial intelligence startup xAI and rocket company SpaceX, have also reportedly climbed in recent months.The milestone further cements Musk’s status as the world’s richest person, well…

BBCJonathan Jones was given chemotherapy tablets for 16 years, but NHS guidelines say they should only be taken for six monthsA brain cancer patient who says he was prescribed chemotherapy tablets for 16 years, even though NHS guidelines say they should only be taken for six months, has said he feels his youth was stolen from him. Jonathan Jones was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma in 2007 when he was 17 and took temozolomide tablets until November 2023, when he was 33.Since he has raised his case with lawyers, more than 30 other brain cancer patients at University Hospitals Coventry and…

Getty ImagesTypical gas and electricity bills have risen slightly as the new energy price cap has taken effect.It follows a drop in prices at the start of July, but there are concerns that bills remain unaffordable for some.The energy price cap sets the maximum amount customers can be charged for each unit of energy, but actual bills depend on how much gas and electricity you use.What is the energy price cap and how is it changing?The energy price cap covers around 20 million households in England, Wales and Scotland and is set every three months by the energy regulator Ofgem.It…

Half of UK adults are now regularly paying for things by tapping their phone, new banking data suggests.A surge in the use of mobile payments via services such as Apple Pay or Google Pay has been recorded across different age groups, figures from trade body UK Finance show.”People are more comfortable leaving their home with just their phone,” said Adrian Buckle, its head of research.He said the “change of consumer behaviour” was clear as last year marked the first time 50% of adults used mobile payments at least once a month – up from 34% in 2023.Consumers are increasingly storing…

A sunscreen scandal in Australia is continuing to grow, with 18 products now pulled from shelves in the skin cancer hotspot over safety concerns.Analysis by a consumer advocacy group in June found several popular and expensive sunscreens did not provide the protection claimed by their makers.One product, Ultra Violette’s Lean Screen Skinscreen, is supposed to offer a skin protection factor (SPF) of 50+ but instead returned a result of SPF 4 and was voluntarily recalled in August.An investigation by the medicines regulator has now warned about 20 more sunscreens from other brands, which share the same base formula, and raised…

Stuart HarrattEast Yorkshire and LincolnshireBBCThe Lindsey Oil Refinery went into administration in JuneAlmost a third of the workers at the Lindsey Oil Refinery are to lose their jobs.The Insolvency Service said 125 employees would be made redundant at the end of October, with 255 people remaining at the site at North Killingholme, in North Lincolnshire.The refinery was taken over by the government’s official receiver in June after its owner, Prax Group, went into administration.The Unite union said the government was “responsible for the redundancies going ahead, as it could provide support to ensure the refinery is kept intact and operational”.A…