Author: BBC

The price of silver has hit a record high ahead of an expected US Federal Reserve interest rate cut and as demand from the technology industry for the precious metal remains high.Silver crossed $60 (£45.10) an ounce on the spot market, where the precious metal is bought and sold for immediate delivery, for the first time on Tuesday.Gold, which hit record highs earlier this year as concerns grew about the impact of US tariffs and the global economic outlook, also made gains this week.Investors tend to move money into precious metals like gold and silver as interest rates come down…

Tech giants Amazon and Microsoft have announced a combined $52.5bn (£39.4bn) investment plan for India over the coming years.Amazon said on Wednesday it was pumping in $35bn into India by 2030 to advance AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation, a day after Microsoft committed $17.5bn strengthen the country’s AI ecosystem. India, which is an emerging AI and cloud infrastructure hub, has witnessed a surge of global tech investments recently.In October, Google announced a $15bn investment to build an AI data hub, and earlier this week Intel announced a collaboration with Mumbai-based Tata Electronics as its first major customer in…

Michael BuchananSocial affairs correspondentGetty ImagesThe review looks at the worst-performing maternity and neonatal servicesHungry mothers, dirty wards and poor care are blighting England’s maternity services while staff receive death threats for working in some units, according to a new report.Baroness Amos, who is chairing a review into maternity care, said that what she has seen so far “has been much worse” than she’d anticipated.Some women had felt blamed for their baby’s death, while others suffered from a lack of empathy, care or apology when things had gone wrong, with poor and black mothers often at the end of discriminatory services.Health…

Ben & Jerry’s will be destroyed as a brand if it remains with parent company Magnum, the company’s co-founder Ben Cohen has told the BBC. His remarks are the latest in a long-running spat between the ice cream brand and its parent company over its ability to express its social activism and the continued independence of its board. The comments came on the day that the Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC) started trading on the European stock market – spinning off from owner Unilever. A spokesperson for Magnum said the firm wanted to build and strengthen Ben & Jerry’s “powerful,…

US President Donald Trump has announced that he will allow AI chip giant Nvidia to sell its advanced H200 chips to “approved customers” in China.”We will protect National Security, create American Jobs, and keep America’s lead in AI,” Trump said on social media on Monday.The decision will apply to other US chip companies like AMD and comes after extensive lobbying by Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, who visited Washington last week to drum up support.Nvidia – both the world’s leading chip firm and most valuable company – has found itself at the centre of a geopolitical tug-of-war between the US and…

Catherine Burns,Health correspondent,Vicki Loader,Health producerandHarriet AgerholmGetty ImagesHundreds of GPs across England have told the BBC they think mental health problems are being over-diagnosed. One commonly-held view by family doctors, our research suggests, is that society tends to over-medicalise normal life stresses. But they’re also concerned about how hard it is to get help for patients with mental health conditions.Earlier this week, the Health Secretary ordered an independent review into the reasons for a rising demand for mental health, ADHD and autism services in England, and where the gaps in support are.BBC News sent a questionnaire to more than 5,000 GPs…

Jennifer McKiernan,Political reporterandKathryn ArmstrongGetty ImagesAn expansion of the government’s apprenticeship scheme is expected to benefit 50,000 young people as part of a push to tackle youth unemployment.The number of young people starting apprenticeships has fallen by almost 40% in the past decade, Skills Minister Baroness Jacqui Smith told the BBC.She said the government was removing the 5% levy on apprentices for under-25s and offering new apprenticeships in AI, hospitality and engineering, in collaboration with the defence sector.The number of young people aged 16 to 24 who are neither earning or learning has been going up since 2021, with the latest…

US President Donald Trump has flagged potential concerns over Netflix’s planned $72bn (£54bn) deal to buy Warner Brothers Discovery’s movie studio and popular HBO streaming networks.At an event in Washington DC on Sunday, he said Netflix has a “big market share” and the firms’ combined size “could be a problem”.On Friday, the two companies said they had reached an agreement to bring Warner Brothers’ franchises like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones to Netflix, creating a new media giant.The planned deal, which has raised concerns among some in the industry, is yet to be approved by competition authorities. The BBC…

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Redcar Area FoodbankEvery day the foodbank reveals an item it wants people to donateA foodbank is asking for donations ahead of Christmas through a reverse advent calendar.Tracy Gibson from the Redcar Area Foodbank said it was “always busy at this time of year” and the advent calendar allowed people to give something to the local community.Every day, the foodbank reveals on social media which item it would like the public to donate, ranging from food to Christmas treats.Alongside the usual essentials, it will be asking for items such as custard, cranberry sauce and gravy.Ms Gibson said instead of people getting…