Tag Archive
Cash to be axed from UK festivals
Music festivals where cash is not accepted are set to come to the UK from next summer, the BBC learns. This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. »
Russia backs away from Iran deal
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says Moscow will freeze the sale of surface-to-air missiles to Iran, according to French officials. This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. »
Diary from Swat
Life is better but people are sick of checks and curfews This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. »
Man ‘banned’ from using the NHS
A homeless man who became an expert at faking illness so he could stay in hospital is given a criminal ASBO. This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. »
Rome gets hotel made from rubbish
A hotel made from rubbish opens its doors in Italy’s capital, Rome, as part of a campaign to raise awareness of beach pollution. This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. »
Shaka Zulu statue removed from S African airport after protests
South African authorities remove a statue of former Zulu King Shaka at Durban’s new King Shaka International Airport after protests that the king had not been portrayed properly. This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. »
Mother barred from death review
A mother is demanding the right know exactly how her teenage son died, after she was barred from a "lessons learned" review by professionals. Lynn Cox, 42, from Bridgwater in Somerset, says she feels she was "being judged" by not being allowed to attend the Child Death Review. Joshua Cox, 13, suffered a fatal asthma... »
Waterlily saved from extinction
A scientist based at the UK’s Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew prevents the world’s smallest waterlily back from going extinct. This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. »
Call from mum ‘as good as a hug’
A mother’s voice on the phone can soothe a child as much as a hug, a study has found. This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. »
Whale sighting near Israel raises ‘back from the dead’ question
A gray whale has appeared off the coast of Israel, shocking conservationists. Gray whales are thought to be extinct across the Atlantic Ocean, so the appearance of an individual within the Mediterranean Sea is a major surprise. The whale may have inadvertently travelled a huge distance from its natural habitat thousands of kilometres away in... »
Clinton wants more from Pakistan
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned Pakistan of unspecified "severe consequences" if it can be linked to a successful extremist attack on the US. She told CBS while Pakistan had become more helpful in tackling extremists, co-operation could still be improved. A Pakistani-born US citizen has been charged with the attempted bombing in Times... »
Boy dies after falling from ship
A 14-year-old sea cadet has died after falling overboard in the Solent. He was on the training ship, TS Royalist, which was anchored at Stokes Bay south of Gosport. Solent Coastguard received a call from the ship at about 2030 BST on Sunday reporting the incident and the coastguard helicopter was scrambled. The boy was... »
Australia plans to ban logos and colour from cigarette packaging
Australia is to announce new rules which will force tobacco companies to use plain packaging, reports say. Manufacturers will be required to drop all colour and branding logos from cigarette packets within two years. The move, which is being billed as a world-first, comes after recommendations were made by the World Health Organisation. PM Kevin... »
Jet in historic flight from Iraq
The first direct flight between Iraq and the UK for 20 years has taken off from Baghdad airport, bound for London. The Iraqi Airways flight had been due to take off nine days ago, but was grounded by the volcanic ash cloud drifting over Europe. The flight, nearly a year behind schedule, was the first... »
‘Serious spill’ from US oil rig
Oil is leaking from a damaged well feeding a rig that sank off Louisiana on Thursday, in what US officials are calling "a very serious spill". The well is estimated to be leaking at a rate of about 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) of oil per day. Although the US coastguard said on Friday that no... »
From Rossi with Love, Status Quo ‘escaping from Moscow’
Rockers Status Quo have embarked upon an arduous trek from Russia to London after their flights home were cancelled due to the volcanic cloud. The band have been stranded since playing a concert in Moscow last week. Now they have set off on a 1,100 mile journey to Hamburg, Germany, where a tour bus is... »
Early hopes from three-way IVF
Embryos containing DNA from a man and two women have been created by scientists at Newcastle University. They say their research, published in the journal Nature, has the potential to help mothers with rare genetic disorders have healthy children. The aim is to prevent damaged DNA in mitochondria – the "batteries" which power the cell... »
No big new spending from Labour
Labour’s election manifesto will contain "no big new spending commitments", party sources have said. But BBC political correspondent Gary O’Donoghue understands that it will include a commitment to doubling paternity leave from two to four weeks. The party’s programme is due to be launched by Gordon Brown on Monday. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said in... »
Discovery blasts off from Florida
The space shuttle Discovery is being prepared for an early morning launch to the International Space Station (ISS). Discovery is scheduled to lift off at around 0621 local time (1121 BST) from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. It will haul equipment and supplies to the station in a container called a multi-purpose logistics module (MPLM). Three... »
Haiti disc tax ‘not cut from aid’
No 10 has denied that thousands of pounds will be lost from aid budgets after Gordon Brown pledged tax would be waived on a Haiti charity record. The Independent reported that the Treasury would send the Department for International Development (DfID) a bill for the lost revenue. But a Downing Street statement insisted: "The story... »
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From silicon to carbon – hackers tackle DNA
Advertisement Hacking and making is no longer just about hardware and software, increasingly it is about wetware – that’s biology to the uninitiated. Those starting to hack biology want to do for it what the web and easy to use tools such as the Arduino programmable controller have done for hardware hacking. That is make it... »
Monkeys learn more from females
By Victoria GillScience reporter, BBC News Monkeys pay more attention to females than to males, according to research. Scientists studying wild vervet monkeys in South Africa found that the animals were better able to learn a task when it was demonstrated by a female. The team compared animals’ responses to demonstrations of a simple box-opening task,... »
Teenager rescued from traffickers
A teenaged girl, believed to be a victim of human traffickers, has been rescued during a police operation in the greater Belfast area. Two men were arrested in the Organised Crime Branch operation against cannabis cultivation, money-laundering and identity card offences. The men, aged 33 and 35, were arrested on Friday during a house search... »
Volunteers light up Hadrian’s Wall from coast to coast
Hadrian’s Wall will be lit from end to end later by a team of 500 volunteers holding flaming torches. The 84-mile (135km) Roman wall, which spans the width of northern England, is being illuminated for British Tourism Week. The volunteers, each holding a gas-powered beacon, will stand at 820ft (250m) intervals. The first torch will... »