NewsFeedHuge explosions were seen in southern and eastern Lebanon as Israeli war planes targeted the area, killing at least one person. Israel said it attacked Hezbollah infrastructure, despite a ceasefire deal in place since November last year.Published On 17 Oct 202517 Oct 2025Click here to share on social mediashare2Share Source link
Steve KnibbsGloucestershireBBCRhi (left) Billy (middle left) Kate (middle right) and Chris (right) are planning their futures after they graduate from a specialist further education collegeFinal-year students at a specialist further education college say they are facing a nerving-wracking journey into the unknown. Their futures hang in the balance, reliant on local government funding or fighting against stigma to gain employment. For the next 12 months the BBC will follow a group of final-year students at National Star College near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire as they prepare to leave.They all have hopes and dreams about what they would like their future to be like, but the reality is not going to be easy. Their futures rely not just on financial support from stretched local authority adult social care budgets, but also on the opportunity and availability of accommodation where they live. When they leave National Star, their local authorities will assess each of their cases for financial support, and there are no guarantees. Many of the students the BBC have spoken to have said they would like to work and devote their lives to something they care about. But the reality of finding employment for disabled people is challenging, with figures showing they…
Tom ThomsonBuglife said opening the quarry as a campsite would disturb the habitat for horrid ground-weaver spidersUrgent action is needed to secure the future of a quarry which is home to an critically endangered species of spider, a charity has said.The invertebrate conservation trust Buglife has asked Plymouth City Council to protect Radford Quarry, a site which is home to a variety of wildlife including the horrid ground-weaver spider.The charity said it was one of only four sites in the world - all of them in the Plymouth area - where the species of spider had been found.A council spokesman said it was "completely committed to helping to protect this important county wildlife site".Andrew WhitehouseBuglife said it has written to Plymouth City Council about protecting Radford Quarry A spokesperson for Buglife said the council had previously refused plans to develop the quarry into a housing site but recently the site owner had opened it as a campsite which had disturbed its "precious and sensitive" habitats.In addition, the council had announced plans for a Christmas market in the quarry during the period of time the spider species was known to be active, they added.They said the recent developments had taken place without…
BBCThe Care Quality Commission rated adult social care on the Isles of Scilly as 'good' following its recent inspectionAdult Social Care on the Isles of Scilly has been placed in the top 30% of all authorities inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a council meeting heard.At a meeting of the Council of the Isles of Scilly on Tuesday, members heard its adult social care service score of 70 points compared "favourably" to the 65.5 point average score in this round of inspections. The CQC rated the service as 'good' but did recommend some areas of improvement.Interim director of adults' and children's services at the council, Dr Sue Ross, told the meeting the inspection results were "heartening".Dr Ross said: "Discovering how well our Adult Social Care service inspection outcome compares on a national scale, despite some real challenges posed by our small size and geographical remoteness, has been extremely heartening."We now have a real opportunity to work on the few remaining areas which require improvement to be rated 'Good' or 'Outstanding,' and I think the CQC report will bring real focus to this effort, providing both the council and its partners across the health and social care system with a useful…
A council has rejected a revised plan for a solar farm despite changes to the design and local support.The application for the 43-acre (17.6 hectares) site at Cruxton, south of Maiden Newton, followed a previous appeal dismissed by the Secretary of State in 2022.Developers Enviromena had reduced the scheme's capacity from 11.8 megawatts to 10 megawatts - still enough to power more than 5,000 homes - the equivalent to 3% of Dorset's households or a town the size of Blandford Forum. But Dorset councillors agreed with an officer recommendation that there would still be "an unacceptable impact" on the sensitive landscape surrounding the site.The application was to install solar panels across the farmland within the Dorset National Landscape, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural BeautyChanges to the original proposals included the removal of some panels from the northern part of the site to create a picnic area with information boards and panels to be moved further away from the Macmillan Way, a national public footpath running from Boston to Abbotsbury.The site lies outside the defined development boundary and is surrounded by public rights of way, listed buildings and scheduled burial mounds.Local farmer Anthony Warren called the changes to the plan "lipstick…
BBCDartmoor Prison was closed in August 2024 due to high levels of radon gasThe Ministry of Justice has confirmed radon gas levels higher than the recommended limit were detected at Dartmoor prison at least 13 years earlier than previously thought.The government had previously said "elevated radon readings were first found at Dartmoor in 2020" when the prison was closed in August 2024 after levels up to 10 times higher than the recommended limit were recorded in some areas.The BBC has seen an official letter from September 2007 confirming monitoring had already been carried out, and some readings were found to "exceed the threshold at which the regulations apply".The MOJ said action was taken in 2007, including improving ventilation in affected areas.'Risking so much'Solicitor Mladen Kesar said he was already acting on behalf of more than 500 claimants taking legal action over alleged exposure to radon at the prison since 2020.He said hundreds more former prisoners, as well as prison officers and staff, could potentially have been affected if high levels were detected in 2007."So many people went to work, not knowing that they were risking so much," he said. "But the authorities knew."Radon is a colourless and odourless radioactive gas which…
Seb NobleCornwall political reporterBBCAmandip Kaur said her pharmacy in St Dennis made a loss on half of the medicines it dispensesA pharmacist has warned more chemists in the South West could be forced to shut because of funding pressures, without urgent action from the government. The National Pharmacy Association said about 27 had closed in Cornwall and Devon between October 2022 and June this year. Those in the industry said the cost of up to half of the medicines they have to provide was no longer covered by the amount of NHS funding they received. The Government said it had invested £3.1bn into pharmacies this year and they were central to its 10 year plan for the future of local healthcare. Amandip Kaur, from Bann's Pharmacies Limited who run the pharmacy in St Dennis, said the current situation was "unsustainable."She said: "There is no profit margin for the pharmacist and the dispensing fees we get is nothing. It really does not cover the cost of running the pharmacy."She said "40 to 50 percent" of the medicines they were purchasing were not covered by the amount the NHS was paying them."It really needs to be looked into by the government sooner rather…
Nikki MitchellSouth of England home affairs correspondent, andStephen StaffordSouth of EnglandBBCDes said finding out he had been scammed was "like a kick in the guts"A man duped out of £14,000 has said those responsible are "scum", as the shocking scale of a £28m timeshare fraud involving more than 3,500 victims is revealed.Fourteen people, including managing director Mark Rowe and his wife Nicola, have been convicted over the scheme which operated under the Sell My Timeshare brand.The couple, both 54 and from Hampshire, bankrolled a lavish lifestyle by exploiting vulnerable victims - many in their 70s and 80s - who were desperate to sell their holiday homes.Des, 73, from south London, told the BBC the moment he realised he had lost thousands felt "like a kick in the guts" - a devastating setback that forced him to delay his retirement.The "elaborate" and "complex" fraud, which began in 2013, is thought to be one of the biggest conspiracies of its kind in the UK.Timeshares usually involve paying a one-off lump sum, plus annual maintenance fees, in return for being able to use a property for an agreed number of weeks each year, every year for life.Mark Rowe spent his victims' cash on advertising,…
"I thought it was a tradition that was from many moons before his age," says current Exeter club captain Jack Yeandle, who has done the 'Jimmy Nine' many times."It's been going since I was at the club. "It's been pushed through by the senior players at the time - we're in the front row and there's always a mention of Jimmy Nine and 'make sure you get Jimmy Nine in'. As soon as you start getting towards the front row you're making sure you do it."I'm making sure everyone does it today," adds Yeandle ahead of the 2025-26 photo. "It's an important thing that's been going on, and if I ever meet the guy I've got to make sure I give him a high four-and-a-half."It's just a bit of fun, a bit of a laugh, and it's good to see the tradition still going."Tucker, now 55, is something of a legend of Cornish rugby.He played more than 350 games for Launceston over 13 years before an 18-month spell at Exeter that saw him score two tries in 29 games. He played 50 times for the Cornish county side, helping them reach back-to-back County Championship finals at Twickenham in 1998 and 1999,…
Comments from ordinary users on social media platforms can be a force for good, helping others identify false information and navigate what is accurate, new research shows. However these same comments can also mislead when they are inaccurate, which makes it challenging for people to judge what can be trusted. The study shows digital media literacy is not only about telling true from false but also about evaluating the reliability of user comments. In a new book, The Power of the Crowd, Professor Florian Stöckel, from the University of Exeter, and his co-authors uncover this double-edged pattern. The book also shows how difficult it is for people to separate accurate from inaccurate information. As part of a large-scale study with more than 10,000 participants across Germany, the UK, and Italy, researchers examined people’s ability to classify true and false news in social media posts. Participants were shown a set of false and true news posts drawn from real online content. The study included forty-seven different topics, including health, technology, and politics, all drawn from real online content. False news posts came from material flagged by fact-checking organizations in each country. The findings highlight just how challenging it is for people to…
Who: Fulham vs ArsenalWhat: English Premier LeagueWhere: Craven Cottage in London, United KingdomWhen: Saturday, October 18, at 5:30pm (16:30 GMT)How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 2:30pm (13:30 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.Premier League leaders Arsenal will be the heavy favourites when they travel to Fulham on Saturday, but London derbies usually give the underdogs more than a fighting chance, as former Gunners manager Arsene Wenger always used to bemoan.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe Gunners, who have finished second in the table for the last three seasons, have not won the league since Wenger’s era. Fulham, meanwhile, have hit a blip and languish in 14th position.Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at a game where the west Londoners will hope to upset the formbook against their north London visitors.How have Arsenal fared this season?Arsenal opened their season with an unconvincing 1-0 win at a surprisingly dominant Manchester United, and have rarely looked back. The Gunners have won eight of their 10 matches in all competitions this season; the only times they have failed to win in the league were the narrowest of 1-0 defeats at defending champions Liverpool…
Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who is 63 points behind Piastri in the championship but has won two of the past three races and finished second in the other, was asked in a news conference on Thursday in Austin whether he believed McLaren were favouring Norris.He replied: "Absolutely."He laughed, and then said: "Yep."Leaving the news conference, he said off-microphone: "Well, there's a headline."BBC Sport sought clarification from Verstappen as to whether he had been joking, and he said through a PR person that he had been.In answer to the same favouritism question, Verstappen added: "I honestly don't know. I don't care also. It has nothing to do with me. They do whatever they think is right and they are doing a very good job of it being so quick. "For me, the most important thing is we maximise our potential and as long as we do that, it is in our control."Piastri said: "I'm very happy that there's no favouritism or bias." Source link