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14/07/2022

Ukraine war: Deal in sight to end Ukrainian grain blockade - Turkey
Talks aimed at resuming Ukrainian grain exports blocked by Russia in the Black Sea have produced a deal, Turkey said.

It raises hopes for an end to the standoff, which left millions at increased risk of starvation.

Turkey's defence minister, Hulusi Akar, said both sides had agreed on ways to ensure the safety of shipping routes for grain ships.

He said the agreement would be signed next week, when more talks are set to be held in Turkey.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called Wednesday's progress a "critical step forward".

He said more work was needed to finalise the deal, which would require "a lot of goodwill and commitments by all parties".

Russia's blockade has seen exports collapse and raised fears of food shortages in developing nations.

13/07/2022

Lofi Girl: YouTube sorry for taking down music stream
YouTube has said sorry for taking down two of its most popular music streams in response to a bogus copyright claim.

The Lofi Girl channel - famous for its anime-inspired thumbnail - plays relaxing hip-hop music on a loop as a study and sleep aid.

On Sunday, its creator announced its "radios" had been silenced after two years of continuous streaming, sparking an outcry from fans.

YouTube has since confirmed the original claim was "abusive".

Lofi Girl has built up 10 million subscribers with its regularly updated mixes of low-fidelity, instrumental music.

It has inspired countless memes, Halloween costumes and even a quarantine parody version by Oscar-winning actor Will Smith.

08/07/2022

Sri Lanka president asks Russia's Vladimir Putin for help to buy fuel
Sri Lanka's president says he has asked Russia's Vladimir Putin to help his cash-strapped nation import fuel, as it faces its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he "had a very productive" discussion with Mr Putin.

It comes after Sri Lanka's energy minister warned at the weekend that the country may soon run out of petrol.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people took to the streets of the capital Colombo to protest against the government.

"I requested an offer of credit support to import fuel," Mr Rajapaksa tweeted in reference to his conversation with the Russian leader.

Mr Rajapaksa also said he had "humbly made a request" for flights between Moscow and Colombo to resume, after the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot suspended services last month.

"We unanimously agreed that strengthening bilateral relations in sectors such as tourism, trade and culture was paramount in reinforcing the friendship our two nations share," he added.

The country says it is close to running out of petrol amid its worst economic crisis since 1948.

07/07/2022

Twitter challenges India order to take down tweets
Twitter has mounted a legal challenge in India against government orders to take down content.

The social media giant has filed a petition with the high court in Karnataka state resisting "several" such orders, sources told the BBC.

Twitter was reacting to a letter from the government in June warning of "serious consequences" of non-compliance of such orders.

Twitter has more than 24 million users in India, by one estimate.

Hours after the petition was filed, federal minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar tweeted that all foreign Internet platforms had to comply with Indian laws.

Twitter has petitioned a court challenging "several" orders to take down content on its platform.

06/07/2022

Beet farm near Wymondham in colour-based aphid pest trial
Scientists hope patchworks of multi-coloured crops will help hide them "in plain sight" from pests as a natural alternative to pesticides.

Using dyes, the so-called "camo-cropping" trial has been started by the Norwich-based British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO).

It has been introduced at Morley Farms, near Wymondham, Norfolk, in an attempt to protect sugar beet from aphids.

Farmer David Jones said pests can "reduce yield by 50% in a bad year".

The patchwork "camo-cropping" is developed to attempt find natural alternatives to pesticides.

05/07/2022

Sri Lanka: 'I can’t afford milk for my babies'
The smell hits you first - freshly cooked rice, lentils and spinach, served in ladles from steaming pots.

Dozens of families - including mothers with babies - are lined up with plates to get a serving of what will likely be their only meal for the day.

"We are here because we are hungry," says Chandrika Manel, a mother of four.

As she kneads a ball of rice with her hands, mixing it with the lentils and spinach before feeding it to one of her children, she explains that even buying bread is a struggle.

"There are times I [give them] milk and rice, but we don't cook any vegetables. They're too expensive."

Depleted foreign reserves and soaring inflation have devastated Sri Lanka's economy in recent months. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa - who pushed through tax cuts that shrunk the state's coffers and borrowed heavily from China to fund ambitious infrastructure projects - has been blamed for the crisis. The pandemic, which hit tourism, and the war in Ukraine, which sent oil prices rocketing, has only made the situation worse.

As fuel, food and medicines run out, Sri Lanka is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, the UN warns.

04/07/2022

Scientists discover new giant water lily species
A new species of giant water lily has been discovered - and it’s been hiding in plain sight for 177 years.

The huge plant had been in the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and was growing in a number of aquatic collections but it was mistakenly identified as another species.

Now a detailed scientific study has revealed that it is new to science.

It also holds the record as the world's largest water lily, with leaves growing more than 3m (10ft) wide.

The plant has been called Victoria boliviana - named after Bolivia, where it grows in a single water basin in part of the Amazon river system.

Scientists discover the first new species of giant water lily in more than a century.

30/06/2022

Heathrow flight cancellations cause queues and 'chaos'
Passengers have complained of queues and "total chaos" at Heathrow after the airport asked airlines to remove 30 flights from Thursday's schedule.

The UK's largest airport asked airlines to cut the flights because it was expecting more passenger numbers than it can currently cope with.

Some passengers did not know that their flights were cancelled until they arrived at the airport.

Heathrow said the cancellations were necessary for safety.

Travel writer and broadcaster Andy Mossack tweeted that there was "total chaos" and "zero customer service" at the airport on Thursday morning.

Travellers complain of disruption after the airport asked airlines to cancel 30 flights on Thursday.

27/06/2022

Roe v Wade: US firms pledge to pay staff travel expenses for abortions
Major companies including Disney, JP Morgan and Facebook owner Meta have told staff they will cover employee travel expenses for abortions, as millions of US women face restricted access.

It follows a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court that overturned the constitutional right to abortion.

The judgement paves the way for individual states to ban the procedure.

Other firms, such as Amazon, had already announced similar moves.

But since the ruling a growing number of companies have confirmed they will cover travel costs through their health insurance plans for employees who leave their home state to get an abortion.

What is Roe v Wade ruling on abortion?
What happens now Roe v Wade has been overturned?
Disney said it had told employees it recognised the impact of the Supreme Court ruling and remained committed to giving them "comprehensive access" to affordable healthcare, including family planning and reproductive care, "no matter where they live".

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61941591

20/06/2022

Instagram launches new parental controls in UK
Instagram owner Meta is launching new parental controls across the platform in the UK on 14 June.

They include the option of setting daily time limits of between 15 minutes and 2 hours, after which a black screen appears on the app.

Parents can also schedule break times and see any accounts their child reports, and why they did so.

In addition, the tech giant is rolling out a parent dashboard on all Quest virtual reality headsets worldwide.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61796149

19/06/2022

Microsoft retires Internet Explorer after 27 years

Microsoft is finally retiring the consumer version of Internet Explorer.

It announced the plan last year, making Internet Explorer 11 its final version.

Internet Explorer debuted on Windows desktop computers in 1995 and by 2004, had cornered 95% of the market.

But now, Google Chrome, Apple's Safari and Mozilla Firefox are dominant.

Users wanting to stick with Microsoft are being directed to Microsoft Edge, launched in 2015, alongside Windows 10.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61810403

18/06/2022

The healing power of 'emotion coaching'
Talking about traumatic events can be hard – but makes a huge difference to children's wellbeing, research shows. Here's how to find the right words.
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If a parent's primary responsibility is to keep their child safe and free from pain – what can they do when circumstances conspire against them?

Whether it's a death in the family, an injury or illness, or the threat of war, a child's guardians must not only manage their own feelings, but also negotiate potentially heart-breaking conversations with young minds still struggling to make sense of the world around them. Even seemingly remote news stories can lead to great anxiety and upset which needs to be processed as a family. But the stakes will be so much the higher if the child themself has been directly affected by the events.

Unfortunately, professional help may not be forthcoming. "For many kids, parents are the only people who will offer support following a trauma," says Sarah Halligan, a professor of psychology at the University of Bath, in the UK.

It should go without saying that love and understanding must be the foundation of these dialogues. But recent research suggests that the specific contents of these interactions, and the language that is used to frame the events, can also have profound effects on children's emotional processing.

Besides offering immediate comfort, family chat can shape a child's memories of what occurred when their minds return to it in the future, and the ways that they will respond to later upsets. Indeed, if you think about your own reactions to trauma today, it is very likely that you are repeating internalised conversations from your own childhood.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220516-the-healing-power-of-emotion-coaching