The medical data of half a million volunteers to Biobank, the UK’s health information database, has been offered for sale online, the government has said. Source link
Holiday companies have predicted a surge in bookings for UK summer breaks after a jump in interest from Britons fearful of flight cancellations linked to the Iran war. Summer bookings are expected to rise in the coming weeks amid warnings of possible jet fuel shortages and resulting cancellations by airlines across Europe. Raoul Fraser, the chief executive of Lovat, a holiday park operator with sites across south-west England, said traffic to its website had increased after reports of jet fuel warnings last week. “It is definitely having a positive impact for us,” he said. “Our holidays bookings are up over 30% this year. It is a little bit like Covid, when people couldn’t get away and now they just want the certainty of a nice holiday in the UK.” The holiday resort company Butlin’s, which has sites at Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness, said it was seeing “strong growth for the summer school holidays”. However, its chief executive, Jon Hendry Pickup, said many families were still booking their holidays closer to the time, due to …
British Airways said it will run two flights, departing from Muscat, Oman, to London Heathrow, on Friday and Saturday. Source link
The UK government has announced its first charter flights for British nationals stranded in the Middle East as the US-Israeli attack on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes enter their fifth day. It comes as an estimated 300,000 Britons are believed to be in affected regions of the Middle East. Follow the latest updates on the conflict with Iran Thousands of flights have been cancelled since the joint US-Israeli operation was launched against Iran on Saturday, but some airlines are now operating out of the region again. Here’s all you need to know. What’s the latest travel advice for affected areas – and what flights are happening? The Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE, and against any travel whatsoever to and from Israel and Palestine. You can find out the latest travel advice for all Middle East countries by visiting the government’s website. After days of cancellations, airlines appear to be boosting the number of flights out of the Middle East to Britain. On Wednesday, Emirates was expected …
A shocking new poll has revealed that 82% of Britons think Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should be removed from the line of succession after he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on Thursday. The poll was conducted among 7242 adults in the UK and ran between 5pm on Thursday night and 8am on Friday morning. It also found that 6% of respondents said Andrew should not be removed from the line of succession, while a further 12% said they did not know. The former Duke of York currently sits in eighth place in line to the throne behind Prince Harry’s daughter, Princess Lilibet, and ahead of his eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice. He still holds his place in the line of succession but has been stripped of his titles, including his princely title and honours. The new poll comes after Andrew was released from custody following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He spent 11 hours in custody and was pictured looking drained as he was driven out of Aylsham police station …
A package arrives but you can’t remember ordering anything. When you open it, you find some cheap, flimsy jewellery. Is it a case of mistaken identity or has someone accidentally selected the wrong address? You put it to one side and wait to see if anyone claims it or contacts you to ask if you got their gift, but no one does. While it is far from unusual for parcels to go astray, if one arrives with all your details on it, it is possible you have become an unsuspecting cog in a large-scale “brushing” fraud, a scam that is on the increase, according to online security experts. Fraudsters need your postage details, which they will often obtain through a data breach. They then set up a false online account in your name on the shopping site they are selling their goods on and post a fake verified and positive review, apparently from you, about the products you have received. These positive five-star reviews “brush up” their online ranking on the shopping site and also …
Four Britons have died within four months of being struck down with stomach bugs while on holiday in Cape Verde, lawyers representing their families say. Elena Walsh, from Birmingham, Mark Ashley, from Bedfordshire, Karen Pooley, from Gloucestershire, and a 56-year-old man all died last year after contracting severe gastric illnesses while staying on the island country off the coast of West Africa. Law firm Irwin Mitchell is investigating their deaths, as well as the deaths of two other Britons who died on holiday there since January 2023. It says it is representing more than 1,500 people who have fallen ill after visiting Cape Verde. Ms Walsh, 64, died in August last year after falling ill during her stay at a resort on the island of Sal. Image: Elena Walsh (centre) with her husband and son. Pic: PA Mr Ashley, who had diabetes but controlled through medication, fell ill three days into his holiday in October last year, with symptoms including stomach pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, and extreme lethargy. His widow Emma told PA their family …
Notifications from Facebook and Instagram have been pinging to users’ phones, asking if they want to pay £3.99 a month for their platforms – or continue to use them for free. So what are you paying for? Essentially, it’s to get rid of personalised ads. Read all the latest Money news here Image: This is the notification that popped up on Instagram We knew the subscription was coming after Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, announced it in September. But if you’ve also just received a notification, here’s what you need to know when deciding whether to pay… How much is it? Subscribers who use the Facebook or Instagram app will pay £3.99 a month to remove ads, while those who use the web version will pay £2.99. Meta said the app was more expensive due to fees charged by Apple and Google through their purchasing policies. These charges apply per account. Additional accounts are charged a £2 per month for web and £3 a month for app. Image: This is one of the …
Chinese robot pictured at Web Summit in Lisbon. Picture: Press Gazette/Dominic Ponsford Members of the public in the UK place huge value on real human-generated journalism and are deeply distrustful of AI in the media, according to a major new survey. UK news industry marketing body Newsworks commissioned a survey of 4,000 UK adults by One Poll carried out in October and November. Asked about the role of AI in news production, some 84% of respondents said it makes human editorial judgment more important. Asked to name three ways AI is affecting “you or society” the most popular answers were that it could reduce “human critical thinking or intelligence” and help “spread misinformation or false content”. Most UK national newsbrands do not use AI to write stories for publication. However, unscrupulous PR agencies have used the technology to industrialise the production of fake press releases which have been published more than 1,000 times in mainstream UK news publications. IPSO-regulated newsbrands have published hundreds of these stories, which often feature AI-generated images of imaginary spokespeople, exposing …
