Author: Press Room

Health Secretary James Murray unveiled plans to stop vapes being marketed to children. Murray said too many young people were being lured into experimenting with vapes. Under the proposals, packaging would need to be bland, with limits on imagery and branding. Names relating to confectionery, sweets, desserts and alcohol would be banned to make products less appealing to children. Health experts say there is no reason for nicotine products to come in neon packaging or use flavours designed to catch a child’s eye. Murray said: “The evidence is clear: too many young people are experimenting with vapes, attracted by flavours,…

The music industry told five women they could not conquer the globe. Then they released a single and sold more than 8 million copies worldwide, according to BBC reports. Melanie Chisholm, known to the world as Sporty Spice, described the 30th anniversary of the debut hit Wannabe as a very emotional day. The milestone fell on Wednesday this week. Speaking at the Nordoff And Robbins Silver Clef Awards at the Royal Albert Hall, the 52-year-old singer received the global impact award. She recalled the early thrill of seeing the song in shops. Chisholm said it was everything they dreamed of.…

UK shoppers are being targeted by fake portable air conditioner adverts, claiming to cool rooms in 90 seconds, as the country braces for another hot weekend. These adverts, appearing on Facebook and YouTube, boast of being designed by former Nasa engineers, but the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) warns they are often “too good to be true”. YouTuber Stuart Matthews bought several devices to test, paying £70 for one, only to find it was a simple fan worth a few pounds, he told the BBC. The ASA has seen adverts making exaggerated claims, including cooling entire homes within minutes or using…

Jinjiang, a city in south-eastern China, has seen a factory fire kill at least 28 people, according to the state news agency. Xinhua posted footage showing huge plumes of black smoke rising from a building, as well as people trapped on the roof. President Xi Jinping said the blaze caused “major casualties” and those responsible must be held “strictly accountable”. Jinjiang, in Fujian province, is often referred to as China’s “shoe capital” as it manufactures 20% of the world’s sports shoes, according to reports. The blaze erupted at the Huiteng Footwear factory at around noon local time on Thursday, state…

Andy Burnham is one step away from becoming Labour leader after 322 MPs backed him. This near-unanimous support puts Burnham on the brink of becoming the next prime minister, with only one more nomination needed to make it mathematically impossible for a rival to run against him. According to Labour MPs, some were unable to vote on Thursday but will back Burnham once they return to Parliament, all but guaranteeing his victory. Burnham’s rapid rise to power follows his by-election win in Makerfield just weeks ago, and if no one else enters the contest, he will be declared Labour leader…

p>Michigan has reported over 1,000 cyclosporiasis cases, with more than 500 cases in Ohio, according to the Associated Press. The outbreak is the largest in Michigan’s history and one of the country’s largest in years, with the parasitic infection causing weeks of watery diarrhea. No deaths have been reported, but the source of the infections has not been identified, with Michigan officials announcing the outbreak last week after identifying over 170 cases since June 22. Typically, only about 50 cases are identified in Michigan each year, according to the Associated Press, with similar illnesses reported in 28 other states, including…

A 22-year-old student pilot was forced to land a Cessna 150G alone on Saturday after her instructor leaped to his death from the cockpit. The act turned a routine training flight over the province of Córdoba into a psychological nightmare. Leandro Andrés Bertazzo, 42, decided to jump from the two-seat aircraft while mid-flight, according to CNN and its affiliate TN. The instructor left his pupil, Rosario, to handle the aircraft in total isolation. Rosario told authorities that Bertazzo gave her a final, chilling instruction before he departed. He told her, “You know what you have to do, carry on,” according…

A stolen Medicare number can be harder to scrub from a medical file than a fraudulent charge on a credit card. The Justice Department recently charged 455 people in its annual National Health Care Fraud Takedown, involving more than $6.5 billion in alleged false claims. The scale of the operation is vast, with ninety of the accused being doctors or other licensed medical professionals. According to the DOJ, more state Medicaid units participated in this year’s effort than in any prior year. Prosecutors must still prove these charges in court. The schemes often preyed on the vulnerable to mask the…

Russian citizen Igor Rogov, once a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, now faces seven years in a Polish jail for spying for Moscow. His wife Irina was sentenced to three years. Warsaw has been on high alert for Russian sabotage since the invasion of Ukraine over four years ago. According to court documents seen by AFP, Rogov gathered information on Russian opposition members and organisations in Poland. Rogov, a former activist for the anti-Kremlin group Open Russia, was living in Poland with his wife since 2022. He appeared in court holding a poster with slogans against Putin’s rule, reported…

Femi Koleoso and James Mollison of Ezra Collective spoke about their artistry at Sussex’s Love Supreme festival. Koleoso noted that “dancefloors are dancefloors, whether it’s people with instruments or people with turntables, there’s a synergy between all those spaces”. The pair reminisced about favourite dancefloor memories, including east London’s Passing Clouds and north London’s University of Dub night at the Scala. Koleoso remembered Sunday sessions at the Haggerston pub, where a jazz jam took place at the same time as a disco night. The Haggerston was where drummer Koleoso met his future mentor, Afrobeat innovator Tony Allen. Koleoso was playing…