Scotland ban announced for plastic cotton buds
Clare Cavers Hundreds of plastic bud stems collected on just 100m of beach at Gullane, East Lothian The sale and manufacture of plastic-stemmed cotton buds is to be banned under new Scottish government plans. Most major retailers have already switched to paper-stemmed buds following a campaign but plastic ones are still being sold. Hundreds were […]
Facebook in a scrape over data
BBC What have we learned about what happens when we share our data with Facebook? On this week’s Tech Tent podcast, we look at the new revelations and consider the impact on the company and its users. On Wednesday, Facebook revealed that as many as 87 million people have had their data improperly shared with […]
Coventry bands to help The Tin music venue’s £10k revamp plan
A music and arts venue has begun fundraising to improve its “shabby” exterior which managers said was putting off customers. The Tin, a former coal storage area in Coventry’s canal basin, has been awarded funding by the Veolia Environmental Trust and needs to raise £10,000 to complete the project. “A lot of people who come […]
The Californian district attorney with a unique background
N/A San Francisco District Attorney, Chesa Boudin San Francisco’s top prosecutor has a unique life story and a background as a criminal justice reformer. He spoke with the BBC’s James Clayton. Chesa Boudin was elected district attorney of San Francisco in November last year. His background is unusual to say the least. In 1981, as […]
FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried arrives in US to face charges
Reuters Sam Bankman-Fried was led in handcuffs to the plane Sam Bankman-Fried, former boss of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has arrived by plane in New York from the Bahamas to face fraud charges. The 30-year-old was extradited on suspicion of committing “one of the biggest financial frauds in US history”, US authorities have said. Mr […]
A tiny village reviving Gaelic culture
Christopher Drabble/Alamy The small town of Eilean Iarmain has been at the forefront of Scotland’s Gaelic revival (Credit: Christopher Drabble/Alamy) Since the 1970s, the town of Eilean Iarmain has been at the forefront of Scotland’s Gaelic revival. Now, a new generation of locals are ready to share their culture with tourists. The water ripples to […]
Singapore turns to wearable contact-tracing Covid tech
Andrew Huang Singapore’s TraceTogether Tokens are the latest effort to tackle Covid-19 with tech. But they have also reignited a privacy debate. The wearable devices complement the island’s existing contact-tracing app, to identify people who might have been infected by those who have tested positive for the virus. All users have to do is carry […]
Japan’s humble birthplace of soy sauce
Tom Schiller (Credit: Tom Schiller) Soy sauce is ubiquitous throughout Japan and the world. But few know about the ancient origins of the holy grail of Japanese cuisine. Carefully climbing the steep stairs, I followed Tsunenori Kano into the loft of the fermentation room of his family’s 180-year-old soy sauce brewery, Kadocho. The dark space […]
Open University overhaul risks job cuts
Getty Images The OU is proposing a radical overhaul to secure its future for the next 50 years Staff at the Open University are likely to face job losses as the institution launches “a radical overhaul”. A “root-and-branch review” aims to save £100m from an annual budget of £420m, said OU management in a statement. […]
Hong Kong’s ‘greasy spoon’ cafes
D3sign/Getty Images (Credit: D3sign/Getty Images) With a fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic washing over Hong Kong, all restaurants in the city have been ordered to pull down their shutters by 18:00. Daytime business in the city’s cha chaan tengs has mostly remained brisk, however. The quirky, no-nonsense cafes have long served up affordable staples […]