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Top Five News Stories On BBC News

By Denzel Hammett
Published on: 10:22 PST, Aug 26, 2015

BBC News is one of the world’s top news sources, arguably because it is paid for by the TV License fee in Britain, which, for America, would be like a mandatory payment to PBS. Whatever your stance on this issue, this article is about what is important to the United Kingdom as of August 26, 2015. All of these stories have national and international significance and are important to read if you are interested in a wide variety of reliable news.

1. Chilcot explains delay to Iraq families (Politics) — This is the British Iraq War inquiry which began as of June 15, 2009. It is now one of the longest-running inquiries in British history as results are not being published due, in part, to new lines of inquiry as those under scrutiny have the opportunity to submit their own evidence and make their own lines of inquiry, thereby having the potential to delay the results indefinitely. However, according to BBC News, this is likely because Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who took the country to war with U.S. president George W. Bush, as well as a number of other high-profile figures, is likely to face criticism (and possibly criminal charges) for justifying the war based on bad intelligence, in particular such claims as the “45 minute claim,” which was used to claim that Saddam Hussain, the President of Iraq, had the capability to attack Britain within 45 minutes.

“Iraq has probably dispersed its special weapons, including its CBW [chemical and biological warfare] weapons. Intelligence also indicates that from forward-deployed storage sites, chemical and biological munitions could be with military units and ready for firing within 45 minutes.”

Other elements of bad intelligence included the now infamous “Dodgy Dossier” which was a clear intelligence failure in its focus on one PhD Thesis which turned out to be plagiarized.

“The February document was discovered to contain information plagiarised from Ibrahim al-Marashi, an American student’s thesis.”

It is no surprise, then, that as BBC News reports, families of soldiers killed in Iraq are now looking to sue Chilcot for the delay. The forced publication of the document could have implications for the U.S. If it turns out that it is proved Tony Blair lied about Iraq, and did so with George Bush’s backing, the former U.S. president could find himself facing charges for war crimes.

2. Invasive bug “could spread in UK” (Science and Environment) — A London caterpillar is apparently threatening the environment of the rest of the U.K. by consuming all of its hedges.

“An infestation can reduce the glossy green leaves of a box hedge to a faded skeleton within a few days of hatching.”

BBC News reports that the fear is that the invasion has the potential to happen very quickly, too fast for anything to be done about it. The moth apparently is a migrant from China and therefore has no natural predators that would limit its population.

3. Laser detects brain tumour during surgery (Health) — A non-invasive laser can be used to diagnose brain tumors. BBC News reports that the procedure is done by pointing a near-infrared laser probe at the exposed brain which causes cells to harmlessly vibrate. The rate at which the particles vibrate are then measured and cancer cells, which have their own unique vibration “signature,” can exactly be pinpointed for later treatment.

Before this technique, it was necessary to take biopsies of the brain, which itself caused damage and did not identify the location of tumors to the precise location necessary to spare the healthy tissue around the cancer. This is significant as the brain is vital to every function of the body, especially memory, intelligence, and motor control.

4. Ashley Madison delete tool detailed (Technology) — The exposing of thousands of accounts of the infidelity website Ashley Madison has, according to BBC News, revealed that users had the option to delete their data on the website, but the tool was flawed insofar as it still retained vital information about users which could later be used, for example, to identify where the person lived, by retaining GPS location details. According to BBC News, the full list of information consisted of several vital statistics.

“This included:

  • Email address, which replaced with “deleted@almlabs.com”
  • First and last name
  • Street address and postcode
  • Home, work and mobile numbers
  • Answer to security question.”

5. FTSE drops as Chinese fears resurge (Business) — BBC News reported that by the close of Wednesday’s trading, the FTSE 100 closed down 102 points (1.68 percent) at 5,972.2. Although the U.S. stock market has had a recovery, the U.K. and Europe are still worried about the Chinese markets.

There is more to this story than just one day of trading. If global stocks continue to fall, it is possible that another global recession could scupper the U.K. economic recovery and this would mean that Europe and the U.S. could also find a return to the economy of 2008, which was marked by high unemployment, falling stocks, and recession.

In closing, the BBC News website is a valuable news source which provides local and international coverage significant to the U.S. as an alternative news source.

[Image from Carl Court/Getty Images]

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