Giardia can cause diarrhoea, bloating, burping, wind, weight loss, or even stunted growth or malnutrition in rare, untreated cases affecting children

Brits have been warned to take extra precautions travelling abroad as cases of a parasitic stomach bug have surged by more than 10 per cent.

Cases of giardiasis, a stomach bug which causes diarrhoea, bloating, burping, wind and weight loss, have risen by 11.4 per cent year-on-year, according to data shared by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The UKHSA revealed that there were 6,069 cases of giardiasis in England in 2025 – the highest since 2016 and up from 5,450 a year earlier.

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London reported the highest number of cases (1,568), following by the north west (1,029). Cases peaked in autumn, with the highest number of reports in October (599 cases), followed by September (580 cases) and November (574 cases).

Giardia infection can be picked up in the UK as well as overseas, and is spread by consuming contaminated food or water, or through direct contact with infected people or animals. It can also be sexually transmitted.

In rare untreated cases, children with the infection can suffer malnutrition and stunted growth.

Health officials said the 11.4 per cent annual rise in cases may be linked to increased travel since the pandemic, climate change, or better testing.

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Nicola Love, senior food safety surveillance lead at UKHSA, said: “We are seeing a rise in giardiasis in the UK. Symptoms can last from weeks to several months and if left untreated, it can cause serious complications especially in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems.”

According to the UKHSA, infections are being seen in people returning from Southern Asia, South-Eastern Asia, Africa and South America.

Those travelling should drink bottled water and eat cooked food rather than raw items, such as salads that have been washed in tap water.

The UKHSA also advised people to avoid swimming in rivers, lakes or the sea when abroad.

Ms Love said: “There are some simple precautions everyone can take to reduce their risk, whether you are planning an autumn getaway somewhere warm or staying in the UK. Good hygiene can help prevent giardiasis and other common gastro illnesses.

“Wash your hands with soap and water after using the toilet, after changing nappies, and before preparing food. Encourage children to wash their hands regularly too. If you have a giardia infection, continue to hydrate yourself and see your GP – do not go swimming until two weeks after your diarrhoea has stopped.

“Parents should contact their GP or NHS 111 if they or their children are ill with dehydration, or if diarrhoea worsens or lasts longer than three days.”

Precautions to take while travelling to avoid picking up giardia

• Drink bottled water
• Eat cooked food rather than raw items including salads
• Good hygiene – wash hands well with soap and water after using the toilet, changing nappies and before preparing or eating food
• Don’t swim in rivers, lakes or the sea while abroad
• Stay hydrated if you have a giardia infection
• Do not swim for at least two weeks after diarrhoea stops if you had giardia

Plans for a second Christmas market for Belfast are being discussed

A new Christmas market planned for Belfast must “feel like Belfast” and represent the city, it has been claimed.

For years, people have called for the Belfast Christmas Market to expand, move or even add an extra location.

Belfast Live understands a company separate from the current market operator wants to add a second Christmas market to the city, at Custom House Square.

While the news has largely been welcomed, there is a fear that this might push out local businesses in favour of international traders who will only be here throughout the festive season.

Michael Henderson, chief executive of the NI Food to Go Association, believes any expansion or addition of a new market is good for the city – but must have a local focus.

Speaking to Belfast Live, Mr Henderson said: “We absolutely recognise the importance of having a Christmas market in Belfast city centre. It attracts visitors, creates a sense of occasion and can deliver a valuable boost for the wider city-centre economy.”

On the topic of international traders, Mr Henderson added: “There is certainly room to welcome international traders who bring a continental element to the current city hall Christmas market, but that should complement rather than crowd out our own independent businesses.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Serena and Venus Williams are teaming up again at the U.S. Open.

The sisters will play doubles at the tournament after receiving a wild card Wednesday into the event they won twice.

Serena Williams returned to tennis this summer after a four-year absence, and the sisters were set to play at Wimbledon before Serena had to withdraw after injuring her knee in her singles loss. They played in the Cincinnati Open, losing in the first round.

The Williams sisters won the 1999 and 2009 U.S. Open doubles titles and are 27-7 in their nine appearances.

Serena, 44, played with Carlos Alcaraz in mixed doubles Tuesday, winning one match before losing in the quarterfinals. Venus, 46, is entered in the women’s singles event.

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

A two-year legal battle over a dramatic protest against the war on Gaza came to an end on Friday as seven protesters who’d blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge received 30-day sentences and $1,000 fines.

Over two dozen activists halted several lanes of traffic on the bridge on April 15, 2024, six months into Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory that has been widelyrecognized as a genocide. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins charged 26 of them with crimes. Most were offered diversion, in the form of fines and community service, but Jenkins hit seven protesters with a raft of serious charges, including felony conspiracy.

Six of the seven defendants — Sarah Ferrell, Conrad de Jesus, Em Tillotson, and Bhavika Anandpura of Oakland and Rocky Chau and River Allen of Richmond — had locked themselves together in order to halt commuter traffic coming into the city. A seventh, Sara Cantor, had served as a police liaison.

After a two-and-a-half-week trial, jurors deadlocked in June over the most serious charges but convicted the protesters on several misdemeanors, including obstructing a thoroughfare, unlawful assembly, and four counts of false imprisonment related to trapped commuters.

Jenkins’ office had considered a new trial on the conspiracy charges, but assistant district attorney Angela Roze announced on Friday that the remaining charges would all be dropped.

Jordan Harger, one of the 19 defendants who had received diversion, described that decision as something of a relief. “We were absolutely worried there’d be a new trial,” Harger said. “Brooke Jenkins has made harsh choices throughout this process.”

Each of the seven defendants, their spokesperson Raye Kahn said, received a 30-day sentence, which would include a combination of jail time and time in a county sheriff work program, as well as six months probation and a fine of $1,000. The defendants would get credit for time served for the four days they were held pretrial, which would probably leave them each serving no more than 15 days in jail.

The defendants’ attorneys, Kahn said, all plan to appeal the verdicts.

At trial, Roze argued that the protesters had cost the bridge authority thousands of dollars in lost tolls and had inconvenienced Bay Area residents, some of whom missed doctors’ appointments or work meetings.

Jenkins, in a statement, said she encourages civil discourse and First Amendment rights but the prosecutions serve “as a reminder that when such acts become unlawful and compromise public safety that there will have to be consequences.”

“We hope that imposing a custodial sentence will hopefully act as a deterrent to future criminal conduct by others considering blockading a bridge,” she said.

Given the multiple misdemeanor convictions, the seven defendants could have faced years in jail. But Harger still described the jail sentences as “devastating.” Harger said the four days the 26 original defendants spent in jail convinced them that San Francisco jails are unsafe and dangerous, with detainees facing inadequate nutrition and frigid cold.

“It is not possible to call anything that’s transpired justice,” Harger said. “This entire case has been punitive due to the substance of our speech and the focus of our protest. We’ve been punished because we were speaking about Palestine.”

The felony charges brought by Jenkins’ office were unusual for acts of civil disobedience in San Francisco. Golden Gate Bridge actions over the years to protest AIDS inaction, the environment, and Black Lives Matter resulted in misdemeanor charges or no charges at all.

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This story was originally published by The Oaklandside and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Meta has agreed to pay $17 billion and add child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms to end a landmark trial over teen social media addiction and settle claims filed by 47 states, state attorneys general announced Wednesday.

California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey were among 29 states that sued the tech giant in 2023, but the deal cuts short the trial, which was expected to see CEO Mark Zuckerberg take the stand before a jury in federal court in California.

The agreement is worth $353 million in Virginia alone and is one of the biggest in state consumer protection history, Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement.

“For years, Meta intentionally deceived the public about the addictive and harmful design features that have wreaked havoc on youth mental health,” Jones said. The settlement “will put an end to these dangerous practices and deliver meaningful relief that will protect children from online harm.”

Meta did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The $17 billion settlement is a fraction of the company’s 2025 revenue of $201 billion.

The lawsuit accused Meta of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms and hiding them from the public. It also argued that Meta violated federal laws by routinely collecting data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent.

The trial kicked off last week in Oakland, California, with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers overseeing the proceedings. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, began his testimony late Tuesday and defended Meta’s record and progress on child safety and privacy.

The cases in other states had been expected to go to trial later. In addition, nine attorneys general filed lawsuits in their respective states.

Under the proposed settlement, Meta agreed to adopt a series of safety features, including a “hard cap” on daily time limits and pauses for children using Instagram and Facebook.

It will eliminate push notifications during weekday school hours and bring in “robust” age-assurance measures and “age-appropriate” content controls to prevent bullying and harmful material about eating disorders and self-harm.

There will be stronger and more user-friendly parental controls and limits on social comparison features such as “like” counts.

The federal lawsuit was the result of an investigation led by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont. It followed newspaper reports, first by The Wall Street Journal in 2021, that found that the company knew about the harm Instagram can cause teenagers — especially teen girls — when it comes to mental health and body image issues.

Meta has since added a host of safety features to Instagram, including separate accounts for teenagers with stronger protections around messaging and privacy, along with content restrictions.

But child safety experts, along with some former Meta employees, have long contended that the features are little more than window dressing.

Arturo Béjar, a former Meta engineering director, said during his testimony last week that Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being.

“If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,” he said.

While the four states in the Oakland trial did not officially say how much they had been seeking, Meta said in a court filing that financial penalties in the case could amount to as much as $1.4 trillion — a figure legal experts said was unlikely, if not impossible.

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Chan reported from London. Associated Press Writer Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.

The former police officer will face an upcoming misconduct hearing

A former Cambridgeshire Police officer has been accused of having an “inappropriate” personal relationship with a woman. Former PC Neil Woodley has been accused of breaching the standards of professional behaviour to the level of gross misconduct.

It is alleged that former PC Woodley formed and maintained an “inappropriate personal relationship with a female member of the public” between June 12, 2022, and April 5, 2023.

He is accused of acting in a manner likely to bring discredit upon the police service. Between the same time frame, the former officer allegedly failed to discharge his duties and responsibilities diligently by failing to take appropriate safeguarding measures following reports of suicidal intent and/or self harm by a woman.

It is alleged that former PC Woodley breached the standards of professional behaviour in duties and responsibilities and discreditable conduct. An upcoming misconduct hearing will determine whether he committed gross misconduct.

The hearing will take place online on Tuesday, September 1.

Emergency services, including six fire engines were called to a house fire on Birchington Avenue at 5.23am on August 26 where sadly, two people have been confirmed dead.

Four people have been taken to James Cook University Hospital for further treatment.

The fire service has confirmed the fire has now been extinguished and have released an updated statement.

Emergency services at the scene of a major residential fire on Birchington Avenue, in Grangetown, Middlesbrough (Image: North News & Pictures Ltd)

The force said: “Following Cleveland Fire Brigade’s attendance at a house fire on Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, this morning (Wednesday, August 26), we can confirm that the fire has now been extinguished.

“Six fire appliances from Grangetown, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Saltburn attended the incident, along with the Incident Command Unit. One appliance remains at the scene on protective standby.

“We can confirm that six people were inside the property at the time of the fire. Tragically, two people have died.

“One person remains in a critical condition, while three others are receiving treatment.

“The circumstances surrounding this tragic incident will now be jointly investigated by Cleveland Police and Cleveland Fire Brigade’s fire investigation officers.

“It is with great sadness that we share this update. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of everyone affected at this incredibly difficult time.”

Firefighters were spotted dampening down the smoking roof of the home which has been wrecked by the fire.

A ladder was also seen propped against a rear upstairs window of the family home.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “My daughter heard shouting and screaming this morning. The dogs were barking.”

The neighbour said a family lived at the house, adding: “I don’t know the people who live there, we just say hello when we walk past.”

Another resident said: “It’s just horrible, we were all in bed when it happened.”

While another added it was a “tragic incident for this area.”

Emergency services at the scene of a major residential fire on Birchington Avenue, in Grangetown, Middlesbrough (Image: North News & Pictures Ltd)

Police officers continue to guard a cordon around the scene.

Redcar and Cleveland Local Policing Commander, Superintendent Emily Harrison, said: “This is a tragic incident which has sadly resulted in the deaths of a number of people this morning, and their families are being supported by specially trained officers.

 “We are working to establish the circumstances of exactly what has happened, but we are keeping an open mind and cannot rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time.

“We will have a high visibility presence in the Grangetown area as this investigation progresses, and to provide reassurance to local communities, who will no doubt be impacted by this tragic incident.

 “We encourage anyone who has concerns, or who may have information regarding the incident in the early hours of this morning, to approach one of our officers or to contact Cleveland Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously.”

Anna Turley, MP for Redcar & Cleveland added: “I am devastated to hear of the tragic loss of life following this morning’s fire in Grangetown.

“My deepest condolences are with the families, friends and loved ones of those who have died, and my thoughts are also with those injured and receiving treatment.

“Our community has faced a profound amount of heartbreak over the past few weeks.

“Please keep everyone affected in your thoughts, give the emergency services the space they need, and avoid speculation as Cleveland Police & emergency services continue their investigation.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded Elon Musk the Order of Freedom, one of the nation’s highest state honors, citing his “outstanding personal merits” in safeguarding human life and liberty while reinforcing connections between Ukraine and the United States.

Musk, founder of SpaceX, has emerged as a central, if controversial, private figure in Ukraine’s defense effort. His deployment of the Starlink satellite network provided a crucial communications lifeline for both troops and civilians following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

The satellite network is now deeply integrated into Ukraine’s military infrastructure, with service members and commanders depending on the connection to coordinate battlefield actions.

Starlink does not currently function over Russian territory but Zelensky is urging Musk to alter the policy. Enabling access across the border would allow Ukrainian forces to maintain continuous satellite links during long-range drone attacks against Russian military and industrial targets.

Musk did not immediately offer a comment regarding the award, which was conferred via presidential decree.

Elon Musk has restricted Starlink use in Russia

The technology has proved essential to Ukraine’s aerial strategy, helping operators guide drones over extended distances. This access was instrumental in the initial success of Kyiv’s medium-range drone strikes, which disrupted Russian logistics lines earlier this year.

While Musk permits Ukrainian forces to utilize Starlink within national boundaries—including regions currently held by Russian troops—he maintains strict restrictions on its operation inside Russia proper.

SpaceX further aided Kyiv earlier this year by responding to requests to deactivate unauthorized Starlink units being operated by Russian personnel in occupied zones.

These actions helped place sustained pressure on Russian supply lines in Crimea, affording Ukrainian troops a degree of tactical momentum not experienced since the major counteroffensives in Kharkiv and Kherson in late 2022.

Musk’s critical role underlines how Kyiv remains dependent on a single private individual. Because Starlink is so deeply woven into military communications, SpaceX holds considerable leverage over how its technology is deployed.

Preserving a positive relationship with Musk is paramount for Kyiv, given that his policy decisions carry immediate consequences for the country’s defense capabilities.

Zelensky has requested assistance from American officials to convince Musk to widen Starlink’s operational range. However, Musk considers expanding access inside Russia to be a “significant and dangerous escalation,” according to statements Zelensky made to journalists last week.

The friction over Starlink’s boundaries has also triggered internal political fallout in Kyiv. Miscommunication regarding whether SpaceX had authorized Starlink usage within Russian territory created friction between Zelensky and former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who served as the government’s primary liaison to Musk.

Fedorov was subsequently removed from his post in July during a broader cabinet reorganization.

Zelensky noted that inaccurate reports from the Defense Ministry concerning SpaceX’s stance led to a difficult interaction with U.S. President Donald Trump, who alleged that the Ukrainian leader had misled him.

This confusion played a role in “some of the steps” taken regarding Fedorov, Zelensky indicated to reporters, though he did not directly accuse the former minister of intentional deception.

Fedorov’s departure highlights the far-reaching political consequences of Musk’s involvement in the conflict.