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UK general election 2024: How the BBC reports polling day - BBC News | 2024-06-24 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The BBC is not allowed to report details of campaigning while the polls are open on election day. | UK Politics | The BBC, like other broadcasters, is not allowed to report details of campaigning or election issues while polls are open on the day of the general election, 4 July. The BBC prepares detailed election guidelines which are written and published for each election, and they include guidance about polling day. On polling day, the BBC does not report on any of the election campaigns from 06:00 BST until polls close at 22:00 BST on TV, radio or bbc.co.uk, or on social media and other channels. However, online sites do not have to remove archived reports, including, for instance, programmes on iPlayer. The lists of candidates, as well as the manifesto guides, remain available online during polling day. Coverage of what is happening on the day is usually restricted to uncontroversial factual accounts, such as the appearance of politicians at polling stations, or the weather. It tends to focus on giving information that will help voters with the process of going to polling stations.
Subjects which have been at issue or part of the campaign - or other controversial matters relating to the election - must not be covered on polling day itself until the polls have closed. That means no opinion poll on any issue relating to politics or the election can be published until the polls have closed. While the polls are open, it is a criminal offence to publish "exit polls" which includes surveys on how people have said they have voted in the election and may also offer a prediction on the election result based on what voters have said. The BBC, however, is still able to report on events which are not directly related to the elections; and if there are stories about the mechanics of polling day, especially if they might contain important information to help voters, such as an incident at their local polling station, then that too can be reported, but, of course, with impartiality and editorial justification. From 22:00 BST, after the close of the polls, the election guidelines no longer apply - but the BBC must still report on the election, of course, with the impartiality requirements set out by both Ofcom and the BBC's own Editorial Guidelines. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48124106 |
The Global Story - Ukraine war: The men avoiding conscription - BBC Sounds | 2024-06-24 | null | Many draft-eligible Ukrainians are hiding from mobilisation squads | null | Tesla’s shareholders want to give him $56 billion. Now it's up to a judge if he gets it | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct6dt2 |
Voting for the first time: All you need to know - BBC News | 2024-06-25 | null | Everything you need to know about voting for the first time in the UK election, including what to take, how to mark your ballot and whether you can take a selfie. | null | Voting for the first time: All you need to know
The UK general election is being held on Thursday 4 July. If you've registered to vote for the first time, here is our guide to the dos and don'ts of voting in person and what to expect at the polling station.
Do I need ID to vote?
You must show proof of identity in order to vote, following a new requirement introduced last year.
A passport, driving licence or a PASS-accredited student card are the forms of photo ID most commonly used by people voting for the first time.
You can recognise qualifying ID cards from the PASS hologram on the front.
You can find a full list of accepted forms of photo ID here.
Do I need to take my poll card?
Polling stations open at 07:00 and close at 22:00 on Thursday, 4 July.
Bringing your polling card when you vote may speed up the process, but you don’t have to take it with you.
The poll clerks at the desk have a list of the people who can vote at that polling station and can look your name up.
How do I cast my vote?
Once the clerks at the desk have confirmed your identity they will give you a ballot paper.
If you wear a face covering - for religious, cultural or medical reasons - you will have to remove it briefly for the clerk to check your face against your photo. There will be a private area to use, if you want, and women may request that a female member of staff confirms their identity.
You will be directed to a booth. Take your ballot paper there and read it.
Just like an exam paper it explains at the top how to fill in the ballot.
Who do I vote for?
The politicians you may have seen on the TV debates or in clips online are probably the party leaders, who could become prime minister if their party gets the most MPs.
Unless you live in their constituency, their names will not be on the ballot paper.
Each ballot paper will have a list of all the people standing for election in your area, the name of the party they are standing for - unless they are standing without one, in which case it will say "independent" - and a box for you to put a cross in to indicate you are voting for that candidate.
It can be nerve-racking casting your vote in an important election.
Don't panic if you make a mistake. You can hand the ballot back and ask for another one. No problem.
You should put a cross against the candidate you wish to vote for.
But don't sweat it too much. As long as it is clear that you have made a deliberate mark on the ballot to indicate that you are voting for a particular candidate, your vote will be counted.
Don't worry if your X has crept slightly outside the box.
There are laws to prevent people being intimidated at the voting station or having their vote revealed and photographs are considered a risk under both of those regulations.
As a result, most polling officers ban all photography within the polling station.
You'll have to take that selfie in front of the polling station sign outside instead.
Who are the people outside the polling station?
Tellers are volunteers for the candidates who wait outside polling stations to get an idea of how many people have remembered to vote.
A teller can ask you if you voted and may ask for your electoral number.
You don’t have to answer any of their questions and they must remain polite and not push you for an answer.
If you want to talk to them, fine. If not you can just smile and walk away.
What if I can't get to the polling station?
Stuff happens. If for some reason you can’t get to the polling station - maybe you have to leave town for work or are too ill to vote - you can request an emergency proxy vote.
You need to fill in an emergency proxy vote form and return it to the elections team at your local council before the deadline.
You will need someone to confirm your reason for requesting the emergency proxy vote. If you are too ill to vote, it should be a registered health professional. If you can't vote due to work, it could be a manager or work colleague.
And then you need someone else who is a registered voter to go to the polling station and mark a ballot paper for you.
You can apply until 5pm on election day - though you can also apply up to six days ahead, if you realise you won’t make it to the polling station.
And that's all you need to know.
Full coverage of the election campaign ahead of the 4 July vote is available online. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-140d75fc-e283-4c66-899f-cc01643770e7 |
Julian Assange: Campaigner or attention seeker? - BBC News | 2024-06-25 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Wikileaks founder has won both support and criticism for his whistleblowing efforts. | World | Julian Assange spent years fighting extradition to the US
To his supporters, Julian Assange is a valiant campaigner for truth. To his critics, he is a publicity seeker who has endangered lives by putting a mass of sensitive information into the public domain. Assange is described by those who have worked with him as intense, driven and highly intelligent, with an exceptional ability to crack computer codes. He set up Wikileaks, which publishes confidential documents and images, in 2006, making headlines around the world in April 2010 when it released footage showing US soldiers shooting dead 18 civilians from a helicopter in Iraq. But later that year the Australian was detained in the UK - and later bailed - after Sweden issued an international arrest warrant over allegations of sexual assault. Assange argued it was a ploy to ultimately extradite to the US to face espionage charges - kicking off a legal saga which has now spanned 14 years, embroiled five countries and reached some of the world's highest courts. But the 52-year-old is now free - bailed and on his way to the Northern Mariana Islands - where he is on Wednesday expected to plead guilty to a single charge after reaching a deal with US authorities. He is expected to be released immediately, given the time he has already served in prison in the UK, and will return to Australia.
Assange has been generally reluctant to talk about his background, but media interest since the emergence of Wikileaks has thrown up some insight into his influences. He was born in Townsville in the Australian state of Queensland in 1971, and led a rootless childhood while his parents ran a touring theatre. He became a father at 18 and custody battles soon followed. The development of the internet gave him a chance to use his early promise at maths, though this too led to difficulties.
After pleading guilty to "hacking", Assange escaped prison on the condition he did not reoffend
In 1995 Assange was accused, with a friend, of dozens of hacking activities. Though the group of hackers was skilled enough to track detectives tracking them, Assange was eventually caught and pleaded guilty. He was fined several thousand Australian dollars - only escaping a prison term on the condition that he did not reoffend. He dabbled in the world of academia - co-writing a bestselling book on the emerging, subversive side of the internet, before studying physics and maths.
Assange began Wikileaks in 2006 with a group of like-minded people from across the web, creating a web-based "dead-letterbox" for would-be leakers. "[To] keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions," he told the BBC in 2011. "We've become good at it, and never lost a case, or a source, but we can't expect everyone to go through the extraordinary efforts that we do."
Assange told the BBC that in order to protect sources he would "encrypt everything"
He could go for long stretches without eating and focus on work with very little sleep, according to Raffi Khatchadourian, a reporter for the New Yorker magazine who spent several weeks travelling with him. "He creates this atmosphere around him where the people who are close to him want to care for him, to help keep him going. I would say that probably has something to do with his charisma." But it was in 2010 that Wikileaks - and Assange - really shot to prominence, with the release of the footage of the US helicopter firing on civilians in Iraq. He promoted and defended the video, as well as the massive release of classified US military documents on the Afghan and Iraq wars in July and October 2010. The whistleblowing website went on to release new tranches of documents, including five million confidential emails from US-based intelligence company Stratfor. It soon found itself fighting for survival, when a number of US financial institutions began to block donations. And shortly after, Swedish authorities began chasing him for questioning over claims that he had raped one woman and sexually molested and coerced another in August 2010, while on a visit to Stockholm to give a lecture. By the end of 2010, an international warrant had been issued for his arrest.
From the embassy's balcony in 2012, Assange urged the US to end its "witchhunt" against Wikileaks
Assange says the encounters were entirely consensual - and the rape allegations were part of a politically motivated smear campaign - spending a year and a half challenging the warrant in court. When the UK Supreme Court upheld it, Assange turned to then Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa for help, the two men having expressed similar views on freedom in the past. In June 2012 he sought asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition. His stay at the embassy was punctuated by occasional press statements and interviews. He made a submission to the UK's Leveson Inquiry into press standards, saying he had faced "widespread inaccurate and negative media coverage". It was during this time that concerns over his health first began to surface - but Assange dismissed reports that he would be leaving the embassy to seek medical treatment.
Assange dismissed reports in 2014 that he would be leaving the embassy to seek medical treatment
After spending almost seven years inside the embassy, Assange was dramatically dragged from the premises and arrested by British police on 11 April 2019. Ecuadorean President Lenín Moreno - who said he had "inherited" the situation from his predecessor - tweeted that his country had taken "a sovereign decision", to withdraw his asylum status. Mr Moreno and his government had grown increasingly frustrated with Assange and his refusal to follow the rules they had imposed for his continued stay in the embassy. There were "repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols" by Assange, he said in a video statement. But Ecuador had requested that Great Britain guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty, Mr Moreno added.
In 2019 Met Police officers dragged Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had stayed since 2012
Assange was taken into custody at a central London police station - charged with failing to surrender to court back in 2012 - and on 1 May 2019 was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail. In the following weeks, Swedish prosecutors promptly reopened their investigation into the 2010 rape claims and the US publicly charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act, related to the publication of classified documents in 2010. The US Department of Justice has described the leaks as "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States". Wikileaks said the announcement was "madness" and "the end of national security journalism". As Assange prepared to fight against extradition to the US, Swedish prosecutors announced that the investigation into the 2010 rape allegation had been dropped, because the evidence against Assange was "not strong enough to form the basis for filing an indictment". Since then his case has been tied up in legal back-and-forth and a series of appeals. In 2021, a British court ruled in his favour, blocking his extradition - but that was later successfully appealed by the US government. And just last month the UK Supreme Court decided that Assange could appeal the US extradition order - again. All the while, Assange has sat in London's maximum security Belmarsh Prison. It was there that in 2022 he married his partner of seven years, Stella Moris, a South African lawyer and long-time member of his legal team. She is also the mother of Assange's two young children, who were conceived while Assange was living in the Ecuadorean embassy.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Julian Assange’s wife said she dreaded going public with their relationship
His family have long said his health was steadily and dramatically declining and they feared he would die or kill himself. As the saga has dragged on, the UK and the US have faced growing pressure - from public campaign and from Assange's home country of Australia - to resolve the case. In February Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country as a whole shared the view that "enough is enough". "This thing cannot just go on and on and on indefinitely". Rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have all called for his release, saying his treatment has been cruel and his case a threat to press freedom. He's also won support from countless figures of global power and influence, including former leader of the UK Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, linguist Noam Chomsky, Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, and the late fashion icon Dame Vivienne Westwood.
The late Dame Vivienne Westwood had appeared at rallies calling for Assange's release
But his critics - which include former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and retiring Republican stalwart Mitch McConnell- say he is not a journalist and endangers lives by publishing troves of documents without redaction. After the final hearing on Wednesday in the US territory of Saipan - a Pacific island north of Guam - he is expected to return to Australia and be reunited with his family. They have expressed relief and thanked his supporters. "I am grateful that my son's ordeal is finally coming to an end. This shows the importance and power of quiet diplomacy," his mother Christine Assange said in a statement.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11047811 |
Julian Assange back in Australia after leaving US court a free man - BBC News | 2024-06-25 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Wikileaks founder embraced his wife in Canberra, hours after pleading guilty to one charge in the Northern Mariana Islands. | World | The last word in the news conference goes to Julian Assange's wife, Stella.
She says she hopes the media "realise the danger of this US case against Julian, that criminalises, that has secured his conviction for newsgathering and publishing information that was true, that the public deserved to know".
She repeats her hopes for a presidential pardon in the US.
"I think he'll be pardoned if the press unite to push back against this precedent," she says.
Her husband, she concludes, "remains principled and unafraid".
Stella Assange at the news conference in Canberra Image caption: Stella Assange at the news conference in Canberra | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-69145409 |
UK general election 2024: How the BBC reports polling day - BBC News | 2024-06-25 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The BBC is not allowed to report details of campaigning while the polls are open on election day. | UK Politics | The BBC, like other broadcasters, is not allowed to report details of campaigning or election issues while polls are open on the day of the general election, 4 July. The BBC prepares detailed election guidelines which are written and published for each election, and they include guidance about polling day. On polling day, the BBC does not report on any of the election campaigns from 06:00 BST until polls close at 22:00 BST on TV, radio or bbc.co.uk, or on social media and other channels. However, online sites do not have to remove archived reports, including, for instance, programmes on iPlayer. The lists of candidates, as well as the manifesto guides, remain available online during polling day. Coverage of what is happening on the day is usually restricted to uncontroversial factual accounts, such as the appearance of politicians at polling stations, or the weather. It tends to focus on giving information that will help voters with the process of going to polling stations.
Subjects which have been at issue or part of the campaign - or other controversial matters relating to the election - must not be covered on polling day itself until the polls have closed. That means no opinion poll on any issue relating to politics or the election can be published until the polls have closed. While the polls are open, it is a criminal offence to publish "exit polls" which includes surveys on how people have said they have voted in the election and may also offer a prediction on the election result based on what voters have said. The BBC, however, is still able to report on events which are not directly related to the elections; and if there are stories about the mechanics of polling day, especially if they might contain important information to help voters, such as an incident at their local polling station, then that too can be reported, but, of course, with impartiality and editorial justification. From 22:00 BST, after the close of the polls, the election guidelines no longer apply - but the BBC must still report on the election, of course, with the impartiality requirements set out by both Ofcom and the BBC's own Editorial Guidelines. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48124106 |
Watch: Floods and evacuations after Ukraine dam breach - BBC News | 2024-06-25 | null | Homes have been destroyed and residents evacuated after the Kakhovka dam was destroyed, leading to flooding. | null | Homes have been destroyed and residents evacuated amid flooding after Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam was destroyed. The country’s military has accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam in the occupied region of Kherson. Russia has denied destroying the dam - which it controls - instead blaming Ukrainian shelling. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65830081 |
Julian Assange: A timeline of Wikileaks founder's case - BBC News | 2024-06-25 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | From a rape allegation in Sweden to jail in the UK, here are the key dates in his case. | Europe | Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange is set to return to Australia a free man after over a decade fighting extradition to the United States on espionage charges.
The 52-year-old Australian was arrested in April 2019 at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he had been staying since 2012.
He sought asylum at the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation that he denied - and claimed was a ploy to hand him over to the US.
After his arrest, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions and had been in London's maximum security Belmarsh prison ever since. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11949341 |
General election 2024 poll tracker: How do the parties compare? - BBC News | 2024-06-25 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How do people say they will vote in the UK general election? Our poll tracker measures the trends. | UK Politics | There's quite a lot of variation between the polls but they all agree that Labour has a big lead over the Conservatives, writes senior political analyst Peter Barnes.
The polls have had quite a broad range of figures over the last few days, particularly for the Conservatives and Reform UK.
This is partly explained by how different polling companies deal with people who say they're undecided about how to vote - but there's certainly more variation than at the same stage of the last election campaign in 2019.
However, if you look at the poll averages, there's been very little change for any of the parties over the last ten days or so.
Labour still has a lead of around 20 points over the Conservatives with Reform UK in third and the Liberal Democrats in fourth. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68079726 |
Wikileaks: Document dumps that shook the world - BBC News | 2024-06-25 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Since 2006, Wikileaks has published thousands of classified documents and emails. | Technology | Julian Assange's Wikileaks - which has published thousands of classified documents covering everything from the film industry to national security and wars - has been dividing opinion for years. To its supporters, the whistleblowing website is a key player in exposing secrets governments and companies would rather keep hidden. But to those who found their documents exposed on the web, it is a dangerous and reckless force. The US government has argued that the publication of the Wikileaks files - which disclosed information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - went as far as endangering lives. Here are a few of the leaks which went on to make headlines around the world.
In 2010, Wikileaks published a video from a US military helicopter showing the killing of civilians in Baghdad, Iraq. A voice on the transmission urged the pilots to "light 'em all up" and the individuals on the street were fired at from the helicopter. When a van arrived on the scene to pick up the wounded, it too was fired at. Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his assistant Saeed Chmagh were both killed in the attack.
Wikileaks has published hundreds of thousands of documents leaked by former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. Documents relating to the war in Afghanistan revealed how the US military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents.
Further documents from the Iraq war revealed that 66,000 civilians had been killed - more than previously reported. The documents also showed that prisoners had been tortured by Iraqi forces. Among the leaks were more than 250,000 messages sent by US diplomats. They revealed that the US wanted to collect "biographic and biometric" information - including iris scans, DNA samples and fingerprints - of key officials at the UN.
About 573,000 intercepted pager messages sent during the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States were published by Wikileaks. The messages include families checking up on their loved ones and government departments reacting to the attacks. "President has been rerouted won't be returning to Washington but not sure where he will go," one message said.
Wikileaks published thousands of hacked emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign boss John Podesta, in the run-up to the US presidential election in 2016. In the emails, Mr Podesta called Mrs Clinton's election rival Bernie Sanders a "doofus" for criticising the Paris climate change agreement.
The emails also suggested that a CNN contributor tipped off the Clinton campaign about a question that was going to be asked during a debate hosted by the broadcaster. The timing of the leaks led to accusations that Wikileaks was deliberately trying to discredit Mrs Clinton.
The site also published leaked information from Republican Sarah Palin's Yahoo email accounts in 2008.
In 2008, Wikileaks published the names, addresses and contact information of more than 13,000 members of the British National Party. The political party's manifesto proposed banning immigration from Muslim countries and encouraging some UK residents to return to "their lands of ethnic origin".
A former member was later fined £200 for the leak, external.
A leak of more than 170,000 emails and 20,000 documents from movie studio Sony Pictures was published on Wikileaks in 2015. The entertainment company suffered a cyber-attack weeks before releasing The Interview, a film that poked fun at North Korea. The emails revealed that actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams received a lower fee than their male co-stars in American Hustle. There were also messages from producers and executives insulting celebrities such as Angelina Jolie. Leonardo DiCaprio was called "despicable" for turning down a role in a Sony Pictures film. Mr Assange said the emails were in the public interest because they showed the inner working of a multinational company and were "at the centre of a geo-political conflict".
• None Who is Julian Assange? Video, 00:03:25Who is Julian Assange? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47907890 |
Texas beekeeper viral videos saving bee nests - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | null | Beekeeper Erika Thompson says the video, viewed over a million times, was "just a normal Tuesday". | null | Texas beekeeper Erika Thompson rescued a nest of bees that had been stuck under the floorboards of a garden shed for over two years, in a video that has since gone viral.
Since posting the video online on Friday, it has been viewed over 1.5 million times on Twitter.
She said the reaction to the video was incredible as, for her, it was "just a normal Tuesday". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56396914 |
Julian Assange: A timeline of Wikileaks founder's case - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | From a rape allegation in Sweden to jail in the UK, here are the key dates in his case. | Europe | Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange is set to return to Australia a free man after over a decade fighting extradition to the United States on espionage charges.
The 52-year-old Australian was arrested in April 2019 at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he had been staying since 2012.
He sought asylum at the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation that he denied - and claimed was a ploy to hand him over to the US.
After his arrest, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions and had been in London's maximum security Belmarsh prison ever since. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11949341 |
Bee swarm moved from bin of Glasgow city centre bar - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | null | A swarm of 20,000 bees which forced the closure of a Glasgow bar has finally been moved on after three days. | null | A swarm of about 20,000 bees which forced the closure of a city centre bar and restaurant has finally been removed after three days.
Experts used smoke to subdue the insects which had massed on a bin and railings at the 63rd+1st in Glasgow on Sunday morning.
They were then removed in boxes from the scene in Bothwell Street.
Staff had been forced to flee via the fire exit as the insects marked their territory at the front of the building.
They were eventually able to barricade the swarm from customers and reopen on Monday night while waiting for the bees to be taken away. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-66048694 |
Voting for the first time: All you need to know - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | null | Everything you need to know about voting for the first time in the UK election, including what to take, how to mark your ballot and whether you can take a selfie. | null | Voting for the first time: All you need to know
The UK general election is being held on Thursday 4 July. If you've registered to vote for the first time, here is our guide to the dos and don'ts of voting in person and what to expect at the polling station.
Do I need ID to vote?
You must show proof of identity in order to vote, following a new requirement introduced last year.
A passport, driving licence or a PASS-accredited student card are the forms of photo ID most commonly used by people voting for the first time.
You can recognise qualifying ID cards from the PASS hologram on the front.
You can find a full list of accepted forms of photo ID here.
Do I need to take my poll card?
Polling stations open at 07:00 and close at 22:00 on Thursday, 4 July.
Bringing your polling card when you vote may speed up the process, but you don’t have to take it with you.
The poll clerks at the desk have a list of the people who can vote at that polling station and can look your name up.
How do I cast my vote?
Once the clerks at the desk have confirmed your identity they will give you a ballot paper.
If you wear a face covering - for religious, cultural or medical reasons - you will have to remove it briefly for the clerk to check your face against your photo. There will be a private area to use, if you want, and women may request that a female member of staff confirms their identity.
You will be directed to a booth. Take your ballot paper there and read it.
Just like an exam paper it explains at the top how to fill in the ballot.
Who do I vote for?
The politicians you may have seen on the TV debates or in clips online are probably the party leaders, who could become prime minister if their party gets the most MPs.
Unless you live in their constituency, their names will not be on the ballot paper.
Each ballot paper will have a list of all the people standing for election in your area, the name of the party they are standing for - unless they are standing without one, in which case it will say "independent" - and a box for you to put a cross in to indicate you are voting for that candidate.
It can be nerve-racking casting your vote in an important election.
Don't panic if you make a mistake. You can hand the ballot back and ask for another one. No problem.
You should put a cross against the candidate you wish to vote for.
But don't sweat it too much. As long as it is clear that you have made a deliberate mark on the ballot to indicate that you are voting for a particular candidate, your vote will be counted.
Don't worry if your X has crept slightly outside the box.
There are laws to prevent people being intimidated at the voting station or having their vote revealed and photographs are considered a risk under both of those regulations.
As a result, most polling officers ban all photography within the polling station.
You'll have to take that selfie in front of the polling station sign outside instead.
Who are the people outside the polling station?
Tellers are volunteers for the candidates who wait outside polling stations to get an idea of how many people have remembered to vote.
A teller can ask you if you voted and may ask for your electoral number.
You don’t have to answer any of their questions and they must remain polite and not push you for an answer.
If you want to talk to them, fine. If not you can just smile and walk away.
What if I can't get to the polling station?
Stuff happens. If for some reason you can’t get to the polling station - maybe you have to leave town for work or are too ill to vote - you can request an emergency proxy vote.
You need to fill in an emergency proxy vote form and return it to the elections team at your local council before the deadline.
You will need someone to confirm your reason for requesting the emergency proxy vote. If you are too ill to vote, it should be a registered health professional. If you can't vote due to work, it could be a manager or work colleague.
And then you need someone else who is a registered voter to go to the polling station and mark a ballot paper for you.
You can apply until 5pm on election day - though you can also apply up to six days ahead, if you realise you won’t make it to the polling station.
And that's all you need to know.
Full coverage of the election campaign ahead of the 4 July vote is available online. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-140d75fc-e283-4c66-899f-cc01643770e7 |
General election 2024 poll tracker: How do the parties compare? - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How do people say they will vote in the UK general election? Our poll tracker measures the trends. | UK Politics | There's quite a lot of variation between the polls but they all agree that Labour has a big lead over the Conservatives, writes senior political analyst Peter Barnes.
The polls have had quite a broad range of figures over the last few days, particularly for the Conservatives and Reform UK.
This is partly explained by how different polling companies deal with people who say they're undecided about how to vote - but there's certainly more variation than at the same stage of the last election campaign in 2019.
However, if you look at the poll averages, there's been very little change for any of the parties over the last ten days or so.
Labour still has a lead of around 20 points over the Conservatives with Reform UK in third and the Liberal Democrats in fourth. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68079726 |
Julian Assange back in Australia after leaving US court a free man - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Wikileaks founder embraced his wife in Canberra, hours after pleading guilty to one charge in the Northern Mariana Islands. | World | The last word in the news conference goes to Julian Assange's wife, Stella.
She says she hopes the media "realise the danger of this US case against Julian, that criminalises, that has secured his conviction for newsgathering and publishing information that was true, that the public deserved to know".
She repeats her hopes for a presidential pardon in the US.
"I think he'll be pardoned if the press unite to push back against this precedent," she says.
Her husband, she concludes, "remains principled and unafraid".
Stella Assange at the news conference in Canberra Image caption: Stella Assange at the news conference in Canberra | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-69145409 |
Julian Assange: Campaigner or attention seeker? - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | The Wikileaks founder has won both support and criticism for his whistleblowing efforts. | World | Julian Assange spent years fighting extradition to the US
To his supporters, Julian Assange is a valiant campaigner for truth. To his critics, he is a publicity seeker who has endangered lives by putting a mass of sensitive information into the public domain. Assange is described by those who have worked with him as intense, driven and highly intelligent, with an exceptional ability to crack computer codes. He set up Wikileaks, which publishes confidential documents and images, in 2006, making headlines around the world in April 2010 when it released footage showing US soldiers shooting dead 18 civilians from a helicopter in Iraq. But later that year the Australian was detained in the UK - and later bailed - after Sweden issued an international arrest warrant over allegations of sexual assault. Assange argued it was a ploy to ultimately extradite to the US to face espionage charges - kicking off a legal saga which has now spanned 14 years, embroiled five countries and reached some of the world's highest courts. But the 52-year-old is now free - bailed and on his way to the Northern Mariana Islands - where he is on Wednesday expected to plead guilty to a single charge after reaching a deal with US authorities. He is expected to be released immediately, given the time he has already served in prison in the UK, and will return to Australia.
Assange has been generally reluctant to talk about his background, but media interest since the emergence of Wikileaks has thrown up some insight into his influences. He was born in Townsville in the Australian state of Queensland in 1971, and led a rootless childhood while his parents ran a touring theatre. He became a father at 18 and custody battles soon followed. The development of the internet gave him a chance to use his early promise at maths, though this too led to difficulties.
After pleading guilty to "hacking", Assange escaped prison on the condition he did not reoffend
In 1995 Assange was accused, with a friend, of dozens of hacking activities. Though the group of hackers was skilled enough to track detectives tracking them, Assange was eventually caught and pleaded guilty. He was fined several thousand Australian dollars - only escaping a prison term on the condition that he did not reoffend. He dabbled in the world of academia - co-writing a bestselling book on the emerging, subversive side of the internet, before studying physics and maths.
Assange began Wikileaks in 2006 with a group of like-minded people from across the web, creating a web-based "dead-letterbox" for would-be leakers. "[To] keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions," he told the BBC in 2011. "We've become good at it, and never lost a case, or a source, but we can't expect everyone to go through the extraordinary efforts that we do."
Assange told the BBC that in order to protect sources he would "encrypt everything"
He could go for long stretches without eating and focus on work with very little sleep, according to Raffi Khatchadourian, a reporter for the New Yorker magazine who spent several weeks travelling with him. "He creates this atmosphere around him where the people who are close to him want to care for him, to help keep him going. I would say that probably has something to do with his charisma." But it was in 2010 that Wikileaks - and Assange - really shot to prominence, with the release of the footage of the US helicopter firing on civilians in Iraq. He promoted and defended the video, as well as the massive release of classified US military documents on the Afghan and Iraq wars in July and October 2010. The whistleblowing website went on to release new tranches of documents, including five million confidential emails from US-based intelligence company Stratfor. It soon found itself fighting for survival, when a number of US financial institutions began to block donations. And shortly after, Swedish authorities began chasing him for questioning over claims that he had raped one woman and sexually molested and coerced another in August 2010, while on a visit to Stockholm to give a lecture. By the end of 2010, an international warrant had been issued for his arrest.
From the embassy's balcony in 2012, Assange urged the US to end its "witchhunt" against Wikileaks
Assange says the encounters were entirely consensual - and the rape allegations were part of a politically motivated smear campaign - spending a year and a half challenging the warrant in court. When the UK Supreme Court upheld it, Assange turned to then Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa for help, the two men having expressed similar views on freedom in the past. In June 2012 he sought asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition. His stay at the embassy was punctuated by occasional press statements and interviews. He made a submission to the UK's Leveson Inquiry into press standards, saying he had faced "widespread inaccurate and negative media coverage". It was during this time that concerns over his health first began to surface - but Assange dismissed reports that he would be leaving the embassy to seek medical treatment.
Assange dismissed reports in 2014 that he would be leaving the embassy to seek medical treatment
After spending almost seven years inside the embassy, Assange was dramatically dragged from the premises and arrested by British police on 11 April 2019. Ecuadorean President Lenín Moreno - who said he had "inherited" the situation from his predecessor - tweeted that his country had taken "a sovereign decision", to withdraw his asylum status. Mr Moreno and his government had grown increasingly frustrated with Assange and his refusal to follow the rules they had imposed for his continued stay in the embassy. There were "repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols" by Assange, he said in a video statement. But Ecuador had requested that Great Britain guarantee that Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty, Mr Moreno added.
In 2019 Met Police officers dragged Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had stayed since 2012
Assange was taken into custody at a central London police station - charged with failing to surrender to court back in 2012 - and on 1 May 2019 was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail. In the following weeks, Swedish prosecutors promptly reopened their investigation into the 2010 rape claims and the US publicly charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act, related to the publication of classified documents in 2010. The US Department of Justice has described the leaks as "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States". Wikileaks said the announcement was "madness" and "the end of national security journalism". As Assange prepared to fight against extradition to the US, Swedish prosecutors announced that the investigation into the 2010 rape allegation had been dropped, because the evidence against Assange was "not strong enough to form the basis for filing an indictment". Since then his case has been tied up in legal back-and-forth and a series of appeals. In 2021, a British court ruled in his favour, blocking his extradition - but that was later successfully appealed by the US government. And just last month the UK Supreme Court decided that Assange could appeal the US extradition order - again. All the while, Assange has sat in London's maximum security Belmarsh Prison. It was there that in 2022 he married his partner of seven years, Stella Moris, a South African lawyer and long-time member of his legal team. She is also the mother of Assange's two young children, who were conceived while Assange was living in the Ecuadorean embassy.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Julian Assange’s wife said she dreaded going public with their relationship
His family have long said his health was steadily and dramatically declining and they feared he would die or kill himself. As the saga has dragged on, the UK and the US have faced growing pressure - from public campaign and from Assange's home country of Australia - to resolve the case. In February Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country as a whole shared the view that "enough is enough". "This thing cannot just go on and on and on indefinitely". Rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have all called for his release, saying his treatment has been cruel and his case a threat to press freedom. He's also won support from countless figures of global power and influence, including former leader of the UK Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, linguist Noam Chomsky, Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, and the late fashion icon Dame Vivienne Westwood.
The late Dame Vivienne Westwood had appeared at rallies calling for Assange's release
But his critics - which include former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and retiring Republican stalwart Mitch McConnell- say he is not a journalist and endangers lives by publishing troves of documents without redaction. After the final hearing on Wednesday in the US territory of Saipan - a Pacific island north of Guam - he is expected to return to Australia and be reunited with his family. They have expressed relief and thanked his supporters. "I am grateful that my son's ordeal is finally coming to an end. This shows the importance and power of quiet diplomacy," his mother Christine Assange said in a statement.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11047811 |
BBC iPlayer - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | null | null | null | JavaScript seems to be disabled. Please enable JavaScript to take full advantage of iPlayer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10318089 |
Wikileaks: Document dumps that shook the world - BBC News | 2024-06-26 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Since 2006, Wikileaks has published thousands of classified documents and emails. | Technology | Julian Assange's Wikileaks - which has published thousands of classified documents covering everything from the film industry to national security and wars - has been dividing opinion for years. To its supporters, the whistleblowing website is a key player in exposing secrets governments and companies would rather keep hidden. But to those who found their documents exposed on the web, it is a dangerous and reckless force. The US government has argued that the publication of the Wikileaks files - which disclosed information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - went as far as endangering lives. Here are a few of the leaks which went on to make headlines around the world.
In 2010, Wikileaks published a video from a US military helicopter showing the killing of civilians in Baghdad, Iraq. A voice on the transmission urged the pilots to "light 'em all up" and the individuals on the street were fired at from the helicopter. When a van arrived on the scene to pick up the wounded, it too was fired at. Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his assistant Saeed Chmagh were both killed in the attack.
Wikileaks has published hundreds of thousands of documents leaked by former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. Documents relating to the war in Afghanistan revealed how the US military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents.
Further documents from the Iraq war revealed that 66,000 civilians had been killed - more than previously reported. The documents also showed that prisoners had been tortured by Iraqi forces. Among the leaks were more than 250,000 messages sent by US diplomats. They revealed that the US wanted to collect "biographic and biometric" information - including iris scans, DNA samples and fingerprints - of key officials at the UN.
About 573,000 intercepted pager messages sent during the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States were published by Wikileaks. The messages include families checking up on their loved ones and government departments reacting to the attacks. "President has been rerouted won't be returning to Washington but not sure where he will go," one message said.
Wikileaks published thousands of hacked emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign boss John Podesta, in the run-up to the US presidential election in 2016. In the emails, Mr Podesta called Mrs Clinton's election rival Bernie Sanders a "doofus" for criticising the Paris climate change agreement.
The emails also suggested that a CNN contributor tipped off the Clinton campaign about a question that was going to be asked during a debate hosted by the broadcaster. The timing of the leaks led to accusations that Wikileaks was deliberately trying to discredit Mrs Clinton.
The site also published leaked information from Republican Sarah Palin's Yahoo email accounts in 2008.
In 2008, Wikileaks published the names, addresses and contact information of more than 13,000 members of the British National Party. The political party's manifesto proposed banning immigration from Muslim countries and encouraging some UK residents to return to "their lands of ethnic origin".
A former member was later fined £200 for the leak, external.
A leak of more than 170,000 emails and 20,000 documents from movie studio Sony Pictures was published on Wikileaks in 2015. The entertainment company suffered a cyber-attack weeks before releasing The Interview, a film that poked fun at North Korea. The emails revealed that actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams received a lower fee than their male co-stars in American Hustle. There were also messages from producers and executives insulting celebrities such as Angelina Jolie. Leonardo DiCaprio was called "despicable" for turning down a role in a Sony Pictures film. Mr Assange said the emails were in the public interest because they showed the inner working of a multinational company and were "at the centre of a geo-political conflict".
• None Who is Julian Assange? Video, 00:03:25Who is Julian Assange? | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47907890 |
Watch: Sinkhole appears in car park near Charvil school - BBC News | 2024-06-27 | null | Drone footage shows the hole which is about two metres (6.5ft) deep and one metre (3.2ft) wide. | null | A car park near a primary school has been fenced off after a large sinkhole appeared in the ground.
Drone footage filmed by Lee Cripps showed the hole at East Park Farm Car Park in Charvil, Berkshire.
It was discovered on Monday morning and is about two metres (6.5ft) deep and one metre (3.2ft) wide.
Staff from the school are guarding the hole to make sure members of the public do not get too close. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-67473936 |
Authorities investigate after mysterious sinkhole appears in Chile - BBC News | 2024-06-27 | null | Authorities are investigating the sinkhole which is about 25m (82 ft) wide and 200m (650ft) deep. | null | Chilean authorities are investigating a mysterious sinkhole that appeared over the weekend in a mining area in the north of the country.
Drone footage shows a huge hole on land operated on by Canada's Lundin Mining.
Chile's National Service of Geology and Mining, Sernageomin, has sent specialist personnel to the area, which is about about 413 miles (665km) north of the capital, Santiago. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-62392233 |
Bullock saved from sinkhole at Witton Castle park - BBC News | 2024-06-27 | null | Watch the moment a bullock is hoisted to safety by its legs after getting trapped in a sinkhole. | null | This is the moment a bullock was hoisted to safety by its legs after getting trapped in a sinkhole in County Durham.
Farmers at Witton Castle Country Park in Bishop Auckland were on their routine morning visit to the cattle when the animal was spotted in the sinkhole.
Not knowing if he was alive, a digger was used to pull him to safety.
Thankfully the young bull managed to get to its feet and is said to now be "absolutely fine in the field with his pals".
Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, external, Facebook, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk, external. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-66787602 |
Bee swarm moved from bin of Glasgow city centre bar - BBC News | 2024-06-27 | null | A swarm of 20,000 bees which forced the closure of a Glasgow bar has finally been moved on after three days. | null | A swarm of about 20,000 bees which forced the closure of a city centre bar and restaurant has finally been removed after three days.
Experts used smoke to subdue the insects which had massed on a bin and railings at the 63rd+1st in Glasgow on Sunday morning.
They were then removed in boxes from the scene in Bothwell Street.
Staff had been forced to flee via the fire exit as the insects marked their territory at the front of the building.
They were eventually able to barricade the swarm from customers and reopen on Monday night while waiting for the bees to be taken away. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-66048694 |
Voting for the first time: All you need to know - BBC News | 2024-06-27 | null | Everything you need to know about voting for the first time in the UK election, including what to take, how to mark your ballot and whether you can take a selfie. | null | Voting for the first time: All you need to know
The UK general election is being held on Thursday 4 July. If you've registered to vote for the first time, here is our guide to the dos and don'ts of voting in person and what to expect at the polling station.
Do I need ID to vote?
You must show proof of identity in order to vote, following a new requirement introduced last year.
A passport, driving licence or a PASS-accredited student card are the forms of photo ID most commonly used by people voting for the first time.
You can recognise qualifying ID cards from the PASS hologram on the front.
You can find a full list of accepted forms of photo ID here.
Do I need to take my poll card?
Polling stations open at 07:00 and close at 22:00 on Thursday, 4 July.
Bringing your polling card when you vote may speed up the process, but you don’t have to take it with you.
The poll clerks at the desk have a list of the people who can vote at that polling station and can look your name up.
How do I cast my vote?
Once the clerks at the desk have confirmed your identity they will give you a ballot paper.
If you wear a face covering - for religious, cultural or medical reasons - you will have to remove it briefly for the clerk to check your face against your photo. There will be a private area to use, if you want, and women may request that a female member of staff confirms their identity.
You will be directed to a booth. Take your ballot paper there and read it.
Just like an exam paper it explains at the top how to fill in the ballot.
Who do I vote for?
The politicians you may have seen on the TV debates or in clips online are probably the party leaders, who could become prime minister if their party gets the most MPs.
Unless you live in their constituency, their names will not be on the ballot paper.
Each ballot paper will have a list of all the people standing for election in your area, the name of the party they are standing for - unless they are standing without one, in which case it will say "independent" - and a box for you to put a cross in to indicate you are voting for that candidate.
It can be nerve-racking casting your vote in an important election.
Don't panic if you make a mistake. You can hand the ballot back and ask for another one. No problem.
You should put a cross against the candidate you wish to vote for.
But don't sweat it too much. As long as it is clear that you have made a deliberate mark on the ballot to indicate that you are voting for a particular candidate, your vote will be counted.
Don't worry if your X has crept slightly outside the box.
There are laws to prevent people being intimidated at the voting station or having their vote revealed and photographs are considered a risk under both of those regulations.
As a result, most polling officers ban all photography within the polling station.
You'll have to take that selfie in front of the polling station sign outside instead.
Who are the people outside the polling station?
Tellers are volunteers for the candidates who wait outside polling stations to get an idea of how many people have remembered to vote.
A teller can ask you if you voted and may ask for your electoral number.
You don’t have to answer any of their questions and they must remain polite and not push you for an answer.
If you want to talk to them, fine. If not you can just smile and walk away.
What if I can't get to the polling station?
Stuff happens. If for some reason you can’t get to the polling station - maybe you have to leave town for work or are too ill to vote - you can request an emergency proxy vote.
You need to fill in an emergency proxy vote form and return it to the elections team at your local council before the deadline.
You will need someone to confirm your reason for requesting the emergency proxy vote. If you are too ill to vote, it should be a registered health professional. If you can't vote due to work, it could be a manager or work colleague.
And then you need someone else who is a registered voter to go to the polling station and mark a ballot paper for you.
You can apply until 5pm on election day - though you can also apply up to six days ahead, if you realise you won’t make it to the polling station.
And that's all you need to know.
Full coverage of the election campaign ahead of the 4 July vote is available online. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-140d75fc-e283-4c66-899f-cc01643770e7 |
General election 2024 poll tracker: How do the parties compare? - BBC News | 2024-06-27 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How do people say they will vote in the UK general election? Our poll tracker measures the trends. | UK Politics | There's quite a lot of variation between the polls but they all agree that Labour has a big lead over the Conservatives, writes senior political analyst Peter Barnes.
The polls have had quite a broad range of figures over the last few days, particularly for the Conservatives and Reform UK.
This is partly explained by how different polling companies deal with people who say they're undecided about how to vote - but there's certainly more variation than at the same stage of the last election campaign in 2019.
However, if you look at the poll averages, there's been very little change for any of the parties over the last ten days or so.
Labour still has a lead of around 20 points over the Conservatives with Reform UK in third and the Liberal Democrats in fourth. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68079726 |
Quiz of the week: Where did Donald Sutherland's career take off? - BBC News | 2024-06-28 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Test how closely you have been paying attention to what has been going on over the past seven days. | World | It's the weekly news quiz - how closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?
Some mobile users may experience difficulties. If you cannot see the quiz, try this link, external. Try last week's quiz or have a go at something from the archives. What information do we collect from this quiz? Privacy notice.
Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-69153616 |
Watch: Sinkhole appears in car park near Charvil school - BBC News | 2024-06-28 | null | Drone footage shows the hole which is about two metres (6.5ft) deep and one metre (3.2ft) wide. | null | A car park near a primary school has been fenced off after a large sinkhole appeared in the ground.
Drone footage filmed by Lee Cripps showed the hole at East Park Farm Car Park in Charvil, Berkshire.
It was discovered on Monday morning and is about two metres (6.5ft) deep and one metre (3.2ft) wide.
Staff from the school are guarding the hole to make sure members of the public do not get too close. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-67473936 |
Authorities investigate after mysterious sinkhole appears in Chile - BBC News | 2024-06-28 | null | Authorities are investigating the sinkhole which is about 25m (82 ft) wide and 200m (650ft) deep. | null | Chilean authorities are investigating a mysterious sinkhole that appeared over the weekend in a mining area in the north of the country.
Drone footage shows a huge hole on land operated on by Canada's Lundin Mining.
Chile's National Service of Geology and Mining, Sernageomin, has sent specialist personnel to the area, which is about about 413 miles (665km) north of the capital, Santiago. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-62392233 |
Bullock saved from sinkhole at Witton Castle park - BBC News | 2024-06-28 | null | Watch the moment a bullock is hoisted to safety by its legs after getting trapped in a sinkhole. | null | This is the moment a bullock was hoisted to safety by its legs after getting trapped in a sinkhole in County Durham.
Farmers at Witton Castle Country Park in Bishop Auckland were on their routine morning visit to the cattle when the animal was spotted in the sinkhole.
Not knowing if he was alive, a digger was used to pull him to safety.
Thankfully the young bull managed to get to its feet and is said to now be "absolutely fine in the field with his pals".
Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, external, Facebook, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk, external. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-66787602 |
Voting for the first time: All you need to know - BBC News | 2024-06-28 | null | Everything you need to know about voting for the first time in the UK election, including what to take, how to mark your ballot and whether you can take a selfie. | null | Voting for the first time: All you need to know
The UK general election is being held on Thursday 4 July. If you've registered to vote for the first time, here is our guide to the dos and don'ts of voting in person and what to expect at the polling station.
Do I need ID to vote?
You must show proof of identity in order to vote, following a new requirement introduced last year.
A passport, driving licence or a PASS-accredited student card are the forms of photo ID most commonly used by people voting for the first time.
You can recognise qualifying ID cards from the PASS hologram on the front.
You can find a full list of accepted forms of photo ID here.
Do I need to take my poll card?
Polling stations open at 07:00 and close at 22:00 on Thursday, 4 July.
Bringing your polling card when you vote may speed up the process, but you don’t have to take it with you.
The poll clerks at the desk have a list of the people who can vote at that polling station and can look your name up.
How do I cast my vote?
Once the clerks at the desk have confirmed your identity they will give you a ballot paper.
If you wear a face covering - for religious, cultural or medical reasons - you will have to remove it briefly for the clerk to check your face against your photo. There will be a private area to use, if you want, and women may request that a female member of staff confirms their identity.
You will be directed to a booth. Take your ballot paper there and read it.
Just like an exam paper it explains at the top how to fill in the ballot.
Who do I vote for?
The politicians you may have seen on the TV debates or in clips online are probably the party leaders, who could become prime minister if their party gets the most MPs.
Unless you live in their constituency, their names will not be on the ballot paper.
Each ballot paper will have a list of all the people standing for election in your area, the name of the party they are standing for - unless they are standing without one, in which case it will say "independent" - and a box for you to put a cross in to indicate you are voting for that candidate.
It can be nerve-racking casting your vote in an important election.
Don't panic if you make a mistake. You can hand the ballot back and ask for another one. No problem.
You should put a cross against the candidate you wish to vote for.
But don't sweat it too much. As long as it is clear that you have made a deliberate mark on the ballot to indicate that you are voting for a particular candidate, your vote will be counted.
Don't worry if your X has crept slightly outside the box.
There are laws to prevent people being intimidated at the voting station or having their vote revealed and photographs are considered a risk under both of those regulations.
As a result, most polling officers ban all photography within the polling station.
You'll have to take that selfie in front of the polling station sign outside instead.
Who are the people outside the polling station?
Tellers are volunteers for the candidates who wait outside polling stations to get an idea of how many people have remembered to vote.
A teller can ask you if you voted and may ask for your electoral number.
You don’t have to answer any of their questions and they must remain polite and not push you for an answer.
If you want to talk to them, fine. If not you can just smile and walk away.
What if I can't get to the polling station?
Stuff happens. If for some reason you can’t get to the polling station - maybe you have to leave town for work or are too ill to vote - you can request an emergency proxy vote.
You need to fill in an emergency proxy vote form and return it to the elections team at your local council before the deadline.
You will need someone to confirm your reason for requesting the emergency proxy vote. If you are too ill to vote, it should be a registered health professional. If you can't vote due to work, it could be a manager or work colleague.
And then you need someone else who is a registered voter to go to the polling station and mark a ballot paper for you.
You can apply until 5pm on election day - though you can also apply up to six days ahead, if you realise you won’t make it to the polling station.
And that's all you need to know.
Full coverage of the election campaign ahead of the 4 July vote is available online. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-140d75fc-e283-4c66-899f-cc01643770e7 |
Newscast - Electioncast: Sunak’s Response to Racial Slur - BBC Sounds | 2024-06-28 | null | And, Newscast is in Glasgow with Newsnight. | null | The PM and Labour’s campaign chief are in Laura’s BBC One studio | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0j76nw4 |
General election 2024 poll tracker: How do the parties compare? - BBC News | 2024-06-28 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How do people say they will vote in the UK general election? Our poll tracker measures the trends. | UK Politics | There's quite a lot of variation between the polls but they all agree that Labour has a big lead over the Conservatives, writes senior political analyst Peter Barnes.
The polls have had quite a broad range of figures over the last few days, particularly for the Conservatives and Reform UK.
This is partly explained by how different polling companies deal with people who say they're undecided about how to vote - but there's certainly more variation than at the same stage of the last election campaign in 2019.
However, if you look at the poll averages, there's been very little change for any of the parties over the last ten days or so.
Labour still has a lead of around 20 points over the Conservatives with Reform UK in third and the Liberal Democrats in fourth. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68079726 |
Quiz of the week: Where did Donald Sutherland's career take off? - BBC News | 2024-06-29 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Test how closely you have been paying attention to what has been going on over the past seven days. | World | It's the weekly news quiz - how closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?
Some mobile users may experience difficulties. If you cannot see the quiz, try this link, external. Try last week's quiz or have a go at something from the archives. What information do we collect from this quiz? Privacy notice.
Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-69153616 |
Why vote? How elections affect your life | 2024-06-29 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Are you one of those people who say they don’t do politics? This is your guide to the ways your life is impacted by the way people vote. | null | Are you one of those people who say they don’t do politics? You’re not alone. Based on recent election turnout, up to a third of British citizens may not use their vote on 4 July.
The British Social Attitudes survey reports trust in government and politicians is “as low now as it has ever been over the last 50 years”.
MPs shouting in parliament, committee hearings, green papers, white papers – it can all feel very distant from daily life.
But politics isn’t something that only happens in Westminster. It’s there whenever you sigh at the cost of a cuppa, put off paying a bill, celebrate a new job, move home or just wonder about the future.
Because politics is the constant conversation we have as a country; about the things we believe, the things we know, the things that happen to us - or others - and the things we fear might happen.
So do you really not do politics? Maybe some of the things you carry around each day tie you to Westminster in ways you wouldn't expect.
As you scroll, we'll highlight the connections between your life and the politics that affect you, recommending relevant BBC News stories to help you learn more. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/8esy48znan/why-vote-general-election-2024 |
Newscast - Electioncast: Sunak’s Response to Racial Slur - BBC Sounds | 2024-06-29 | null | And, Newscast is in Glasgow with Newsnight. | null | The PM and Labour’s campaign chief are in Laura’s BBC One studio | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0j76nw4 |
General election 2024 poll tracker: How do the parties compare? - BBC News | 2024-06-29 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How do people say they will vote in the UK general election? Our poll tracker measures the trends. | UK Politics | There's quite a lot of variation between the polls but they all agree that Labour has a big lead over the Conservatives, writes senior political analyst Peter Barnes.
The polls have had quite a broad range of figures over the last few days, particularly for the Conservatives and Reform UK.
This is partly explained by how different polling companies deal with people who say they're undecided about how to vote - but there's certainly more variation than at the same stage of the last election campaign in 2019.
However, if you look at the poll averages, there's been very little change for any of the parties over the last ten days or so.
Labour still has a lead of around 20 points over the Conservatives with Reform UK in third and the Liberal Democrats in fourth. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68079726 |
Euro 2012: Rain in Ukraine halts France game - BBC Sport | 2024-06-29 | null | Severe weather conditions at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, including heavy rainfall and lightning causes the Euro 2012 Group D match between Ukraine and France to be suspended. | null | Severe weather conditions at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, including heavy rainfall and lightning causes the Euro 2012 Group D match between Ukraine and France to be suspended.
Available to UK users only. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/18465156 |
BBC iPlayer - BBC News | 2024-06-29 | null | null | null | JavaScript seems to be disabled. Please enable JavaScript to take full advantage of iPlayer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10318089 |
Watch: Sinkhole appears in car park near Charvil school - BBC News | 2024-06-30 | null | Drone footage shows the hole which is about two metres (6.5ft) deep and one metre (3.2ft) wide. | null | A car park near a primary school has been fenced off after a large sinkhole appeared in the ground.
Drone footage filmed by Lee Cripps showed the hole at East Park Farm Car Park in Charvil, Berkshire.
It was discovered on Monday morning and is about two metres (6.5ft) deep and one metre (3.2ft) wide.
Staff from the school are guarding the hole to make sure members of the public do not get too close. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-67473936 |
Why vote? How elections affect your life | 2024-06-30 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | Are you one of those people who say they don’t do politics? This is your guide to the ways your life is impacted by the way people vote. | null | Are you one of those people who say they don’t do politics? You’re not alone. Based on recent election turnout, up to a third of British citizens may not use their vote on 4 July.
The British Social Attitudes survey reports trust in government and politicians is “as low now as it has ever been over the last 50 years”.
MPs shouting in parliament, committee hearings, green papers, white papers – it can all feel very distant from daily life.
But politics isn’t something that only happens in Westminster. It’s there whenever you sigh at the cost of a cuppa, put off paying a bill, celebrate a new job, move home or just wonder about the future.
Because politics is the constant conversation we have as a country; about the things we believe, the things we know, the things that happen to us - or others - and the things we fear might happen.
So do you really not do politics? Maybe some of the things you carry around each day tie you to Westminster in ways you wouldn't expect.
As you scroll, we'll highlight the connections between your life and the politics that affect you, recommending relevant BBC News stories to help you learn more. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/8esy48znan/why-vote-general-election-2024 |
General election 2024 poll tracker: How do the parties compare? - BBC News | 2024-06-30 | https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews | How do people say they will vote in the UK general election? Our poll tracker measures the trends. | UK Politics | There's quite a lot of variation between the polls but they all agree that Labour has a big lead over the Conservatives, writes senior political analyst Peter Barnes.
The polls have had quite a broad range of figures over the last few days, particularly for the Conservatives and Reform UK.
This is partly explained by how different polling companies deal with people who say they're undecided about how to vote - but there's certainly more variation than at the same stage of the last election campaign in 2019.
However, if you look at the poll averages, there's been very little change for any of the parties over the last ten days or so.
Labour still has a lead of around 20 points over the Conservatives with Reform UK in third and the Liberal Democrats in fourth. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68079726 |
BBC iPlayer - BBC News | 2024-06-30 | null | null | null | JavaScript seems to be disabled. Please enable JavaScript to take full advantage of iPlayer. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10318089 |
Latest BBC News
You could always access the latest BBC News articles via this dataset.
We update the dataset weekly, on every Sunday. So the dataset always provides the latest BBC News article from the last week.
The current dataset on main branch contains the latest BBC News articles submitted from 2024-06-24 to 2024-07-01.
The data collection is conducted on 2024-07-01.
Use the dataset via:
ds = datasets.load_dataset('RealTimeData/bbc_latest')
Previsou versions
You could access previous versions by requesting different branches.
For example, you could find the 2023-08-20 version via:
ds = datasets.load_dataset('RealTimeData/bbc_latest', revision = '2023-08-20')
Check all available versions by clicking the "Files and versions" button on the top bar.
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