GRIFFIN 925 sterling silver findings outperform cheap plated base metal on five fronts that matter to professional jewellery makers: tarnish behaviour, skin compatibility, retained material value, trade credibility and manufacturing consistency. Every GRIFFIN finding, in solid silver or plated, is built on a hallmarked 925 sterling silver core, manufactured 100% in Germany. Plated GRIFFIN finishes use a 7-micron coating depth in 24K yellow gold, red gold, rhodium, ruthenium or custom finishes on request. The Difference Between Sterling Silver and Plated Metal A piece of jewellery is only as good as its weakest metal part. The most carefully knotted pearl necklace…
Author: Oki Bin Oki
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, 81, has been sworn in for a record seventh consecutive term following his landslide victory in disputed elections in January, extending his tenure as one of Africa’s longest-serving rulers. Heavy security, including armoured tanks, were deployed in the capital, Kampala, ahead of the inauguration in what police said were measures intended to maintain public order. Museveni was declared the winner of the election with more than 70% of the vote, with his term expected to end in 2031. His main rival, pop star turned politician Bobi Wine, rejected the result, saying the poll was marred by…
A mayor of a southern Californian city has resigned after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) charged her with acting as an illegal agent of China. Eileen Wang, 58 – the mayor of Arcadia – agreed to plead guilty to the felony count and Arcadia City Council said she resigned from her post on Monday. Wang could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Her lawyers, Jason Liang and Brian Sun, said in a statement on her behalf that “she apologises and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life”. First assistant US…
Netflix has been sued in Texas over claims it collects data belonging to children and adults in the US state without their consent, and uses “addictive” design to keep them hooked. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the streaming giant of “spying” on citizens saying it “records and monetises billions” of pieces of information about how users behave on the platform, despite suggesting otherwise. “Every interaction on the platform became a data point revealing information about the user,” his office said. Netflix has rejected the claims and says it will challenge them in court, according to a statement shared with…
The company behind the popular Canvas software, which was hacked last week causing major disruption at thousands of universities and colleges, has paid the hackers not to publish stolen data online. The cyber-attack affected an estimated 9,000 institutions in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, with exams disrupted after the Canvas service went down. The hackers threatened to publish 3.5 terabytes of student and university data they had stolen in the breach. Instructure, the maker of Canvas, has now confirmed it has “reached an agreement” with the hackers, who have said they deleted the data and promised not to…
The Indigenous traditional owners of land in north-western Australia have been awarded a record A$150.1 million ($108.3m; £79.9m) payout after a court ruled one of the country’s most well-known billionaires mined their land without permission. The verdict amounts to the biggest native title payout ever awarded in Australia, and concludes a protracted legal battle between the Yindjibarndi people and Andrew Forrest’s mining company Fortescue. Since 2013, Fortescue’s mines have generated tens of billions of dollars in revenue by extracting iron ore from Yindjibarndi land in remote north Western Australia. The Yindjibarndi group had sought A$1.8bn compensation. That figure, they argued,…
US President Donald Trump is expected to bring a host of top business and technology industry executives on his trip to China this week. Among those set to join the president on his official trip to Beijing are Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Larry Fink of BlackRock, as well as other executives from Meta, Visa, JP Morgan, Boeing, Cargill and more. In total, 17 US executives will join Trump on the trip, a White House official with knowledge of the plans told the BBC. The trip is seen as important for the US, as Trump…
Dozens of Nigerian fishermen are feared dead after Chad’s military launched air strikes on Boko Haram militants in the Lake Chad region, a local fishermen’s leader has told the BBC. Abubakar Gamandi Usman, chairman of Lake Chad Basin Fisheries Association of Nigeria, said several of the union’s members were missing and estimated more than 40 had died. No bodies have yet been recovered but Usman believes some fishermen were hit by the strikes, while others drowned after attempting to flee in overloaded boats. Authorities in Chad and Nigeria have not commented, but on Sunday Chad’s presidency said it had carried…
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has called on the Pentagon to review comments Democratic Senator Mark Kelly made about weapons stockpiles. Hegseth accused Kelly of “blabbing on TV” about what he said was a classified Pentagon briefing. “Did he violate his oath…again?” Hegseth wrote on X. Kelly told CBS News’ Face The Nation programme of his concerns about US munitions stockpile following the war with Iran. He said it was “shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines”, citing a Pentagon briefing detailing specific munitions. In response to Hegseth’s accusation, Kelly denied that he revealed classified information and said…
A man charged with attacking the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC last month has pleaded not guilty. Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was charged with federal gun crimes and attempting to assassinate US President Donald Trump. The gun charges include using a firearm during a crime of violence and interstate transportation of a firearm with intent to commit a felony. Allen appeared in court on Monday in an orange jumpsuit and was shackled at the wrists and feet, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. Prosecutors allege that Allen attempted to storm past a security checkpoint and…
An American and a French national who have returned to their home countries having left a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of hantavirus have tested positive, authorities say. The US health department said a second American national on the repatriation flight had also shown mild symptoms, adding that both passengers had travelled back in “biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution”. French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said a woman was isolating in Paris and her health was deteriorating, with 22 contact cases traced. More than 90 passengers of the MV Hondius ship, currently docked in Spain’s Canary…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to Indians to revive working from home, buy less gold and limit foreign travel to deal with a surge in global energy prices because of the continuing crisis in the Middle East. Modi said the austerity measures, reminiscent of the Covid era, would reduce India’s fuel use and help save foreign exchange. India imports 90% of its oil and its crude bill has seen a multi-billion dollar spike since the US and Israel’s war on Iran, with the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow Gulf chokepoint, shut for more than two-and-a-half months now. Analysts described…
The Philippine House of Representatives has voted to impeach Vice-President Sara Duterte for a second time, threatening her plan to run for president in 2028. Monday’s vote moves the impeachment process to the Senate for trial, where if convicted, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte will be disqualified from holding public office. The 47-year-old is leading early surveys to replace her ally-turned-bitter foe, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The case against the vice-president stemmed from her alleged misuse of public funds and public threats against Marcos, his wife and his cousin, the former House speaker. Duterte was impeached on the…
Fifteen police officers were killed in a car bombing and ambush of a checkpoint in north-western Pakistan, police say. A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the guard post in Bannu, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, late on Saturday night, which then detonated, police said. The attacker then entered an adjoining building and fired at the remaining officers. Back-up units that rushed to the scene also came under fire. A burgeoning Islamist militant alliance known as Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen, which has been linked to the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Images from the scene show the…
Workers began painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue as part of US President Donald Trump’s bid to beautify Washington DC ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday this summer. The historic pool, stretching 2,030ft (620m) between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, has long been plagued by leaks, structural deterioration, faulty pipes, algae growth and bird droppings. Trump has said his project to restore and paint the monument would solve the leaking problem and make the pool more beautiful than ever. But it is unclear whether the repairs can specifically fix the underlying structural issues at the attraction, which…