Tech

Here's our daily pick of stories from across local websites in the West of England, and interesting content from social media.

Our pick of local website stories

Burnham-on-sea.com reports the A38 will close for three days this month through Highbridge.

The mother of Mikey Roynon, who was fatally stabbed with a zombie-style knife at a party in 2023, speaks to Somerset Live ahead of a new documentary.

And more than 50 homes are set to be built on a school's playing fields in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Live reports.

Our top three from yesterday

A traffic-holding system for lorries queueing to cross the English Channel has been deployed ahead of the May Bank Holiday weekend and the school half-term.

The Kent and Medway Resilience Forum rolled out Operation Brock on the M20 between junction eight (Maidstone) and nine (Ashford).

The contraflow was put in place earlier this week and a diversion route was put in place during the installation.

Operation Brock sees lorries heading to Dover queue on one side of the M20, with the other carriageway operating as a contraflow, with traffic travelling in both directions.

All Heavy Good Vehicle's heading for the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel must follow the signs to join Operation Brock at junction eight of the M20.

All other coast-bound traffic, including local freight and car drivers heading for mainland Europe, should follow the signs and crossover to enter the contraflow on the M20 London-bound carriageway.

A busy road junction in Hull is due to reopen on Wednesday following repairs to a burst water main.

Motorists have been unable to join Princes Avenue from Spring Bank and Spring Bank West since the damaged pipe was found on 22 May.

Yorkshire Water said repairs had been completed and workers had been waiting for concrete to cure before lifting the closure.

"We'd like to apologise for the disruption and thank everyone in the area for their patience whilst we worked to repair the burst on Princes Avenue and reinstate the road," a spokesperson said.

Commuters and residents previously described the delays caused by the work as a "nightmare".

Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Soundslatest episode of Look North here.

King Charles has attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show at Windsor Castle.

The equestrian event, which was a favourite of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, was first staged in 1943 to help raise funds for the war effort.

The show is now the only one in the UK to host international competitions in show jumping, dressage, driving and endurance.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, were also seen with the King at the event on Saturday.

This year's Royal Windsor Horse Show, which opened on Thursday and runs until Sunday, also includes more than 120 showing classes.

The inaugural event in 1943 was attended by King George VI, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the two young princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret.

Over the years, Queen Elizabeth II would often be seen walking among the stalls, dressed informally and wearing a headscarf.

She also entered her home-bred horses and ponies in classes at the show.

Two people found dead at a property in Devon both suffered gunshot wounds, police have said.

Husband and wife, John Perkins, 66, and Kathryn Perkins, 67, were pronounced dead at a property at Briar Close, Exmouth, at 18:30 BST on 7 May.

A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said the fatalities were linked and Mrs Perkins' death was being treated as suspicious.

They added that two legally held firearms had been located at the property and been seized.

Fires are being caused by e-bikes or e-scooters in London "every other day", a fire chief has warned after a fire left 11 people needing hospital treatment in Bethnal Green, east London, last week.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) chiefs believe the fire was caused by the failure of a lithium-ion battery.

Richard Field, dep ass commissioner for prevention and protection at LFB, said e-bikes and e-scooters were one of the capital's "fastest-growing fire risks".

"Since 2023, we have seen a fire, on average, every other day and these fires are ferocious, producing extremely toxic smoke," he said.

Many recent fires have involved second-hand e-bikes or e-scooters which have been modified using parts bought online which do not meet the correct safety standard, Mr Field added.

The Bethnal Green fire on 9 April saw 50 people evacuated after it spread through the block in Cornwall Avenue.

One man jumped from a second-floor window to escape the flames but was unhurt.

Mr Field said: "This would have been a terrifying ordeal for all those inside this building.

"Firefighters demonstrated great courage to bring multiple people, including one child, to safety.

"The condition of one of the 11 people taken to hospital is no longer life-threatening."

Life-saving equipment was stolen from a fire engine leaving its crew unavailable to attend incidents.

The break-in happened at Ferndown Fire Station on Ringwood Road, between 08:45 BST on Friday and 09:00 on Saturday, causing damage to the building and resulting in a reciprocating saw and Halligan tool – used by firefighters to force entry – being taken.

PC Georgia Hedditch, of Dorset Police, described it as a "senseless burglary" that "resulted in the fire service being deprived of a potentially life-saving asset".

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was "very saddened" by theft.

PC Hedditch said the force was "carrying out a number of inquiries" and urged any witnesses or those with dashcam, home CCTV or doorbell camera footage to come forwards.

Jason Moncrieff, area manager of Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "We are very saddened that this has happened at one of our fire stations.

"The impact was greater than the loss of two pieces of equipment, it meant the Ferndown crew were unavailable to attend incidents for much of Saturday, and we now have to use public money to buy replacement items.

"The offenders also damaged part of the fire station to get in, which has now been repaired, again at a cost to public funding."

Sudanese people are eating leaves and charcoal to survive after fleeing an attack on a camp for displaced people near the city of el-Fasher, an aid agency has told the BBC.

"The stories we've been hearing are truly horrific," Noah Taylor, the Norwegian Refugee Council's head of operations, told the BBC's Newsday programme.

People are fleeing el-Fasher for Tawila, but are dying "on arrival," Mr Taylor added.

He said that some were "dying of thirst", whilst making the 40km (25 mile) journey from Zamzam camp in "blistering" temperatures.

"We've heard stories there are still bodies on the road between el-Fasher and Tawila.

"We spoke to a family who told us of a girl who had walked on foot by herself from el-Fasher, was repeatedly raped along the journey, and then died of her wounds when she arrived in Tawila."

El-Fasher is the last city in Sudan's western region of Darfur under the control of the army and its allies. Earlier this month, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the nearby Zamzam camp, forcing tens of thousands to flee their makeshift shelters.

Many Zamzam residents had been there for two decades, after escaping previous conflicts in Darfur.

The RSF has been battling the army for the past two years in a war that has killed an estimated 150,000 people and forced some 13 million from their homes.

Aid agencies say it is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

However, funding problems have led to the UN reducing the food aid it delivers to areas of Sudan hit by famine, it says.

A food truck destroyed in an arson attack was a labour of love that had taken its owner months to restore.

Emergency services responded to reports that Dutchie's Jerk Joint was on fire in Queens Square, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, at about 00:45 BST on 23 April.

The local community has raised about £5,000 to fund a replacement and support the family who ran the business.

Comorah Briscoe said: "We bought that truck as a major fixer-upper. It took me six months of hands and knees work with help from all my friends and family just to get it into condition."

Hertfordshire Police has asked anybody who was in the area or has CCTV footage from that night to contact them.

The van had been off the road since August but bookings had been made from next month, including weddings, birthdays and the Notting Hill Carnival.

Mr Briscoe said he was reluctant to ask for help to fund a replacement.

"I didn't think I'd get anything. I didn't even want to do it because I think it's embarrassing asking," he said.

"The reaction has been overwhelming with how many people want us to be back on the road."

Firefighters tackling a major blaze at a factory in Birmingham are expected to be at the scene all night, it has been confirmed.

About 75 crew members have been tackling the fire, which led to a power cut affecting nearly 400 homes.

Fifteen fire engines were sent to the single-storey industrial premises on Warwick Road, Sparkhill, at about 07:15 BST.

West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) said the blaze had also spread to three separate businesses nearby, although no casualties had been reported.

It has confirmed the fire also affected an electrical substation, which had been isolated remotely by the National Grid, leaving 380 homes without power.

In the latest update, a WMFS spokesperson said there had been a crew changeover at 18:00 and the fire was still being treated as "significant", having affected up to 75% of the factory.

People living nearby had been urged to avoid the area and close all windows and doors.

National Grid said it had hoped power would be restored to all homes by 18:30.

Warwick Road has been closed in both directions between the junctions with the B4146 Tyseley Hill Road and B4146 Wharfadale Road, according to travel monitoring system Inrix.

A West Midlands Police spokesperson said officers were supporting the fire service with the road closures.