Vape ban will prevent nicotine-addicted children
PHW said disposable vapes were "cheap, easy to use and widely available" and appealed to children.It added that most contained nicotine, which affected concentration, memory and the ability to learn when consumed regularly.Mary-Ann McKibben, consultant in public health at PHW, said: "While vaping is safer than smoking for adults, it is not risk–free and we do not yet have a comprehensive understanding of the long-term health effects."She called the ban an "important step" towards preventing a generation of young people addicted to nicotine.Data in Wales shows that 7% of people aged 11 to 16 use vapes weekly, up from 5.4% in 2021. For 15 and 16-year-olds it is 15.9%, up from 13.6%.Keep Wales Tidy estimates that 360,000 single use vapes are dropped on the floor each year, while 120,000 are flushed down the toilet.
People at the Urdd Eisteddfod in Neath Port Talbot were largely supportive of the ban.Anna Sitori, 18, from Swansea, said vaping was a "real issue" that she often sees at school and parties and this would "really help crack down" on it.Steffan Thomas, 19, from Swansea, believes many of his friends who vape would stop due to the ban, but felt some could resort to smoking tobacco.In Swansea, Kyle Evans, from Aberdare, Rhonda Cynon Taf, described the ban as "ridiculous" as it was a helpful way to quit smoking.He added: "People need to put them away properly, dispose of them properly and there shouldn't be a ban."
Crimestoppers said it was stepping up its efforts to combat the illegal sale of vapes in the wake of the ban because "unscrupulous vendors will continue to sell these products illegally"."These products pose serious health risks – they are unregulated, untested, and may contain dangerously high levels of nicotine and harmful substances such as lead and nickel," it said.Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme when the ban was announced, John Dunne, director general of UKVIA, said authorities already struggled to tackle the black market, even without a ban.He said the association wanted the UK government to instead introduce a licensing scheme for retailers and distributors.
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Telegraph
22 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The M&S ‘Scattered Spider' hackers are coming for your holidays
If air traffic control strikes, errant drones and climate protesters weren't enough to contend with, the aviation industry has a new antagonist threatening to grind things to a halt: hackers. This week it emerged that the secretive 'Scattered Spider' group who attacked M&S and Co-op are targeting the aviation industry. Charles Carmakal, an executive at Google's cybersecurity unit, said that his firm was 'aware of multiple incidents in the airline and transportation sector which resemble the operations [of] Scattered Spider.' Sam Rubin, of Palo Alto Networks, said his company had 'observed Muddled Libra (also known as Scattered Spider) targeting the aviation industry.' While neither Rubin nor Carmakal specified which airlines have been targeted, Hawaiian Airlines and WestJet have recently suffered cyber attacks. WestJet said the incident affected 'some services and software systems' including its app, but neither airline suffered operational disruption due to the breach. The issue is not isolated to North America. On Monday June 30, Qantas suffered a major cyber attack, reportedly compromising the personal data of up to six million customers. A spokesperson for the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told The Telegraph: 'We are aware of rumoured activity. We are in contact with the National Cyber Security Centre and have warned our industry contacts about this group and the techniques they use.' One of the things that the CAA would have told their industry contacts is that when Scattered Spider targets an industry, the attack tends to be sustained and relentless for a period. If aviation is next in line, how could a hack play out, and what can you do to protect your holiday? Worrying potential There are a few different avenues for the hackers. One would be to target airlines' corporate infrastructure. In 2018, 380,000 British Airways customers had their credit card details stolen in a major data breach. Bookings made in a two-week window had been infiltrated in a 'very sophisticated, malicious criminal' attack, according to the airline's former CEO Alex Cruz. The airline was later fined £20m for the security breach. A second scenario is that ground systems could be targeted. In 2015, Poland's flag carrier LOT cancelled 10 flights after hackers infiltrated the computer systems that issued flight plans from Warsaw's Chopin Airport. But the scale could be much bigger than this. In 2023, the US Federal Aviation Administration's 'Notice to Airmen' (NOTAM) system suffered a three-hour outage. The result was that all flights across the US were grounded for the first time since 9/11, leaving 11,000 aircraft stuck on tarmac across the country. While this was a hardware issue, not a malicious hack, it highlights the potential impact of a sudden IT meltdown. The third, and perhaps most worrying scenario, is that in-flight systems could be infiltrated. Earlier this year, several aircraft coming into land at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington DC received false mid-air collision warnings, even though there were no other planes in the area. The pilots receiving the alerts disconnected autopilot and climbed rapidly. It is unknown whether this was caused by the deliberate, malicious 'spoofing' of airline systems, or if it was due to an error or another cause. Regardless, it is an example of how hackers could potentially enter the cockpit in the future, putting pilots into compromised scenarios. This week's Qantas data breach suggests hackers are already targeting the databases of airlines. But given the nature of Scattered Spider's previous high-profile, high-impact attacks, scenarios two or three should not be ruled out. 'Hacking groups thrive on attention, and with families about to start jetting off on their summer holidays, the potential to attack and extort an airline is irresistible,' says Matt Saunders of Adaptavist, a tech consultancy which works with major airlines. 'The good news is that a potential hacking attempt should not cause safety issues for passengers, as any safety-critical IT systems will already have a manual backup option which maintains the highest safety standards in the event of an unwelcome intrusion,' he added. How to hack-proof your holiday There are steps that we, the passenger, can take to protect ourselves from cyber attacks. Paying for your holiday with a credit card is preferable; if somebody makes unauthorised payments on your card you will be protected by the Consumer Credit Act, meaning the process of reclaiming your lost funds will be more straightforward. Regularly changing the password for your online account with an airline's website or app will also help to protect it from the rising issue of air-mile theft. And, as always, avoid booking tickets on public Wi-Fi networks which might not be encrypted, potentially putting your data at risk. When it comes to the larger scale hacking incidents, we can only rely on the strength of airline security systems – which are, by all accounts, becoming more powerful. In 2024 alone, the aviation industry spent $37bn (£27bn) on IT systems, and airports spent $9bn (£6.5bn). Around half of airlines and three quarters of airports are in the process of safeguarding data and upgrading IT systems. 'Defending against these risks requires more than perimeter controls – it demands continuous workforce education, Zero Trust principles, phish-resistant multi-factor authentication and identity verification that can't be socially engineered,' stresses Jordan Avnaim of identity security company, Entrust. Recent cyber attacks on Hawaiian, WestJet and Qantas did not affect flight operations, which should give us hope. Nevertheless, the fact that the shelves in some M&S stores were empty for six weeks and its online orders were suspended – to the sum of £300m – shows why airports, airlines and passengers should remain on high alert.
The Sun
23 minutes ago
- The Sun
This Morning star reveals terrifying moment she blacked out on boozy night out as she sends warning to fans
THIS Morning star Ashley James has revealed the frightful moment she blacked out on a boozy night out - and feared she had been spiked. The 38-year-old says she feels very lucky because she wasn't mugged or sexually assaulted, but is now extra careful with her drinks on nights out. 6 6 Ashley, who is working alongside Spike Aware UK and CounterSpike in a bid to educate people on the issue, tells us: 'When I went to my brother's university, and I went out with him and his friends, it's the first time that I'd ever completely blacked out. "When I woke up I was in my brother's halls with my brother. 'I'd been sick everywhere and I actually didn't remember anything that happened. But luckily I was with my brother and his friends. 'They teased me that I couldn't handle my drink because I was the younger sister that had gone to visit my brother, but I didn't feel like that. 'My reaction and how sick I was, was not in proportion to what I drank in that situation.' She continues: 'Had it happened now, my brother or me or his friends could have tested my drinks. 'If I had been spiked, there was no mugging or sexual assault. But the next person might not be so lucky, because I imagine a lot of these people that try to spike people's drinks don't just do it once - and if they fail, they don't stop doing it.' Like many people, Ashley didn't tell anyone about her concerns - according to a new survey by CounterSpike only 11% of spiking victims reported it to the police. Now, Ashley is helping to promote SpikeStixx - a spiking test kit that enables people to test their drinks on a night out and get instant results. 'It's literally the same size as my lipstick, so you can put it in your bag, no matter how tiny and impractical your bag is - as mine always is,' says Ashley. 'Ever since I started going out properly, spiking's always been that sort of invisible threat or thing that we have to worry about.' DJ and TV star Ashley first rose to fame during her short stint on Made In Chelsea - she now uses her voice to talk about what's important to her. She often speaks out about double standards for men and women - and refuses to cover up her boobs because other people choose to hypersexualize them. 'I definitely feel like I've got to a point where I realise that there shouldn't be a moral attachment to the clothes that we wear, ' she tells us. 'And actually, we see that, even if you're looking at spiking. But any form of sexual violence, it doesn't just happen because of what we wear. 'I find specifically, the hypersexualization of boobs quite frustrating. I don't deserve to be judged and especially not my morals or sexuality questioned based on my body." She adds: 'I certainly don't think that my body is any more shameful than anyone else's and I think time and time again, we see that it doesn't matter what we wear. 'People are spiking drinks, not because of what we're wearing. People are hurting and killing women, not because of the clothes that they are wearing. It's because those people are bad people who want to harm women.' Despite any concerns Ashley might have on a night out, the mum-of-two is planning to keep on partying for a long time to come. She says: 'I love socialising. I'm such an extrovert and I'm a DJ as well. So I'm always out and about in various different environments where there's drinks. 'I love being around friends. I've got a really good group of mum friends. I've got a really good group of friends in the industry and I feel like I'll never slow down - I'm just a bit more tired.' 6 6 6 6
The Sun
23 minutes ago
- The Sun
Myleene Klass issues warning to others after she rescued her baby girl who choked on £2 decoration
LOOSE Women star Myleene Klass has opened up about the moment her daughter, Hero, turned blue and collapsed after choking. Speaking on the We're Not Getting Any Younger podcast this week, the 47-year-old presenter said the horrific incident left her 'hysterical.' 6 6 The mum-of-three who shares daughters Ava and Hero with ex-husband Graham Quinn, and son Apollo with partner Simon Motson - said the choking scare happened when Hero, now 13, was a baby. "She choked on one of those dayglo stars you stick on the ceiling,' the ex Hear'Say star recalled. She credits her first aid training with saving her daughter's life - and now refuses to keep the decorations, sold for as little as £2 a pack, anywhere in the house. Asked whether the star had fallen from the ceiling, Myleene clarified: 'She found it. She was so little, she couldn't even speak.' "Not just because she was choking, she physically couldn't communicate what had happened.' Describing the moment she realised something was wrong, Myleene said her daughter 'stumbled' into the kitchen, "holding her throat", while she was doing the washing up. "Her face had gone blue and then she just dropped to the floor. It was the longest five minutes of my life," she explained. When someone is choking, it means that the oxygen supply to the lungs is obstructed, the first aiders explained. This in turn cuts off the supply of oxygen to the brain. The lack of oxygen to the brain has widespread ramifications for the rest of the body, which become more serious with every minute. Children First Aid: Choking If your child doesn't receive oxygen to their brain for one to four minutes, they'll lose consciousness, according to Headway, a brain injury charity. After three minutes, the neurons in their brain will get damaged. Permanent brain damage becomes much more likely after four minutes of your tot not being able to breathe. After 10 minutes, a child could slip into a coma and lasting brain damage becomes almost inevitable if their brain is still alive. Survival becomes almost impossible after 15 minutes. This is why it's imperative that parents learn choking first aid. 6 6 Using her first aid knowlegde, Myleene sprung into action. 'I turned her upside down, well, not literally, but she was small enough that I could lay her across my forearm," she said. "I gave her a firm back blow and eventually she vomited it up,' she added. "Then she just toddled off as if nothing had happened. I was left a complete wreck.' Your sign to get trained Myleene's first aid training also helped her save her other daughter, Ava, during a choking incident when she was a tween. Both "terrfiying" experiences drove her to earn a more professional qualification with St John Ambulance, she said. In a post she shared on Instagram in June of herself doing the training and wearing the first aid uniform, she wrote: "The only thing worse would have been not knowing what to do. "I had done first aid, but now I wanted to learn it to a more sort of professional level," she explained on the podast. "This might be your sign to get first aid trained." she added. 6 6 According to the NHS, choking is common in young children, especially during play or mealtimes. This is because they often explore objects by putting them in their mouths. Parents are advised to keep small items out of reach, cut food into small pieces, and familiarise themselves with first aid techniques. What to do if your child chokes IF your child chokes, don't panic and freeze immediately. The NHS says if the child is coughing, encourage them to continue as they may be able to bring the object up. Don't leave them alone while this is happening. But if their coughing is silent, they can't breathe properly or they don't bring anything up, get help immediately. Use back blows on your tot if they're still conscious. First aiders at St John Ambulance give the following advice based on the child's age. Baby Slap it out: Lay the baby face down along your thigh and support their head Give five back blows between their shoulder blades Turn them over and check their mouth each time 2. Squeeze it out: Turn the baby over, face upwards, supported along your thigh Put two fingers in the centre of their chest just below the nipple line; push downwards to give up to five sharp chest thrusts Check the mouth each time 3. If the item does not dislodge, call 999 or 112 for emergency help Take the baby with you to call Repeat the steps 1 and 2 until help arrives Start CPR if the baby becomes unresponsive (unconscious) Child 1. Cough it out Encourage the casualty to keep coughing, if they can 2. Slap it out Lean them forwards, supporting them with one hand Give five sharp back blows between the shoulder blades Check their mouth each time but do not put your fingers in their mouth 3. Squeeze it out Stand behind them with your arms around their waist, with one clenched fist between their belly button and the bottom of their chest Grasp the fist in the other hand and pull sharply inwards and upwards, giving up to five abdominal thrusts Check their mouth each time
