authorities in south africa say the number of people known to have died in devastating floods in kwazulu natal province has risen to 398 with 27 people still reported as missing. rescue operations have been taking place but further flooding is possible as rain falls on saturated ground. now on bbc news, click. this week, we meet the middle men standing between you and your games console. we re letting off some steam and we have an amazing spider.man. hey, welcome, welcome, welcome! lara lewington, what is the craziest thing you ve ever bought on ebay? um, slippers? dogs dog slippers! i wondered where that was going. ok, i did ask for crazy. well, look, do you remember the times when you bid on an item and you thought you were going to win the auction, and then in the dying few seconds, you were beaten by someone else? yes, they weren t real people, though, were they? no, they weren t. they were computer programmes designed to work really fast and beat you to the bid button,
hey, welcome, welcome, welcome. what is the craziest thing you have ever bought on ebay? slippers. dog slippers. i didn t know where that was going. ok, i did ask for crazy. look, do you remember the times where you bid on an item and you thought you were going to win the auction, and then, in the dying few seconds, you were beaten by someone else? yes, they weren t real people though, were they? no, they weren t. they were computer programmes designed to work really fast to beat you to the bid button and i hated them. no one did that to my dog slippers, though. i can t imagine why. look, now, this idea is being used in new ways and omar mehtab has been looking at the phenomenon of the scalpers. with the pandemic came lockdowns and with the majority of population stuck at home, we had nothing really to do but buy. and so, online spending went up. we bought clothes, hobby kits, sourdough starters, fire pits, hot tubs, gym equipments, anything to get us through it, and that inc
hey, welcome, welcome, welcome! lara lewington, what is the craziest thing you ve ever bought on ebay? um, slippers? dogs dog slippers! i wondered where that was going. ok, i did ask for crazy. well, look, do you remember the times when you bid on an item and you thought you were going to win the auction, and then in the dying few seconds, you were beaten by someone else? yes, they weren t real people, though, were they? no, they weren t. they were computer programmes designed to work really fast and beat you to the bid button, and i hated them. no one did that to my dog slippers, though. can t imagine why. well, look, now, this idea is being used in new ways, and omar mehtab has been looking at the phenomenon of the scalpers. with the pandemic came lockdowns, and with the majority of the population stuck at home, we had nothing really to do.but buy. and so online spending went up. we bought clothes, hobby kits, sourdough starters, fire pits, hot tubs, gym equipment, anythi
but there was a problem the semiconductor shortage. the shortage of semiconductors. they don t have the semiconductors. what is that? simply put, they are the brains of modern electronics. so, they re in pretty much every product. electronics need them. cars, smart phones, laptops, gaming consoles. and so, with very few on the market, fans are trying websites to try and get them. however, there is money to be made. in come the scalpers. so, these are people who buy rare or sought after items and resell them again at a higher price to make a profit. you ve probably seen them outside of concerts, reselling tickets, or putting up a nice pair of shoes on ebay for double the price. but the modern scalper is a little bit different. they use internet bots online software that s programmed to do a certain task. so, that could be buying the first tickets available for a trip to majorca. telling me when the ferrari testarossa is under 100k. or telling me when new stock of ps5 appea
exercises around taiwan which have coincided with a bipartisan visit to taipei by six us lawmakers. an army spokesman said they were directed at what he called the wrong signal being sent about the island by the united states. the grandmother of a british man who has been captured in ukraine says she s horrified by images of him being shown on russian tv, and has called for him to be treated humanely. aiden aslin was fighting with ukranian forces in the besieged city of mariupol, when he told family he was having to surrender to russian forces. here s our correspondent emma vardy. if you re watching this, it means that we ve surrendered. the last message to loved ones, before his capture in one of the most desperate places on earth. we ran out of ammunition. didn t really have any other choice other than to surrender. for weeks, aiden aslin and his unit defended the heavily bombarded city of mariupol, holding off russian forces as long as they could. two days ago, his fam