Author: BBC

Colin PatersonEntertainment CorrespondentGetty ImagesHerbie Hancock is an all-time jazz great, so it is reassuring to hear that he suffers from the same modern day procrastination problems as the rest of us mere mortals.”I fall into rabbit holes on YouTube. A lot of them. New music writing software, things about health, tech things.”That is his explanation as to why he has not made an album for 15 years.”I get victimised by it, so to speak, but that’s life,” he chuckles.Speaking from his house in west Hollywood, the ridiculously sprightly 84-year-old pianist has never been afraid to embrace technology, but normally he…

Kevin PeacheyCost of living correspondentGetty ImagesYoga mats are in, while modern technology also gets a new representationSome may use yoga mats and virtual reality headsets to mentally escape the daily grind but now statisticians are using them to chart the rising cost of living.Both items have made their way into the basket of goods and services used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to calculate inflation.The basket contains 752 items. The ONS collects the costs of these products and services across many different retailers to come up with the monthly inflation figures.That figure, currently showing prices rising at 3%…

Chris BaraniukTechnology ReporterGetty ImagesSubsea cables are critical to the operation of the internetThe diver had found the fibre optic cable lying on the seabed of the North Sea. He swam closer, until it was near enough to touch.He reached out his hand. But someone could tell he was lurking there. Someone was watching.”He stops and just touches the cable lightly, you clearly see the signal,” says Daniel Gerwig, global sales manager at AP Sensing, a German technology company. “The acoustic energy which travels through the fibre is basically disturbing our signal. We can measure this disturbance.”Multiple reports of damaged telecommunications…

Plans to overhaul the benefits system are to be announced later in a move aimed at cutting the growing welfare bill.Changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) are likely to be among the measures, which will mean some may no longer qualify while those with the most serious conditions may not have to be assessed again.Unemployed people in receipt of Universal Credit, who are actively looking for work, are also expected to see their benefit levels rise, though this is likely to be by a relatively modest amount.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall says the package will ensure “trust and fairness”…

Ian YoungsCulture reporterGetty ImagesAward-winning Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne has died from cancer at the age of 43.Dequenne shot to fame when she won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival at the age of 18 for the film Rosetta in 1999.She won another Cannes award for À Perdre la Raison (Our Children) in 2012, and received a Cesar, one of France’s top film honours, for Les Choses Qu’on Dit, les Choses Qu’on Fait (The Things We Say, the Things We Do) in 2021.She mainly acted in French-language films but also appeared as police officer Laurence Relaud in 2014…

A group of industry regulators are to meet the chancellor on Monday to discuss how they can help speed up economic growth. Rachel Reeves is expected to use the meeting to outline more details about cutting the cost of regulation, including environmental measures, as well as scrapping some bodies in their entirety.Her actions come as the government seeks to reduce bureaucracy, and follows Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement last week that NHS England would be abolished.The Conservatives said Labour’s taxes and trade union red tape were harming growth and called on Reeves to set out a “real plan”.Ahead of…

Angus Crawford and Tony SmithBBC News investigationsGetty ImagesBereaved families are calling on the online regulator Ofcom to shut down a “vile” website which promotes videos of the deaths of their loved ones.The website, which we are not naming, has more than three million members and contains thousands of graphic photos and videos of real-life killings and suicides as well as executions carried out by extremists. Past members include those who have gone on to commit school shootings and murders, the BBC can reveal. From Monday, Ofcom gets new powers to crack down on illegal content, but it may not be…

Branwen JeffreysEducation editorGetty ImagesThe poorest children are missing more school and falling further behind classmates, research shared with the BBC suggests.According to new analysis by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) – which looked at pupil performance after the Covid-19 pandemic – children from the lowest income families are now up to 19 months behind peers by the time they are 16 years old.Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told BBC Panorama Covid had led to a “serious and profound shift” in attitudes to attendance. She said lockdowns had cast “a long shadow” over the life chances of the youngest children.The latest statistics…

Samantha GranvilleBBC News, Los AngelesGetty ImagesThe will of legendary actor Gene Hackman has been released, but uncertainty lingers over his $80m (£62m) fortune.The two-time Academy Award winner left his entire estate to his wife of 30 years, Betsy Arakawa. But Arakawa, 65, was found dead alongside her husband in their New Mexico home last month.Legal experts have now said that, because authorities say Arakawa died seven days before her husband, Hackman’s children could now potentially inherit his fortune, despite not being named in the will.His three children with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese – Christopher, 65, Elizabeth, 62, and Leslie,…

Tom Espiner & Charlotte EdwardsBusiness reporters, BBC NewsAlisonAlison says the thought of a cut to her benefits is “extremely upsetting”The government is set to announce cuts to spending on welfare this week, after the prime minister called the current system “unsustainable, indefensible and unfair”. The axe is expected to come down heavily on long-term sickness and disability benefits, especially Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which may see a £5bn cut.An increase in the number of people claiming long-term, health-related benefits has pushed the total welfare bill to £64bn a year. Some argue that reforming the system would encourage claimants to work,…