Author: BBC

Graham FraserTechnology reporterGetty ImagesWith smartphones, where Apple leads others often follow – so it launching an iPhone this week without a traditional Sim card is raising questions over the future of a very familiar piece of phone tech.All phone users will be used to the small plastic cards they need to delicately insert into their devices to make them operate.But for buyers of the iPhone Air, that will be a thing of the past.It will only operate with an eSim – which allows users to switch networks or plans without resorting to a fiddly fork to open a tiny Sim…

Every NHS hospital in England has been told to improve patient waiting times for planned treatment as the government has made hitting the 18-week target one of its key priorities for this parliament.By March 2026, the government wants to see at least 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks.To get there, every NHS trust has to either get to 60% or improve on its November 2024 figures by five percentage points – whichever is greater.That is just a stepping stone towards the ultimate goal of achieving 92% by July 2029.Use your postcode to find out whether waiting lists…

Simon ThakeBBC News, Yorkshire, SheffieldSimon ThakeUpper Don Community Energy has helped residents like Helen Lowe living in fuel povertyA community group is helping struggling households overcome high energy bills through a series of simple measures to stop draughts and improve insulation.Upper Don Community Energy (UDCE) started the project in September 2023 and has helped more than 60 households to keep their homes warmer. Now they have funding and resources to help up to 50 more households in the Upper Don area of Sheffield.The co-operative provide and fit free door curtains, draught excluders, LED bulbs and more to eligible households living…

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has admitted that some data may have been taken by hackers in a cyber-attack that has halted car production and forced the vehicle-maker to send workers home.The company, owned by India’s Tata Motors, initially said it did not believe any customer information had been stolenNow, 11 days after the attack, it has conceded that some data has been impacted but declined to say exactly who the information pertained to, such as customers, suppliers or JLR itself.The affected plants in the UK are not expected to restart until Thursday at the earliest and worldwide production of around…

A third of children under five are living in UK homes where there is not enough access to healthy and nutritious food, according to anti-poverty charity Trussell Trust.Surveys by the charity found more than 14 million people in the UK faced the prospect of going hungry last year due to lack of money.This marks an increase from the trust’s last survey in 2022 when that number was 11.6 million people.The government said it is “determined to tackle the unacceptable rise in food bank dependence”.The survey was conducted in two parts, the first by Ipsos (a market research organisation) on behalf…

Charlotte EdwardsBusiness reporterGetty ImagesThe maker of Wegovy and Ozempic, Novo Nordisk, has announced it will cut 9,000 jobs weeks after warning that profits will fall as more “knock-off” weight-loss drugs emerge.The redundancies make up 11% of the Danish company’s workforce and mark the first major step by new chief executive Mike Doustdar as Novo Nordisk faces mounting pressures in the rapidly expanding weight-loss sector.Demand for weight-loss drugs has increased in recent years, in particular after Covid-related lockdowns forced people to stay in their homes.Mr Doustdar said: “Our markets are evolving, particularly in obesity, as it has become more competitive and…

Two former Meta safety researchers told a US Senate committee on Tuesday that the social media giant covered up potential harms to children stemming from its virtual reality (VR) products.”Meta has chosen to ignore the problems they created and bury evidence of users’ negative experiences,” said Jason Sattizahn.The hearing comes a day after the Washington Post reported the whistleblowers’ allegations that Meta lawyers intervened to shape internal research that could have flagged risks.Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, denies the allegations and in a statement referred to the “claims at the heart” of the hearing as “nonsense.”Mr…

Hugh PymHealth editor, BBC NewsGetty ImagesNew league tables rating the performance of NHS trusts in England have been published for the first time, with specialist hospitals taking the top slots.Number one is Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, followed by the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust and cancer centre the Christie NHS Foundation Trust.At the bottom is Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, which has had major problems with its buildings because of structural weaknesses and the need for props to hold up ceilings. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the tables would help inform the public and allow them…

Kemi Badenoch has said she is “really worried” that the UK might be forced to embark on a 1976-style bailout from the International Monetary Fund.The Conservative leader told BBC Newsnight that the UK could be forced to go “cap in hand” to the IMF unless the government delivers a plan for economic growth.She made her remarks as she offered to work with Sir Keir Starmer “in the national interest” to cut welfare spending, saying cuts and growth were needed to help the government out of a “doom loop” of rising taxes and precarious public finances.A Labour Party source said Badenoch…

Microsoft’s Azure cloud services have been disrupted by undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea, the US tech giant says.Users of Azure – one of the world’s leading cloud computing platforms – would experience delays because of problems with internet traffic moving through the Middle East, the company said.Microsoft did not explain what might have caused the damage to the undersea cables, but added that it had been able to reroute traffic through other paths. Over the weekend, there were reports suggesting that undersea cable cuts had affected the United Arab Emirates and some countries in Asia. Cables laid on…