Author: BBC

Adrienne MurrayTechnology ReporterReporting fromLongyearbyen, NorwayGetty ImagesNorway’s Longyearbyen is the world’s northernmost townHigh above the Arctic Circle, the archipelago of Svalbard lies halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole.Frozen, mountainous, and remote, it’s home to hundreds of polar bears and a couple of sparse settlements.One of those is Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost town, and just outside the settlement, in a decommissioned coal mine, is The Arctic World Archive (AWA) – an underground vault for data.Customers pay to have their data stored on film and kept in the vault, for potentially hundreds of years. “This is a place to make sure…

Kyran Thrax shares four top tips for living well.

A man accused of crashing his car through the gates of actor Jennifer Aniston’s home has been charged with stalking and vandalism. Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, of New Albany, Mississippi, is accused of repeatedly sending the Friends star unwanted voicemail, email and social media messages since March 2023.The 48-year-old is alleged to have crashed his grey Chrysler PT Cruiser through the front gate of Aniston’s home in the Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles on Monday afternoon.Prosecutors said the collision caused major damage and Aniston, 56, was at home at the time of the incident. According to the LA Police Department,…

Thomas MackintoshBBC NewsA timeline of the Heathrow Airport distruptionThe root cause of a fire which led to the shutdown of Heathrow Airport and affected hundreds of thousands of journeys worldwide “remains unknown”, an interim report says.Heathrow was closed to all flights for much of 21 March after a fire at a nearby electrical substation, which started the previous night, caused a power outage at the airport.In Thursday’s report, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) said a transformer disconnected and caught fire at the substation in Hayes, west London.The grid operator’s final report is due by the end of June. Heathrow…

Chris VallanceSenior Technology ReporterGetty ImagesWikipedia is taking legal action against new Online Safety Act regulations it says could threaten the safety of its volunteer editors and their ability to keep harmful content off the site.The Wikimedia Foundation – the non-profit which supports the online encyclopaedia – is seeking a judicial review of rules which could mean Wikipedia is subjected to the toughest duties required of websites under the act.Lead counsel Phil Bradley-Schmieg said it was “unfortunate that we must now defend the privacy and safety of Wikipedia’s volunteer editors from flawed legislation”.The government told the BBC it was committed to…

More victims of the infected blood scandal will die without ever receiving full compensation, a government minister has said.The paymaster general Nick Thomas-Symonds was giving evidence to a special session of the public inquiry into what’s been called the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.It’s thought 30,000 patients in the UK were infected with HIV or hepatitis B and C after being treated with a contaminated blood clotting product or given a blood transfusion in the 1970s and 80s.Mr Thomas-Symonds agreed it was “profoundly unsatisfactory” that just 106 final compensation awards have been paid, almost a year after a damning…

Walt Disney has announced plans to open its first theme park in the Middle East. The resort, which will be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, is a collaboration between Walt Disney and local leisure and entertainment company Miral. Disney already has six theme parks spanning North America, Europe and Asia. Its most recent opening was in 2016 in Shanghai.Miral is responsible for the development of Yas Island as a tourist destination and already operates SeaWorld and Warner Bros World where it is developing a Harry Potter-themed park. In a statement announcing the new facility,…

Shanaz Musafer, Liv McMahon & Ije NdukweBBC NewsGetty ImagesThe country may be enjoying the sunny weather, but the storm clouds that have been gathering over Marks & Spencer currently show no sign of abating.The company has said it is working “day and night” to manage the cyber attack that hit the retailer two weeks ago and has caused problems in store and shut down its online operations.Here’s what we know about the attack and the impact it’s having.Online orders are still pausedM&S’s problems began over the Easter weekend, with customers reporting problems with Click & Collect and contactless payments.The company…

Media regulator Ofcom needs more powers to remove posts such as those which encouraged the 2024 summer riots, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary says.Sir Andy Cooke said it took too long to remove misinformation on social media, allowing it to spread further and have a greater impact.He said the Online Safety Act – despite being only recently passed – did not give the regulator the tools it needed to contain such content.”Ofcom needs to have the proper capacity and capability to get posts taken down quickly if it’s going to be effective,” he said.”If you don’t get them down quickly,…

Stuart WoodwardBBC News, EssexSteve Hubbard/BBCFinley has received weekly lipid infusions directly into his heart since he was fourLike most teenagers his age, Finley is given a cake every year to celebrate his birthday, but he can never eat it – or any other food. If he did, he would bleed internally.The 14-year-old’s digestive system cannot tolerate lipids – fatty compounds or oils which are found in foods – so he has them injected directly into his heart.The treatment is a six-hour process which he has undergone every week since he was four years old, and over the past year it…