Author: BBC

Tate Britain is set to return a 17th Century painting to the family of a Jewish Belgian art collector, after it was taken from his home by Nazis during World War Two.Painter Henry Gibbs’ 1654 work, Aeneas And His Family Fleeing Burning Troy, was taken by the Nazis as “an act of racial persecution”, said the Spoliation Advisory Panel, which which looks into cases of looted artworks. The panel resolves claims from people, or their heirs, who lost possession of cultural property during the Nazi era, which is now held in national collections in the UK.The heirs and great-grandchildren of…

Andrew RogersBBC NewsbeatRLCSFans at last year’s RLCS competition in LondonConventional wisdom tells us professional athletes perform best in front of a home crowd.Great Britain’s Olympic team won a record medal haul at London 2012 and England’s Lionesses won the Euros at Wembley in 2022, 56 years after the men’s national football team won the World Cup at home.Does that same home advantage apply in esports?BBC Newsbeat asked four competitors at this weekend’s Rocket League Championship Series in Birmingham to find out.Players compete in the popular online game by driving cars around an arena, trying to push an oversized ball into…

Munaza RafiqDisability producerBBC / Emma Lynch”I was sobbing as I was put to sleep, and I was sobbing when I woke up.”This is the painful memory Dani Czernuszka-Watt replays in her mind as she remembers going for the abortion she never wanted to have.Dani was told she would have to abort due to a medical complication from her previous pregnancy, but says the experience of going through the abortion as a wheelchair user left her traumatised.It was Dani’s fourth pregnancy, her second since a rugby tackle left her paralysed from the waist down.She tried several wheelchair sports after sustaining those…

A charity providing starter packs for newborns has reported a “shocking” increase in referrals for its services.Baby Basics, based in Wollaston, Northamptonshire, supplies moses baskets filled with donated bed linen, toiletries, and clothing to support vulnerable families. The charity said it is now assisting one in 16 babies born in the county.Sabrina Oakey, co-founder of Baby Basics Northampton said: “Unfortunately, over the last five years, we’ve seen a 97% increase in our referrals, which is shocking.”Founded in 2013, the charity provides support to new mothers facing financial hardship. If purchased, the average cost of each starter pack would total around…

Helen BushbyCulture reporterBBCBBC Studios already sells adverts on BBC podcasts outside the UKThe BBC has “decided to rule out” placing adverts on some of its podcasts for UK listeners on sites such as Apple and Spotify.Last year, the corporation revealed it planned to put ads in some of its podcasts on commercial platforms to “generate more revenue to support the BBC”.But some of Britain’s biggest media companies objected – including ITV, Sky, commercial radio giants Bauer and Global, and Gary Lineker’s production company Goalhanger – with a joint letter to the government warning that the move would be “disastrous” for…

Chinese technology giant Tencent has made a €1.2bn ($1.25bn; £1bn) investment in a spin-off from Ubisoft, the maker of the Assassin’s Creed video games.Shenzhen-based Tencent will own about a quarter of the new business, with Ubisoft holding the rest of the new subsidiary, which is valued at around €4bn.The unit will run some of the French firm’s biggest franchises, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.Tencent, which is one of the world’s biggest video games developers, is also known for its internet-based services, including the hugely popular messaging app WeChat.”Today Ubisoft is opening a new chapter in…

Society’s move to cashless payments may have had an unintended positive side effect, surgeons say – fewer children needing operations or procedures to remove swallowed coins.The Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) experts looked back over hospital records in England since the Millennium. Procedures to remove foreign objects, including coins, from children’s throats, airways and noses saw a “significant decline”, of almost 700 cases by 2022.Historically, coins had accounted for over 75% of objects swallowed by under-sixes, they told a medical journal. According to the UK Payments Markets Survey, cards began outstripping cash in 2012. And that is when the researchers…

X-Men stars Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart are reprising their roles by joining the cast of Marvel’s forthcoming Avengers: Doomsday. The film is set for release in May 2026, with Robert Downey Jr already announced as playing villain Doctor Doom.Sir Ian has not appeared as Magneto since 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Sir Patrick, meanwhile, last reprised his Professor Charles Xavier role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022.Marvel Studios apparently listed the new movie’s cast by posting a video showing a row of chairs with names on the back.As well as Sir Ian…

Shanaz MusaferBusiness reporterBecky MortonPolitical reporterHouse of CommonsTaxes may have to rise in the autumn, economists have warned, despite big welfare cuts and spending reductions in Wednesday’s Spring Statement.Chancellor Rachel Reeves has only a small margin of headroom to deal with unexpected developments. The independent watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), has warned global uncertainty due to the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs could hit the UK economy and derail Reeves’s plans.Reeves has not ruled out further tax rises but told the BBC there were “opportunities” as well as “risks” for the UK economy.In its election manifesto Labour…

The government needs to do more to protect young people from violent and harmful content online, a report by teenagers suggests.The Youth Select Committee, a parliamentary group of 14 to 19-year-olds, said the Online Safety Act was not robust enough to protect children from being exposed to dangerous material.But the committee argued against calls to ban social media for under-16s, like the one being implemented in Australia, saying it “is neither practical nor effective”. The government said it was “making our streets and online spaces safer for children” by delivering its Plan for Change.Wania Eshaal Ahmad, the 15-year-old chair of…