Author: BBC

Graham FraserTechnology ReporterGettySkype, the video-calling service that had hundreds of millions of users, is closing in May, its owner Microsoft has said.It was once one of the world’s most popular websites and allowed people to make voice calls via their computers to friends and family all over the globe for free.Skype was not the first or only company offering this service but by allowing the public to make computer-to-computer calls free, it helped popularise the concept.In an announcement on X, Skype said users can sign in to Microsoft Teams with their account to stay connected with all their chats and…

UniversalMikey Madison stars in Anora, a film about a New York stripperWhen Luna Sofia Miranda approached Sean Baker in a strip club in New York in 2022, she tried her best to charm him.But he “very clearly did not want to buy a lap dance,” she says.Miranda, who was 23 at the time, started asking why he and his wife were there.”I’m very nosy,” she says. “So I kept asking them questions and I finally got it out of them. They were making a film about strippers.”She told them she had studied acting, and – after a successful audition -…

Getty ImagesThe hike in national insurance contributions (NICs) set for April will see some Northern Ireland GP practices going under if the government does not provide a bail-out, according to a senior doctor.The Royal College of GPs in Northern Ireland (RCGP) told Stormont’s Public Accounts Committee the move could be “catastrophic”.Employers currently pay a rate of 13.8% on employees’ earnings above a threshold of £9,100 a year.In the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said this rate would increase to 15% in April 2025, and the threshold would be reduced to £5,000.The DUP MLA, Diane Forsythe, said she had received information back…

Danielle CoddBusiness reporterBBCTom says he worries constantly about how he’s going to pay to make his building safeFlat owners are being hit with huge bills for fire safety work because their blocks are not tall enough to qualify for funding announced after the Grenfell Tower fire.The previous government launched the Building Safety Act after the 2017 fire which killed 72 people. But the rules do not apply to buildings under 11m (36ft) or five storeys high. Some lawyers claim the new law was “rushed” but the government says it covers the majority of leaseholders and it will continue to review…

Messaging service WhatsApp went down briefly on Friday afternoon, thousands of users reported.Downdetector, a site which monitors platform outages, received more than 50,000 reports from users shortly after 15:30 GMT, which began to decline soon after.WhatsApp said the issues, largely impacting users’ ability to send messages, had now been resolved.”We know some people briefly had trouble sending messages on WhatsApp,” a spokesperson told the BBC. “We’ve fixed the issue.”Some users reported problems affecting Facebook and Facebook Messenger, but in much fewer numbers than WhatsApp.The end to end encrypted messaging app, acquired by Meta in 2014, has nearly three billion users…

TV chef and restauranteur Heston Blumenthal said he was back in the kitchen and “thinking more clearly” as he takes on an ambassadorial role with a charity following his bipolar disorder diagnosis.The 58-year-old said since he spoke publicly he had received thousands of messages from others living with the condition.Blumenthal runs a number of award-winning restaurants, including the three Michelin starred The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire.He has become an official ambassador for Bipolar UK, having been diagnosed with the condition in 2023.According to Bipolar UK, the mental health condition is an episodic disorder characterised by sometimes extreme changes in…

Patients will be able to book more appointments online and request to see their usual doctor under a new contract agreed with England’s GPs, the government has said.The deal gives an extra £889m a year to general practices, as well as a reduction in red tape and targets that ministers hope will mean doctors are freed up to see more patients.The Labour government made manifesto promises to bring back “family” doctors and end the early morning phone “scramble” for appointments. The doctors’ union, the BMA, says the deal is an important first step in restoring general practices.However, doctors also want…

Lucy Acheson and Thomas CopelandBBC NewsAnn-Marie KinsmanReece Kinsman says he relies on physical cash to remain independent and buy things for himselfLeading disability charities have called on the government to ensure that people will continue to be able to use physical cash in shops.It comes after a government minister said that shops will not be forced to accept cash, despite concerns that millions of vulnerable people rely on it.Disability Rights UK (DRUK) and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) are warning that making card payments the default creates “more barriers” for disabled people.The BBC has heard from disabled…

Padraig BeltonTechnology ReporterMaterThe Mater hospital in Dublin – home to Ireland’s busiest emergency departmentFor a country famous as Big Tech’s European address, Ireland’s hospitals often lag far behind in technology.They lack shared computerised patient records, or unique identifiers to track people when they move between clinics.In July 2024, a computer system failure made Dublin’s Mater hospital push back surgeries and beg people not to come to its A&E.Three years before, Russian ransomware attackers shut down the Irish health system’s entire computer network, and published 520 people’s medical records online.But Ireland now has ambitious goals to modernise its healthcare.That includes a…

Gary Lineker, Anita Rani, Riz Ahmed and Miriam Margolyes are among more than 500 media figures who have criticised the BBC’s decision to pull a documentary about children’s lives in Gaza.The BBC has said it removed Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone from iPlayer while it carried out “further due diligence” after discovering its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.The open letter, published by Artists for Palestine UK, criticised what the signatories said was a “racist” and “dehumanising” campaign targeting the documentary. It called on the BBC to “reject attempts to have the documentary permanently removed…