Author: BBC

At the moment, buyers of homes worth less than £250,000 don’t pay any stamp duty. This limit was temporarily doubled from £125,000 in the September 2022 mini-Budget. The threshold for those buying their first property is £425,000 (when buying a home of less than £625,000), which was raised from £300,000 (when buying a home of less than £500,000), as part of the same mini-Budget. The current stamp duty rates are:

Convicted sex offender Gary Glitter has been declared bankrupt after failing to pay more than £500,000 to a woman he abused when she was 12, her lawyers have said.The disgraced pop star, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was convicted in 2015 of abusing the woman between 1975 and 1980, as well as two other young people, and was last year ordered to pay the victim damages of £508,800.The sum included £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment.Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, which represents one of the victims, confirmed 80-year-old Gadd…

Elon Musk says that his AI venture xAI has acquired his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.In an X post Friday, Musk said the all-stock transaction values xAI at $80bn (£61.8bn) and X at $33bn.Musk paid $44bn for Twitter in 2022.”xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” Musk wrote on X Friday. “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent.”The move may be aimed at protecting investors, who helped him buy purchase X, from losing money.Both X and xAI are privately held and share some major investors. They also share significant resources.”The…

BBC handoutWhen her baby was three weeks old, Emma took an overdoseFailing to properly diagnose and treat people with bipolar disorder is wasting billions of pounds a year in the UK, according to new data shared exclusively with the BBC. Experts say many of the estimated million people living with this condition are “ghosts in the system”, whose lives are being torn apart by poorly managed extreme suicidal lows or manic, erratic highs.Emma was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her early 30s, after experiencing a mental health crisis.When she was 32 weeks pregnant, her grandmother died unexpectedly, sending her into…

Joshua NevettPolitical reporterBBCThe UK is best-placed to eventually overturn US trade tariffs set to be announced on Wednesday, the trade secretary has said.Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC the UK was expecting to be hit by the new raft of import taxes set to be imposed by President Donald Trump.Reynolds said he expected all countries to be affected by the tariffs, despite his efforts to negotiate an initial UK exemption.But the business secretary said ongoing talks with the Trump administration meant the UK was in the “best possible position of any country” to have them reversed.”Some of that comes down to…

Ian YoungsCulture reporterReutersWriter Jack Thorne (right) was among those who spoke to Sir Keir Starmer in Downing StreetThe prime minister has told the makers of hit Netflix drama Adolescence that it was “really hard to watch” with his teenage children, as he hosted them in Downing Street to discuss the influence of toxic material online.Sir Keir Starmer said the show, about a 13-year-old boy accused of murder, served as “a torch that shines intensely brightly on a combination of issues that many people don’t know how to respond to”.But he warned there was not a “silver bullet response” or “some…

Tom Gerken, Liv McMahon & Imran Rahman-JonesTechnology reportersGetty ImagesPresident Donald Trump has said a deal to sell TikTok will be made by 5 April, as questions swirl over whether the app will be banned in the United States.The platform went ‘went dark’ for US users in January as a law took effect which banned the app unless it was sold by its parent company ByteDance.But TikTok returned less than a day later following Trump’s election win, and he signed an executive order delaying its sale or ban by 75 days.Tech companies, celebrities and investors have since lined up to buy…

The government has agreed a new funding package with pharmacy negotiators in England, leading some pharmacies to call off protests that were planned for later this week.One group representing thousands of local pharmacies was preparing to take action involving cuts to opening hours from Tuesday, but they say that will be delayed while they consider the deal. Others have said the funding package is a “step in the right direction” but it still will not cover all cost increases pharmacies are facing, including a rise in National Insurance.Announcing the deal, ministers said they were working to turn around a “decade…

Peter HoskinsBusiness reporterGetty ImagesStock markets have fallen in Asia and Europe after President Donald Trump suggested that new tariffs he is set to announce this week will hit all countries, not just those that have the biggest trade imbalances with the US.Trump made the comments as he prepares to unveil a massive slate of import taxes on Wednesday, in what he has called America’s “Liberation Day”.The measures will come on top of tariffs already imposed by Washington on aluminium, steel and vehicles, along with increased levies on all goods from China.”You’d start with all countries,” Trump told reporters on Air…

Mark SavageMusic CorrespondentGetty ImagesUsher has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and his 10-night stint at the O2 has completely sold outUsher has kicked off a 10-night residency at London’s O2 Arena with a slick, two-hour show that was impressive and frustrating in equal measure.The US pop star played more than 40 songs, including hits like Yeah, Burn, U Remind Me and OMG, with multiple costume changes and buttery-smooth choreography.But the show, which comes to the UK after a 62-date run in the US, felt oddly rough around the edges – including a handful of on-stage stumbles and missed…