Author: BBC

Paul GlynnCulture reporterGetty ImagesGwyneth Paltrow took her first lead film role for a decade in Marty SupremeGwyneth Paltrow has said she told an on-set intimacy co-ordinator to “step a little bit back” when filming sex scenes with Timothée Chalamet, because she would feel “very stifled” by someone telling them what to do.Chalamet, 29, stars in new movie Marty Supreme as a ping pong protégé, while Paltrow, 52, plays the wife of a rival professional who falls into bed with him.”I mean, we have a lot of sex in this movie,” Paltrow told Vanity Fair. “There’s a lot – a lot.”However,…

Emma SimpsonBusiness correspondent, BBC NewsBBCFormer sub-postmaster Lee Castleton is launching legal action against the Post Office and Fujitsu, becoming the first individual Horizon IT scandal victim to sue the two organisations.His case is one of the most high profile in the scandal in which hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted after faulty software said money was missing from their branch accounts. Mr Castleton is seeking compensation, alleging the civil judgement against him was obtained by fraud.”I want justice and to be publicly vindicated,” Mr Castleton told the BBC. The Post Office and Fujitsu have been approached for comment.On Tuesday, Mr…

Google has agreed to pay $28m (£21.5m) to settle a lawsuit that claimed white and Asian employees were given better pay and career opportunities than workers from other ethnic backgrounds, a law firm representing claimants says.The technology giant confirmed it had “reached a resolution” but rejected the allegations made against it.The case filed in 2021 by former Google employee, Ana Cantu, said workers from Hispanic, Latino, Native American and other backgrounds started on lower salaries and job levels than their white and Asian counterparts.The settlement has been given preliminary approval by Judge Charles Adams of the Santa Clara County Superior…

Getty ImagesChanges to the welfare system will save £5bn a year by 2030 and get more people into work, the government says.It will be harder to claim a key disability benefit called Personal Independence Payment (Pip) under the proposals.The basic level of universal credit for those seeking work will rise, but people under 22 will no longer be able to claim incapacity benefit. What is Pip and how are the rules changing?Pip is paid to more than 3.6 million people who have a long-term physical or mental health condition.There are two elements – a daily living component and a mobility…

Colin PatersonEntertainment CorrespondentGetty ImagesHerbie Hancock is an all-time jazz great, so it is reassuring to hear that he suffers from the same modern day procrastination problems as the rest of us mere mortals.”I fall into rabbit holes on YouTube. A lot of them. New music writing software, things about health, tech things.”That is his explanation as to why he has not made an album for 15 years.”I get victimised by it, so to speak, but that’s life,” he chuckles.Speaking from his house in west Hollywood, the ridiculously sprightly 84-year-old pianist has never been afraid to embrace technology, but normally he…

Kevin PeacheyCost of living correspondentGetty ImagesYoga mats are in, while modern technology also gets a new representationSome may use yoga mats and virtual reality headsets to mentally escape the daily grind but now statisticians are using them to chart the rising cost of living.Both items have made their way into the basket of goods and services used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to calculate inflation.The basket contains 752 items. The ONS collects the costs of these products and services across many different retailers to come up with the monthly inflation figures.That figure, currently showing prices rising at 3%…

Chris BaraniukTechnology ReporterGetty ImagesSubsea cables are critical to the operation of the internetThe diver had found the fibre optic cable lying on the seabed of the North Sea. He swam closer, until it was near enough to touch.He reached out his hand. But someone could tell he was lurking there. Someone was watching.”He stops and just touches the cable lightly, you clearly see the signal,” says Daniel Gerwig, global sales manager at AP Sensing, a German technology company. “The acoustic energy which travels through the fibre is basically disturbing our signal. We can measure this disturbance.”Multiple reports of damaged telecommunications…

Plans to overhaul the benefits system are to be announced later in a move aimed at cutting the growing welfare bill.Changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) are likely to be among the measures, which will mean some may no longer qualify while those with the most serious conditions may not have to be assessed again.Unemployed people in receipt of Universal Credit, who are actively looking for work, are also expected to see their benefit levels rise, though this is likely to be by a relatively modest amount.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall says the package will ensure “trust and fairness”…

Ian YoungsCulture reporterGetty ImagesAward-winning Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne has died from cancer at the age of 43.Dequenne shot to fame when she won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival at the age of 18 for the film Rosetta in 1999.She won another Cannes award for À Perdre la Raison (Our Children) in 2012, and received a Cesar, one of France’s top film honours, for Les Choses Qu’on Dit, les Choses Qu’on Fait (The Things We Say, the Things We Do) in 2021.She mainly acted in French-language films but also appeared as police officer Laurence Relaud in 2014…

A group of industry regulators are to meet the chancellor on Monday to discuss how they can help speed up economic growth. Rachel Reeves is expected to use the meeting to outline more details about cutting the cost of regulation, including environmental measures, as well as scrapping some bodies in their entirety.Her actions come as the government seeks to reduce bureaucracy, and follows Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement last week that NHS England would be abolished.The Conservatives said Labour’s taxes and trade union red tape were harming growth and called on Reeves to set out a “real plan”.Ahead of…