US News, Summarized

• InsightFinder secured $15 million in Series B funding led by Yu Galaxy, bringing total funding to $35 million, expanding its AI-powered IT reliability platform. • The company is adding autonomous incident response capabilities to compete with established players like Datadog in the enterprise reliability market. • The funding positions InsightFinder to address growing enterprise demand for AI-driven solutions to detect and resolve infrastructure failures automatically.

• Anthropic discovered its AI tool can outperform humans at certain hacking and cybersecurity tasks, marking a significant milestone in autonomous security capabilities. • The findings have prompted discussions among regulators and legislators regarding the implications of advanced AI systems in cybersecurity applications. • The development highlights growing concerns about balancing AI capabilities with security risks, particularly as AI systems demonstrate competency in traditionally human-dominated security roles.

• American Express acquired Hyper, an AI startup specializing in automating expense categorization, compliance, and reporting. • Hyper's agent-based technology supports multistep workflows with minimal human input, targeting corporate finance teams. • The deal bolsters AmEx's commercial services amid surging demand for AI in financial operations.

• Business banking startup Slash Financial announced $100 million in Series C funding at a $1.4 billion valuation, led by Ribbit Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Goodwater Capital. • The funds will accelerate development of its AI-driven back office for small and midsized online businesses. • Founded in 2020, Slash provides an autonomous finance platform, positioning it as a key player in fintech automation.

• OpenAI has agreed to spend more than $20 billion over the next three years on Cerebras-powered server capacity, marking a significant infrastructure investment for the AI company. • The arrangement could also grant OpenAI warrants for a minority stake in Cerebras, with the commitment roughly double the size of OpenAI's previously reported chipmaker agreement. • This massive compute deal reflects intensifying competition in AI infrastructure as companies race to secure specialized chip capacity for training and deploying large language models.

• Anthropic announced a new frontier AI model on April 16, 2026, capable of advanced performance that sent shockwaves through the tech industry. • Investors reacted negatively, resuming an AI-driven slump in software stocks as the model's capabilities raised concerns over market dynamics. • The release highlights ongoing US AI breakthroughs and their immediate impact on Wall Street valuations.

Elisabeth Zetland, a senior researcher at MyHeritage, found that the actual Luigi has immigrated to US from ItalyThe Washington state businessman who inspired Nintendo to give the name Mario to its mustachioed, superhero plumber did not have a brother named Luigi like the fictional video game star famously does.But it has only just been determined that Nintendo may have unknowingly named its mascot’s brother after another of the real-life Mario’s close relatives: his father, Luigi, whose biography evokes that of millions of 20th-century US immigrants from Italy. Continue reading...

Voters broadly split along generational lines as pro-Russian former president leads in pollsAnna Bodakova’s days tend to be rather hectic at the moment. Hopping between meeting voters on the street, political debates and recording videos for social media, the 23-year-old is standing to become an MP in Bulgaria’s general election.Last year she was among the many young Bulgarians who participated in countrywide mass protests over the government’s economic policies and perceived failure to tackle corruption. Those protests ultimately resulted in the resignation of the prime minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov, and his cabinet in December. Continue reading...

The Plaza Prizes offered 10 awards in 2025 but some judges say they were not paid, while a number of winners hit back over AI accusationsA competition for new writers that promised a £20,000 prize fund appears to have shut down, leaving winners and judges, including a Booker prize-winning novelist, out of pocket.Established in 2022, the Plaza Prizes last year offered 10 awards that were judged by the “finest poets and writers in the world”. Continue reading...

Hannah Spencer says minister ‘continuously offends people by saying working-class people don’t care about dogs’Labour is “offensively caricaturing” working-class people by saying they do not want a greyhound racing ban in England, the Green party MP Hannah Spencer has said.The sport has traditionally been associated with working-class culture and has historically been popular in so-called red wall areas, which Labour insiders suggest is part of the reason why there are no plans for England to follow bans announced last month in Scotland and Wales. Continue reading...

Iranian parliamentary speaker also says passage through waterway will depend on Iranian authorisation and accuses Donald Trump of multiple falsehoodsIran says strait of Hormuz ‘completely open’ to commercial vessels as oil prices fallBritain will make “a wide-ranging military contribution” to an international mission to protect shipping in the strait of Hormuz trade waterway, the UK ambassador to the US has said.Christian Turner’s commitment comes amid long-running concerns over the state of Britain’s armed forces and warnings of under-funding. Continue reading...