Data

• Google-Ingenieure haben TurboQuant entwickelt, eine Methode zur Komprimierung von KI-Daten, die bis zu sechsmal weniger Arbeitsspeicher ohne Leistungsverluste benötigt. • Das System ermöglicht es KI-Algorithmen, Informationen zu behalten und leistungsstarke Berechnungen mit geringeren Hardwareanforderungen durchzuführen. • Dieser Durchbruch senkt die Hürden für den Einsatz fortschrittlicher Chatbots und KI-Modelle auf Geräten mit begrenzten Ressourcen.

• Ein Bundesrichter wies eine Klage des Justice Department auf Zugang zu Wählerregistrierungsdaten in Arizona ab und entschied zugunsten des Bundesstaates. • In dem Fall ging es um Behauptungen über ungenaue Wählerverzeichnisse, doch das Gericht fand unzureichende Beweise, um mit den Forderungen der Trump-Regierung fortzufahren. • Dieses Urteil schützt den Datenschutz der Wählerdaten des Bundesstaates und könnte Auswirkungen auf laufende Debatten über die Wahlintegrität vor den Midterms 2026 haben.

• Der Anstieg des Strombedarfs im ersten Quartal 2026 wurde durch eine Rekordproduktion von Photovoltaik-Dachanlagen gemildert. • Mehr Rechenzentren und wärmere Bedingungen trugen dazu bei, den Strombedarf in den ersten drei Monaten des Jahres auf Rekordhöhen zu treiben, so der Energy Market Operator Australiens, während das Wachstum bei Batterien die durchschnittlichen Großhandelspreise niedrig hielt. • Der Strombedarf von Haushalten, Unternehmen und der Industrie erreichte im ersten Quartal 2026 Rekordwerte von 25 GW, einem Anstieg von 1,2 % gegenüber dem gleichen Quartal des Vorjahres. Im gesamten Netz wurde dieses Wachstum durch die Rekordproduktion von Photovoltaik-Dachanlagen ausgeglichen.

Lawyer for DoJ argued actions taken in public while in possession of a smartphone afforded no expectation of privacyThe US supreme court is considering whether sprawling warrants for smartphone location data infringe on Americans’ privacy rights and violate the constitution.Justices heard opening arguments in Chatrie v United States on Monday that concerned law enforcement’s reliance on so-called “geofence warrants” in difficult cases. The case was originally brought by Okello Chatrie, whose phone location data helped police in Richmond, Virginia, track him down after he robbed a bank at gunpoint and escaped with $195,000 in 2019. Chatrie pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but his lawyers argue none of the evidence against him should have been admissible in court. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Investigation into campaigning materials for local polls in May challenges tactical voting claims Election leaflets are providing “grotesque” information about how to vote tactically in the May elections, using national polling data, “dodgy” bar charts and doorstep surveys to support claims about parties’ chances of winning.Leaflets distributed by local politicians across England are claiming that either only their party can win, or another party “can’t win here” when “there is no good evidence to show that’s true”, a Full Fact investigation for the Guardian has revealed. Continue reading...

Discrepancy in forecasts raises questions over government planning for net zeroOne vision of the UK’s future involves a decarbonised economy powered by clean, renewable energy. Another involves making the UK an AI superpower.The government departments responsible for these two visions do not appear to have agreed on their numbers. Continue reading...

• X-Energy, a nuclear power company, completed its Nasdaq debut with CEO Clay Sell announcing plans to deliver clean energy solutions to data centers and industrial customers. • The company is positioning itself as part of the broader reinvention of nuclear power to meet growing energy demands from artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure. • The move reflects investor appetite for clean energy technologies as data center operators seek sustainable power sources to support AI expansion.

Janet Mills says moratorium would’ve been ‘appropriate’ if it didn’t interfere with ongoing datacenter project in MaineThe Democratic governor of Maine on Friday vetoed a bill that would have made it the first US state to impose a moratorium on large new datacenters, even as local opposition to the electricity-hungry facilities grows.The decision reflects the difficult trade-off facing political leaders, who must weigh the impact of datacenters on the environment and household energy bills against the millions of dollars in investment and tax revenue they can bring. Continue reading...

Revised figures increase fears about how the energy-intensive sites could worsen the climate emergency The UK government vastly underestimated the climate impact of artificial intelligence, it has emerged, after officials raised their estimate of carbon emissions from the technology by a factor of more than 100.According to new data quietly published this week, energy use by AI datacentres in the UK could cause the emission of up to 123m tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO₂) – about as much as generated by 2.7 million people – over the next 10 years. Continue reading...

Lawsuit follows exchange on X in which airline suggested customer should clear their cache or book with incognito windowSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxJetBlue has been sued in a proposed class action claiming it uses customers’ personal data to set ticket prices, after its response to a social media post raised concern that the carrier employed “surveillance pricing” to make flying more expensive.According to a complaint filed late Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, JetBlue conceals its use of “trackers” to set prices dynamically, and shares data with third parties whose programs help it decide when to raise fares. Continue reading...

Eurail, which sells passes, says data being ‘offered for sale on dark web’ after December breach affecting 300,000 peopleHolidaymakers across Europe are facing the stress and expense of getting new passports after their personal data was posted on the dark web after a hack of the Interrail company Eurail.Personal data, including passport numbers, names, phone numbers, email and home addresses and dates of birth of more than 300,000 European travellers was accessed in December. But this week Eurail revealed to customers that “data copied during the security incident has been offered for sale on the dark web and a sample dataset has been published on Telegram”. Continue reading...

Reduction procedures and implant removals reflect shift toward comfort and more active lifestyles, surgeons sayBreast reductions and implant removals have overtaken enlargements for the first time, data shows, as experts link the shift to more active lifestyles.The latest annual audit from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) shows there were 4,761 breast enlargement procedures in 2025, down 8% on the previous year. Continue reading...

2Apply’s over-collection of personal information adds to the power of the real estate industry in the competitive rental market, Carly Kind saysFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn online rental platform has been urged to stop collecting users’ personal information after the Australian privacy commissioner found the gathering of “excessive” data compounded the vulnerability of tenants amid the housing crisis.RentTech platforms are increasingly used by real estate agents in Australia for people applying for rental properties to submit applications and supporting documentation. The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has identified 57 different rent platforms operating in Australia. Continue reading...

• Scale AI raised $2.5 billion in fresh funding on April 19, 2026, at a $15 billion valuation, backed by Meta and Tiger Global. • Capital expands US data annotation workforce to 50,000, focusing on synthetic data for autonomous vehicles and LLMs. • Funding counters labor-intensive bottlenecks in AI training, vital for US competitiveness.

• Databricks announced a Series H funding round of $10 billion at a $43 billion valuation on April 18, led by existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, to accelerate development of its AI and data platform. • The funding will support expansion of Databricks' lakehouse architecture, which integrates data warehousing and data lakes, and fund aggressive hiring in engineering and sales across North America. • The round positions Databricks as one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies and signals strong investor confidence in the competitive data infrastructure market dominated by Snowflake and others.

Legally questionable confidentiality clause adopted almost word for word from demands of Microsoft and trade groupsMicrosoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their datacentres, an investigation has found, with demands to block a database of green metrics from public view written almost word for word into EU rules.The secrecy provision, which the European Commission added to its proposal almost verbatim after industry lobbying in 2024, hinders scrutiny of the pollution that individual datacentres emit. It leaves researchers with just national-level summaries of their energy footprints. Continue reading...

Tech company has signed on to nine deals as it aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAmazon has entered power agreements with nine new renewable projects in New South Wales and Victoria, as the technology company seeks to source renewable power for its datacentre operations in Australia.The nine deals, including one windfarm and 10 solar and battery projects, will take the amount of renewable energy Amazon is sourcing in Australia from 430MW to nearly 1GW. Continue reading...

• Data I/O announced a new company vision, products, services, and branding on April 13, 2026, targeting advancements in semiconductor programming technology. • Key launches include AI-driven tech support, an AI-powered chatbot for customer assistance, and AI-expanded device search capabilities to enhance user experience. • The updates position Data I/O to leverage AI in streamlining support and search functions amid growing demand for efficient semiconductor solutions.

Exclusive: Analysis of government figures indicates public finances will gain £600m not £10bn if migrants’ access to benefits is reducedShabana Mahmood’s migration reforms are expected to deliver just £600m in savings – about 6% of the £10bn the home secretary claimed, according to the government’s own data.Under the plans, most people would have to wait 10 years to qualify for settled status, rather than the existing five-year period, which the home secretary argued would save costs on public services. Continue reading...

• A Fred Hutch Cancer Center graduate student presented over 25,000 measurements of influenza-fighting antibodies to WHO scientists via videoconference last fall. • The dataset, published in Virus Evolution, offers near real-time tracking of human immune responses to current flu strains, improving seasonal vaccine composition. • This method addresses gaps in traditional surveillance, potentially enhancing vaccine effectiveness against evolving viruses.

• CDC data reveals sexually transmitted disease rates fell among US adults last year, but congenital syphilis in newborns kept increasing. • This trend highlights persistent challenges in prenatal screening and treatment access for at-risk pregnant women. • Rising newborn syphilis threatens infant health outcomes, prompting calls for enhanced public health interventions.

• Federal Reserve policymakers indicated Wednesday they are unlikely to cut interest rates in the near term, citing persistent inflation pressures that exceed the central bank's 2% target. • Multiple Fed officials, including those from major regional banks, cited "hotter-than-expected" March inflation readings as justification for holding rates steady through at least mid-2026. • Market expectations for rate cuts have shifted significantly, with futures traders now pricing in the first possible cut in September 2026 rather than June, reflecting the hawkish pivot.

Figures gathered from children’s services and health trusts show 31 deaths were suicides, including six in under-18sMore than 50 young asylum seekers in the UK have died in the past decade, the majority by suicide, according to data compiled for the first time.Of 54 deaths of children and young people who claimed asylum between 2015 and 2024 in the care system, 31 were due to suicide, with seven homicides and eight fatal accidents. Only six deaths were due to health issues with two causes of death unknown, and 44 of the 54 have occurred since 2020. Continue reading...

Ron Gibson had recently expressed support for a 14-acre, $500m data center project in Martindale-BrightwoodAn Indianapolis city councilor said his home was fired at on Monday, with a note left behind suggesting he had been targeted over his support of data centers.The case involving Ron Gibson – a Democrat on Indianapolis’s city council since 2024 – comes amid growing bipartisan concern in the US over political violence in the wake of cases such as the September murder of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist. Continue reading...

Charities suggest ‘gendered understanding’ of crime means services often fail to recognise girls and young women as victimsAn increasing number of girls are being identified as victims of county lines exploitation, figures have shown.Data from Catch22, the charity that provides the national county lines support service, said girls and young women formed 22% of its caseload in 2025, up from 15% the previous year. Continue reading...

Trump ordered data collection after raising concern about race being used as factor in college admissionsA federal judge on Friday halted efforts by the Trump administration to collect data that proves higher education institutions aren’t considering race in admissions.The ruling from the US district court judge F Dennis Saylor IV in Boston granting the preliminary injunction follows a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general. It will only apply to public universities in plaintiffs’ states. Continue reading...

Exclusive: research finds Jackdaw field would provide only about 2% of current demand, and Rosebank only 1%Opening major new fields in the North Sea would make almost no difference to the UK’s reliance on gas imports, research has shown.The Jackdaw field, one of the largest unexploited gasfields in the North Sea, would displace only 2% of the UK’s current imports of gas, which would leave the UK still almost entirely dependent on supplies from Norway and a few other sources. Continue reading...

• U.S. equity markets closed for Good Friday, but S&P 500 futures fell 0.3%, Dow futures dropped 0.2%, and Nasdaq futures declined 0.4% early Friday after a robust March jobs report showing 178,000 additions and unemployment at 4.3%. • WTI crude surged 11.4% to $111.54 per barrel on Thursday amid fears of prolonged Iran conflict, while Brent crude jumped 7.8% to $109.03, with President Trump vowing continued U.S. attacks without an end timetable. • A BMI report warns extended Middle East conflict threatens infrastructure, disrupts Strait of Hormuz oil flows, and delays postwar recovery, spilling price impacts into later 2026.

Datacentres ‘directly competing’ with possible residential builds near public transport, one council tells NSW inquiry, amid growing concernsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDatacentre developments are crowding out opportunities for housing and job-rich industries across Sydney, a New South Wales inquiry has heard, with one local council reporting a rise in blackouts linked to the industry’s expansion.Several Sydney councils, all facing an influx of datacentre developments, have raised concerns about the health, environmental and amenity impacts on their local communities in submissions to the state’s datacentre inquiry. Continue reading...