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• Das Startup TextWeave sicherte sich im vergangenen Monat eine Seed-Finanzierung in Höhe von 10 Millionen US-Dollar, um LLMs für die Erstellung von Marketing-Copy für kleine Shops zu nutzen. • Die Plattform deckt Nischenbedürfnisse bei der Content-Erstellung ab und zeigt, wie spezialisierte AI-Lösungen das Startup-Wachstum fördern. • Diese Finanzierung steht im Einklang mit den Trends zur Einführung in Unternehmen, bei denen generative AI die Schlagzeilen der Technologie-Startups für Aufgaben wie automatisiertes Schreiben anführt.

• Präsident Donald J. Trump hat eine Executive Order unterzeichnet, die gezielte Sanktionen gegen mehrere Beamte und Organisationen des Cuba-Regimes verhängt, denen die Administration vorwirft, Unterdrückung und Menschenrechtsverletzungen unterstützt zu haben. • Das White House erklärte, die Maßnahme sende eine Botschaft der Solidarität an kubanische Dissidenten und ergänze umfassendere Bemühungen, Druck auf autoritäre Regime in Latin America auszuüben. • Kritiker im Congress, darunter einige Democrats und sogar einige Republicans, argumentieren, dass der Schritt nach hinten losgehen könnte, da er den Verhandlungsspielraum der U.S. vor anstehenden Verhandlungen über Migration und regionale Sicherheit einschränkt.

• Eine Untersuchung von POLITICO deckt auf, dass ein gut vernetztes Pharmaunternehmen und die konservative Kommentatorin Laura Loomer versucht haben, Dr. Vinay Prasad, einen Verbündeten von Senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr., aufgrund seiner Kritik an bestimmten Arzneimittelpreisgestaltungs- und Regulierungsverfahren zu untergraben. • Der Bericht behauptet koordinierte Social-Media-Kampagnen und Lobbybemühungen hinter den Kulissen, die darauf abzielen, Prasads Forschung und seine Kommentare zur öffentlichen Gesundheit zu diskreditieren. • Pharma-Handelsgruppen und einige Patientenvertreter haben widersprochen und erklären, dass Big Pharma naturgemäß versucht, sein Geschäftsmodell zu verteidigen, doch Kritiker warnen vor zunehmenden, von Unternehmen unterstützten Versuchen, abweichende medizinische Stimmen zum Schweigen zu bringen.

Studierende, die an dem jährlichen Ritual der Universität teilnehmen, geben an, dass Bilder von ihnen in Badekleidung ohne ihre Zustimmung in nationalen Zeitungen veröffentlicht werden. Wenn am Freitag im Morgengrauen die Sonne aufgeht, werden hunderte Studierende der St Andrews University der kühlen North Sea für den jährlichen May Dip trotzen – ein Ritual für Studierende, das Glück bei Prüfungen bringen soll. Doch die Studierenden werden am Strand nicht alleine sein. In den letzten Jahren ist dieses eigenartige Ritual zum Ziel für Agentur- und Freelance-Fotografen geworden, die mit Bildern von Studentinnen in Bikinis Profit schlagen wollen; einige von ihnen campieren sogar über Nacht in den Dünen von East Sands nahe dem Fife coastal path. „Es hat mir die Nacht ruiniert“, sagte Anna, eine der Studentinnen, deren Foto in einer Bildstrecke im Scotsman erschien. „Wenn ich jetzt an diesen May Dip denke, denke ich nur noch an dieses Bild, und das war's.“ Weiterlesen...

Bundesbehörden führen Razzien in den Twin Cities durch, während die Spannungen zwischen der Trump-Administration und den Beamten von Minnesota anhalten. • Bundesagenten unter dem Kommando der Trump-Administration sind erneut in den Twin Cities in Minnesota aufgetreten, wobei primär mutmaßener Betrug in Kindertagesstätten im Fokus steht, nachdem die sogenannte „Operation Metro Surge“ des US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Anfang des Jahres weitestgehend abgeschlossen war. • „Heute ist das FBI gemeinsam mit Bundes-, Staats- und lokalen Strafverfolgungsbehörden im Rahmen einer laufenden Betrugsuntersuchung an gerichtlich genehmigten Strafverfolgungsmaßnahmen beteiligt“, teilte das US-Justizministerium dem Guardian in einer Erklärung am Dienstag mit.

Waffenstillstand bröckelt weiter, da Israel ebenfalls Luftschläge durchführt und neue Evakuierungsbefehle für den südlichen Libanon erlässt

Fiona Hill tells MPs UK is ‘vulnerable’ because it does not educate people on how to deal with information warfareBritain is becoming a soft target for Russian and other state propaganda because the UK is not prepared to educate people on how to deal with information warfare, according to a former White House adviser and security expert.Fiona Hill told a parliamentary committee that she feared the UK had become “extraordinarily vulnerable” to online manipulation feeding into the electoral system because there was a lack of discussion about civil defence. Continue reading...

Trump and first lady were safely evacuated and police arrested Cole Tomas Allen of southern California at eventThe gunman who tried to breach the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night is believed to have been targeting members of the Trump administration, the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, said on Sunday morning.Blanche also said officials believe that the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where he checked in as a guest at the hotel where one of the capital’s glitziest annual events was being held, the Washington Hilton. Continue reading...

• A new clinical trial launched April 24, 2026 (NCT07549529), examines postural motor activation deficits following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in US patients. • The study translates lab findings into physical therapy protocols for concussion rehabilitation, focusing on vestibular and balance impairments. • Affecting millions annually, mTBI recovery gaps could improve with targeted interventions, potentially reducing long-term disability rates by 30%.

• 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.

• The Trump administration pledges a crackdown on Chinese companies exploiting American-made AI models, focusing on national security risks. • Officials singled out China for foreign tech firms' unauthorized use of US AI technologies, vowing stricter enforcement measures. • The initiative aims to protect US intellectual property and prevent adversarial nations from leveraging American innovations in AI development.

But Iran war likely to blow hole in Rachel Reeves’s carefully crafted fiscal ‘headroom’ in coming monthsBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK government came in below its annual borrowing target by £700m, official figures show – but the Iran war is likely to blow a hole in Rachel Reeves’s carefully calculated fiscal “headroom” over the coming months.The government borrowed a net total of £132bn for the financial year ending in March, the Office for National Statistics said. This slightly undershot the £132.7bn that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had forecast just last month. Continue reading...

Industry groups dismayed at hints policy will not be in king’s speech, as touts make huge sums from BBC Radio 1 eventKeir Starmer has been urged to honour his pledge to ban ticket touting, amid fears that the policy will be left out of next month’s king’s speech, potentially costing fans “hundreds of millions”.Music industry groups called on the prime minister to act as fresh evidence showed that professional ticket “traders” had targeted BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend next month, making huge mark-ups through sites such as Viagogo and StubHub. Continue reading...

• A $140 million super PAC war chest is poised to challenge Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown's 2026 Senate return. • Funded by Republican donors, the group aims to exploit Brown's vulnerabilities in a key battleground. • This escalation underscores high stakes for Senate control amid Trump's midterm focus.

Exclusive: Australian Recreation Union says it plans to support candidates and parties that oppose gun control laws brought in after terror attackGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA gun users’ group targeting marginal Labor seats in next year’s New South Wales election plans to campaign for candidates who oppose the government’s firearm laws enacted after the Bondi terror attack.In an email sent to the electorate offices of 15 Labor backbenchers last week, the Australian Recreation Union (ARU) said it had recruited campaign managers across 17 “vulnerable” electorates, including Kogarah, the seat of the premier, Chris Minns, and Swansea, held by the police minister, Yasmin Catley. Continue reading...

• Anthropic released Claude API with native fine-tuning capabilities on April 19, allowing enterprises to customize the model on proprietary datasets without requiring base model retraining. • The fine-tuning service supports context windows up to 200,000 tokens and is priced at $8 per million input tokens and $24 per million output tokens, competitive with OpenAI's pricing structure. • This release directly challenges OpenAI's GPT-5 announcement and positions Anthropic as an alternative for organizations seeking customizable AI solutions with enhanced safety guardrails.

• The European Commission introduced draft legislation on April 18 to impose stricter sanctions on Russian oil, gas, and refining infrastructure, aiming to reduce EU energy dependence by 35% within two years. • The proposal includes price caps on Russian liquefied natural gas imports and expanded restrictions on third-party shipping companies, targeting the "shadow fleet" used to circumvent existing penalties. • EU energy ministers debated the plan in Brussels, with Hungary and Slovakia expressing concerns about potential economic costs to their economies, though Germany and Poland voiced strong support.

Rümeysa Öztürk, who faced deportation over pro-Palestinian op-ed, travels back to Turkey to begin careerSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxRümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University student who was targeted by the Trump administration last year in response to co-writing a pro-Palestinian op-ed, completed her doctorate in the US and traveled back to her native Turkey this week.Öztürk was detained last year by immigration agents in Massachusetts, with video of the Tufts University student’s arrest going viral. She was one of many international students targeted by the Trump administration for pro-Palestinian speech and activism during widespread protests, which were especially active on US college campuses, against Israel’s war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 deadly attack on southern Israel. Continue reading...

Met police look into incident near office of Iran International after attempted firebombing of a synagogueCounter terror investigators are examining three separate arson attacks in London against an Iranian dissident and Jewish targets amid fears the Iranian state may be behind them.The latest attack came on Wednesday evening at about 8.30pm against the offices of the parent group of a company that runs Iran International, a Persian news channel which opposes the regime in Tehran. Continue reading...

• McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston launched the Center for Innovation in Congenital Heart Disease, a multidisciplinary center bringing together experts in medicine, science, and engineering to transform understanding and treatment of the condition. • A major research focus involves recreating early human heart development using stem cells and bioprinted structures to study how congenital defects form. • The center bridges discovery and clinical care by advancing research, developing technologies, and translating innovations into patient treatment solutions across a lifetime of care.

Barratt Redrow blames effects of Iran war, and likely impact on mortgage rates and costs, for further reductionBritain’s largest housebuilder is planning to dramatically cut back on buying new land, blaming the impact of the conflict in the Middle East and putting Labour’s ambitious housebuilding target under more pressure.Barratt Redrow said that it intends to approve between 7,000 and 9,000 plots of land for purchase in its current financial year, far lower than previous guidance of between 10,000 and 12,000. Continue reading...

Devastating attack killed up to 200 people, many of them civilians, with military saying it was a ‘precision airstrike’Survivors and observers have questioned the Nigerian military’s rationale for a devastating airstrike on a busy market that killed as many as 200 people, many of them civilians.The hit on Jilli market on the border of the north-eastern Borno and Yobe states on Saturday is the latest in a string of attacks by the country’s air force over the past decade with a high civilian death toll. Continue reading...

• Researchers have developed a compact CRISPR system capable of achieving up to 90% efficiency in targeted in-body gene editing applications. • The breakthrough addresses previous limitations of CRISPR technology, enabling more precise genetic modifications for therapeutic purposes. • This advancement could significantly improve treatment options for genetic disorders and certain cancers by allowing safer, more effective gene therapy interventions.

Officials confirm misfire as Amnesty gives death toll after speaking to survivors of strike on market in Yobe stateA Nigerian air force strike targeting jihadist rebels hit a market in north-east Nigeria, killing more than 100 people and injuring many others, Amnesty International and local media have said.Officials confirmed a misfire had occurred but did not provide details. Continue reading...

Experts say our preoccupation with net overseas migration figures has distracted from a more meaningful discussion on the ‘scale of temporariness’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia should set immigration targets to achieve a “stable temporary population” to address the ballooning number of nonpermanent residents that has stretched the country’s public services and housing, a new report argues.Temporary migrants as a share of the total population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, from 2.7% in 2010, to more than 6%. Continue reading...

Suspect arrested but not identified and has allegedly made similar threats to OpenAI’s San Francisco headquartersA 20-year-old man allegedly tossed a molotov cocktail at the home of Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, before the sun rose on Friday, according to statements from San Francisco police.The suspect, who allegedly threw the fire bomb at the $27m North Beach residence around 4.12am, has been arrested but not identified. The same person allegedly threatened to torch OpenAI’s headquarters in the city. No injuries were reported. Continue reading...

• Tesla shares rose 7.2% Thursday after the company announced successful deployment of advanced autonomous driving features in two additional states, bringing the full self-driving beta program to 15 states nationwide. • Multiple Wall Street analysts upgraded Tesla's stock, raising average price targets by 12-15%, citing accelerated path to profitability and potential for robotaxi revenue streams beginning in late 2026. • The autonomous driving announcement offset broader semiconductor sector weakness, with Tesla demonstrating differentiation from legacy automakers lacking comparable self-driving capabilities.

Expert stresses importance of keeping routers updated and checking for unusual activity, as hackers could ‘take you to fake sites’Russian hackers are exploiting commonly sold internet routers to harvest information for espionage purposes, the UK’s cybersecurity agency has said.The hack could allow attackers to obtain users’ credentials, redirect them to fake sites, and potentially access other devices on their home network such as phones and PCs, said Alan Woodward, a professor at the University of Surrey. Continue reading...