Better

• Emma Hayes, the celebrated manager, faced widespread ridicule after appearing on an ITV analysis set designed to look like a kitchen during England's victory over Croatia. • Critics argue the "sexist gimmick" undermines Hayes' expertise as an exemplary pundit and represents a significant missed opportunity for the broadcaster. • The controversy highlights a shift in World Cup coverage, with the BBC operating from Salford and former talisman Gary Lineker moving to Netflix for his "Rest is Football" podcast.

• The author argues that Turkey and Israel are the primary hegemonic aspirants in the Middle East, predicting an eventual collision between the two as Iranian power collapses. • A potential conflict would likely expand beyond the Middle East, impacting Greece, Cyprus, and broader European stability. • The analysis suggests that the U.S. must prioritize conflict management to prevent intra-alliance warfare and ensure the continued freedom of navigation and energy development.

‘Gender norms explain some of it, but not all of it’ says Tiya Banerjee, an economist at the e61 InstituteGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIn about a week’s time, the Socceroos will step up against Turkey, their first opponents in this year’s World Cup.Winning their first match will be a big ask; progressing beyond the first round will be a bigger one. Continue reading...

• Investors are comparing Salesforce and Braze to determine which technology stock offers better value heading into 2026. • Salesforce provides massive scale and profitability, while Braze is characterized by rapid growth and high user engagement. • Salesforce faces critical headwinds, including significant cybersecurity risks, evolving data privacy regulations, and intense competition from Microsoft, Alphabet, and AI-native startups.

• The author argues that the next major AI breakthroughs will be driven by high-quality, research-driven dataset design rather than simply increasing model size. • Current industry trends have seen talent and funding disproportionately gravitate toward hardware innovation and model development, leaving a shortage of specialized teams focused on domain-specific data. • This shift is critical because success in new AI frontiers depends on access to large volumes of rigorous, high-quality data to improve performance.

• Investors are comparing Salesforce and Braze to determine which technology stock offers a better investment opportunity heading into 2026. • Salesforce provides market dominance through scale and profitability, while Braze is characterized by rapid growth and high user engagement. • Salesforce faces significant headwinds, including cybersecurity risks, evolving data privacy regulations, and intense competition from Microsoft, Alphabet, and AI-native startups.

Research suggests NHS trusts with higher empathy ratings also benefit financially and have improved staff wellbeingPatients and staff fare better at hospitals that rank highly on empathy, research suggests, with institutions also benefiting financially by spending less on agency staff, locums and consultants.The finding comes from the first study to rate NHS trusts in England according to an empathy score that is drawn from information on the organisation’s culture, leadership behaviour and practitioner empathy, among other factors. Continue reading...

Badenoch differentiated herself from Nigel Farage in response to Henry Nowak’s murder and supporters say her ratings are risingKemi Badenoch has a hard-earned reputation for combativeness, especially on culture war issues, but at prime minister’s questions, with the murder of Henry Nowak in the headlines, Keir Starmer ended up thanking the Conservative leader for her “tone”. So is she a changed politician? Well, not exactly.To an extent, Badenoch’s approach ahead of her weekly Commons showdown with Starmer was shaped by events. Widespread concern on Wednesday at the police response to Nowak’s murder – the student who was handcuffed while he bled to death after being falsely accused of racism – spiralled into rioting on Tuesday night. The imperative not to inflame matters further was obvious. Continue reading...

• Eurostat has released a fully revamped edition of its "Key figures on European business" report to provide a comprehensive snapshot of EU business activity. • The updated publication features a more streamlined structure and introduces new indicators to improve data accessibility and relevance. • This overhaul matters as it ensures policymakers and analysts have the most up-to-date and comprehensive data on the European business landscape.

The $1,000 tax deduction, $250 ‘working Australians tax offset’, and CGT and negative gearing changes will most benefit young people, Treasury secretary saysGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastNinety per cent of young Australians will be better off under the Albanese government’s tax proposals, the Treasury claims, as Labor moves to pass its reforms into law.The government introduced the tax changes to parliament on Thursday before a heated question time in which the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, called Anthony Albanese an “arrogant prick”, while separately the Nationals demanded the government call an early election. Continue reading...

Starmer has a reasonable list of achievements in power but has undermined himself with a lack of political storytellingNet migration down by three-quarters, the biggest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, knife crime cut by 10%, the economy growing the fastest in the G7, rising wages, energy bills and petrol prices held down, the biggest sustained rise in defence spending since the cold war, a massive expansion of free childcare …If Keir Starmer did tub-thumping lists of Labour’s achievements in the style of Gordon Brown, he would not actually have a shortage of things to talk about. Continue reading...

Soft-left Tribune group issues thinly disguised attack on Keir Starmer, calling for bold policy renewalBusiness live – latest updatesUK politics live – latest updatesAn influential group of MPs has said that Labour needs an urgent renewal of economic strategy to offer voters “more than better management of decline” before the next general election.With Keir Starmer fighting to ward off a leadership challenge, the leading backbenchers from the soft-left Tribune group published a series of essays calling for bolder action to salvage its remaining time in power. Continue reading...

Focus group sceptical that replacing Keir Starmer would improve party’s fortunes, with some drawn to Reform or the GreensUK politics – liveAs Keir Starmer faces the prospect of a leadership challenge, former Labour voters in a Birmingham constituency were last week feeling nervous about what could come next.A month ago, the group from Birmingham Yardley had very little good to say about the prime minister, comparing him to a rat or a donkey. They said they felt he had let them down. Continue reading...

Results are undoubtedly bad but expectations had been set even lower, and any potential challengers are quiet for nowElections 2026 – live updatesFull results from England, Scotland and WalesAs the local elections results rolled in, a trickle of voices were calling for Keir Starmer to quit – a couple of MPs, a trade union leader, and a Labour peer.The numbers are undoubtedly bad for Labour, with Reform making sweeping gains across pro-Brexit heartlands in the north and midlands. These could even be the party’s worst losses for 50 years with more than 1,000 councillors gone and the potential loss of control of the Welsh parliament. Continue reading...

The software company said in February it would cut 7,000 jobs but, as it touts new technology, workers are still waiting to hear which roles will goGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastStaff at WiseTech have been waiting almost three months to be told if they’re among the 2,000 people the logistics software company is to cut due to advances in AI, with workers criticising the wait as stressful and “ridiculous”.The comments come as its founder on Tuesday told investors an AI agent could learn a human’s job in just 15 minutes, according to the Australian Financial Review. Continue reading...

Kaela Berg is running in a crowded field with a pro-union message and a vow to protect the state’s immigrantsWhen the Minnesota state legislature is not in session, Kaela Berg is working in the skies.Berg has spent the last six years doubling as a state legislator and a flight attendant, taking shifts when the legislature is on break. Continue reading...

Interim report contains 14 recommendations, after inquiry examined agencies’ actions before the attack in which 15 people were killedFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSydney’s Jewish community told police of a “high” threat of an attack at December’s Chanukah by the Sea festival at Bondi beach, but NSW police appeared not to have completed a comprehensive risk assessment for the event, an interim royal commission report has found.The interim report of the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, established in the wake of December’s terror attack, found no gap in current laws that could have prevented the shooting. But it did call for greater better coordination of policing at Jewish festivals and events. Continue reading...

• Researchers introduced GAME, a suite of AI algorithms that improve accuracy in tracking cosmic changes by 95% for derivatives and 20% overall. • Published on arXiv in February, GAME enhances astrophysical modeling of the universe's dynamic behavior. • The technique sharpens AI's ability to reconstruct test functions, revealing potential flaws in current cosmological understanding.

Labor says cuts to disability scheme mean elderly will get more help. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGood morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will be your guide through the morning.Today the health minister, Mark Butler, will detail major changes to the NDIS including significant funding “savings”. The government says the savings, in part, from the national disability insurance scheme will go to funding improved aged care including showering and dressing. Continue reading...

Jubilation is turning to disenchantment as young activists arrested after protest calling for election date to be setThe arrest of several protesters in Madagascar has increased fears among young people that the military regime that took power last year after huge Gen Z demonstrations will be no better than the government it overthrew.Four Gen Z activists, Herizo Andriamanantena, Miora Rakotomalala, Dina Randrianarisoa and Nomena Ratsihorimanana, were arrested on 12 April, one of their lawyers said, two days after taking part in a protest calling for an election date to be set. Continue reading...

US president will need to show heavy costs of war were worthwhile while Iran must choose between instant and delayed gratification Middle East crisis – live updatesIf talks between Iran and the US reconvene within the next few days in Islamabad, Donald Trump will have two major political hurdles to overcome – first showing that any deal he secures is better than the one signed by Barack Obama in 2015 and from which he withdraw in 2018, and secondly proving the deal is more favourable than the one on offer in Geneva in February before he launched his war.Otherwise he will have inflicted massive damage on the world economy when alternatives were available that were less costly in blood and treasure. He will also have to show that Iran has made no permanent gain by taking control of shipping passing through the strait of Hormuz. These are the yardsticks, or tests, around which his negotiating team will be keeping an anxious eye. Continue reading...

Last April, the president unleashed a tidal wave of tariffs on ‘liberation day’. Analysts say the policy has failed, even by the Trump administration’s own termsBefore Donald Trump declared “liberation day” on 2 April 2025 and shocked the world by raising import tariffs on nearly every country the US did business with, he had spent almost three months causing chaos in Washington.The wholesale slashing of government jobs under Doge (the “department of government efficiency”) and the defunding of US aid agencies had shown White House watchers that the US president was in a hurry to upset institutions he considered profligate or useless. Continue reading...

Government keen to avoid panic as oil price surges, but perhaps households need advice on reducing consumptionLabour ministers sent out in recent days to respond to the looming energy crisis sparked by the Iran war have essentially stuck to that reassuring wartime slogan: keep calm and carry on.“I think people should go about their lives as normal, knowing that the government is taking action to bring energy bills down,” James Murray, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday. Continue reading...

A study found correlation between the environment and long-term wellness in sample of 1,978 who attended college between 1940-80Attending a historically Black college or university (HBCU) as a young adult may be linked with better later-life cognitive outcomes for Black Americans, according to a recent study. The authors sampled 1,978 Black American adults who attended college between 1940 and 1980 (35% attended an HBCU), and who attended a high school in a state with an HBCU. The conclusion? There may be a correlation between collegiate environment and long term wellness.During that time frame of attendance, two major policy implementations shaped schooling in the country: first, in 1952, Brown v Board of Education ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional; and second was the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which barred racial discrimination in school. Continue reading...

United Rentals shares dropped to around $733 on March 13, 2026, offering significant upside to a $950 price target but prompting managers to wait for a bottom. The decline reflects broader equipment rental sector pressures amid economic caution, though fundamentals remain strong. Portfolio strategies emphasize buying after bad news is priced in to maximize risk-reward. Analysts see potential rebound with construction demand recovery.

Superconducting computing circuits were briefly heralded as the future of computing in the 1980s. Columnist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan visits a quantum chip foundry where one company is betting this technology’s second act will revolutionise quantum computers