Credit

• SRI International contributed to four of the top 15 greatest US breakthroughs as ranked by Wall Street Journal readers: the internet, personal computing, color television, and artificial intelligence. • The recognition highlights SRI's foundational role in transformative technologies. • This acknowledgment underscores US leadership in science and innovation history.

Tony Burke says millions of people will be asking why the Liberals have a problem with their parents ‘who don’t speak great English but are great Australians’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor has accused Angus Taylor of “desperate dog-whistling” and says millions of Australians will be asking why the Liberal party has a problem with their parents who don’t speak English, amid a backlash to the opposition’s new hardline immigration policies.Immigration advocates, crossbenchers, and the race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, have all criticised a new speech by Taylor, with the Greens likening the Coalition’s approach to a modern revival of the discriminatory White Australia policy. Continue reading...

Credit can be used to offset future bills as full-year losses at UK division widen to £41.3m and it adds 92 storesStarbucks’s UK retail arm received a £13.7m corporation tax credit last year, even as its sales increased 6% and it added more than 90 stores.The credit, which can be used to offset future tax bills, comes after losses widened to £41.3m in the 12 months to the end of September – almost matching the £40m it paid in royalty and licence fees to its parent company. Continue reading...

• Blackstone closed a $10 billion opportunistic private credit fund on April 8, 2026, reaching its hard cap target despite ongoing capital outflows in the sector. • The fund's successful close highlights Blackstone's strength in private credit as investors remain cautious due to market volatility and higher interest rates. • This deal underscores the resilience of top alternative asset managers in attracting institutional capital amid broader private credit struggles.

• Blue Owl Capital investors requested $5.4 billion in redemptions from two private credit funds amid accelerating outflows in the financial services sector. • The fund manager reversed its policy by capping redemptions at 5% to manage liquidity pressures effectively. • This development highlights rising concerns over private credit market stability amid broader economic uncertainties.

• Visa introduced six AI tools on April 1, 2026, to modernize credit-card dispute processes for merchants, issuers, and acquirers using generative responses and predictive models. • The tools address over 103 million disputes processed in 2025, a 35% increase since 2019, with features like document summarization and centralized case management. • Deployment will streamline operations for US financial institutions, reducing resolution times and costs significantly.

• Recent federal tax legislation and policy changes now require parents to have a valid Social Security number (SSN) to claim Child Tax Credit (CTC), Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). • Undocumented parents who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) can no longer claim these credits even if their children are U.S. citizens, significantly reducing tax relief for mixed-status families. • Federal policies enacted in 2025 expanded the range of programs treated as "federal public benefits" subject to immigration-status eligibility restrictions, including Head Start, community health center services, and Title X family planning services.