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• Skye AI, a home screen app for iPhone powered by artificial intelligence, raised $3.58 million in pre-seed funding while still in private testing phase. • The funding supports development of the app, which aims to enhance iPhone user experience through AI-driven features accessible directly from the home screen. • This investment highlights growing investor interest in mobile AI applications amid competition in the smartphone ecosystem.

Exclusive: 839,000 homes in urban areas face threat of surface-water flooding, with social housing tenants most vulnerable to costsEight in 10 of the homes that are at high risk of flooding in England are now in towns and cities, according to analysis by the National Housing Federation (NHF), which said social housing tenants are disproportionately vulnerable to the financial cost.Research found that 839,000 homes in urban areas are now classed as being at high risk of surface water flooding, a threefold increase since 2018. Continue reading...

• App State outfielder Miller earned Sun Belt Player of the Week honors for his performance across four games last week. • Miller batted 5-for-11 (.455) with four home runs, seven RBIs, and seven runs scored, starting the week with a homer on Tuesday. • His historic home run barrage highlights his breakout season in college baseball's competitive Sun Belt Conference.

Anant Ambani, the son of tycoon Mukesh Ambani, said he had put in a formal request to the Colombian government to stay a decision to kill the animals.

NSW police say human remains found and four people taken to hospital after overnight fire in Bowen Mountain houseFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTwo bodies have been found following an early morning house fire that caused four others to be taken to hospital.New South Wales police said remains were found when the house was able to be searched on Monday morning, after firefighters extinguished the blaze. Continue reading...

Soaring cost of building materials, lack of affordability and planning bottlenecks are some of the obstacles thwarting housing targetAt South and City College in Birmingham, dozens of young people clad in hi-vis vests and hard hats are building mini-walls and plastering half-formed rooms.Some weave in and out of stacks of bricks with wheelbarrows, while others use spirit levels to check the walls are straight and flat. In a few days time, these walls will be demolished and the plastering scraped away, for a new class to come in and try their hands. Continue reading...

• The Snohomish County Board of Health approved new protections mandating septic system inspections prior to any home sale. • Ordinance aims to prevent buyer exposure to faulty systems, promoting public health and property safety. • Impacts thousands of rural Washington homes reliant on septic over municipal sewer.

Blazes in US south-east have blown smoke over a wide area, and contributed to at least one death in FloridaTwo wildfires in south-eastern Georgia that have destroyed more than 120 homes continued to threaten property and lives on Saturday as officials warned that strong winds could spread the flames.The Brantley county manager, Joey Cason, called it a “dynamic situation” in a Saturday-morning video posted to social media and begged residents to “please evacuate” if they are ordered to do so. Continue reading...

Repatriation attempt comes after group was turned around when leaving camp in February. Albanese government says it’s not assisting cohortGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFour Australian women and nine of their children and grandchildren have left al-Roj camp in north-east Syria, seeking to return to Australia.The group is reportedly travelling across Syria by road to the capital Damascus, under the control of the Syrian government. Continue reading...

Carie Hallford, 48, whose ex-husband Jon was earlier sentenced, expressed remorse over corpse abuse schemeThe co-owner of a Colorado funeral home was sentenced in state court on Friday to 30 years in prison for her part in a corpse abuse scheme that involved hiding nearly 200 decomposing bodies.Carie Hallford, 48, was also sentenced to 18 years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to a federal fraud charge related to the scandal. Continue reading...

Homes were reduced to rubble as twister touched down for 30 minutes and carved out a trail of destructionSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxAt least 10 people were injured after a tornado hit northern Oklahoma, as a strong weather system produced a dozen reported twisters that tore destructively through parts of the central US overnight.Emergency services began assessing the most extensive damage in the rural town of Enid as dawn broke on Friday. Homes were reduced to rubble and splintered wood in the city of about 50,000 people near the state’s northern border. A number of videos showed terrifying wind funnels touching down and roaring across the land towards settlements. The largest tornado was reported to have stayed on the ground for 30 minutes, carving a snaking trail of damage. Continue reading...

Seven-day-old Poppy Hope Lomas died after complications during home birth encouraged by midwives at Barnet hospitalA mother who lost her baby a week after an “unsafe” home birth that went against medical advice was failed by the NHS, an inquest has found.Poppy Hope Lomas was seven days old when she died at University College hospital in London on 26 October 2022 after complications during a home birth that, according to her mother, was encouraged by midwives at Barnet hospital. Continue reading...

Smoke drifts into Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, as air quality declines and 50 homes destroyedSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxWildfires burning across the south-eastern US intensified on Wednesday across parts of south-east Georgia, where 50 homes were destroyed, and across north-east Florida, forcing evacuations and school closures in some communities.The Georgia forestry commission issued its first mandatory burn ban in the state’s history, effective across 91 counties in the lower half of the state, due to worsening drought conditions and rising wildfire activity. Continue reading...

Serious Fraud Office investigation relates to firms allegedly submitting false invoices for work they failed to carry outThe UK’s Serious Fraud Office has arrested four people on suspicion of a home insulation scam that may have cost energy companies as much as £44m.The SFO and the National Crime Agency said on Wednesday the unnamed people were arrested in coordinated dawn raids across England on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. Continue reading...

Kevin Warsh, Trump’s ‘central casting’, has a long road ahead of convincing board members to lower interest ratesDonald Trump’s fate is to be frustrated by monetary policy.Even assuming he gets his way and Kevin Warsh succeeds Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve next month, it is unlikely that the president will finally gain control of the Fed. Continue reading...

Human rights campaigners say honour for Avraham Zarbiv endorses ethnic cleansing and war crimesMiddle East crisis – live updatesAn extremist rabbi known for razing civilian homes in Gaza will light a torch at Israel’s independence day celebration on Tuesday, a role human rights campaigners said marked the embrace of genocide as the official ‘spirit of the nation’.Avraham Zarbiv is one of 14 people chosen for their “extraordinary contribution to society and the state”, alongside a scientist, a Michelin-starred chef, a leading doctor, members of the security forces and entrepreneurs. Continue reading...

Asa Ellerup said Rex Heuermann confessed to killing multiple women in their basement while she was awayThe convicted Gilgo Beach serial killer who recently pleaded guilty to seven murders confessed to his ex-wife that he had killed multiple women in the basement of their home while she was away, a new documentary reveals.In a teaser clip released on Tuesday to promote Peacock’s The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, Asa Ellerup said her ex-husband, Rex Heuermann, told her he killed eight women without hesitation. That was the case, though he was only formally charged with – and pleaded guilty to – seven. Continue reading...

Firefighters confirmed that seven people were trapped, but they could not search the building engulfed in flamesSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA mother and six children ranging in age from three to 11 were killed in an explosion and fire at a central Pennsylvania home, authorities said.Firefighters responding to a report of an explosion and fire at a home in Lamar Township in Clinton county near Mill Hall on Sunday morning confirmed that seven people were trapped, but they could not search the building engulfed in flames, Pennsylvania state police said in a statement. All seven died and police identified them as Sarah Stolzfus, 34, four sons, ages 11, 10, five and three, and two daughters, ages eight and six. Continue reading...

Judge in case of two families housed for years in single hotel rooms says they should have been moved within three monthsThe Home Office could face legal action from hundreds of asylum-seeking families stuck in single rooms in hotels after a judge criticised the “extraordinarily stressful” conditions in which they are expected to live.In a ruling, the deputy high court judge Alan Bates questioned why two families had been forced to live in single rooms for more than three years. He said they should have been moved to alternative accommodation within three months. Continue reading...

Blaze struck a ‘water village’ that is home to some of Malaysia’s poorest residentsA huge fire destroyed about 1,000 makeshift homes, many of them built on stilts over water, and displaced thousands of people in a coastal village in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Sunday, authorities said.The blaze broke out early on Sunday morning in a “water village” in Sandakan district in Sabah’s northeast, where some of Malaysia’s poorest residents, including indigenous and stateless communities, live in closely packed, wooden stilt houses. Continue reading...

No deaths reported after latest round of severe weather in the region as officials brace residents for long recovery A trail of damaged homes and buildings dotted a wide swath of the US on Saturday after a burst of destructive winds and reported tornadoes tore off roofs, uprooted trees and rendered rural roads impassable with debris.No deaths were reported after Friday’s storms, which barreled through the upper midwest and delivered the latest round of severe weather to batter the region. Officials braced residents for a long recovery in some rural communities. Continue reading...

Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government to ask MPs to back controversial voluntary repatriation schemeItalian lawyers will be paid bonuses if they successfully convince their immigrant clients to return home under a government plan that has been compared to a “wild west-style bounty”.The incentive is in the latest security bill from Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and goes to the lower house of parliament for final approval this week. It was passed by the upper house after fiery debate. Continue reading...

Marie-Thérèse Ross was arrested on 1 April and held in a Louisiana facility by immigration officials A French woman in her eighties who was arrested and placed in a US immigration detention centre has flown home.Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Marie-Thérèse Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. The 86-year-old widow was being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana. Continue reading...

Liza Tobay, who lives in UK, was told her settled status had been ‘red flagged’ after trying to make a connecting flight from Munich to EdinburghA German woman has been separated from her two-year-old daughter in Edinburgh after a Home Office mistake left her stranded in Dusseldorf earlier this week.Liza Tobay, who has lived in the UK for 15 years, had taken her oldest child, a six-year-old boy, to visit his grandfather and some other relatives over Easter when confronted with what she said appeared to be “a serious administrative error”. Continue reading...

• New York Yankees lost 7-1 to the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, reverting to offensive struggles after a prior 11-run win. • Angels slugged back-to-back-to-back home runs in the first inning off Ryan Weathers by Mike Trout, Jo Adell, and Jorge Soler, with five solo homers total. • Weathers allowed five runs and five hits over five innings, striking out 10; first pitcher since 1893 to yield four homers and 10 strikeouts in five or fewer innings.

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...

• A man has been charged with attempted murder following a Molotov cocktail incident at the San Francisco residence of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, though no injuries were reported. • The incident represents a serious security threat against a prominent technology executive and reflects growing tensions around artificial intelligence development. • The case highlights security concerns facing tech industry leaders as AI advances generate both public scrutiny and potential extremist attention.

Refugee Council criticises Labour’s decision, saying military sites are unsuitable and ‘more expensive than hotels’Hundreds of asylum seekers have been removed from government-funded hotels while others have been sent to live in army barracks, the Home Office has announced.Eleven “asylum hotels” in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been closed, as first reported by the Guardian, and more will close “in the coming weeks”. About 350 claimants have been moved to the Crowborough military camp in east Sussex, described by a spokesperson as “basic accommodation”. Continue reading...