Road

• Broadcom provided second-quarter guidance of $9.2 billion in revenues, exceeding analyst estimates by 6%, driven by surging demand for data center semiconductors and artificial intelligence accelerators from cloud computing providers. • CEO Hock Tan stated that AI-related semiconductor orders are tracking 40% above historical averages, with major customers committing to long-term capacity agreements through 2028, signaling sustained strong demand. • The robust guidance helped lift semiconductor index ETFs 2.1% during extended trading and sparked upgrades from multiple analysts who raised price targets on Broadcom by 8–12% based on improved visibility into AI infrastructure spending cycles.

After a two-year wait, video of a young male crossing above a road gives hope that critically endangered species can survive habitat fragmentationThe critically endangered Sumatran orangutan has been filmed for the first time using a canopy bridge to cross a road.In 2024, conservationists in the Pakpak Bharat district of North Sumatra in Indonesia built the bridge high over the Lagan-Pagindar road, which provides an essential route for local people but which became a barrier for animals. Continue reading...

Conservatives and former provincial premiers among those PM names to advisory committee on economic relationsCanada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, says his new advisory committee on economic relations with the United States will draw on the “best advice and the broadest perspectives” as the country braces what many expect will be tense trade negotiations with its southern neighbour.The 24-member advisory committee, announced on Tuesday, shows the prime minister’s eagerness to reach across the political spectrum to ensure Canada is “well positioned to advance its interests” at the looming trade talks. Continue reading...

• AI integration is delivering measurable spending momentum for Google Cloud, with enterprise technology research data confirming AI as a primary driver of cloud adoption. • The ML/AI segment is pulling Google's broader cloud business forward, explaining significant improvements in Google Cloud's performance over the past two years. • This trend indicates that AI is not merely a marketing narrative for Google but a concrete factor influencing enterprise purchasing decisions and cloud strategy prioritization.

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...

• Georgia Tech softball (28-23, 9-11 ACC) defeated No. 10 Virginia Tech (38-7, 12-5 ACC) 6-2 on Saturday night in Blacksburg, Virginia, marking the program's highest-ranked true road win in history. • The victory was Georgia Tech's first top 10 win and third top 25 victory of the season, demonstrating significant progress for the Yellow Jackets. • The Yellow Jackets remain in Blacksburg to conclude the ACC conference road series against Virginia Tech on April 19.

• Netflix reported earnings that missed analyst estimates, yet broader market indices maintained record highs as investor focus remained on Iran ceasefire developments and energy market normalization. • The streaming giant's earnings disappointment was overshadowed by positive sentiment around geopolitical deescalation and reduced energy price pressures benefiting the wider market. • Market participants are weighing mixed corporate earnings results against macro-level improvements in global risk sentiment and supply chain stability.

Health secretary in a diary entry said his kids were in the car as he cut off animal’s genitals in 2001 to ‘study them later’Robert F Kennedy Jr once cut the penis off a road-killed raccoon in an incident that is just one of several involving dead animals that the controversial US health secretary has been involved in.A new book called RFK Jr: The Fall and Rise was published this week and reveals a diary entry for Kennedy that describes the prominent vaccine critic and leader of the “Make America healthy again” (Maha) movement stopping his car on a New York highway on 11 November 2001. Continue reading...

• The Broad Institute is leveraging artificial intelligence to accelerate drug discovery, designing new antibiotics and predicting drug toxicity with greater accuracy than traditional methods. • The AI systems are also being applied to identify specific genes, molecules, and cells that might serve as therapeutic targets for disease treatment. • This computational approach promises to dramatically speed up the drug development pipeline and reduce the cost and time required to bring new medications to patients.

Governments spending $2.13bn annually on low quality food in public settings, report saysGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastReptile remains, believed to be from a crocodile, have been found dumped on the side of the road in Adelaide.A spokesperson for the state’s environment and water department confirmed in a statement that department staff had “collected the remains of a reptile at Waterloo Corner.” They said:The remains, which were dumped on the side of the road at Coleman Road, will be analysed in an effort to confirm the species and any other information.“It is not currently known how the remains came to be located at the site.A different approach can increase the use of fresh, local produce, redirect spending to Australian farmers and producers, support the people working in public food service kitchens, and generate real benefits for Australia.Better public food procurement is not about spending more, it’s about spending smarter. The evidence is clear, public support is strong, and the solutions exist. Given the threat to our food system caused by the global fuel and fertiliser crisis, now is the moment for leadership. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Trips on Sydney’s key thoroughfares have fallen by thousands per day, according to government dataGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastRoad traffic is falling on Australia’s east coast as fuel prices bite, with most key Sydney highways recording 20% fewer weekend trips.The number of trips recorded on Sydney’s key thoroughfares has fallen by thousands of trips a day, according to New South Wales government data shared exclusively with Guardian Australia. Continue reading...

Clause says those aged up to 45 may need permission from armed forces to leave country for more than three monthsA little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has caused uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime.The legislation, which went into effect on 1 January, aims to bolster the the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. Continue reading...

A Radio-Canada reporter noticed his maple syrup tasted odd; testing revealed it was adulterated with cane syrupAn investigation by Canada’s national broadcaster has found that a major Quebec producer has been diluting its maple syrup with cane sugar and selling the fraudulent product to grocery chains.In a sting operation that involved false identities and covert recordings, journalists from Radio-Canada’s Enquête programme found that a low-cost syrup sold in major grocery store chains was heavily diluted. Continue reading...

Bank holiday traffic predicted to peak on Thursday, as petrol and diesel prices surge from fallout of Iran warBusiness live – latest updatesDrivers are being urged to hunt for the cheapest petrol and “to fill up as usual” as UK travellers prepare to make 21.7m journeys on what is expected to be the busiest Easter on the roads in four years.The average price of a litre of unleaded petrol rose by 20p from 132.83p on 1 March to 152.83p by the end of the month, raising concerns about the cost of filling up for Easter journeys, as rising oil prices triggered by the US-Israel war with Iran translated to higher prices at the pumps. Continue reading...

Distressed riders who were stranded for hours say Apollo Go customer service agents offered ‘useless platitudes’A “system malfunction” has caused several self-driving robotaxis to stall in the middle of the road in China, police have confirmed, after distressed riders were stranded for hours.Local authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan said they began receiving calls “one after another” on Tuesday night from riders reporting that autonomous vehicles operated by the Chinese internet company Baidu had frozen. Continue reading...

• Broadcom announced the acquisition of a major semiconductor competitor in an all-stock transaction valued at $82 billion, marking one of the largest chip industry consolidations in five years and aimed at reducing competition in core infrastructure markets. • The deal includes a 28% premium to the target company's 30-day volume-weighted average price and is expected to generate $8 billion in annual cost synergies through manufacturing optimization and R&D consolidation. • Regulatory approval is anticipated by late 2026, with both companies maintaining competitive positions in data center and 5G markets, though the transaction signals ongoing industry consolidation pressures amid AI infrastructure buildout and margin compression.

Drivers planning nearly 21m leisure journeys from Thursday to Monday despite soaring fuel prices, say expertsThe four-day bank holiday weekend is expected to be the busiest Easter on the roads in four years, despite a surge in fuel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East.Drivers are planning nearly 21m leisure journeys between Thursday and Easter Monday, according to a study by the RAC and the traffic analytics specialists Inrix. Continue reading...

• The U.S. Senate passed its version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) by a 89-10 vote, sending it back to the House for reconciliation on federal housing policy reforms. • This bipartisan legislation aims to ease housing development barriers, building on prior House actions amid national affordable housing efforts.

Move is part of £27bn five-year investment plan for A-roads and motorways, with almost a third going on work such as resurfacingMinisters have pledged to spend record amounts on road maintenance as part of a £27bn five-year investment plan for England’s major roads and motorways.The government said it was aiming to “fix the foundations” with almost a third, £8.4bn, of the spending going on maintenance, including resurfacing a quarter of England’s strategic road network. Continue reading...

Staff urge managing director to retract comments after he describes industrial action as ‘playing games’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastABC staff and union representatives have urged the managing director, Hugh Marks, to retract “utterly offensive” comments after he said staff had treated taking industrial action as “a bit of a game”.Marks made the comments just hours before the end of the 24-hour strike that saw more than 2,000 staff members walk off the job on Wednesday. Continue reading...

• The U.S. Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on March 24, 2026, sending it back to the House to increase housing supply through reforms. • The legislation targets zoning and permitting barriers to boost construction amid ongoing housing shortages. • Passage marks a key step in addressing national housing crisis, potentially easing affordability for millions if enacted.

• Broadcom announced supply chain bottlenecks across the tech sector, particularly at TSMC, due to skyrocketing demand for AI chips on March 24, 2026. • The constraints affect networking, custom silicon, and data-center hardware critical for AI infrastructure beyond major model developers. • This highlights the AI hardware race creating opportunities for startups to innovate in chip manufacturing tools amid industry-wide shortages.

Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung control operating systems, allowing them to act as gatekeepers, letter claimsBusiness live – latest updatesThe world’s largest broadcasters have pushed for the EU to enforce its toughest regulations against virtual TVs and smart assistants built by Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung.The call came in a letter from the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe (ACT), whose members include Canal+, RTL, Mediaset, ITV, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Sky and TF1 Groupe. Continue reading...

• Key stock indexes broke or are testing long-term support levels, with the Dow Jones closing below its 200-day moving average for the third consecutive day. • Market weakness has shifted from selective rotation to broader deterioration, with participation narrowing and leadership concentrating in defensive and commodity-driven sectors. • Technical analysts warn that previous orderly rotation patterns have given way to genuine breakdown, signaling potential for sustained market pressure if support levels fail.

Cases emerge after other people tell of change in Home Office policy on passports that has left people scramblingTwo more British teenagers have found themselves unable to return to the UK because of new Home Office border rules on British dual nationals.Their cases emerged just hours after reports a 16-year-old British schoolgirl was blocked from boarding a flight in Denmark home to the UK because she was a dual national and did not have a British passport. She has missed two weeks of school so far. Continue reading...

• U.S. stock markets closed lower Thursday as an energy shock continued weighing on investor sentiment, with the S&P 500 falling 0.27%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.44%, and the Nasdaq Composite declining 0.28%. • Commodity-linked stocks experienced severe selloffs: gold fell 4.94%, aluminum dropped over 5%, mining shares plummeted with Hycroft Mining sliding 12.4% and Century Aluminum falling 10.3%. • Asian markets showed mixed performance Friday, with South Korea's Kospi rising 0.6% and China's Shanghai Composite edging 0.2% higher, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%, and Taiwan's Taiex declined 0.2%, with Japan's markets closed for a holiday.

IEA makes 10 recommendations to help households and businesses prepare for a drawn-out disruption to energy marketsThe world’s energy watchdog has advised governments to reduce highway speeds and encouraged workers to carpool or, ideally, work from home to combat soaring oil prices and impending fuel shortages caused by the Middle East conflict.It has also recommended countries consider limiting car access to designated zones in large cities, by giving vehicles with odd-numbered plates access on different weekdays to those with even-numbered plates.Work from home where possible to save petrol.Reduce highway speed limits by at least 10km/h to reduce fuel usage.Encourage public transport to reduce oil demand.Limit car access to roads in large cities through a number-plate rotation scheme.Increase car sharing.Encourage efficient driving for commercial vehicles through load optimisation and vehicle maintenance.Divert LPG use from transport to preserve it for essential needs like cooking.Avoid air travel where possible.Encourage electric cooking and other options to reduce reliance on LPG.Help industrial facilities switch between different petrochemical feedstocks to free up LPG. Continue reading...

• The Senate passed H.R. 6644, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, on March 12, 2026, with a bipartisan vote of 89 to 10, combining housing supply and community investment measures. • The bill includes provisions to raise caps on bank community development investments, update the definition of manufactured housing to include modular and prefabricated homes, and restrict large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes. • The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a statement strongly supporting the Senate amendment and indicating the president's advisors would recommend signing it into law if presented in its current form.