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• Pittsburgh Steelers' 'Asked and Answered' session on April 28 addressed fan concerns over recent first-round offensive line selections. • The discussion referenced past misses like Jamain Stephens and quarterback records such as Mason Rudolph's 5-4-1 mark. • Injuries highlight the risks of drafting linemen, impacting team strategy for upcoming seasons.

• Denver Broncos completed their 2026 NFL Draft class on Sunday with selections through the seventh round. • The finalized roster additions aim to bolster depth across multiple positions. • Additions position Broncos for improved performance in upcoming training camp and season.

Teacher at Marist College Ashgrove claims she suffered ‘serious psychiatric injury’ after the schoolyard incidentGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA teacher at one of Brisbane’s top private boys’ schools has claimed she was subject to a “culture of misogyny” after being surrounded by hundreds of Catholic school students and pelted with food in an incident that left her with a “serious psychiatric injury”.A barrister acting for Victoria Sparrow, a teacher at Marist College Ashgrove, told the Brisbane supreme court that the school allowed a culture of misogyny to “develop and exist”. Continue reading...

• A leading AI startup focused on enterprise AI solutions secured $150 million in Series B funding on April 25, 2026. • The round was led by Lightspeed Ventures and SoftBank, signaling strong investor confidence in scalable AI technologies for businesses. • This funding underscores accelerating growth in the US enterprise AI sector amid rising demand for efficient AI deployment tools.

• VisionWave Holdings (NASDAQ: VWAV) closed a $20 million senior loan in late February and subsequently completed a $60 million–valued acquisition of AI video intelligence intellectual property, strengthening its technology portfolio. • The acquisition adds significant video AI capabilities to VisionWave's platform and positions the company for expanded market presence in computer vision applications. • These transactions demonstrate continued investor confidence in AI video technology sectors and emerging opportunities in automated visual intelligence.

Thousands of research papers have been published based on participants’ data, but there are questions over protection of private informationWith the revelation that the confidential health records of half a million British volunteers have been put up for sale on a Chinese website, we take a look at what the UK Biobank project has achieved – and why concerns have been raised. Continue reading...

• Port, an AI startup in cybersecurity, raised $100 million in its third funding round led by General Atlantic, achieving an $800 million valuation. • The funding supports expansion in cloud infrastructure protection technologies. • This round reflects investor confidence in AI-driven defenses against evolving cyber threats in the US market.

• NASA's Perseverance rover discovered extensive water ice deposits beneath Mars' surface in Jezero Crater using advanced ground-penetrating radar technology, with findings suggesting accessibility for future human missions. • The subsurface ice layers extend up to 300 meters deep and contain an estimated 5 million metric tons of water ice, according to data released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on April 21. • Scientists believe the water deposits could support long-term human habitation and fuel production, making Mars exploration more feasible for sustained presence beyond current rover missions.

The US has deployed more forces since the truce and senior Iranians seem to be relishing the prospect of the fightIt is the doomsday scenario that Donald Trump repeatedly swore he would never countenance: putting boots on the ground in a deployment that could embroil the US in a Middle East “forever war”.Now, with a two-week ceasefire in the war with Iran coming to an end and prospects for renewed negotiations hanging by a thread, the chances of the president breaking that pledge and ordering some kind of ground incursion seem to be rising. Continue reading...

• Tel Aviv-based Capsule Security exited stealth on April 14, 2026, securing a $7 million Seed round led by Lama Partners with participation from Forgepoint Capital International to develop runtime security for enterprise AI agents. • The company positions itself as a "trust layer for agentic AI" designed to block manipulation, misbehavior, and silent data exfiltration during agent execution. • Capsule was selected as 1 of 6 finalists from nearly 1,000 startups in the CrowdStrike, AWS, and NVIDIA Startup Accelerator at RSA Conference, indicating strong industry recognition.

• Industry reporting from April 20, 2026 highlights how artificial intelligence is simultaneously accelerating cyberattacks while becoming a core defensive tool in enterprise security strategies. • Key players including Microsoft, Stellantis, and Anthropic are addressing emerging threats as AI enables faster, more scalable attack vectors across the technology sector. • The cybersecurity landscape faces competing pressures: organizations must deploy AI defenses while managing risks from AI-powered threats targeting critical infrastructure and supply chains.

• Perplexity AI announced a Series D funding round of $500 million at an $8.5 billion post-money valuation on April 19, led by prominent venture capital firms and strategic investors including Nvidia and Saudi PIF. • The funding will support expansion of Perplexity's AI search engine capabilities, development of enterprise API offerings, and geographic expansion into European and Asian markets with localized language models. • The round positions Perplexity as a serious challenger to Google Search and reflects growing investor confidence in AI-powered search alternatives and conversational information retrieval platforms.

• Databricks announced a Series H funding round of $10 billion at a $43 billion valuation on April 18, led by existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, to accelerate development of its AI and data platform. • The funding will support expansion of Databricks' lakehouse architecture, which integrates data warehousing and data lakes, and fund aggressive hiring in engineering and sales across North America. • The round positions Databricks as one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies and signals strong investor confidence in the competitive data infrastructure market dominated by Snowflake and others.

Unclear whether Iran will take part in talks as US president repeats threat to destroy Iranian infrastructureMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump’s representatives will return to Pakistan on Monday for another possible round of talks aimed at ending the US-Israeli war in Iran, as the US president repeated his threats to Iranian infrastructure unless Iran agrees to a deal.The return of a US delegation to Islamabad, led by vice-president JD Vance, along with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, comes after Iran on Saturday reimposed tight restrictions on the transit of commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz, reversing an agreement made hours before to reopen the strategic waterway, over the US’s refusal to lift its naval blockade. Continue reading...

The prime minister’s leadership is still in the spotlight after Mandelson was appointed US ambassador after he failed security vettingLiz Kendall has repeated David Lammy’s claim the prime minister would have stopped Peter Mandelson’s appointment if he had known the peer had failed security vetting.Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News on Sunday, the science and technology said Keir Starmer was a “man of integrity”. Continue reading...

• The People's Liberation Army conducted live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait on April 17, with Chinese warships and fighter jets operating within 50 nautical miles of Taiwan's territorial waters—a proximity not seen since 2020. • Taiwan's defense ministry scrambled fighter jets in response and confirmed the U.S. Navy carrier USS Ronald Reagan transited the strait early on April 18, marking the second transit in four weeks. • U.S. Indo-Pacific Command stated the transit "demonstrates the United States' commitment to freedom of navigation and a rules-based international order," prompting a sharp rebuke from Beijing's Foreign Ministry.

• Iranian military officials have alleged that an American C-130 aircraft was struck by Iranian forces during a claimed US infiltration attempt in southern Isfahan, though the claim remains unverified. • Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia reiterated Tehran's "no survivors" doctrine against any foreign troops entering Iranian territory, signaling extreme hostility toward potential ground operations. • Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has indicated conditional support for Iran, raising the possibility of external involvement if a ground conflict escalates and widening regional security implications.

Lifestyle influencer died while on vacation with boyfriend, who local officials say has since had his passport ‘withheld’Ashly Robinson, a US lifestyle influencer, died last week while on vacation in the Tanzanian islands of Zanzibar with her boyfriend, Joe McCann. Robinson’s death on 9 April, just days after her birthday and a marriage proposal from McCann, has sparked suspicion on social media, with users doubtful of the current narrative surrounding her passing.No arrests have been made, and police previously said that McCann was not suspected of wrongdoing. But officials in Zanzibar released a statement on 14 April saying that McCann’s passport has been “withheld”. Continue reading...

• Alcatraz, a physical security startup founded by a former Apple Face ID engineer, completed a $50 million Series B funding round on April 13, 2026. • The company focuses on privacy-first artificial intelligence solutions for the physical security sector, leveraging expertise from its founder's background in biometric technology. • The funding reflects growing investor confidence in AI-powered security solutions and privacy-preserving technology approaches.

• Scale AI raised $1 billion on April 9, 2026, at $2.5 billion valuation from Accel and Founders Fund for US data labeling expansion. • Funding supports hiring 1,000 engineers in San Francisco to improve RLHF datasets for models like Llama 4. • Positions Scale as critical US AI infrastructure player, with CEO Alexandr Wang noting 'data is the new oil.'

In today’s newsletter: A Waitrose worker’s dismissal ​after confronting a shoplifter has become a flashpoint in a wider debate over rising retail crimeGood morning. Overnight, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire, which included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz. It followed a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, but the Israeli government have said the deal does not include Lebanon.You can read our main report here and our live blog will be tracking news throughout the day. My colleague Martin Belam will have more details on what the pause in the fighting means in tomorrow’s First Edition. Today, we are covering the scourge of shoplifting in the UK.Middle East | Donald Trump said he had agreed to a Pakistani-brokered two-week ceasefire, shortly before a deadline at which he had threatened to end the “whole civilisation” of Iran. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, issued a statement saying: “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordinating with Iran’s armed forces.”UK news | Millions of graduates will have the interest on their student loans capped at 6% from September as a temporary measure to protect them from the risk of rising inflation driven by war in the Middle East.Entertainment | The Wireless music festival has been cancelled after the artist formerly known as Kanye West was banned from entering the UK amid a deepening political row over his previous antisemitic statements.Politics | Reform UK would stop issuing visas to people from any country that continues to demand compensation from the UK for its role in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people, the party has said.World news | Australia’s most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, has not applied for bail and will remain in custody after being charged with war crimes. The former SAS soldier and Victoria Cross-recipient is charged with five counts of “war crime – murder” in relation to alleged offences in Afghanistan between April 2009 and October 2012. Continue reading...

• Intense fighting between Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces near Khartoum has displaced over 200,000 civilians in the past week and cut off humanitarian access to vast regions, according to UN agencies on April 7. • The UN warns of imminent famine conditions affecting 18 million people; water and sanitation infrastructure has collapsed in multiple cities, raising cholera and disease outbreak risks. • The US State Department called for an immediate ceasefire and pledged $50 million in emergency humanitarian assistance; neighboring countries report mounting refugee flows straining resources.

President Masoud Pezeshkian says 14m people ‘declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives’ for defence of IranMiddle East crisis – live updatesIranians officials called on young people to form human chains around the country’s power plants and people in Tehran stocked up on basic provisions, as the clock ticked down on Donald Trump’s deadline to open the strait of Hormuz or face massive strikes on civilian infrastructure.Iranian media showed people gathering outside electricity stations, waving Iranian flags and holding up banners, including at the country’s largest power plant, near Tehran, and in Tabriz in the north-west. In Dezful in the south-west, people gathered on a bridge said to be 1,700 years old. Continue reading...

CBI figures showing surprise jump in financial sector’s growth will be welcome news for Rachel ReevesBritain’s financial services companies have reported a strong recovery in activity at the start of the year, in a surprise boost to the government after a gloomy end to 2025.Banks, insurers and investment managers said their businesses were growing, with a positive balance of nearly two-thirds noting an expansion, according to a long-running survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), a lobby group. That contrasted with the negative balance of 38% in December, despite the start of the US-Israel war on Iran. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Seven of England’s 24 stroke centres still not providing mechanical thrombectomy 24/7 despite ministers’ pledgesThe NHS has not made a “life-changing” treatment for stroke available around the clock across England despite ministers repeatedly promising that it would.The health service was expected to improve stroke care by making a clot removal technique called mechanical thrombectomy available everywhere in the country 24/7 from 1 April. Continue reading...

Follow latest updates, including how to watch the launch, as four astronauts prepare to set off on a 685,000-mile journey with millions watchingA two-hour launch window for Artemis II opens at 6.24pm EST (11.24pm BST) after an almost four-hour fueling process. Nasa’s final weather briefing on Tuesday reported an 80% chance of favorable conditions for launch.Mission managers will be watching closely data from launchpad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, as well as real-time and forecast weather information. Any last-minute technical issue or weather violation can cause a scrubbed launch attempt, or a delay, right up to T-0 (the moment the countdown clock reaches zero). Continue reading...

Salvaged railway timber removed for testing from Rozelle parklands, which was previously closed in 2024 when asbestos was found in garden mulchGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastParts of a Sydney children’s playground where asbestos was found in garden mulch in 2024 has been closed again, with authorities removing salvaged railway timber for testing.Areas of Rozelle parklands in Sydney’s inner west were fenced off on Monday, with a council notice advising: “Thank you for your patience while we work with the NSW government to carry out works.” Continue reading...

Marine told investigators he found the round ‘in the field’ about a year ago and kept it, thinking it wasn’t liveSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA US Marine was detained at a California airport after Transportation Security Administration personnel found a live 25mm explosive round in his checked baggage, police said.The round was found during the screening process of checked luggage at Palm Springs international airport on Monday, the Palm Springs police department said in a news release. Continue reading...