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Meta to lay off 10% of its staff and Microsoft to offer retirement to 7% of US workforce. Plus, Iron Maiden at 50Good morning.Meta and Microsoft are cutting thousands of employees as they bet big on AI and executives claim that the technology is meeting productivity needs.What have they said about AI? Mark Zuckerberg said in January that AI was making some hiring unnecessary. Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s AI chief, said in February that he believed AI would be able to replace most white-collar work within the next 12 to 18 months.How many tech layoffs have there been in 2026? In four months, more than 92,000 employees in the industry have lost their jobs, according to the tracker Layoffs.fyi. But some experts believe companies may be “AI washing” – using it as cover for a slowing labor market and demand or rising costs. Continue reading...

More than 200,000 have signed petitions urging the government to break contracts, amid concerns about the company’s ‘supervillain’ manifestoOver 200,000 people have called on ministers to break contracts with Palantir in an apparent groundswell of public concern about the US tech company’s role in the NHS, police, military and councils.Two petitions have attracted 229,000 signatures, one calling for the government to end all public contracts with the firm, whose software is used by Donald Trump’s ICE immigration enforcement programme and the Israeli military, and another urging the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to cancel its £330 patient data contract with the NHS. 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...

Geoscience Australia says aftershocks likely but much lighter and in a smaller areaFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPart of Australia’s east coast has been shaken by an earthquake that could be felt hundred of kilometres away.A 4.5-magnitude quake hit at 8.19pm on Tuesday at a depth of 5km about 30km south-west of Orange in central west NSW, near the Cadia goldmine. Continue reading...

After Singapore last week, the PM visits supplier of 9% of Australia’s diesel as treasurer travels to Washington for G20 finance ministers’ meetingGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese has arrived in Brunei Darussalam, the first Australian prime minister to fly to the oil-rich country for a meeting with the sultan, where he’ll discuss fuel supplies with the world’s longest serving monarch, Andrew Greene has reported from the travelling media pool.Arriving in Bandar Seri Begawan yesterday for his second trip to Asia in a week, Albanese was officially welcomed on the tarmac before making his way to the Brunei Darussalam-Australia memorial to lay a wreath. Continue reading...

Ministers admit carer’s allowance penalties will continue while review of more than 200,000 cases is carried outThousands of unpaid carers will continue to be hit with hefty and potentially unfair benefit repayment demands, it has emerged, as a government initiative gets under way to fix welfare injustices that have drawn comparison to the Post Office scandal.Ministers will on Monday launch an audit of more than 200,000 historical carer’s allowance benefit cases, with an estimated 25,000 carers issued with unlawful overpayments since 2015 likely to see their repayment debts cancelled or reduced as a result. Continue reading...

Vaianu, forecast to bring heavy rain and winds of up to 130 kmh (80 mph), is expected to hit on SundayThousands of New Zealanders were ordered to evacuate their homes on Saturday as the country’s North Island braced for Cyclone Vaianu, which authorities warned could cause coastal flooding and landslides.Vaianu, forecast to bring heavy rain and winds of up to 130 km/h (80 mp/h), was expected to hit on Sunday, then pass west of the remote Chatham Islands on Monday, the country’s weather forecaster said. Continue reading...

• Anthropic launched Claude Mythos, a cybersecurity AI model that has discovered thousands of zero-day bugs, enhancing defenses against exploits. • The preview version identifies vulnerabilities in open-source projects and will soon charge for detailed release information to clients. • While boosting cybersecurity, the tool raises concerns over potential misuse by threat actors to weaponize the findings.

Hyundai issues local recall due to a fault with its battery management software that could cause a fire while the car is recharging or parkedThousands of Australian drivers will be asked to check their electric vehicle batteries as part of a global recall involving more than 100,000 cars.Hyundai issued a local recall for almost 5,000 vehicles on Friday due to a fault with its battery management software that could cause a fire while the car is recharging or while it is parked. Continue reading...

Rally met with bipartisan support after US border patrol revealed plans for steel wall across parts of beloved parksThousands of people gathered at the steps of the Texas capitol on Saturday to protest against the construction of a border wall through Big Bend, in a show of bipartisan opposition to the White House’s plans.More than 2,000 people attended the rally, according to Texas Public Radio, holding signs with slogans such as “No Big Bend NP Wall,” “Big Love for Big Bend” and “No al Muro” – Spanish for “No to the Wall.” Organizers gathered postcards from protesters to deliver to Greg Abbott, the Texas governor who has yet to weigh in publicly on the border wall expansion plans at Big Bend. Continue reading...

Road and rail travel also disrupted across the UK before weather warnings lifted on SundayStorm Dave left thousands of homes across Wales and Northern Ireland without power and disrupted road and rail travel across the UK before high wind and snow warnings were lifted on Sunday morning.Winds of up to 93mph were recorded in Capel Curig in north Wales – 20mph higher than forecast – while the Met Office issued a yellow severe weather warning for heavy snow and blizzards across the Scottish Highlands, Argyll and the Western Isles on Saturday. Continue reading...

Company chaired by Trump ally Larry Ellison seeks to reassure investors that bet on AI infrastructure will pay offOracle is cutting thousands of jobs as the US technology company seeks to reassure investors that its bet on AI infrastructure will pay off.The $420bn firm, headquartered in Austin, Texas, started letting employees go on Tuesday, with thousands of Oracle’s 160,000-strong workforce expected to leave. Continue reading...

From medieval church wall paintings to Liam Gallagher’s viral X post, charity has catalogued more than 6,600 piecesSome of the UK’s smallest public murals are on bollards in Shrewsbury while one of the biggest is on a 1960s 16-storey block of flats in Gosport.Perhaps the funniest though is in Cardiff. Ahead of last summer’s Oasis concerts it was a straightforward copy of Liam Gallagher’s viral post on X declaring: “Because Cardiff is the bollox.” Continue reading...

More than 100 charities, campaign groups and trade unions marched in a show of unity against far right politicsTogether Alliance march – live updatesTens of thousands of people have gathered in London to march against the far right in the biggest multicultural demonstration in UK history.Organisers claimed half a million people have travelled to the capital for the Together Alliance march. Police estimated the turnout closer to 50,000, although they admitted it was difficult to judge due to how spread out the crowd was. Continue reading...

Together Alliance march begins in central London at midday; a separate event organised by the Palestine Coalition is also taking placeThe Metropolitan police have said there will be a “significant policing presence” in Westminster on Saturday with a number of large protests expected.In addition to the marches organised by the Together Alliance and the Palestine Coalition, a number of protests against the Iranian regime – both static assemblies and marches – are due to take place in the Westminster area on both Saturday and Sunday. Continue reading...

Survey suggests companies willing to hire care-experienced young people but few have changed recruitment processesThousands of young people leaving care in England are being left “locked out” of work by employers who say they are open to hiring but make few changes to adapt, a charity has warned.Calling on employers to act on their promises, the Drive Forward Foundation said care leavers were almost three times more likely to be out of work than their peers. Continue reading...

Videos of Labour’s Al Carns include him talking about his time as a marine and challenging a firefighter to pull-up contestLabour minister Al Carns has claimed thousands of pounds on parliamentary expenses for promotional videos including one showing him doing pull-ups at a fire station in competition with a firefighter.The veterans minister and former Royal Marine, who is tipped by some MPs as a leadership hopeful, claimed about £3,000, approved by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), for the production of 17 videos that show him interacting with local businesses. Continue reading...

Officials warn some residents could be trapped by rising waters as Wahiawā dam on Oahu ‘may collapse at any time’Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxTowering flash floods and an imminent dam failure in the northern part of Oahu triggered evacuation warnings in Hawaii on Friday, as the state continued contending with a powerful storm this week.The waters came on quickly in the middle of the night, and videos on social media captured inundated streets and cars being swallowed by the muddy floodwaters. Continue reading...

About a quarter of prison places are unsafe, Ministry of Justice admitsThe government has reneged on a pledge to make all prison cells fire-safe or take them out of use by the end of next year, meaning tens of thousands of prisoners in England and Wales will remain at risk.The Ministry of Justice has admitted it has known for almost two decades that about a quarter of prison places are unsafe, putting the people housed in affected cells at risk. Continue reading...

• Thousands of TSA agents called out sick on March 19, 2026, protesting ongoing delays in wage payments despite federal funding. • The mass absenteeism disrupts airport security nationwide, coinciding with surging travel demands and war-related alerts. • Labor issues risk compromising U.S. aviation safety at a critical time, prompting emergency federal intervention calls.

Exclusive: Drug users face felonies and prison under Prop 36, with analysis showing racial disparities and little helpCalifornia prosecutors have filed nearly 20,000 drug possession felony cases under a tough-on-crime measure passed in 2024. But despite promises to get people into services, the vast majority of those arrested have not received drug treatment, state data reveals.Proposition 36, a state ballot measure, enacted harsher penalties for minor theft and drug offenses, with proponents pledging the crackdown would lead to “mass treatment to keep people alive, out of jail, and off our streets”. Continue reading...

Storm system dumps snow in midwest and threatens east coast with high winds and possible ‘long-track tornadoes’Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA late winter storm continued a destructive, elemental march across the eastern US, with thousands of flights canceled or delayed as powerful winds combined with a partial government shutdown delayed travelers passing through airport security scanners.Flight delays and cancellations mounted at some of the nation’s largest airports, including in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Flight delays within, into, or out of the US totaled 9,112 by late afternoon, with cancellations standing at 4,763, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. Continue reading...

On March 13, 2026, thousands filled Tehran's streets for Al-Quds Day celebrations marking the third week of war with the US and Israel, highlighting ongoing anti-Western sentiment. Concurrently, polls show waning American tolerance for the protracted conflict, with growing domestic calls for de-escalation amid economic strain. The rallies underscore Iran's resolve, potentially complicating diplomatic efforts as the US bolsters its Middle East presence.