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1818 articles · page 26 of 38
ANZ has ended KPMG's almost 60-year tenure as its external auditor, announcing it will put the audit contract out to tender in the latest corporate blow to the consulting firm over its whistleblower scandal.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, set for October 13-15 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, has announced a new session tackling one of the most consequential decisions for AI startups: whether to build on open models, proprietary APIs, or a mix of both. The panel, “The Real Tokenmaxxing: How the Best AI Companies Navigate a Multi-Model World,” will bring together investors and founders to discuss how products increasingly call on multiple models for different jobs.
California has enacted a new law, Senate Bill 1246, requiring autonomous vehicle companies to give first responders local on-the-ground support and exposing them to penalties if their robotaxis block police or firefighters for more than 30 minutes. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the measure after a series of incidents in which self-driving cars disrupted traffic or interfered with emergency crews.
Ride-hailing company Lyft has agreed to pay $272.5 million to settle a California lawsuit that accused it of misclassifying drivers as independent contractors instead of employees, violating state labor law. The settlement, which requires court approval, covers alleged violations between April 2016 and December 2020 and directs funds to drivers who filed wage claims.
The UK government plans to prohibit airlines from charging parents extra to seat children under 14 next to them, while also scrapping fees for correcting name mistakes on flight bookings, as part of a broader crackdown on hidden charges.
Kevin Mandia, the cybersecurity veteran who sold Mandiant to Google for $5.4 billion, has raised $255.5 million for his latest venture Armadin at a valuation exceeding $2.5 billion. The Series B round, announced Thursday, comes just six months after a $190 million Series A, bringing total funding to more than $445 million.
The Reserve Bank's sweeping reforms on credit and debit card surcharging, intended to save customers $1.6 billion annually, are prompting some retailers to increase their prices as they seek to recoup fees that remain payable to banks.
An architect-designed home that was commended for Australia's top residential architecture award a quarter of a century ago has hit the market in Clareville on Sydney's northern beaches, with a $6 million price guide. Owners Roberta and Patrick Easton are selling after 10 years of living in the treetop property they instantly knew was 'the one'.
Australian shares are expected to open higher after a rocky night on global markets, with futures pointing to a gain of about 0.5 per cent. The positive start follows a 2 per cent loss for the ASX on Thursday, while Wall Street managed modest gains and European indexes tumbled on renewed bond market volatility.
A new Florida-based startup, MyMonthlyCar, is launching an online platform that lets dealerships rent out used cars on a month-to-month basis, giving consumers flexibility and dealerships a way to move inventory. Co-founded by Ukrainian entrepreneur Igor Dobrianskyi, the startup has been selected for the 2026 Startup Battlefield 200 and will exhibit at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco from October 13 to 15.
A federal judge has dismissed antitrust lawsuits filed by education company Chegg and Rolling Stone parent Penske Media Corporation, which accused Google of abusing its monopoly power through its AI Overviews feature. US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled on Wednesday that the claims did not stand up to antitrust law.
Fervo Energy has started selling electricity from its Cape Station enhanced geothermal power plant to the grid, marking the first time an enhanced geothermal company has reached this commercial milestone. The first third of the plant came online a week ago and began selling power September 30, one day ahead of schedule, the company announced Thursday.
Data centers, which consume vast amounts of electricity and water, are increasingly refusing to disclose their usage figures, even as utilities upgrade infrastructure to serve them and pass costs on to residential ratepayers. The lack of transparency makes it difficult to determine how much households benefit from the new capacity and how much they actually pay for it.
Ryan Roslansky, a nearly 18-year veteran of LinkedIn and Microsoft who most recently led the company's Office and Teams divisions, is leaving the company, triggering a leadership shuffle inside Microsoft.
Facing growing competition from Spotify's audiobook push, Amazon-owned Audible has unveiled three new features aimed at enhancing the listening experience, including AI-powered tools to interact with characters and explore book worlds. The features, announced on Thursday, will initially roll out on a limited set of titles.
A Michael Jordan jersey worn during game three of the 1998 NBA Finals has sold for $12.3 million (£9.3 million), setting a new record for a piece of game-worn Jordan memorabilia.
An independent review commissioned after a man was convicted of a serious sexual assault at a Travelodge hotel has found that guests remain at risk, with room intrusions reported at nearly one in 10 of the chain's hotels this summer. The 70-page report, published on Thursday, sets out a series of safety recommendations including body cameras for reception staff and consistent CCTV coverage across all properties.
Naomi Campbell has won a legal challenge to overturn a five-year ban on serving as a charity trustee, after judges found she was unaware of serious misconduct at Fashion for Relief, the charity she founded.
New York City's 'click-to-cancel' rule took effect Thursday, making it the first municipality in the United States to require businesses to offer a cancellation process as straightforward as their sign-up process. The rule applies to subscriptions ranging from gym memberships to streaming services, and residents can now submit complaints to the city government if they encounter obstacles.
Samsung has increased the price of its Galaxy S26 smartphone lineup by $100 in the United States, bringing the base 256GB model to nearly $1,000. The latest hike follows an earlier $100 price rise at launch earlier this year, which the company attributed partly to rising RAM costs. Combined, the two increases mean the Galaxy S26 costs $200 more than the Galaxy S25 at launch.
Three major UK bookmakers that have publicly cautioned about the dangers of illicit gambling markets have been linked to a lucrative deal with one of the world’s largest offshore casinos, according to documents from the Casino Secrets leak.
A datacenter in Vineland, New Jersey, operated 62 gas-fired generators for nearly a year without required permits, releasing health-harming air pollution, according to public records obtained by Floodlight. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection recently fined DataOne, the Microsoft-linked facility, $1m over the generator fleet, but did not disclose how long the emissions had been ongoing or the total amount of pollution released.
Micron said during its FY2026 earnings call that RAM and storage chip shortages will worsen in 2027 and 2028, even as it announced a record gross margin of 86.25% and forecasted a record $61.5 billion in first-quarter revenue. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told investors the company has already sold most of its capacity for next year and that supply-demand conditions are only getting tighter.
The Canadian branch of the billionaire Weston family has struck a $8.9bn (£6.74bn) deal to buy the high street pharmacy and beauty retailer Boots, ending months of speculation over the chain's ownership. The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.
Citigroup has raised its 12-month price target for bitcoin to $113,000, citing resumed inflows into spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The bank also increased its ether target from $2,240 to $3,028.
Annual house price growth in the UK halved in September, dropping to 0.8% from 1.6% in August, as economic uncertainty fueled by conflict in the Middle East continued to discourage homebuyers. Prices fell 0.2% month-on-month, bringing the average home price to £274,251, according to the Nationwide building society.
Critica has appointed seasoned global commodities executive Hannah Badenach to its board, signalling a shift from mineral discovery to commercialisation as the company pushes its two critical minerals projects towards production.
West African gold explorer Aurum Resources has recorded its strongest drill result to date at the Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, with a 28.8-metre intercept averaging 22.92 grams per tonne of gold, including a core of 17.95 metres at bonanza grade of 36.57 g/t.
Broken Hill Gold has recorded its third gold pour at the White Dam heap leach project in South Australia, producing a 5.43-kilogram doré bar containing an estimated 174 ounces of gold from remnant ore, with proceeds to fund plant refurbishments ahead of a potential restart of open-pit mining at the nearby Vertigo deposit early next year.
Perth-based NeuroScientific Biopharmaceuticals has appointed Australian clinical research organisation Southern Star Research to run its planned phase two clinical trial for refractory Crohn's disease, with the trial expected to start by the end of the year. The appointment is a key operational milestone for the company's patented StemSmart stem cell technology.
Flagship Minerals has announced a major JORC exploration target for its Khao Soon tungsten project in southern Thailand, estimating between 22 million and 40 million tonnes at a grade of 0.15 to 0.3 per cent tungsten. The company said it is weighing a full sale, a spin-out into a listed vehicle, or a joint venture with a strategic partner to crystallise the value of the asset, which sits outside its core gold and copper strategy.
Veuve Clicquot has launched its first Sun Escape, a luxury lodge takeover at Mt Mulligan Lodge in outback Queensland, bringing chilled champagne and elegant hospitality to a landscape of red earth and sandstone escarpments. The event is the latest expression of the champagne house's "solaire spirit" and its long association with sunshine and celebration.
Fuel giant Ampol has agreed to acquire Evie Networks, one of Australia's most extensive electric vehicle charging networks, in a $225 million deal that will more than triple the number of charging bays it owns. The acquisition comes as electric vehicles account for more than one in four new car sales nationwide, up from less than 10 per cent a year ago.
Flow Engineering, a San Francisco startup using AI agents to speed up hardware design, has raised $50 million in a Series B round at a $750 million valuation, the company announced Wednesday. Valor Equity Partners and Atreides Management co-led the round, with Sequoia Capital and former Sequoia partner Roelof Botha also participating. Botha has joined Flow's board.
Neko Health, the body-scanning startup founded by Spotify's Daniel Ek, has arrived in the United States after raising $700 million, drawing attention to a growing wave of preventative-health companies that use full-body scans to detect early health issues.
Matan Grinberg, co-founder and chief executive of the AI coding startup Factory, said he fired venture adviser Chris Degnan on Tuesday, accusing him of sharing confidential company information with Factory's biggest competitor, Cognition. Two hours after Grinberg detailed the allegations on X, Degnan announced on X and LinkedIn that he had joined Cognition as its chief revenue officer.
The Australian and Tasmanian governments have announced a $200 million support package for the Bell Bay Aluminium smelter, ending months of uncertainty over the facility's future. The package, split evenly between the Commonwealth and state, accompanies a new five-year power agreement between owner Rio Tinto and Hydro Tasmania that the government says secures a globally competitive electricity price.
Asus has secured an exemption from the United States ban on foreign-made consumer routers, clearing the way for its first early Wi-Fi 8 routers to reach the US market, but the company has not publicly disclosed any plan to shift manufacturing to American soil.
Microsoft's Xbox chief Asha Sharma has publicly denied reports that the company is considering selling its gaming business, telling The New York Times that "Xbox is not for sale." The statement is the first direct public response to reports that Microsoft's top executives had explored spinning out the unit entirely.
Voice AI startup ElevenLabs announced it is allowing employees to sell a portion of their vested equity at a $22 billion valuation, doubling the $11 billion figure from its February funding round. The $300 million tender offer, co-led by Wellington and T. Rowe Price, gives staff a liquidity event while the company remains private.
The head of EDF Energy has called new UK oil and gas projects a "no-brainer" that pose "no contradiction" to the net zero agenda, as the government prepares to decide on two North Sea developments.
FedEx is ordering 2,000 electric trucks from EV startup Harbinger in a deal worth $300 million, the largest bulk order yet for the company, which plans to deliver all the vehicles by the end of next year.
A softer-than-expected US inflation report on Wednesday boosted Wall Street’s main indexes and reduced the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month, with traders now pricing in about a 35% chance of an October hike.
Charter Space, a startup building a space insurance brokerage powered by engineering data, has raised a $5 million seed round led by Crystal Venture Partners as it looks to expand coverage for an industry where insuring satellites remains rare and expensive.
Berlin-based Restate, a startup building infrastructure for resilient multi-step workflows, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Singular, with participation from Redpoint Ventures and Capital One Ventures. The company, founded in 2022, has found that its technology — originally designed for general workflow resilience — is a strong fit for the unpredictable, long-running processes typical of AI agents.
UK household income grew more strongly than previously estimated in the first six months of the year, with income per head rising 1.1% between January and June, according to revised official data. The revision accompanied an upgraded second-quarter GDP figure that markets hailed as evidence of a resilient economy.
Two Google alumni have closed an $11.3 million fund to back early-stage AI startups, betting that the era of enterprise AI experimentation is ending and that customers will increasingly pay only for products that prove their worth.
UK-based banks have provided $8.3 billion (£6.2 billion) in coal financing since the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, making them Europe's biggest financial backers of the coal industry, according to a new report.