US consumer confidence hits record low as Americans fret about rising prices; jobs report beats forecasts – as it happened

Newsflash: the US economy added more jobs than expected in April.Non-farm payrolls rose by 115,000 last month, the Bureau for Labor Statistics reports, beating forecasts of a 62,000 increase.That’s still a slowdown compared with March, though – where the NFP has been revised up to 185,000 jobs, from 178,000 initially.But February’s data is even worse than previously thought – payrolls that month are now estimated to have fallen by 156,000, down from a previous estimate of a 133,000 decline.Those revisions mean employment in February and March combined is 16,000 lower than previously reported

UK borrowing costs fall and pound rises after Starmer says he will stay as PM

UK government borrowing costs fell and the pound rose on Friday as Keir Starmer vowed to remain as prime minister despite the Labour party losing hundreds of council seats across England.Investors calculated that some of the intense pressure on Starmer’s leadership had eased, as Labour appeared on track for smaller losses than election experts had predicted.The yield – effectively the interest rate – had jumped earlier this week, amid fears that the prime minister could face a leadership challenge if the results from the local elections and the devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales were particularly poor.But after Starmer insisted he would not walk away, the yield on benchmark UK 10-year gilts was down 5 basis points, or 0.05 of a percentage point, at 4

AI-powered surveillance company Palantir created a chore coat. Great, now I have no choice but to burn mine | Van Badham

It’s taken me years to find a chore coat with a cut that flatters my big tits but, now that I finally own one, I want to incinerate it.Such is the power of brand contamination; infamous data surveillance megacorp Palantir, has decided to bang a logo on a chore coat to sell as corporate merch.Chore coats are the traditional short denim or twill jacket of the 19th-century French working class. Palantir, however, is a company whose public words and commercial-in-confidence activities are inspiring local calls to have its contracts cancelled and its business banned.The gentle French garment is now as cursed as whatever “Marie Amazonette” will ever wear to the Met Gala

‘Being human helps’: despite rise of AI is there still hope for Europe’s translators?

In February 2022, while he was plugging away at rendering the US writer Dana Spiotta’s novel Wayward into French, the literary translator Yoann Gentric decided he needed a bit of light relief. He would test whether AI could put him out of work.Gentric had been grappling with a short non-verbal sentence that described the book’s protagonist’s feelings upon opening a window: “Bright, sharp night air, bracing.” He put the prompt into DeepL, a neural-network-powered machine translation engine that regularly outperforms Google Translate in accuracy assessments.The proposed translation was reassuring, with his job security in mind: L’air de la nuit, vif et vif, était vivifiant (The night air, lively and lively, was enlivening

AFL integrity unit to investigate Gold Coast Suns’ team manager over alleged links to gambling firm

Gold Coast Suns have made an assurance they are acting within AFL rules, despite a key figure inside the club’s dressing room allegedly working with a bookmaking firm which has been subject to disciplinary action by the Victorian regulator for inducing gambling at local footy clubs.Mark Opie, a longtime Richmond team manager and Tigers life member, moved to Gold Coast in 2024, and is now subject to an investigation by the AFL integrity unit.According to multiple reports, he was part of a partnership known as Okebet, which was fined $100,000 in 2024 by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC), after it was found to have struck deals with local football clubs to encourage their players to open accounts in 2023.Okebet appealed the matter with VCAT, but the decision was upheld earlier this year, prompting VGCCC chief executive Suzy Neilan to declare that the decision showed the importance of protecting vulnerable individuals and community institutions from harmful gambling practices.“Local footy … clubs are often the heart of their communities, places where people come together to support one another

Novak Djokovic accepts ‘new reality’ after returning with defeat at Italian Open

Novak Djokovic believes he must accept the “new reality” of his continuous physical struggles in the latter part of his career as his return to competition after an injury-ravaged clay-court season ended in a second-round Italian Open loss to the young Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic, who recovered courageously from a set down to topple his idol 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.Djokovic has not competed since the Indian Wells Masters event two months ago, his only other tournament since his spectacular run to the Australian Open final. As the fourth seed in Rome, he received a first-round bye. Despite starting the match positively, the 38-year-old was outplayed by his 20-year-old opponent, who wore the Serb down physically and played bold tennis to escape with the greatest victory of his career.“It’s not an ideal preparation, to be honest,” Djokovic said