Google has asked a U.S. judge not to impose sweeping changes to the Alphabet unit's app store Play that were proposed by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games in the companies' closely-watched antitrust fight. From a report: Google made its filing late on Thursday in San Francisco federal court, where Epic last year persuaded a jury that the tech giant unlawfully stifled competition with its controls over apps downloads on Android devices and payments to developers for in-app transactions. Epic's proposal "would make it nearly impossible for Google to compete," Google's filing said. The gaming company in March asked U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco to force Google to make it easier for users to download apps from other sources and to allow developers more flexibility in offering and charging for purchases. The Cary, North Carolina-based company also said it should be allowed to bring its Epic Games Store to Android "without delays and barriers." Google agreed in December to pay $700 million to resolve the states' case and, among other reforms, will allow more alternative billing options for in-app purchases.

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Alfie Lewis, 15, died in hospital after being stabbed twice in Horsforth, Leeds, last November.

The Christmas special in 2019 left 17.1 million viewers on tenterhooks with a cliffhanger ending.

It's been warming up this week but could rain spoil your plans for the long weekend?

It is the third event in four days for the King, who is undergoing cancer treatment.

Homerton Fertility Clinic will stay shut while the loss of at least 32 embryos is investigated.

Employers in the US added 175,000 jobs in the US in April, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9%.

A Miami-based CEO will serve over six years in prison for selling counterfeit Cisco equipment to numerous buyers on Amazon and eBay, with some of the shoddy hardware ending up in sensitive US government systems. From a report: On Wednesday, 40-year-old Onur Aksoy was sentenced to six years and six months in prison for raking in at least $100 million from the counterfeit sales. Aksoy committed the fraud from at least 2013 to 2022 -- the year he was arrested -- by buying the fake Cisco equipment from suppliers in China. The counterfeits were then resold as legitimate Cisco products for an estimated retail value of over $1 billion. "Aksoy sold hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of counterfeit computer networking equipment that ended up in US hospitals, schools, and highly sensitive military and other governmental systems, including platforms supporting sophisticated US fighter jets and military aircraft," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri said in a statement.

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Derbyshire Police confirmed two further arrests were made in relation to the death of Marcus Smith.

Three boys were found guilty in March for their roles in the death of Mikey Roynon at a house party.

Experts say it does not make sense as research suggests petrol cars are much more likely to catch fire.

Sutton and East Surrey Water has about 845,000 customers across the South East and London.

Unions say company disregards the impact of its changes on workers, families and communities

Sutton and East Surrey Water has about 845,000 customers across the South East and London.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Hyundai has agreed to spend nearly $1 billion on Motional, an investment that will give the automaker a majority stake while providing the self-driving startup with the necessary capital to keep operating. The Korean automaker invested $475 million directly into Motional as part of a broader deal that includes buying out joint venture partner Aptiv. As part of the deal, Hyundai will spend another $448 million to buy 11% of Aptiv's common equity interest in Motional, according to information revealed Thursday in Aptiv's first-quarter earnings report. Aptiv also shared that it expects to reduce its common equity interest in Motional from 50% as of March 31 to about 15%, leaving Hyundai with the remaining 85% control. Aptiv Chairman and CEO Kevin Clark flagged in January that the company would reduce its ownership interest in Motional. The company said at the time that it would stop allocating capital towards Motional due to the high cost of commercializing a robotaxi business and the long road ahead to profits. Aptiv on Thursday reduced its full-year net sales forecast for 2024 to be between $20.85 billion and $21.45 billion, down from between $21.3 billion to $21.9 billion. Motional confirmed the new funding round and increased stake from Hyundai, but didn't confirm Aptiv's numbers. Hyundai, however, said the amounts listed in Aptiv's earnings report were accurate. "Motional started as Boston-based autonomous vehicle startup nuTonomy in 2013, before being acquired by Delphi for $450 million," reports TechCrunch. "Delphi would later split it's business with the Aptiv unit absorbing nuTonomy. The entity became Motional under a $4 billion Hyundai-Aptiv joint venture in 2019." "While it's clear from Aptiv's earnings report that the company is trying to manage risks and optimize finances amid a less positive outlook, the company's retreat, and Hyundai's step forward, raises questions about Motional's future."

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What is going on at Labour’s press office? A “senior party source”, telling the BBC that they had lost the West Midlands 24 hours before the mayoralry result would even be declared, said:

“It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands that will have won Street the Mayoralty.

[…] Read the rest

On a poor night for the Conservatives in local elections, Ben Houchen is returned as the mayor of the Tees Valley.

Unions say company disregards the impact of its changes on workers, families and communities.

Worcestershire have lost "a brilliant guy and a fantastic cricketer" with the passing of Josh Baker, says his former coach Shaftab Khalid.

Ministers are now facing attacks on two fronts - with more cases expected from as early as next week.

Henry De Los Rios Polania sustained a deep wound to his hand during the attack on Tuesday.

Former senior Post Office solicitor Jarnail Singh denies knowing about Horizon bugs in 2010.