Category: 3. Business

Facing aggressive questioning from Mary Bruce, an ABC News White House correspondent, about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Donald Trump last week suggested a form of punishment he thought would be appropriate for her “crappy company”: the Federal Communications Commission should revoke ABC’s license, the US president declared.

It wasn’t the first time he has done so. As he has sought redress for what he has considered to be unfair reporting about him and his administration, Trump has suggested at least 28 times over the last eight years that a television network should lose its license, according to analysis by the Guardian.

But while the FCC does not actually license national networks, it does license the local television stations they own or strike affiliate deals with.

Anna M Gomez, the lone Democrat on the FCC, said after a commission meeting last week that Trump’s threats are hollow. “Aside from the ability to make things difficult for those we retaliate, this FCC is powerless to truly retaliate against a news network,” she said, noting that no local station licenses are up for renewal “any time soon.”

Here is the full history of Trump’s threats:

Up to 6,000 jobs are to go at HP worldwide in the next three years as the US computer and printer maker increasingly adopts AI to speed up product development.

Announcing a lower-than-expected profit outlook for the coming year, HP said it would cut between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs by the end of October 2028. It has about 56,000 employees. The news drove its shares lower by 6%.

“As we look ahead, we see a significant opportunity to embed AI into HP to accelerate product innovation, improve customer satisfaction and boost productivity,” said the California company’s chief executive, Enrique Lores.

He said teams working on product development, internal operations and customer support would be affected by the job cuts. He added that this would lead to $1bn (£749m) annualised savings by 2028, although the cuts will cost an estimated $650m.

News of the job cuts came as a leading educational research charity warned that up to 3m low-skilled jobs could disappear in the UK by 2035 because of automation and AI. The jobs most at risk are those in occupations such as trades, machine operations and administrative roles, the National Foundation for Educational Research said.

HP had already cut between 1,000 and 2,000 staff in February as part of a restructuring plan.

It is the latest in a run of companies to cite AI when announcing cuts to workforce numbers. Last week the law firm Clifford Chance revealed it was reducing business services staff at its London base by 10% – about 50 roles – attributing the change partly to the adoption of the new technology.

The head of PwC also publicly walked back plans to hire 100,000 people between 2021 and 2026, saying “the world is different” and AI had changed its hiring needs.

Klarna said last week that AI-related savings had helped the buy now, pay later company almost halve its workforce over the past three years through natural attrition, with departing staff replaced by technology rather than by new staff members, hinting at further role reductions to come.

Several US technology companies have announced job reductions in recent months as consumer spending cooled amid higher prices and a government shutdown.

Executives across industries are hoping to use AI to speed up software development and automate customer service. Cloud providers are buying large supplies of memory to meet computing demand from companies that build advanced AI models, such as Anthropic and OpenAI, leading to a rise in memory costs.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley have warned that soaring prices for memory chips, driven by rising demand from datacentres, could push up costs and dent profits at HP and rivals such as Dell and Acer.

“Memory costs are currently 15% to 18% of the cost of a typical PC, and while an increase was expected, its rate has accelerated in the last few weeks,” Lores said.

HP announced better-than-expected revenues of $14.6bn for its fourth quarter. Demand for AI-enabled PCs continues to climb, and they made up more than 30% of HP’s shipments in the fourth quarter to 31 October.

The contract covers development and pre-series vehicles as well as two production batches with a term until 2032. In a first batch, equipment for 274 vehicles was ordered; further options for additional systems are planned. In addition to supplying hardware and software, HENSOLDT is providing a comprehensive logistics support package – including training, documentation, spare parts supply and long-term system support.

“With this order, HENSOLDT is underpinning its role as a pioneer of a new technological era in defence and sustainably strengthening the modernisation of the German reconnaissance forces,” said Oliver Dörre, CEO of HENSOLDT AG. “In the age of networked operations, data is the new ammunition. The LUCHS 2 thus represents a clear paradigm shift: We are developing systems whose capabilities are no longer static, but can be further developed in a software-defined, modular manner throughout their entire life cycle. In this way, we are creating genuine information superiority, increasing the Bundeswehr’s capacity to act and, at the same time, securing Europe’s technological sovereignty.”

CERETRON – the brain of the LUCHS 2

CERETRON is the central mission system in LUCHS 2. It integrates the platform’s numerous different sensors for various spectra, processes their data in real time and uses it to generate a consistent tactical situation picture in the vehicle. With the help of AI-supported image processing, CERETRON automatically detects, identifies and tracks objects and persons, thus providing decision-relevant information directly to the crew and command structures.

Thanks to its NGVA-compliant, software-defined architecture, CERETRON is scalable and adaptable: new capabilities, functions and algorithms can be integrated without interfering with the vehicle hardware, thereby expanding the system’s performance throughout its entire life cycle. Sensor extensions can be added to the hardware as needed and then integrated into the software. At the same time, CERETRON reduces the cognitive load on the crew by automatically processing, prioritising and presenting information in a comprehensible manner. The resulting situation picture is available to every user on the platform in the relevant form – a central principle of software-defined defence and a significant advantage for quick, safe decisions in the field.

Multispectral sensor integration for maximum reconnaissance

In the LUCHS 2, a broad portfolio of sensors is natively integrated into CERETRON. This enables consistent end-to-end data management and an unprecedented depth of automated sensor fusion.

BAA IV – Long-range reconnaissance

Besides the combined thermal imaging and daylight sensors with laser rangefinder and target illuminator, the multispectral observation and reconnaissance system can also integrate an optional short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera for optimum visibility in poor weather conditions (rain, fog, etc.).

SETAS – All-round visibility and protection in real time

The See-Through Armour System (SETAS) offers all-round visibility day and night. The crew remains protected in the vehicle while still being able to keep an eye on their surroundings at all times. SETAS detects threats early in real time.

The mission system also includes a radio direction finder (RDF), laser warning system, and acoustic sensors that detect and partially locate respective signals to not only warn the crew immediately of threats, but to enable them to respond optimally.

Christina Canitz, Head of Optronics Division at HENSOLDT, said: “For the LUCHS 2, we are combining our core optronic and sensor capabilities into a powerful overall system. It is crucial that the crew can see, recognise and make safe decisions under all conditions. With this range of capabilities, we are creating clear operational added value for the Bundeswehr’s reconnaissance forces.”

MDOcore – the backbone of multi-domain missions

CERETRON can be seamlessly integrated into HENSOLDT’s new multi-domain software suite MDOcore, transferring data and situational information to make it available to higher user levels. MDOcore is HENSOLDT’s software-centred integration framework that networks sensors, effectors and cognitive systems across all domains – land, air, sea, cyber and space – and weapon systems, thus forming the technological backbone of future networked defence architectures.

The number of electric passenger cars in the EU reached 4.4 million in 2023, accounting for 1.73% of all passenger cars. Compared with 2022, the total number of electric cars went up by 1.4 million. 

In 121 (56.28%) out of the 215 regions at level 2 of the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2) with available data, the share of electric cars in the total passenger cars was below the EU average. For most EU countries, this share was relatively homogeneous across regions, suggesting that factors such as national subsidies and incentives or other national factors likely played an important role in the adoption of these vehicles. 

A total of 17 regions reported that electric cars made up at least 4.00% of all passenger cars (darkest shade of blue on the map): 

• with all its 5 regions, Denmark led the distribution along with Sweden (5 out of 8 regions), including the capital regions of Hovedstaden and Stockholm 
• 3 regions in the Netherlands, among them the capital region of Noord-Holland 
• 2 regions in Belgium, including the capital region of Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest 
• the Finnish capital region of Helsinki-Uusimaa
• and Luxembourg

Source dataset: tran_r_elvehst and tran_r_vehst

At the top end of the distribution, the central Dutch region of Flevoland recorded by far the highest share of electric cars in 2023, at 17.07%. This unusually high figure may reflect the presence of vehicle leasing companies based in the region, which register large fleets of electric vehicles and thereby inflate the number of electric cars relative to the size of the regional car population. The Swedish capital region of Stockholm (10.74%) was the only other region in the EU to record a double-digit share. It was followed by Hovedstaden in Denmark (8.64%) and Prov. Vlaams-Brabant in Belgium (7.60%). 

At the lower end of the distribution, 46 regions reported that electric cars accounted for fewer than 0.25% (lightest shade of yellow on the map) of all passenger cars in 2023. This group was largely concentrated in Czechia (5 out of 8 regions), Greece (11 of 13), Poland (14 of 17) and Slovakia (3 of 4). There was also a cluster in southern Italy (6 regions). The remainder of the group consisted of 4 regions from Spain, 2 regions from Romania, as well as a single region from Croatia.

The use of electric passenger cars reflects income levels, price differences between electric and other vehicles, subsidies and incentives, infrastructure investment, battery technology, fuel prices, urban policies, the availability and cost of public transport, and environmental consciousness.

Would you like to know more about transport statistics at the regional level? 

You can read more about transport statistics in the Eurostat regional yearbook – 2025 edition, also available as a set of Statistics Explained articles, as well as in the transport section of the interactive publication Regions in Europe and the Statistical Atlas.

The development process for offshore wind projects in the Philippines begins by the developer obtaining a Certificate of Endorsement with the DOE. This is accompanied by other registrations and approvals, such as business registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission and tax registration with the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The developer is also required to post a performance bond, being 2% (or 1% if not using a port administered by the Philippine Ports Authority) of the project cost per MW, multiplied by the offered capacity in MW according to the GEA-5 Terms of Reference.¹⁶

The next stage of the development process is pre-development. The developer must obtain an OWESC from the DOE as well as endorsements or permits from other agencies (including the DENR and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) to ensure the project is environmentally sound, socially accepted, and technically feasible. Upon receipt of a Certificate of Confirmation of Commerciality from the DOE, the project commences its construction and commissioning phase. At this point, the Wind Energy Operating Contract (“WEOC”) is issued granting legal authority to generate and sell electricity.

The project must receive a further Certificate of Endorsement from the DOE and may enter several other agreements. For example, a Connection Agreement with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines is required to connect to the grid. The project may also register with WESM via the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation, obtain a Certificate of Compliance and Feed-in Tariff eligibility from the Energy Regulatory Commission (“ERC”), and enter a REPA with the payment agent National Transmission Corporation (“TransCo”) if supplying under a Green Energy Auction Program.

GEA-5 Auction

On 11 June 2025, the DOE officially launched GEA-5 focussed exclusively on fixed-bottom OSW technology with an installation target of 3300MW between 2028-2030.¹⁷ Prior Green Energy Auction rounds did not include OSW, so this marks a major shift signalling the country’s intent to tap into its vast OSW potential. Fixed-bottom offshore wind was chosen due to its established global track record, cost-effectiveness and scalability.

Whilst the DOE acknowledges the future potential of floating offshore wind, the decision to prioritise fixed-bottom technology reflects a strategic effort to build early momentum. Current technical capabilities, regulatory frameworks, and infrastructure readiness make it the most viable pathway for successful deployment at this stage. If successful, GEA-5 is expected to attract significant foreign investment and position the Philippines as a regional leader in OSW.

The allocation framework methodology for GEA-5 incorporates price and non-price criteria, including price competitiveness, project readiness and capacity.¹⁸ In terms of the auction timeline, the DOE is yet to publish the Notice of Auction and the green energy auction reserve price is pending finalisation, so further delays are expected.

Figure 2: Prescribed timeline for GEA-5 (D = Day).¹⁹

5. Key Issues and Considerations

“This recognition highlights Arkema’s ability to leverage material chemistry for sustainability, in partnership with leaders in boating, composites, and recycling. Together, we are building a viable circular model for a more responsible future,” says Pierre Gérard, R&D Expert in Composite Materials at Arkema, who was deeply involved in establishing this alliance.

The alliance will also be a central feature of the 2025 Paris Boat Show from November 26 to December 1 at the Parc des Expositions du Bourget. On Beneteau’s stand in Hall 3, visitors will discover an educational pathway dedicated to circular boatbuilding, in partnership with the five other major players in the alliance. This initiative reflects Beneteau’s commitment, as a global leader in boating, to innovate toward more recyclable boats with a lower environmental footprint.

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1. What’s a conversation we’re not having enough when it comes to AI and the future of work? 

There is no shortage of headlines and articles on AI and the future of work. But too often, this discourse focuses solely on job losses, coupled with sensational headlines. While technologies continue to evolve rapidly, meaning that we can’t yet drew firm conclusions, it is also true that we need to look at the labour market effects much more carefully. This entails understanding how AI impacts not only the quantity of jobs but also the quality of them and the nature of work, in terms of wages, working conditions and rights more broadly. The larger issue of inequality is also crucial.  

2. In your view, what are the current and potential future impacts of automation on developing economies? 

Currently, the impact of digitalization and AI in developing economies is less than in advanced economies, primarily due to the digital divide and differences in the structure of economies. While the possible negative effects on jobs are less (but not zero), we also know, as shown by ILO research, that the digital divide prevents developing countries from taking advantage of the benefits from new technologies, such as AI.  

But there are two caveats to this view that developing countries are not being affected by AI. First, digital tools and platforms are growing rapidly, even if the use of generative AI is more confined to small part of the population – see the rise of digital payment systems, such as M-PESA in Eastern Africa, and the rapid emergence of digital labour platforms, both location-based and online, which are creating opportunities and challenges in all countries. Second, emerging technologies, such as AI, continue to evolve so we cannot assume that the situation today will hold in the coming months and years. We need to continue to monitor the situation.  

3. How do these impacts influence groups in vulnerable situations, such as women, youth, and migrants? 

A key lesson from centuries of technological change is that there are both winners and losers as economies and labour markets adjust. ILO research has shown that women are more susceptible to the automation effects of AI due to their overrepresentation in occupations that are most exposed, such as administrative jobs. Recent data on actual labour market trends (as opposed to potential effects) is telling us that we should be worried about how generative AI is impacting young people – evidence is emerging to suggest that there is a more negative effect of AI on young labour market entrants in such countries as the US. At the same time, there are range of use cases that can help certain groups access new learning and employment opportunities. For example, under the  PROSPECTS programme, the ILO is supporting young people in remote areas of Kenya through digital skills training and mentoring programmes to access online job opportunities. 

4. While we talk about the quantity of jobs impacted by AI, what would you say about the quality of jobs impacted? 

As already mentioned, we need to focus on not only implications of AI for job quantity but quality as well, which is where the largest effects are likely to emerge. AI impacts tasks and won’t eliminate most jobs entirely. But these changes can lead to effects on wages, depending on how demand for the occupation shifts, and working conditions due to the impact of AI in the workplace.  

We already see the use of algorithmic management tools, which are getting supercharged by AI, for recruitment, allocating tasks, monitoring and evaluating workers. While this has the potential to improve productivity, it poses challenges in terms of workers’ agency and the nature of their jobs. Key is transparency on the use of these tools, matched by dialogue to ensure that new technologies can be beneficial to both the enterprise and their workers.  

5. There’s often a regional divide in how AI is deployed and its benefits are distributed. How can we bridge that gap—both nationally and globally? 

A digital divide exists both within and between countries due to differences in access to digital infrastructure and skills. The share of the population using the Internet in 2024 reached 93 per cent in high-income countries compared with just 27 per cent of the population in low-income economies. Even in advanced economies, such as in the European Union, access to AI is uneven with higher rates of adoption in richer countries and larger firms. Within countries, access to broadband (optic fibre) Internet and training programmes is more limited in rural areas. In response, greater investments are needed in infrastructure and skilling to ensure that these gaps are reduced. Support is also needed to ensure that there are opportunities for developing economies to build their own AI ecosystems in terms of both development and deployment of new technologies in different languages and adapted to country-specific contexts.   

The share of the population using the Internet in 2024 reached 93 per cent in high-income countries compared with just 27 per cent of the population in low-income economies.

6. What kind of policy frameworks do we need to ensure that AI benefits all workers? 

From an ILO perspective, the Decent Work Agenda remains key for assessing both the benefits and challenges arising from the development and deployment of AI. In practice, responding to the opportunities and challenges posed by AI will involve applying existing policies and regulations, while adapting and developing new strategies and governance frameworks where needed, in line with international labour standards and through social dialogue (e.g., to address the platform economy).  

There are three areas we need to look at: first, address the negative impact of AI through redeployment, social protection and active labour market policies (e.g., employment services); second, enhance digital skilling and upskilling to support access to new technologies, along with measures to assist small businesses to overcome the digital divide and take advantage of opportunities; and third, strengthen governance mechanisms to ensure rights are protected in the workplace (e.g., safeguarding against discriminatory algorithms). 

7. If you could deliver just one message to global policymakers about AI and employment, what would it be? 

AI is creating both new opportunities and challenges in the world of work and to ensure that the benefits are broadly shared, we need to assess the impact of AI on both the quality and quantity of jobs, and respond through employment policies and other measures, backed by the latest evidence and social dialogue.