The government has been urged to take control of the sale of the Telegraph through an auction run by a body such as the UK competition regulator or the Cabinet Office.
Peers called on the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, to wrest the sale process from RedBird IMI, which is majority funded by the United Arab Emirates, in questions put to Labour minister Fiona Twycross in the House of Lords on Wednesday.
RedBird IMI has been forced to restart the sale process after its junior partner in the joint venture, Gerry Cardinale’s US-based RedBird Capital Partners, pulled out of a deal to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph on Friday.
Christopher Fox, the Liberal Democrats spokesperson for business, said the Telegraph needed an independent “white knight” buyer and argued that those involved in previous attempts to buy the titles should not be allowed to lead the process. He added that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had mishandled the situation and suggested the Cabinet Office or an external adviser with experience of complex media transactions should take control instead.
The Conservative peer, Michael Forsyth, suggested that the government should turn to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to pursue a “proper auction and have normal order restored”.
Lady Twycross said the government was “acutely aware” that the protracted sale has left the Telegraph and its staff “in limbo for too long”, but said that the culture department would continue to control the process.
She said: “The secretary of state has adhered to the letter of the law and diligently carried out her quasi-judicial responsibilities. There is no basis to the suggestion that the decision should be made elsewhere. Securing a swift outcome in the public interest is a priority for her.”
Nandy could refer Redbird IMI’s bid to the CMA to investigate whether it breaches laws on foreign state ownership, using new powers under the Foreign State Influence (FSI) regime.
If the CMA were to deem the bid unlawful, Nandy could order an independent sale of the titles at a market-led price, potentially run by the regulator and supervised by the independent directors who have overseen the Telegraph during the protracted process.
Another option could be to coordinate the process through the Cabinet Office.
However, IMI, which is controlled by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has said that while it purchased an “economic interest” in the Telegraph it has never sought to influence or control the titles.
The newspaper group has been in limbo for two and a half years after Lloyds Bank put it up for sale, having seized control from its former owners, the Barclay family, over unpaid debts.
RedBird IMI, which took control of the titles in late 2023, was forced to put them back on the market after new legislation banned foreign states from owning UK newspapers. It has been unable to find a buyer at the £500m price it is seeking.
Most media analysts believe that the titles are worth about £350m.
Any move to force a sale, especially one resulting in a significant loss for RedBird IMI, which would anger the UAE, would be politically unattractive for the government.
Becket McGrath, a partner at Euclid Law, said: “The mechanism [to force a sale] seems to act as a sword of Damocles here. Government can force a sale by initiating a process but the current owners are looking to sell anyway. So it would just trigger a lot of bureaucracy and forces a bigger loss on them. It is not tempting for the government.”
RedBird Capital’s aborted bid, which could have been referred to Ofcom and the CMA on public interest grounds, would also have included small stakes from the owner of the Daily Mail and billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik.
A new sales process could revive interest from GB News investor Sir Paul Marshall, who acquired the Spectator in September 2024 for £100m, and Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT).
However, a bid from DMGT, which already handles the Telegraph’s printing and advertising sales, would trigger regulatory scrutiny over competition concerns.
Lord Saatchi and Lynn Forester de Rothschild also tabled a bid last August for £350m, plus a promise of further payments dependent on performance, which was also rejected by RedBird IMI.
A rare example of the first functioning calculating machine in history looks likely to stay in France after Christie’s withdrew it from auction pending a definitive ruling from a Paris court on whether or not it can be exported.
La Pascaline, developed by the French mathematician and inventor Blaise Pascal in 1642, when he was just 19, and billed as “the most important scientific instrument ever offered at auction”, had been expected to fetch more than €2m (£1.8m).
But the auction house withdrew the ebony-inlaid instrument from sale on Wednesday after the Paris administrative court, responding to an urgent appeal by scientists and researchers, provisionally suspended its authorisation for export late on Tuesday.
The machine was one of only eight in existence. Photograph: Jean-Philippe Humbert/Christie’s
“Given its historical and scientific value, La Pascaline is likely to be classified as a ‘national treasure’ … which prevents the issuance of an export certificate,” the court said, adding its provisional decision “prohibits it from leaving the country”.
Christie’s said it was suspending the sale, part of an auction of the library of the late collector Léon Parcé, given the court’s decision, pending its final ruling – which could take several months – and “in accordance with the instructions of our client”.
The instrument, in private hands since 1942, is one of only eight authentic Pascalines in existence. Christie’s described the machines as “nothing less than the first attempt in history to substitute the work of a machine for that of the human mind”.
Pascal developed the instruments, the first attempt to “mechanise mental calculation”, to simplify the work of his father, who was in charge of a court tasked with restoring order to tax revenue collections in northern France, Christie’s said.
La Pascaline was invented by Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher, when he was 19. Photograph: Geille c.1845/Alamy
The philosopher devised several models, each using different units for a specific purpose, such as calculating decimals, commercial transactions or taxes. This one, for surveyors, calculates in units of measurement including feet, inches and fathoms.
The group of eminent scientists and researchers, including the 2021 Nobel physics laureate Giorgio Parisi, asked the administrative court last week to block La Pascaline’s potential export, arguing it should be classified a “national treasure” and remain in France.
La Pascaline was “the origin of modern computing” and had made France “the cradle of the computing adventure: a revolution that transformed our understanding of the world”, they said in an impassioned op-ed published by Le Monde.
It was “one of the key jewels in France’s intellectual and technological heritage”, they said, accusing the state of committing an “astounding blunder” in granting Christie’s export authorisation rather than giving French institutions time to mount a bid.
“What a sad admission of disinterest in our scientific heritage,” the scientists wrote. “What a misunderstanding of Pascal, engineer, mathematician, philosopher, writer, a personality like no other, whose 400th birth anniversary we celebrated in 2023.”
The fact that five Pascalines were already in French public collections – the other two are in Germany – did not diminish this one, they said, because all have their own characteristics and this one was little known to the scientific community.
“It is vital that it enter a public collection so that it can be studied,” they added, describing La Pascaline as “a shining symbol of a unique alliance of history, science and technology” that reflected “a philosophy of learning that honours France”.
The culture ministry said an export certificate had been issued last May following standard procedures, with two experts – one from the National Centre of Arts and Crafts and the other from the Louvre museum – approving the decision.
The loss of more than 2,000 jobs at the World Health Organization (WHO) “will leave the world less healthy and less safe”, experts have warned.
The global health body said it expected to lose 2,371 posts – nearly a quarter of its workforce – by June 2026 as it deals with budget cuts after the US withdrawal from the organisation in January. At that point the WHO had 9,401 staff members.
Analysts and campaigners said the cuts, made under financial pressure, would probably leave the WHO less able to help countries facing disease outbreaks.
Pete Baker, the deputy director of global health policy and a fellow at the Center for Global Development, said: “WHO staffing cuts are a regrettable but inevitable outcome of US withdrawal and lower-than-hoped-for contributions by other countries. The loss of expertise will leave the world less healthy and less safe.
“Now, more than ever, WHO needs a clear, strategic vision to navigate its new fiscal reality. Instead, these cuts are aimed at global and Africa-based staff, at a time when WHO should be doubling down on its global work – such as coordinating responses to pandemics and other health threats – and providing limited country support to the poorest nations, most of which are in Africa.”
The highest number of cuts – 805 posts – will be in the WHO’s Geneva-based headquarters. Its African regional office will be the next worst affected, losing 638 of 2,541 posts according to documents posted online.
Dr Githinji Gitahi, chief executive of Amref Health Africa, said although the cuts were expected, “it is rapid in nature, and with little transition planning”.
“With these cuts, certain functions, especially disease surveillance, supply chain management and emergency response will inevitably be impacted. African governments are going to have to lift more weight than before,” he said.
Faith, three, had doses of the world’s first malaria vaccine in a pilot programme led by the World Health Organization in Ghana, Malawi and Kenya. Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty
Eloise Todd, the executive director and founder of Resilience Action Network International, said: “At a time when we face increasing health threats worldwide, reduced capacity will severely impact the WHO’s ability to play the role member states ask of them.”
About half of the reduction in headcount would be achieved through natural attrition such as retirements or the end of temporary contracts, the WHO said, and the rest through “position abolition”.
The cuts process has been turbulent inside the WHO, with junior staff sending an anonymous open letter in August claiming that senior staff were being shielded from the cuts and many high-cost positions kept.
In a lengthy email sent from the WHO chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to staff, seen by the Guardian, he said the year had been “one of the most difficult in WHO’s history”. He said the process of cutting positions had involved “painful conversations” with staff, who had expressed “their pain, anxiety and, in some cases, their anger”.
WHO documents presented to member states at a briefing on Wednesday show that the number of senior directors will reduce from 65 to 38, a 42% cut that returns their numbers to around 2017 levels. Entry-level professionals will see numbers cut by 37%, from 291 to 183.
Michel Kazatchkine, a senior fellow at the Global Health Center, Geneva Graduate Institute, described the WHO’s presentation as “a politically correct document showing how the balance between grade, regions, gender [etc] has been kept in the 2,000-plus cuts that were announced”.
He added: “It does not say much about the choices made at senior level, and how much the specific added value of people versus other criteria has been guiding decisions.”
Kazatchkine said what was needed was a clear agreement from the WHO’s governing body, the World Health Assembly, on its core mandate, and what it should leave to other bodies such as Unicef or the Global Fund.
“And then,” he said, “assess the needed budget, the needed human resources and fundraise strategically rather than adjusting manpower and activities to financial pressure.”
The cuts were “not necessarily irreversible” in a rapidly moving landscape, he said, adding that adequate financing and adequate manpower were vital to keep the WHO “independent in a heavily politically charged environment”.
Ghebreyesus told staff the WHO had faced a difficult financial situation even before the US announced its intention to withdraw in January, and had sought to change its funding mechanisms to provide greater stability. However, the US decision, “combined with funding cuts from other countries, left us facing a salary gap of about $500m [£382m],” he said.
In a speech to member states, he said there was still a funding gap of $1bn for 2026 and 2027, and asked for support to close it.
Uber has been hit with legal demands to stop using its artificial intelligence driven pay systems, which have been blamed for significantly reducing the incomes of the ride hailing app’s drivers.
A letter before action – sent to the US company by the non-profit foundation, Worker Info Exchange (WIE), on Wednesday – is understood to allege that the ride hailing app has breached European data protection law by varying driver pay rates through its controversial algorithm.
James Farrar, the director of WIE, said: “Uber has leveraged artificial intelligence and machine learning to implement deeply intrusive and exploitative pay-setting systems that have damaged the livelihoods of thousands of drivers.
“Through this collective action, we intend to get a fairer deal for drivers and ensure Uber is held financially accountable for the harm caused by this unlawful use of AI.
“This case is … about securing transparent, fair and safe working conditions for all platform workers.”
The proposed legal case is expected to be filed in Amsterdam, where Uber is based in Europe. The moves come after the WIE partnered with Oxford University during the summer to publish research on Uber driver pay.
The academic paper found that many Uber drivers were earning “substantially less” an hour – while the company was taking a significantly higher share of fares – since the ride hailing app introduced a “dynamic pricing” algorithm in 2023. Dynamic pricing variably sets pay for drivers and fares for passengers and is a later iteration of Uber’s “surge pricing”, which increased fares during periods of peak demand.
The Oxford University research said: “Our findings suggest that post-dynamic pricing, many aspects of Uber drivers’ jobs have gotten worse. Average pay per hour on the app is stagnant, and is lower in real terms in the year following the introduction of dynamic pricing.”
The WIE argued that Uber had trained its algorithms “by using the drivers’ own historic personal data by observing their working practices.
“Under the GDPR, drivers are entitled to demand that Uber stop using this technology, revert to the previous method of transparent pay-setting with a human in the loop, and compensate the drivers for their losses.”
An Uber spokesperson said:“Drivers choose Uber because we offer flexibility over where and when they work, and transparency over every trip they take – including the fare, destination, and their own earnings, before they decide whether to accept. The study WIE collaborated on is not accurate and relies on incomplete and selective data.
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“The researchers themselves admit that their analysis ‘does not enable [them] to isolate the causal effect of dynamic pricing on pay’, making any conclusions about driver earnings misleading. We are proud that thousands of drivers continue to make the positive choice to work on Uber as passenger demand and trips continue to grow.”
The WIE alleges that, while Uber announced dynamic pricing in 2023, the “legal harm” commenced in 2020 with “upfront pricing” – where a passenger would be quoted a set fare for a trip.
The workers’ foundation added that if Uber failed to comply with its “demands to cease these practices and compensate affected drivers”, it intended to “bring collective proceedings before the Amsterdam district court under the Netherlands’ collective redress law”.
Recruiters speak to job seekers at the Appalachian State University internship and job fair in Boone, North Carolina, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025.
Allison Joyce | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday it will not release a full U.S. jobs report for the month of October, following the longest government shutdown in the history of the country.
Instead, the agency said October payroll data will be released along with a full report for November. An unemployment rate for October will not be included in those figures because the data “could not be collected,” the BLS said, citing the shutdown.
The BLS also pushed back its November jobs data release to Dec. 16 from Dec. 5. The new date is six days after the Federal Reserve concludes its final policy meeting of the year — leaving the Fed with less intel on the state of the economy.
Without the full October data — and following recent hawkish commentary from some Fed officials — traders may be pricing in a lower chance of another rate reduction.
The CME Group’s FedWatch tool on midday Wednesday showed there’s a 63.8% chance that the central bank keeps its overnight benchmark rate steady in the 3.75%-4% range. That’s up from around 50% earlier in the day.
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Saudi Arabia is backing a $900mn funding round in US video start-up Luma AI, as the Gulf state steps up efforts to become a global force in the development of artificial intelligence.
The deal, led by Humain, the AI-focused venture backed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, values Luma at more than $4bn, according to people close to the negotiations.
The deal will be announced in Washington at this week’s US-Saudi Investment Forum, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of a number of new deals with US companies. Those follow a wave of tie-ups announced during Donald Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May.
Saudi Arabia wants to use the financial muscle of its near-$1tn Public Investment Fund to become an international leader in AI. Prince Mohammed said during his meeting with the US president in the Oval Office on Tuesday that his country planned to spend about $50bn on AI “in the short term”.
Luma, which is based in Burbank, California, creates generative video models that can respond to prompts to create movies or simulate reality. The new funding will accelerate Luma’s efforts to train large-scale “world models” that learn from videos and robotic data rather than just language.
Big Tech groups such as Google DeepMind and Meta, as well as start-ups such as Fei Fei Li’s World Labs, are spending billions of dollars in the race to build these new “spatial intelligence” systems.
Amit Jain, co-founder of Luma, said: “To create AI that can help humanity in the physical world and expand our understanding of the universe, we need to build systems that can learn from a quadrillion tokens of information — roughly the collective digital memory of humanity — contained in video, image, audio and language.”
Meanwhile, Humain is building Project Halo, one of the world’s largest data centre clusters that will provide some computational power for Luma. The deal includes an initiative to build AI models trained on Arabic and regional data to create “culturally aligned” AI.
Existing investors, such as Andreessen Horowitz, Amplify Partners and Matrix Partners have also participated in Luma’s new funding round, alongside new investors including AMD Ventures.
Saudi Arabia and PIF have recalibrated their spending and priorities as lower oil prices put pressure on the kingdom’s budget in recent years. But AI remains one of the main areas where it is willing to spend as part of wider plans to diversify the economy away from its dependence on oil revenues.
Humain chief executive Tareq Amin told the Financial Times earlier this year that the company had allocated $10bn for AI investments through a venture capital fund, while it continued talks with Nvidia and other semiconductor companies to secure the chips needed to build data centres in the kingdom.
In Belém at COP30 on November 11 and 14, UNEP FI welcomed two new banking members–Banpará and Banco do Noreste—as signatories to the UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB). This moment represented the expansion of PRB’s growing responsible banking community in Latin America and is a testament to the regional leadership of Brazil’s banking sector in advancing climate and nature goals.
Pictured above: PRB signing ceremony for newest signatories Banpará and Banco do Noreste
PRB members took part in great numbers in Belém to emphasize progress on decarbonization in real estate and agriculture, transition planning, and resilience. ING, Itaú, Bradesco, FAB, Standard Chartered, Caixabank, Credit Agricole, BBVA, MUFG, and many other banks showcased their approaches and demonstrated leadership on the global stage. In support of the Brazil Presidency’s focus on adaptation at this COP, UNEP FI highlighted the PRB Practical Guidance on Implementing Adaptation and Resilience for other interested financial institutions.
These engagements followed PRI In Person and the Climate Action summits the week prior in São Paulo, which convened the finance sector around COP30 goals. On November 3, Itaú and UNEP FI hosted a roundtable -including asset owners, commercial banks, banking associations, policymakers and companies- to discuss the critical role of finance in advancing sustainable food systems.
At PRI In Person, UNEP FI and MSCI Institute joined leaders from Harvard, Amundi, and Itaú to explore how banks embedding sustainability outperform peers—paying less for capital, gaining resilience, and attracting investor confidence. For more, access UNEP FI’s Principles for Responsible Banking Third Biennial Progress Report and/or review panel session highlights in the short article “How are banks translating sustainability commitments into measurable financial and operational advantages.” Additional events on this topic to come in Q1 2026.
On 11 November, UNEP FI, ING and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) hosted a session on how financial institutions and policymakers can drive buildings decarbonisation, including ING and FAB as panellists. The discussion highlighted real-world collaborations across government, finance, industry and homeowners and identified key success factors for scaling up finance for green buildings.
Pictured above (L-R): Roundtable on “Finance Leadership for the Future of Agriculture and Food,” hosted by UNEP FI and Itaú , UNEP FI’ panel event on “ESG Leadership and Financial Performance: What Investors Can Learn from Responsible Banking.” Panel event on “Decarbonising Buildings: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach for Financing the Transition.”
On 18 November, Crédit Agricole and Rabobank will participate in FAO’s high-level COP30 event: “Unlocking Climate Finance for Agrifood Transformation and Climate Action.” The session will explore practical solutions and innovative financing approaches to advance sustainable agrifood system transformation.
Progress Report – Responsible Banking: A Six Year Journey of Systemic Change
Launched on 15 October, the PRB’s third biennial report showcases a sector-wide shift in banking practices. The report provides bespoke data and analysis demonstrating how PRB signatories are increasingly moving from commitment to action, embedding sustainability into core business strategies, governance, and client relationships to manage risk, meet stakeholder expectations and remain competitive in an evolving economy.
Highlights include:
Banks representing circa 50% of global banking assets embedding sustainability into strategy, governance and client relationships
MSCI analysis shows PRB banks paid one percentage point less, on average, for equity and debt capital
Growing regulatory momentum for market practices pioneered by UNEP FI
Belém, Brazil (November 19, 2025) — At COP30, the governments of Brazil and the UK announced the Belém Declaration on Fertilisers, a ministerial call to action to improve the production and optimize the use of fertilizers in all their forms for food security, nature, and the climate. Japan also endorsed the call to action, along with a group of civil society organizations.
Following is a statement from Richard Waite, Director, Agriculture Initiatives, World Resources Institute:
“Synthetic and organic fertilizers are essential for achieving high crop and pasture yields and for feeding a growing global population. Yet, they are also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to air and water pollution. This call to action to improve fertilizer production and use is an important step forward for people, nature and climate.
“Globally, more than half of the nitrogen applied to crop fields is lost to the environment rather than absorbed by crops—a significant inefficiency. Fertilizer use is also unevenly distributed, with overapplication in some regions causing pollution and underapplication in others leading to low yields and food insecurity.
“More efficient nitrogen use is a multiple-win solution — it can cut emissions, increase profits for farmers, sustain high yields and food security, improve air and water quality, and strengthen soil health and resilience. Our research shows that raising global nitrogen use efficiency from less than 50 percent today to 70 percent in the future could reduce GHG emissions by 0.6 gigatons of CO2 equivalent per year. Producing lower-carbon fertilizers offers further potential to slash emissions.
“Achieving these wins requires smarter nutrient management, wider adoption of enhanced efficiency fertilizers such as nitrification inhibitors, and breeding crops that use nitrogen more effectively. More R&D is also needed for promising pathways such as biological nitrification inhibition and biofertilizers. Governments should develop policies and redirect subsidies toward strategies that improve nitrogen use efficiency, reduce nitrogen losses, and lower emissions from fertilizer production.”
