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Category: 3. Business

  • China targets human-like AI systems with new draft regulations

    China targets human-like AI systems with new draft regulations

    China targets human-like AI systems with new draft regulations 

    China has unveiled new draft rules, aiming to regulate AI with human-like interaction and tighten oversight of artificial intelligence specifically designed based on human personalities.

    The recent move on the part of the Chinese cyber regulator highlights Beijing’s effort to govern AI and strengthen consumer-oriented safety and ethical requirements.

    Key regulatory rules under new proposal

    The draft delineates a regulatory approach which would ensure user well-being and addiction mitigation by warning them against excessive use.

    Under the new draft, the service providers would be entrusted with safety responsibilities throughout the product lifecycle and identify the user state based on emotional well being.

    The companies would also establish systems for algorithm review, data security, and personal information protection.

    The proposal also targets psychological issues. The providers would be given responsibility to assess user states, their emotions and extent of dependency on the AI-powered service.

    In the case of addictive attitude and extreme behavior, the companies would be entitled to take necessary measures of intervention.

    The authorities also rolled out rules for content moderation, stating the services would be prohibited to generate content that threaten national security, spread misinformation or disinformation and promote violence and obscenity.

    These newly proposed rules would be applied to all AI products and services offered to people in China. The AI systems that demonstrate human personality traits, communication styles, emotional interaction and thinking patterns, would be governed by these regulations. 

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  • ‘Families can save £200 a month at Hull community shop’

    ‘Families can save £200 a month at Hull community shop’

    The group said profits from the shop would be reinvested into a community hub, which aims to support members to learn new skills.

    Meanwhile, a community kitchen and cafe sells breakfasts and lunches for £1.50, along with free children’s meals all year round.

    Carol Redfern and her mum were among those enjoying refreshments.

    She said: “To be able to come here and get quality food cheaper, it means a lot.

    “My mum lives with me, she is disabled, so we are not on a lot of money.

    “You can come here and have something to eat and the kids eating free is brilliant.”

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  • Signalling issues impact South West train services

    Signalling issues impact South West train services

    Trains have been disrupted in the South West due to a “shortage of signalling staff”.

    National Rail said services from Exeter to Exmouth, Yeovil Junction and Basingstoke were being impacted by the issue.

    Railway lines between Exeter Central and Exmouth, Exeter and Honiton were closed with passengers advised their tickets could be used on other trains and buses.

    An update from Network Rail said a replacement signaller had been arranged but service disruption was expected to continue until about 13:00 GMT.

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  • Identifying key genes for European canker resistance in apple: machine learning and gene expression profiling of quantitative disease resistance

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  • South Western Railway farewell train tour raises more than £45,000

    South Western Railway farewell train tour raises more than £45,000

    A farewell event for commuter trains being phased out has raised more than £45,000 for three charities.

    South West Railway’s (SWR) red Class 455 fleet has been in service for 42 years and is being replaced by new Arterio trains.

    Tickets for the event, which took place on 21 December and saw two Class 455s run through places including Guildford and Epsom, sold out in 15 seconds, SWR said previously.

    Originally scheduled to involve one train, “unprecedented demand” for the event led SWR and the Branch Line Society to add a second train for “hundreds of excited enthusiasts”, it said.

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  • New campaign: TUI MAGIC LIFE puts a stronger focus on experiences with ‘Like holidays, but epic!’ | TUI Group

    New campaign: TUI MAGIC LIFE puts a stronger focus on experiences with ‘Like holidays, but epic!’ | TUI Group

    With the new year approaching, TUI MAGIC LIFE is set to launch a new, high-impact marketing campaign. The campaign’s slogan is “Wie Urlaub, nur geiler!” – or “Like holidays, but epic!” internationally. The club brand will focus on an emotional presentation that builds on the previous campaign of the same name. This will emphasise the variety of experiences on offer and the strong sense of community that the brand offers.

    The campaign will have an immediate strong presence on connected TV and across social media, supported by additional online and out-of-home placements. “Like holidays, but epic! perfectly embodies the essence of a club holiday with TUI MAGIC LIFE: experiences that offer more — more fun, more adventure, and more entertainment,” says Nils Sarbok, Head of Marketing at TUI MAGIC LIFE. “Our ambition is not just to offer guests a holiday, but an extraordinary experience, with everything included in the price.”

    The campaign will be rolled out in two phases, each targeting key audiences: couples and families. In addition to digital formats and social media clips, the mix includes influencer activations. The goal is to strengthen brand awareness and consideration in the core markets of Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom further, and to engage communities more strongly.

    The successful campaign is now entering its third round. “Like holidays, but epic! perfectly captures the essence of our clubs, strengthening the emotional connection with our guests,” says Nils Sarbok, Head of Marketing at TUI MAGIC LIFE.

    Nils Sarbok has been Head of Marketing at TUI MAGIC LIFE since October 2025, responsible for the strategic development of the brand. Previously, he held senior digital marketing roles at TUI Germany.

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  • Anna Tims’ dishonours list: the not-so good, the bad and the ugly customer service awards 2025 | Consumer affairs

    Anna Tims’ dishonours list: the not-so good, the bad and the ugly customer service awards 2025 | Consumer affairs

    When the year began, I was a listening ear to Your Problems, my column for the Observer. Now I’m a Guardian consumer champion. Reinvention is always bracing. My old life was spent wrestling airlines, insurance firms and energy providers intent on plundering readers’ piggy banks. My new life? Wrestling airlines, insurance firms and energy providers intent on plundering readers’ piggy banks.

    It is a comfort in this era of seismic shifts to know some things remain constant. You can bank on energy firms to chill your marrow with billing psychodramas and phantom accounts. Meanwhile, certainty is still the business model of insurers: many would say you can be certain that if you damage your car, or yourself, your provider will look for a reason to stall over your claim.

    It is an age-old tradition for airlines and accommodation providers to take your cash for a booking, but actual flights and actual beds sometimes appear to be considered an optional extra.

    This year, I have discovered where you can buy a takeaway coffee for £100; the mysterious reasons why guests at Travelodge can be shunted by night to motorway service stations; and what “for ever” means in the banking sector (about two decades in Santander’s lexicon, apparently).

    I have investigated how long HM Revenue and Customs reckons it needs to make an agreed bank transfer – 33 weeks – and why some retired teachers have to prove each year they are not dead.

    An elderly couple was at least expecting a refund after finding evidence that strangers had sex in their Premier Inn room while they were out. Photograph: Javier Zayas Photography/Getty Images

    At this time of year I like to acknowledge those organisations that have worked so hard to keep their customers at arm’s length, and to keep me in a job.

    Applause, please, for the winners of Anna’s dishonours awards 2025.

    Sensitivity ambassador Dead customers are so much easier to deal with than live ones. Perhaps that is why Three (slogan: “Live your best phone life”) suggested CF “kill off” her sick father when she wanted to change the ownership of her mobile phone contract. CF’s account had been set up with him as the principal account holder because she was then a teenager at the time. Three’s customer service team does not have a process for this, but its bereavement service does. Helpfully, it suggested it mark her father down as deceased so it could oblige her request to make her the primary account holder for her own mobile phone. That could, Three warned, affect his credit rating, but it promised to tell credit agencies that he was still alive after the deed was done. Three later said it would review its processes a goodwill payment.

    Good hygiene Sex has bedevilled Guardian-reading holidaymakers. An elderly couple discovered that strangers had been at it in their hotel room while they were at a Christmas gathering. The evidence? Condoms, knickers and a paper party hat in the bedroom. Premier Inn (slogan: “Force for Good”) apologised for “any inconvenience” and declared the case closed, before delicate questioning from the Guardian prompted a refund. Then there is Vrbo (“Where families travel better together”), which told a young family who found their holiday rental was a bloodstained sex den that their complaint was “minor” and refused compensation until the Guardian stepped in.

    The housing association L&Q left residents, without warning, with no running water for 12 days at it belatedly fixed a leak. Photograph: RichardBaker/Alamy

    Good Samaritan Everyone knows Ryanair has a heart of … solid granite. FB, a doctor, reached her departure gate late because she had stopped to help an injured passenger. Ryanair (“Great Care”) refused to let her board the waiting plane and charged her a £100 admin fee to rebook. Could it not waive the fee as a goodwill gesture, given the circumstances? No it could not, it insisted, since it is its passengers’ responsibility to be punctual (even if it means not helping bleeding pensioners, it seems).

    Nurture prize A close race, this one. London’s Southwark council (“United to Serve”) deserves a shoutout for leaving a 91-year-old cancer patient with damp, mould and insects for a year while it pondered how to address a leak elsewhere in the block. But the housing association L&Q (“Our vision is that everyone deserves a quality home that gives them the chance to live a better life”) went one step further when, with no warning, it left residents without running water for 12 days while it belatedly fixed a leak.

    Airbnb eventually paid a full refund and a £500 voucher to customers after Guardian Money intervened. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

    Philosopher’s prize Airbnb (“Belong Anywhere”) must share this with one of its hosts. When a 100-year-old oak tree fell on to a French gite, narrowly missing the occupants (who’d been having breakfast on the terrace minutes earlier), damaging the property’s roof and smashing their hire car windscreen, the host refused to refund their aborted stay. “You have chosen to remember the worry and trauma instead of celebrating a unique memory,” she told them. Airbnb was similarly sanguine. “We understand this may have caused some inconvenience to you,” it said, then closed their complaint – minus refund – and told them: “Keep safe. Stay healthy.” (It eventually issued a full refund along with a £500 voucher after our intervention).

    Social justice warrior Where do you potentially face a court for confusing an “O” with a zero? The London borough of Ealing, which shields its residents from harmful forces without fear or favour. When a visiting driver confused an O on his car number plate with a zero and entered the wrong digit into a parking app, the council gave him the option of an £80 fine or legal action. Os and 0s are identical on car number plates and the driver had paid for his parking. That did not wash with Ealing, nor did government guidance on parking penalty enforcement, which requires councils to exercise discretion “sensibly and reasonably”. It insisted he cough up out of “fair consideration … to motorists who comply with all the parking regulations”.

    Applause, perhaps for the AA, over its treatment of one member’s car? Photograph: Caiaimage/Martin Barraud/Getty Images/iStockphoto

    Corporate contrition No one feels your pain like big business. In fact, it has adopted a platitude to encapsulate its empathy when it realises it has let you down. “We’re sorry for any inconvenience” can be rolled out when the civil service pension scheme managed by the outsourcing company Capita demands a retiree refund £25,000 worth of overpayments it had accidentally made over 11 years, or Virgin Atlantic fails to refund the cost of a honeymoon it cancelled. It meets the need when TSB confuses a victim of ID fraud with the fraudster, applies fraud markers to his name and causes the closure of his bank accounts. Inconvenient it is indeed when Airbnb bans you because it has seemingly decided you are associated with the criminal underworld; or when Sky fails to cancel the package of a family whose house was wrecked by a gas explosion next door.

    AA intrepid travel

    This award is for the AA itself. “Join us on our journey” it invites. But one woman’s car made the journey without her for six months after the AA towed it to an approved garage for repair. It was returned – only after she reported it as stolen – with a coating of bird dirt, a £70 penalty charge notice for a parking breach, and 15,000 extra miles on the clock. Reassuringly for other AA members, the association told me its relationship with the garage in question was now “under review”.

    Bereavement support

    Insurers have collectively earned this prize. Their response, when informed of a policyholder’s death, can be to hit the bereaved partner with a huge hike in premiums for home and car cover. Why? One provider was disarmingly frank with a new widow: now she lives alone, it explained, her home is more at risk of break-ins.

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  • Top tips to protect your Christmas gifts from cyber-scrooges

    Top tips to protect your Christmas gifts from cyber-scrooges

    • Families urged to take simple security steps when setting up new accounts for Christmas gifts like tablets, smart watches and connected toys
    • Quick 5 minute checks including enabling 2-step verification and automatic updates will protect homes from cyber criminals
    • Taking these steps will help keep personal data and home networks safe from unwanted access

    As Christmas celebrations are wrapping up and excited children (and adults!) are playing with their new smart watches, talking toys, and tablets, the government is reminding families to give these high-tech gifts a quick security check before the festive fun begins.

    Smart technology has topped wish lists across the country, bringing entertainment and connection to homes. Research found that 45% of UK adults planned to buy electronic devices for Christmas in 2024, highlighting how popular smart technology has become as a festive purchase. From voice-activated assistants answering questions about reindeer, to fitness trackers logging Boxing Day walks, and robot toys becoming new best friends, connected devices can spread joy nationwide.

    But just like checking if batteries are included, a few simple security steps will keep Christmas magic safe from cyber-Scrooges. Taking 5 minutes to set up 2-step verification (2SV) on new accounts or enable automatic updates means families can enjoy new technology without worrying about hackers. Think of it as part of the Christmas routine, alongside the turkey and festive films.

    Festive security checklist

    Set up 2 -step verification

    When creating new accounts for devices and apps this Christmas, turn on 2-step verification (also called 2SV). This adds an extra layer of protection to accounts like email, making it much harder for criminals to access them, even if they know your password.

    Create strong passwords for new accounts

    Many Christmas gifts will need new accounts set up. Use strong, unique passwords – combining 3 random words works brilliantly, for example SantasMarmaladeHat.

    Enable automatic updates

    Keeps devices protected while families enjoy mince pies and tins of chocolates.

    Set up parental controls

    Helps to protect children’s devices with child accounts.

    Check privacy settings

    Turn off remote access and unnecessary data collection.

    Cyber Security Minister Baroness Lloyd said:

    Smart devices can bring families closer at Christmas, whether it’s video calls with relatives or enjoying festive films and new gadgets.

    Taking a moment to follow simple setup steps gives families peace of mind and lets them focus on making amazing Christmas memories.

    NCSC Director for National Resilience, Jonathon Ellison said:

    As you set up a smart device you received this Christmas, make sure it’s wrapped up in the essential security layers. Keeping your home and your information safe is the best present you can give yourself this year.

    We recommend following the NCSC’s guidance for using smart devices, and remember to switch on 2‑step verification for all your important accounts.

    The average UK household owns nine connected devices, making Christmas a prime time for hackers. According to analysis of millions of connected homes, devices see an average of 10 attacks every 24 hours, with security solutions blocking roughly 1,736 threats per minute. Poorly secured gadgets and accounts can give criminals access to personal data, audio or video from toys and monitors, or home networks.

    The UK is leading the world in protecting families from cyber threats. World-first Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) regulations, which came into force in April 2024, mean that every smart device sold in the UK must meet basic security standards including no default or easily guessable passwords. Combined with these simple festive security tips – particularly setting up 2-step verification on new accounts – families can unwrap their presents with confidence and enjoy a worry-free Christmas.

    Notes to editors

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  • India’s binge on Russian oil

    India’s binge on Russian oil

    We’ve all heard the stories about how India starting importing lots of Russian oil right after the invasion. I hadn’t actually looked at the numbers until yesterday and they’re staggering. India’s imports from Russia in the first 10 months of 2025 were up almost 900 percent from the same period in 2019, which is a good baseline for where “normal” trade was prior to all the noise from COVID and then the run-up to the invasion.

    The chart above shows monthly data on imports from Russia by India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The rise in imports from Russia began immediately after the invasion in February 2022 and was massive. The US in August 2025 put an additional 25 percent punitive tariff on India, on top of the 25 percent reciprocal tariff that had been imposed earlier in the year. In data through October 2025, there’s no indication that this punitive tariff produced any kind of fall in imports of Russian oil. Instead, it looks like it was business as usual, which may be why the US then sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil producers – Rosneft and Lukoil – in November. We don’t yet have data on India’s oil imports through the end of the year, but the sharp fall in Urals oil price suggests that the stigma of buying Russian oil rose sharply after those sanctions, so it’s likely they scared off Indian buyers to a significant degree.

    How significant were imports from Russia in terms of India’s overall imports? The chart above shows total imports, which in the first 10 months of 2025 averaged $12.5 bn per month. Imports from Russia during this period were $4.4 bn, i.e. imports from Russia accounted for around 35 percent of India’s total oil import bill. US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil will have put a very substantial dent in this, which the Trump administration deserves genuine kudos for because this – via the fall in Urals oil price – is materially disrupting the flow of hard currency into Putin’s war economy.

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  • Major changes to Ontario law on job postings coming Jan. 1

    Major changes to Ontario law on job postings coming Jan. 1

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    The Ontario government is introducing new rules for publicly advertised job postings in the new year, but questions remain over whether the changes will result in tangible benefits for jobseekers.

    Changes under the Employment Standards Act come into effect on Jan, 1, 2026, and will apply to employers with more than 25 workers.

    Among the changes, employers will be required to post information about compensation for any advertised position. If a salary range is posted, it must be within $50,000 a year or less.

    Employers will be required to disclose whether artificial intelligence is used during the hiring process.

    They’ll also be prohibited from asking for Canadian work experience in any job posting and will be required to inform applicants whether a hiring decision has been made within 45 days of the last interview.

    Kathryn Tremblay is the owner of Altis Recruitment, a staffing firm working across Canada. She applauded the Ontario government for seeking to increase transparency and equity in the hiring process but questioned whether the changes would have the desired impact.

    British Columbia introduced a requirement to include wage details on all public job ads in 2023 with a view toward improving pay equity.

    Since then, B.C. has reported “modest” success in closing the gender wage gap, with a report this year showing a two-per-cent decrease in pay inequality between men and women.

    “So there’s a little bit of a gain, but we haven’t seen it really close the pay gap there,” said Tremblay, who predicted similar “marginal gains” from Ontario’s new rule on posting expected compensation.

    “I really am happy that the government is seeking to cause more pay transparency. I just don’t know if it’s going to have the desired effect,” she said.

    In particular, allowing a band of up to $50,000 could diminish the information value of a posted salary. “It worries me that it’s such a broad range,” she said.

    Similarly, she doubted whether the notification about the use of artificial intelligence in recruiting will allay concerns about whether the new technology could introduce hidden bias into the recruitment process.

    “The problem is that all the employers are all going to say the same thing: ‘We are using AI in some format to screen a select candidates and a human will call you to do an interview,’” she explained.

    With unemployment rising in Ontario, Tremblay worries the new regulations could be onerous for employers.

    “I’m seeing all employers scrambling to get this in place,” she said. “I think it would have been great if this would have been implemented a few years ago, but right now, at a time when we all need to be focused on increasing revenue and maximizing our high performance and upskilling our candidates and our our employees on AI…the timing isn’t great.”

    More information about the changes is available here.

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