Category: 3. Business

Indeed, just as the CEOs were pouring out their woes to the Commission president, a few floors below, Teresa Ribera, commissioner for a clean industrial transition, was presenting the bloc’s climate targets for 2040.

Von der Leyen’s center-right European People’s Party is widely accused of watering down the EU’s environmental agenda to help preserve competitiveness, and the German visitors seemed satisfied she was alive to their interests.

The Commission president was “listening very closely to the details,” said Hendrik Wüst, the minister-president of the industrial powerhouse region of North Rhine-Westphalia, who accompanied the CEOs. “We have passed along quite a lot of good subjects to President von der Leyen, who will also support competitiveness,” he added. “We have received quite a strong signal from her.”

Wüst hails from von der Leyen’s party in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union within the EPP’s group.

Industry representatives from other EU member countries haven’t been as lucky. Confindustria, the Italian business confederation, told POLITICO that Italian industry leaders never get that kind of facetime with the president.

But the Germans paraded their ease of access. Markus Steilemann, chief executive of chemicals company Covestro, told POLITICO this wasn’t the first time he had met the Commission’s top official. There have been “numerous occasions,” he said, ascribing it to his “numerous accountabilities within the European chemical industry, within the German chemical industry, but also as a CEO.”

Researchers in the Department of Forest Biomaterials are developing a proprietary material that could serve as a sustainable alternative to one of the world’s most significant sources of pollution: plastic foam. 

“Our material eliminates polystyrene foam materials that are filling landfills and persisting as litter in the environment,” said Richard Venditti, the Elis-Signe Olsson Professor of Pulp and Paper Science and Engineering.

Plastic foam, often known by the brand name Styrofoam, is used in many everyday products — from disposable food and beverage containers like cups and plates to shipping materials such as packing peanuts and protective packaging.

While convenient, plastic foam presents a significant environmental challenge due to its lack of biodegradability and difficulty in recycling. Estimates indicate that plastic foam takes up to 30% of landfill space globally. 

Venditti, alongside Joel Pawlak and Alfonso Dominguez Gonzalez of the Department of Forest Biomaterials, began working to develop a biobased alternative about a year ago and have since created a material made from a mix of natural fibers.

The fiber-based material, which is fully recyclable and biodegradable, could someday replace plastic foam materials used in cushioning and insulation for packaging, providing an option for companies seeking sustainable alternatives.

In addition to packaging materials, the material could potentially be utilized in furniture and vehicle cushioning, construction panels and insulation for food and temperature-sensitive medical products.

Venditti and his collaborators recently secured support from the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund (CIF) to continue their research. The fund awards support to a select few short-term, commercially focused research projects every year.

“Recieving this award is an honor,” Pawlak said. “The Chancellor’s Innovation Fund shows the university’s commitment to commercializing technologies that can benefit the citizens of North Carolina.”

The researchers plan to utilize the CIF funds to engage prospective industry partners, including fiber producers, insulation and cushioning foam manufacturers, and retail companies that depend on packaging to ship their goods.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the US will charge 20% tariffs on imports from Vietnam under a new trade deal reached during last-minute negotiations.

A much higher levy of 46% was set to go into effect next week as part of the global tariff plan Trump announced in April. Dozens of other economies, including the European Union and Japan, are still scrambling to make their own deals with the US before the planned increases.

Under the agreement, Vietnam will charge no tariffs on US products, Trump said in a social media post.

Tariffs typically push up the prices that shoppers are charged, which in turn can drive down demand.

The “Great Deal of Cooperation”, as Trump called it, will also impose a steeper tariff of 40% on goods that pass through Vietnam in a process known as “transshipping”.

“Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

“In other words, they will ‘OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES,’ meaning that we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff,” he added.

The president said he believed US-made SUVs, “which do so well in the United States, will be a wonderful addition to the various product lines within Vietnam”.

Shares in clothing companies and sport equipment manufacturers – which have a large footprint in Vietnam – rose on the news a deal had been reached, but later declined sharply after the president released details, including the continued tariffs.

Trump initially imposed steep levies on trading partners around the world in April , citing a lack of “reciprocity”, but then announced a pause where they were all lowered to 10%.

Many countries then approached the US to negotiate trade deals, according to the White House.

Since April, Washington had so far only announced a pact with Britain and a deal to temporarily lower retaliatory duties with China.

Knowledge Group Consulting has acquired Biz Group, one of the UAE’s well-established learning and development firms. 

Founded over three decades ago, Biz Group is a learning and development company that helps its client equip their people with the skills, mindset, and tools needed to perform at their best. The Dubai-headquartered firm has served hundreds of organisations across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and wider Middle East since its inception, providing corporate training, teambuilding, and learning technology services.

With the addition of Biz Group, Knowledge Group expands its learning & development offerings, one of its four core lines of business alongside strategic HR consulting, talent assessment, and organisational development. The bolt-on also deepens its expertise in learning technologies, including in digital learning, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality.

“We are proud to combine our efforts with Biz Group to expand our training offerings and deliver client-centric, innovative solutions through technology, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence, while enhancing the efficiency and impact of our services for both public and private sector partners,” said Ahmad Badr, CEO of Knowledge Group.

The deal has been closed by Nema Education, the parent of Knowledge Group Consulting, for an undisclosed sum. Following the acquisition, the two companies will continue operating under their respective brands names, ensuring business continuity for all clients and partners.

Ali Saeed bin Harmal Al Dhaheri, Chairman of Nema Education, stated: “Our investment in Biz Group is aligned with our long-term vision to shape the future of workforce development in the region. By combining our strategic capabilities and scale with Biz Group’s strong legacy and innovative learning experiences, we are building a powerful platform to empower individuals and organizations to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.”

Ali Saeed Bin Harmal Al Dhaheri (Nema Education) and Hazel Jackson (Biz Group)

Meanwhile, for Biz Group, the joining of forces with the award-winning will enable the firm to scale its reach and impact for clients and staff, said Founder and CEO Hazel Jackson. “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built at Biz Group over the past 30 years. Joining forces with Knowledge Group represents a powerful next step allowing us to scale our purpose, expand our reach, and continue delivering transformational learning experiences.”

“Our teams are united by a shared vision for the future of learning, and I’m excited to see the new possibilities this brings.”

Since its inception in 2006, Knowledge Group Consulting has trained more than 160,000 employees in around 20 countries around the world. The company is mostly active in the Middle East and North Africa.

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has further reduced the profit rates on National Savings Schemes.

According to the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS), profit rate on Defence Saving Certificates has been decreased by 15 basis points (bps), from 11.91 per cent to 11.76 per cent.

The profit rate on Special Saving Certificates has been significantly reduced by 30bps, bringing it down from 10.90 per cent to 10.60 per cent.

For Islamic Saving Account, the profit rate has been reduced by 59bps, setting the current rate at 9.75 per cent.

The profit on the Shuhada Family Welfare Account has been reduced by 24bps, and the profit on Regular Income Certificates has also been reduced by 20bps.

Earlier in May, the CDNS had reduced rates of return on several National Savings Schemes, with cuts up to 100bps.

The Savings Account rate dropped by 100bps to 9.5 per cent from 10.50 per cent, according to Topline Securities.

Defence Saving Certificates returns fell by 21bps to 11.91 per cent from 12.12 per cent, while Bahbood Savings Certificates declined by 24bps to 13.44 per cent from 13.68 per cent.

Rates for Pensioners Benefit Account and Shuhda Family Welfare Account were also lowered by 24bps each, now standing at 13.44 per cent.

Similarly, Regular Income Certificates returns decreased by 18bps to 11.52 per cent from 11.70 per cent.

Australian airline Qantas said that a hacker made off with a trove of customers’ personal data including passenger names, emails, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers

Australian airline Qantas said Wednesday that a hacker made off with a trove of customers’ personal data including passenger names, emails, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers.

The company said in a statement that a cybercriminal targeted one of its call centers on Monday and gained access to a third-party customer service platform that holds records for 6 million passengers.

Qantas apologized to customers and said that while it’s still investigating the proportion of data stolen, “we expect it will be significant.”

However, the system that was breached did not contain credit card and passport details or other personal financial information. Frequent flyer accounts weren’t compromised and security credentials were not accessed, Qantas said.

Qantas, Australia’s biggest airline, said there is no impact on operations or safety.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers and we recognize the uncertainty this will cause,” CEO Vanessa Hudson said in a statement.

Qantas said it has tightened up security measures and notified Australian cyber and data privacy authorities and the federal police.

BÖBLINGEN, Germany, July 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today, IBM (NYSE: IBM) is announcing that Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s leading providers of telecommunications and IT services, serving millions of residential and business customers, will implement the AI-powered solution IBM Concert, enabling intelligent automation in patch management and the orchestration of security-related activities.

Patches are a necessary part of software lifecycle management. They help systems stay secured, functional, and relevant in a fast-changing IT landscape. Without patches, software would quickly become vulnerable, unstable, and obsolete. But handling patches is a challenge as well. IBM can help companies accelerate vulnerability protection in their IT systems while boosting operational efficiency. IBM Concert helps companies to reduce operational costs and the effort required for patching vulnerabilities, increasing the speed of response and the efficiency for improving the security of all systems.

One billion apps by 2028

According to an IDC study, there will be one billion additional applications by 2028 – an increase that will be driven by AI innovations. Even for minor changes and updates, complex coordination between app owners, development, security, and operations teams is necessary to ensure smooth operation for millions of customers and users. The large number of manual process steps to prepare, execute, and document the end-to-end patching process increases the risk of errors.

Deutsche Telekom turned to IBM for an approach that could scale faster and dramatically improve overall efficiency. The IBM Software Development Organization had developed a solution specifically for this purpose, IBM Concert, which IBM had initially tested on itself as “Client Zero,” after facing a similar complexity challenge.

Ten times faster patching

IBM Concert provides Deutsche Telekom with intelligent resilience for complex IT operations, with a single source of truth for vulnerability management, patching, and reporting. The solution brings together all relevant data and specializations, creating contextual information that enables end-to-end AI-powered automation.

The fully automated patching process for operating systems has been designed to reduce patching time from 90 minutes to a maximum of 20 minutes per instance. This dramatic time savings gives IT teams new freedom for strategic tasks, innovations, and optimizations.

During the successful pilot implementation of IBM Concert, Deutsche Telekom was able to achieve a 10x reduction in a key metric “Median Time To Patch,” going from 80 hours per critical vulnerabilities to eight hours. This acceleration of the rollout of patches increases IT security and also improves business risk and compliance, enabling Deutsche Telekom to manage risks for its IT operations much more effectively.

“Secure operating systems form the foundation for all applications, databases, and services that we offer our customers. When it comes to patching, the time factor has taken on a critical role in the AI era. Those who use available updates immediately and automatically can reduce security risks. We face this challenge together with our partner,” explains Dr. Peter Leukert, Group CIO of Deutsche Telekom. “We were looking for a standalone solution on the market that combines all the complex aspects of patch management and reliably automates everything.”

Steve Canepa, Global Managing Director at IBM, says: “Security and trust are the cornerstones of success for all telecommunications companies. IBM Concert incorporates modern AI and automation technologies so that Deutsche Telekom can stay ahead of the dramatically escalating number and complexity of critical vulnerabilities across their Hybrid Cloud platform.” 

Dinesh Nirmal, Senior Vice President IBM Software, adds: “By intelligently orchestrating and automating security-critical processes, clients like Deutsche Telekom can not only respond faster to new threats, but also use resources more efficiently using IBM Concert. In doing so, they are creating a solid foundation for a future-proof, scalable and highly secure IT operating model with the help of AI.”

Notes to Editors

About IBM Concert

IBM Concert is a comprehensive AI-powered automation solution using IBM watsonx that provides AI-driven recommendations and workflows to automate and optimize IT operations, including the patching process. IBM Concert:

• Integrates, aggregates, and analyzes existing data sources such as security scans, application and infrastructure information, and publicly available CVE databases
• Uses a generative AI approach to develop an optimized and prioritized patching plan based on extensive information about system topology, dependencies, maintenance windows, and business requirements
• Generates ServiceNow change requests and process documentation in the IT service management system (ITSM), ready for approval by experts
• Upon approval, orchestrates fully automated installation of operating system patches for Microsoft Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and other Linux distributions within maintenance windows, integrating, for example, Ansible Playbooks in the AWS Cloud
• Documents the results in the ITSM system, providing a quick overview, facilitating traceability of changes, and improving compliance for the entire hybrid cloud environment

About Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, with more than 261 million mobile customers, 25 million fixed-network lines, and 22 million broadband customers. Deutsche Telekom provides fixed-network/broadband, mobile communications, Internet, and IPTV products and services for consumers, and information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for business and corporate customers. For more information, see https://www.telekom.com/en/company/companyprofile/company-profile-625808

About Deutsche Telekom IT GmbH

Deutsche Telekom IT GmbH (DTIT) is the IT company of choice of Deutsche Telekom Group. DTIT is responsible for the design, development and operation of all its own and transferred IT systems to support Deutsche Telekom’s business processes. DTIT creates the basis for an integrated, cross-channel customer experience with Deutsche Telekom Group.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. For more information, see www.ibm.com.

Pictures:

•  Corporate headquarters in Bonn. (Deutsche Telekom, picture: Norbert Ittermann)

Media Contact:

Sabine Buettner

IBM Unternehmenskommunikation DACH

Mail: sabine_buettner@de.ibm.com 

Deutsche Telekom: media@telekom.de

 

SOURCE IBM

Referrals from ChatGPT to news publishers are growing, but not enough to counter the decline in clicks resulting from users increasingly getting their news directly from AI or AI-powered search results, according to a report from digital market intelligence company Similarweb.

Since the launch of Google’s AI Overviews in May 2024, the firm found that the number of news searches on the web that result in no click-throughs to news websites has grown from 56% to nearly 69% as of May 2025.

Not surprisingly, organic traffic has also declined, dropping from over 2.3 billion visits at its peak in mid-2024 to now under 1.7 billion.

Meanwhile, news-related prompts in ChatGPT grew by 212% from January 2024 through May 2025.

For news publishers, the rapid adoption of AI is changing the game. Visibility in Google Search results and good SEO practices may no longer deliver the value they did in the past, as search rank isn’t translating into as much website traffic as before, the firm pointed out.

At the same time, ChatGPT referrals to news publishers are growing.

From January through May 2024, ChatGPT referrals to news sites were just under 1 million, Similarweb says, but have grown to more than 25 million in 2025 — a 25x increase.

Of course, when the industry is facing even massive declines in organic search traffic, this increase is hardly enough to make up for publishers’ losses.

The report also noted that some websites are faring better than others when it comes to AI referrals.

Sites seeing the most increases in ChatGPT referral traffic include Reuters (up 8.9% year-over-year), NY Post (up 7.1%), and Business Insider (up 6.5%). Meanwhile, The New York Times, which is suing OpenAI over allegedly scraping its works without permission, is seeing far fewer ChatGPT referrals. Though still in the top 10 sites receiving ChatGPT referral traffic, it’s only seen a 3.1% increase.

Topics like stocks, finance, and sports are currently accounting for the majority of these ChatGPT news-related prompts, but Similarweb’s report notes other topics are seeing growth, too, like politics, the economy, weather, and others.

This, the firm theorizes, may signal a move away from more “reactive information” and toward deeper “issue-driven engagement” via AI.

Alongside the AI referrals growth, ChatGPT’s website and app users have also seen greater adoption.

Over the last six months, app users have more than doubled, while website visitors were up 52%, Similarweb said.

The firm is now offering a service for brands and businesses that allows them to track how and where their brand shows up in GenAI tools like ChatGPT, and how that compares to their competition.

Solutions to the news publishers’ crisis are few and far between.

Under pressure from news publishers as AI kills their traffic, Google recently launched a service called Offerwall that allows publishers using Google Ad Manager to experiment with other means of monetization beyond more traffic-dependent options, like ads. With Offerwall, publishers can instead try things like micropayments or asking users to sign up for newsletters to access their site’s content, for example. They can also customize the Offerwall screens with options of their own, Google said.

Other sites are experimenting with paywalls or other means of monetization. Many have since conducted mass layoffs or even shut down their operations.

In a recent interview with The NYT’s Hard Fork podcast, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to a question about AI’s impact on the job market by saying, “I do think there will be areas where some jobs go away, or maybe there will be some whole categories of jobs that go away. And any job that goes away, even if it’s good for society and the economy as a whole, is very painful — extremely painful — in that moment … there is going to be real pain here in many cases.”