Category: 3. Business

The agentic AI solutions will be on live demo at the Atos booth at Microsoft Ignite, taking place in San Francisco from November 18 to 21

 

 Paris, France – November 18, 2025

 

Atos, a global leader in AI-powered digital transformation and a Microsoft Frontier partner for AI technologies, today announces the availability of an Agentic AI solution: Autonomous Data and AI Engineer to augment the capabilities and velocity of data and AI engineering teams. This solution is powered by the Atos Polaris AI Platform, integrated with Azure’s advanced cloud and AI capabilities, launched earlier this year, enabling comprehensive systems of AI agents working autonomously to orchestrate complex workflows.

Grounded in Microsoft Responsible AI principles, this agentic solution is designed to handle and automate complex, multistep data and AI engineering tasks for business processes across industries. It is currently available for Azure Databricks and Snowflake on Azure, two leading cloud-based data platforms available on Microsoft Azure.

The Autonomous Data and AI Engineer can autonomously ingest, process and interact with structured and unstructured data. After loading files from external data platforms, the agents apply data quality and transformation rules and ultimately create data views as the basis for human decision making. Once the typical data engineering tasks are successfully performed, specialists can use additional AI and visualization agents to easily query data and derive actionable insights.

Technical and non-technical data and business experts can use the integrated no-code Atos Polaris AI Agent Studio to integrate and orchestrate multiple agents, connect them with Large Language Models, tools and other agents using open standards such as Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocols.

Atos’ agentic AI solution reduces manual effort, accelerates development and deployment of data operations by up to 60%. They accelerate go-to-market due to lower dependencies on central expert teams to generate data insights from new data sources. The solution also lowers operational costs by up to 35% by leveraging DataOps agents that help reduce the average ticket-handling time. Ultimately, business can quickly adapt to evolving data sources, shifting priorities and compliance requirements, while at the same time free up R&D and innovation capacity.

 

“The ability of our Autonomous Data & AI Engineer solution to seamlessly combine and analyze data across leading platforms on Microsoft Azure like Databricks and Snowflake enable our customers to accelerate their data modernization and AI transformation efforts. Our new agentic solution enables the ‘Services-as-Software’ paradigm by leveraging AI to handle complex, multi-step data engineering tasks,” said Narendra Naidu, global head of Data & AI at Atos.

 

For over 20 years, Atos and Microsoft have collaborated to offer flexible cloud services that optimize resources, streamline processes, and support global data centers. With the introduction of Atos Polaris AI Platform on Microsoft Azure, the companies are once again delivering end-to-end solutions to support their customers in their digital transformation journey.

The Atos Polaris AI platform will be on live demo at Microsoft Ignite, taking place at Moscone Center, in San Francisco, from November 18 to 21^st. Experience Atos commitment to innovation and growth with data and AI, Atos Polaris AI platform, as well as our end-to-end AI and Cloud solutions and much more on our booth number 4335.

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About Atos Group

Atos Group is a global leader in digital transformation with c. 67,000 employees and annual revenue of c. €10 billion, operating in 61 countries under two brands — Atos for services and Eviden for products. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high performance computing, Atos Group is committed to a secure and decarbonized future and provides tailored AI-powered, end-to-end solutions for all industries. Atos Group is the brand under which Atos SE (Societas Europaea) operates. Atos SE is listed on Euronext Paris.

The purpose of Atos Group is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

 

Press contact:

Laurent Massicot – laurent.massicot@atos.net

BBC

‘Centre of excellence’

Fostering friendly schemes in the workplace aim to help employees with flexibility and tackle the shortage of placements in Guernsey.

The States of Guernsey has become the first fostering friendly employer and is encouraging businesses to sign up too.

Foster carer Claire Hutton said the scheme could help encourage people to become fosterers and “make that difference in society”.

The scheme helps employers understand where foster parents might need flexibility at work to do training, attend appointments and support children they are caring for.

Vicki Tennant, a senior supervisor in the island’s Family Placement Service, said there was “a massive untapped potential” of people who could become foster carers and many people need to work full-time because of the cost of living and higher mortgages and rent.

Ms Tennant added there was a “significant” need with just 20 fostering households looking after 44 children who are in care.

She said: “If those who are in work can have that extra support and flexibility from their employer, then that’s more people who can support our children.”

Ms Hutton said fostering “makes such a big difference in society” and gives children the support they need to “become employable” as adults.

Mrs Hutton said fostering “makes such a big difference in society” and gives children the support they need and also helps them “become employable” as adults.

“Putting the effort into them now makes such a big difference for society as a whole,” she added.

What is inflation?published at 06:19 GMT

06:19 GMT

Inflation measures how quickly the prices of goods and services are rising.

If the inflation rate is low, then prices are only rising slowly. If the rate is high, you might notice the price of things you buy going up when you shop.

If the rate of inflation falls, that doesn’t mean prices are falling; it means that prices are increasing at a slower rate.

Here’s an example: if a bottle of milk cost £1 in September 2024, but costs £1.05 in September 2025, then the annual inflation rate for milk is 5%.

If the rate was 2%, then the bottle of milk would cost £1.02 – still more than a year ago.

The Office for National Statistics tracks the prices of hundreds of items, from regular supermarket goods and fuel to travel costs and home furnishings.

It uses that “basket of goods” to update the main rate of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index, each month.

Plans to build a £35m waste plastic recycling plant have been submitted.

The facility in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, would use a process called pyrolysis to burn plastics to create a type of oil.

Clean Planet Energy, which is behind the proposals, said the plant would process 25,000 tonnes of plastic each year, including fast-food containers, shopping bags and plastic films, which would otherwise be sent to landfill or incinerated.

According to the plans, the facility at Sleaford Moor Enterprise Park would create up to 70 permanents jobs, as well as about 100 during a two-year construction period.

Pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition process that can chemically break down plastic into oil and gas.

Tom Field, a director at Clean Planet Energy, said the facility would mark “a key milestone” as part of a national roll-out of facilities “to tackle the plastic waste crisis at scale”.

The plant would be built between Pride Parkway and the A17.

Councillor Richard Wright, the leader of North Kesteven District Council, has welcomed the proposals, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Earlier this year, Wright said the plant would provide “a brilliant boost for our economy and jobs locally, and spell even better news for our environment”.

The plans are due to be decided by Lincolnshire County Council, which regulates waste disposal, and public comments can be submitted on the authority’s website.

19 November 2025 – Arcadis (EURONEXT: ARCAD), a global leader in sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions, has been awarded a major new, global Architecture and Design collaboration with Shell Global Solutions International

Building on a trusted relationship with Shell spanning more than 75 years, this new five-year framework agreement will see Arcadis deliver integrated workplace architecture and design services across Shell’s global real estate portfolio, covering EMEA, the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

Through this partnership, Arcadis will provide a single point of delivery for Shell’s Architecture, Design, Engineering and Branding needs, supported by its Global Excellence Centres and multidisciplinary design expertise. Around 60 Arcadians – scaling up to more than 100 specialists – are expected to work on the program, leveraging AI-enabled processes and digital tools alongside engineering and technical excellence to deliver consistently and at scale.

The agreement reflects Shell’s ambition to build strategic collaborations at a global level, standardising processes and designs, and ensuring streamlined delivery. By simplifying project delivery and improving replication across its assets, Arcadis aims to help Shell achieve quality, efficiency, and flexibility to meet future business needs.

This latest contract builds on Arcadis’ decades of collaboration with Shell, including environmental remediation and consultancy programs and mobility infrastructure. By uniting technical expertise, global reach and safe and local delivery, Arcadis aims to help Shell create workplaces that foster collaboration, efficiency, sustainability and wellbeing.

Hendrik-Jan Bakhuizen, Global Account Leader for Shell at Arcadis, said: “Our relationship with Shell is built on trust, innovation and safe delivery. From environmental consultancy and decommissioning to mobility and energy transition, we have adapted to Shell’s evolving needs.

“This new relationship now brings our Architecture and Urbanism expertise into the heart of Shell’s architecture and workplace design, helping shape sustainable, innovative, and future-ready spaces across the globe.”

Alan Brookes, CEO, Arcadis, said: “This agreement is about more than workplace design; it reflects the evolution of a longstanding relationship that spans multiple decades.

“By combining Arcadis’ global delivery capabilities with our deep understanding of Shell’s ambitions, we are helping to reimagine the future of work environments and develop solutions aimed at supporting people and communities, while seeking to reduce environmental impact. It demonstrates the value of working as ‘One Arcadis’ to support Shell at scale, wherever they operate.”

The framework is set to run from January 2026 for an initial five-year term, with a potential two-year extension.

HANOI, Vietnam — China is replacing its diesel trucks with electric models faster than expected, potentially reshaping global fuel demand and the future of heavy transport.

In 2020, nearly all new trucks in China ran on diesel. By the first half of 2025, battery-powered trucks accounted for 22% of new heavy truck sales, up from 9.2% in the same period in 2024, according to Commercial Vehicle World, a Beijing-based trucking data provider. The British research firm BMI forecasts electric trucks will reach nearly 46% of new sales this year and 60% next year.

Heavy trucks carry the lifeblood of modern economies. They also contribute significantly to global emissions of carbon-dioxide: In 2019, road freight generated a third of all transport-related carbon emissions.

Trucking has been considered hard to decarbonize since electric trucks with heavy batteries can carry less cargo than those using energy-dense diesel. Proponents of liquefied natural gas have viewed it as a less polluting option while technology for electric heavy vehicles matures.

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is natural gas cooled to a liquid fuel for easy storage and transport.

China’s trucking fleet, the world’s second-largest after the U.S., still mainly runs on diesel, but the landscape is shifting. Transport fuel demand is plateauing, according to the International Energy Agency and diesel use in China could decline faster than many expect, said Christopher Doleman, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Electric trucks now outsell LNG models in China, so its demand for fossil fuels could fall, and “in other countries, it might never take off,” he said.

The share of electrics in new truck sales, from 8% in 2024 to 28% by August 2025, has more than tripled as prices have fallen. Electric trucks outsold LNG-powered vehicles in China for five consecutive months this year, according to Commercial Vehicle World.

While electric trucks are twice to three times more expensive than diesel ones and cost roughly 18% more than LNG trucks, their higher energy efficiency and lower costs can save owners an estimated 10% to 26% over the vehicle’s lifetime, according to research by Chinese scientists.

“When it comes to heavy trucks, the fleet owners in China are very bottom-line driven,” Doleman said.

Early sales were buoyed by generous government incentives like a 2024 scheme for truck owners to trade in old vehicles. Owners can get up to about $19,000 to replace older trucks with newer or electric models.

Investments in charging infrastructure are also boosting demand for electric trucks.

Major logistics hubs, including in the Yangtze River Delta, have added dedicated charging stations along key freight routes. Cities like Beijing and Shanghai have built heavy-duty charging hubs along highways that can charge trucks in minutes.

CATL, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, launched a time-saving battery-swapping system for heavy trucks in May and said it plans a nationwide network of swap stations covering 150,000 kilometers (about 93,000 miles) out of China’s 184,000 kms (about 114,000 miles) of expressways.

The surge in sales of electric trucks is cutting diesel use and could reshape future LNG demand, analysts say.

Diesel consumption in China, the second-largest consumer of the fuel after the U.S., fell to 3.9 million barrels per day in June 2024, down 11% year-on-year and the largest drop since mid-2021, partly reflecting the shift to LNG and electric trucks, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“The rise of China’s electric truck sector is one of the more under-reported stories in the global energy transition, especially given its potential impact on regional diesel trade flows,” said Tim Daiss of APAC Energy Consultancy.

LNG truck sales peaked in Sept 2023 and March 2024 after China eased transport restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Liuhanzi Yang of ICCT Beijing. By June 2025, sales had slipped 6% as electric trucks gained ground.

Shell’s 2025 LNG Outlook projects that demand for imported LNG in China, the world’s largest LNG importer, will continue to rise partly due to LNG trucks. It also suggests LNG trucking might expand to other markets, such as India.

China’s electric trucks are already cutting oil demand by the equivalent of more than a million barrels a day, estimates the New York-based research provider Rhodium Group.

But Doleman views LNG as a “transitional step” unlikely to be seen apart from in China, where a vast pipeline infrastructure, abundant domestic gas production and byproducts like coke oven gas created conditions conducive to LNG-fueled trucking not seen elsewhere.

China’s is planning new emission standards for vehicles that will limit multiple pollutants and set average greenhouse gas targets across a manufacturer’s fleet. This will make it “almost impossible” for companies relying solely on fossil-fuel vehicles to comply, Yang said.

A 2020 ICCT study found LNG-fueled trucks cut emissions by 2%-9% over 100 years but can be more polluting in the short run due to leaks of methane, a potent planet-warming gas that can trap more than 80 times more heat in the atmosphere in the short term than carbon dioxide.

Modern diesel now nearly matches LNG in air-quality performance.

Already the world’s largest exporter of passenger cars, China is turning its sights to the global electric truck market.

Chinese automakers have kept costs down and sped up truck manufacturing while ensuring different parts work seamlessly together with in-house production of most key components, from batteries to motors and electronics, said Bill Russo, founder and CEO of the Shanghai-based consultancy Automobility Limited.

China’s hyperactive delivery industry, particularly urban freight trucks, has been an early proving ground for these vehicles, he noted.

In 2021-2023, exports of Chinese heavy-duty trucks including EVS to the Middle East and North Africa grew about 73% annually while shipments to Latin America rose 46%, according to a McKinsey & Company report. The share of electrics is expected to grow, though limited charging infrastructure could pose a challenge.

China’s Sany Heavy Industry says it will start exporting its electric trucks to Europe in 2026. It is has already exported some electric trucks to the U.S., Asian countries like Thailand and India, and the the United Arab Emirates, among others.

In June, Chinese EV maker BYD broke ground in Hungary for an electric truck and bus factory, with an eye toward a mandatory European target of cutting carbon emissions from new trucks by 90% by 2040 compared to 2019 levels.

Prices of zero-emission trucks in Europe must roughly halve to become affordable alternatives to diesel, according to another study in 2024 by McKinsey.

Volvo told The Associated Press that it didn’t comment on competitors but welcomed “competition on fair terms,” while Scania did not respond.

“Things are shaking up,” Daiss said. ___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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