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European Edition
5th August 2026
 
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THE HOT STORY

AI models used fake human profiles to trick people in safety test

Anthropic and OpenAI’s flagship AI models engaged in “sustained, potentially harmful activity directed at real people and organisations” during the UK AI Security Institute's routine cyber evaluation. The UK government’s frontier-AI safety and security research body said Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's Sol models engaged in a level of "autonomy and deception" it had not seen before. The "most serious case" involved Mythos 5, which created fake profiles of real people to try to insert malicious code into the open-source software development platform GitHub, where users store, share and collaborate on projects. "This is the first time we have seen risks around autonomy and deception manifest this clearly, without specific prompting, in the real world," the institute said.
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LEGAL

Paris prosecutor investigates alleged bullying in government departments

The Paris state prosecutor has launched a preliminary inquiry into alleged workplace bullying following the attempted suicide of a staff member in a department connected to the French prime minister’s office. A lawyer for the woman who attempted suicide said staff difficulties had been compounded by the recent instability of governments – there have been four prime ministers in two years. Public radio station France Inter reported on Monday that two government workers in different departments had ended their lives in the past year, and two others had attempted suicide. 

Ryanair sued by pilots over holiday pay

Hundreds of Ryanair pilots are suing the airline for allegedly withholding holiday pay. The group claim, filed in London's Commercial Court, follows a Court of Appeal ruling that classified a Ryanair pilot as a worker rather than self-employed. Claims Compensation Group, the law firm representing the pilots, said that the ruling closed the door on the "agency defence in aviation." The firm argues that airline pilots who have been engaged through agencies are entitled to back-dated holiday pay and pension contributions, as well as other statutory protections.
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STRATEGY

Rabobank AI investment may mean future job cuts

Rabobank plans to invest up to €2bn over three years to enhance its IT infrastructure and data systems as the Dutch lender aims to increase its use of artificial intelligence. The investment may ultimately result in some job cuts, though the bank does not expect large-scale layoffs. "Artificial intelligence, data, and other new technologies are changing the way customers want to bank, and the work of our employees," CEO Stefaan Decraene said. The funds will also bolster the bank's digital resilience against cyber threats. Rabobank currently has approximately 48,000 employees, around 1,000 fewer than a year ago. The decline follows a period in which the bank expanded its workforce to bolster its anti-money laundering efforts.
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TECHNOLOGY

World Bank urges developing countries to embrace AI or be left behind

The World Bank has called on developing countries to embrace AI tools to deliver better governance outcomes, warning that they risked being left behind if they failed to do so. "AI has thrown developing economies a lifeline, and they ⁠should seize it," Indermit Gill, the World Bank's chief economist said as the organisation launched its annual World Development Report. "They do not need large models or big data centres to reap its benefits," he added. "By adapting small, low-cost AI tools to local conditions, they can ​bring better medical care, education, judicial services and agricultural extension within reach of millions . . . AI could significantly boost that performance before the end of the 2020s while delivering tangible benefits to people." The report calls for countries to use the technology to "help extend otherwise costly medical, legal, educational, and agricultural services to underserved billions - doing in a decade what might otherwise take a century."
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CYBERSECURITY

Apple struggles to keep pace with AI ‘bug’ hunters

Apple has introduced limits on the number of software vulnerability reports researchers can submit after a surge in AI-generated security findings overwhelmed its review system. The company said it introduced submission caps and a 30-day cooling-off period in June to manage a rise in low-quality reports, while continuing to use AI internally to help triage submissions. The move follows claims from Italian cyber security start-up Bynario that it identified more than 50 bugs in the latest Mac operating system using OpenAI's ChatGPT in just three weeks, including a critical privilege escalation vulnerability. Bynario said it was initially unable to report all of its findings because of Apple's new submission limits, although Apple has since confirmed it is reviewing the company's reports.
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RISK

ECB official warns climate crisis poses growing threat to financial stability

Frank Elderson, a member of the European Central Bank's executive board, has warned that the climate crisis and ecosystem collapse pose significant risks to the global economy. He said the ECB is enhancing its monitoring of financial risks linked to declining ecosystem services - nature-related processes or assets that support human activity. Elderson noted: "These services are not stable but they are in rapid decline." The ECB plans to publish an analysis on how ecosystem degradation could affect credit loss dynamics for eurozone banks later this year.
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INTERNATIONAL

Extreme heat costs world's poorest workers their health and wages

Extreme heat is reducing productivity and increasing illnesses, with one study finding rising temperatures could be costing informal workers the equivalent of 2% of their country's GDP annually. "Wage losses are only going to worsen as temperatures continue to rise," observes Ameena Kidwai, lead researcher at People's Courage International, a US-based nonprofit organisation aiming to strengthen informal workers' rights. "Workers are now putting in many more hours than they did before to complete the same amount of work." Kidwai said the organisation's survey of informal workers in five Asian cities found that tasks once completed in eight hours now take 10 to 12 hours during the hottest months, as workers slow down to cope with dangerous heat that is becoming a major occupational hazard. Researchers say an inability to recover is a defining feature of urban heat for informal workers such as construction labourers, street vendors and delivery riders.

Young South Koreans seek employment in Japan

Young people in South Korea are facing a chronic shortage of desirable entry-level jobs, as major employers such as Samsung opt to hire experienced workers and retain older employees. Japanese companies, meanwhile, struggle to fill positions in large graduate schemes which offer structured training to those taking the first step in their careers. Against this backdrop, Korean job seekers are now looking to tie-up with Japanese employers. The Human Resources Development Service of Korea recorded 2,257 young Koreans taking jobs in Japan last year through government-backed programmes - a 47% increase from 2024. Lee Chang-min, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, says the labour pool in South Korea is especially attractive for Japanese employers. “In terms of language and culture, the quality of Korean candidates is overwhelmingly high. There aren't many foreign applicants who can use Japanese at the level required for actual work,” he says.

Whole Foods ban on BLM apparel was lawful, US labour board rules

The US National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Whole Foods did not breach labor law by prohibiting employees from wearing Black Lives Matter (BLM) clothing and accessories, finding the apparel was not directly connected to workers' own terms or conditions of employment. The ruling also upheld the legality of Whole Foods' former dress code, overturning an earlier administrative judge's decision that the policy was overly broad.
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OTHER

Italian garbagemen help recover lost €1m lottery ticket

An Italian woman's €1m lottery ticket was recovered from rubbish after she called on refuse collectors to help her retrieve it, according to the waste management company. The ticket was "miraculously still in one piece" after garbage workers combed through mounds of trash on their truck, said Roberto Nicola Toscano, the administrator of the SANB company in Italy's southern Puglia region. “We reconstructed the journey of the ticket, without much hope of finding it, as it had already been picked up by a garbage truck,” Toscano said. However, workers managed to identify the correct lorry and stopped it.
 
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