Human Times

European Edition

13th October 2026

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THE HOT STORY

AI's impact on jobs is a 'slow-moving tsunami'

The IMF has warned of AI's looming impact on jobs. “It is a slow-moving tsunami,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, speaking during a Civil Society town hall at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, said of the impact on employment. “We estimate 40 per cent of jobs will be augmented, downgraded or eliminated. In advanced economies, [that figure is] 60 per cent. [In] low income countries, [around] 23 per cent.” She added: “We cannot today imagine what exactly the world of work will be five years from now . . . but we can be disciplined, draw lessons and act on them.”

CNBC

Bloomberg

Reuters

CROSS-BORDER INDEX

Every country scored on how complex it is for employers to send staff abroad

For HR and global mobility teams, cross-border work does not start with booking a flight. It starts with a legal assessment, but tighter visa rules, changing compliance requirements and expanding reporting obligations make every business trip or assignment harder to get right.

The new WorkFlex Cross-Border Index removes the guesswork. Based on almost 2 million analysed travel days from more than 500 companies, it shows where compliance needs the most lead time before a project timeline or client commitment is set.

Check how your company's target markets score →

TECHNOLOGY

EU 'well equipped' to combat rogue AI risk, tech chief says

Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy, has told Reuters that the bloc is "well equipped" to tackle AI-enabled rogue agents. "We see that the safety and security of very capable models is a very hot topic internationally and we in Europe are well equipped for that . . . We have our AI Act in place and the AI Act covers the whole life cycle of these models," Virkkunen said. She added: "Our legislators and decision makers, I think that they have been taking into account very well already the coming developments, for example how they saw that the risks have to be assessed and external experts have to ‌be used ⁠and they have to continue monitoring the models."

Reuters

CYBERSECURITY

Cyber-attack causes fires and food losses at French supermarkets

Hackers manipulated refrigeration systems at hundreds of French supermarkets, raising temperatures to 50C, causing fires and destroying food worth potentially tens of millions of euros. Around 150 Intermarché stores, 80 Carrefour outlets and several Coopérative U and Monoprix locations were affected. Danish manufacturer Danfoss said affected refrigeration controllers were running outdated firmware, while French authorities launched an investigation and coordinated with European counterparts. Similar attacks were reported in several other European countries. Separately, Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize took systems offline following a cybersecurity incident, disrupting online grocery deliveries and websites belonging to its US supermarket chains. Ahold said there was no evidence linking its incident to the French attacks.

WORKFORCE

Austrian judges and prosecutors go on strike

Austrian judges and prosecutors have gone on strike to protest staff shortages, demanding that the government address the issue despite ongoing budget constraints. The judiciary is facing increasing delays and backlogs, which are being exacerbated by a growing number of complex cases. Anna-Maria Wukovits, vice president of the Austrian Prosecutors' Association, said: "Prosecutors cannot go on like this. We are at our limit." Austria's national judges' association estimates that there is currently a shortage ⁠of more than 250 judges nationally. Wukowits told national broadcaster ORF that for prosecutors the figure is around 70.

U.S. News

Public sector strike in Ireland set to go ahead

The first major public sector strike in Ireland in almost two decades is set to go ahead after trade unions rejected a late bid by ‌the government to avert the stoppage. Teachers, health workers and civil servants are among those who plan a one-day strike amid deadlock between unions and the government on the basis for entering talks on public sector pay increases.

Reuters

LEGAL

UK government proposes whistleblowing reforms

The UK government is consulting on plans to allow the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to financially reward whistleblowers who report economic crime. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and minister for the future of work, Kate Dearden, have revealed plans for a “whistleblowing framework that effectively supports the reporting of serious wrongdoing, while being simple for workers and employers to understand and use.” Following a review by Jonathan Fisher KC, the government is now consulting on eligibility, reward caps, and whether to criminalise false reports or harassment of whistleblowers under the plans. The scheme has attracted scepticism from legal experts, who warn that financial incentives could undermine whistleblowers’ credibility in jury trials, weaken internal corporate governance, and foster distrust among employees.

Reuters

City AM

The Times

Italy launches investigation into Microsoft-owned gaming companies

The Italian Competition Authority has launched an investigation into several Microsoft-owned video-game makers, including Activision Blizzard, over their use of virtual currencies. The probe by the antitrust authority is part of a broader European Union initiative by the EU's Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network, which last month launched actions against nine video-game companies, including Riot Games, Ubisoft and Supercell, and had earlier opened a separate action against Activision Blizzard. The EU-wide coordinated action seeks to promote transparency and fairness in the gaming sector, and protect the rights of minors.

Reuters

STRATEGY

Burnham to push for new post-Brexit deals at EU summit

UK prime minister Andy Burnham will seek closer post-Brexit ties with the EU at next month’s summit, saying "deeper cooperation" on issues such as food and drink, energy, youth mobility and security could help drive UK growth. Burnham argues that reducing trade barriers could boost the UK economy by £10bn a year by 2040, cut energy costs, and ease supermarket price pressures. He said the "immediate priority" was securing a successful outcome at the November summit, adding: "I believe we should then set up a serious dialogue about the different options for our relationship in the long term . . . At every stage, the British public will be the boss, and I am clear that public opinion currently supports a pragmatic approach like the one I am suggesting."

BBC News

TAX

Campari chairman pursued over alleged tax evasion

Prosecutors in Italy want Luca Garavoglia, the chairman of Campari, to stand trial over the alleged evasion of €1.29bn ($1.45bn) in taxes. Lagfin, the Luxembourg-headquartered family holding ‌company that controls the drinks group, settled its tax dispute with Italy's Revenue Agency last December, but tax proceedings and criminal investigations are in Italy treated as discrete matters. Prosecutors also want Giovanni Berto, Lagfin's legal representative, to stand trial. "The trial will establish beyond any doubt that our clients are innocent," said lawyer Giuseppe Iannaccone, who is representing the two defendants.

Reuters

CORPORATE

UniCredit's Commerzbank deal to be decided by November 16

European antitrust regulators have set a November 16 deadline for their decision on Italian lender UniCredit's takeover of German peer Commerzbank. Reuters notes that the European Commission, which is the EU's competition enforcer, can either clear the deal with or ⁠without concessions during its preliminary review, or it can launch a full-scale ⁠investigation if it has serious concerns.

Reuters

HEALTH & WELLBEING

Trust in science falls

The Wellcome Global Monitor, which surveyed more than 140,000 adults worldwide, has found that a pandemic-era increase in public trust in science has largely faded. The poll found that 72% of people expressed at least some trust in science in 2025, down from 80% in 2020 and 77% in 2018. John-Arne Røttingen, chief executive officer of London-based health research foundation Wellcome, conjectured that the politicisation of science during Covid has probably contributed to the decline. “Politics has made some of science more political and that has led to the polarisation and maybe a lack of trust,” he said.

Bloomberg

INTERNATIONAL

Netflix 'plans to cut 5% of its workforce'

Puck News reports that Netflix is planning to cut about 5% of its workforce. The last major round of layoffs at the streaming giant came in 2022, when the company laid off hundreds of employees amid slowing growth and subscriber losses. Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees at the ‌end ⁠of 2025.

Puck News

Reuters

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