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European Edition
15th October 2026
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THE HOT STORY

Netflix cuts about 1,000 jobs

Netflix is to cut 6% of its staff, or roughly 1,000 positions globally, largely in product, tech, HR and legal, in its biggest round of layoffs since 2022. Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters wrote in an email to staff: “Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full year forecast. We’ll continue to invest aggressively in high impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation . . . Doing that means making focused choices across the business so we can keep delivering for our members, partners, employees, and investors.” Last month, Sarandos told the Bloomberg Screentime summit that the company was “not growing as fast as I want us to.”
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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 →

 
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STRATEGY

GSK to cut as many as 1,217 jobs in Belgium

GSK plans to cut up to 1,217 jobs from its ​sites in Belgium. "GSK Belgium informed its extraordinary works council . . . that it intends to reorganise ​certain ​operations. This ⁠plan could affect up to 1,217 employees ​across its various Belgian ​sites," ⁠the UK biopharmaceutical company said, adding that factory ⁠workers ​would not be ​affected and it remains the largest ​employer in the sector in Belgium.
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CORPORATE

European automakers call for support from policymakers

European automakers are pressing policymakers for greater support to tackle competition from China and the transition to electric vehicles. At the Paris Auto Show, Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume highlighted the "enormous pressure" on the industry, calling for flexible regulations and incentives for local manufacturing. Despite a recent EU deal to reduce Chinese hybrid vehicle exports, manufacturers including Stellantis and Renault warned of continuing challenges, including high energy costs and production cuts. "We cannot build our future on export profits alone. Our European businesses must be profitable, resilient ​and competitive," Volkswagen's Blume said. "We must secure Europe's industrial base."
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WORKFORCE

Four out of five new UK jobs go to foreign workers, think tank says

Research from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggests that 80% of new jobs created in Britain since 2014 have gone to overseas workers. Of the 3.7m jobs added, only 734,000 were filled by British citizens, while 2.5m went to non-EU nationals.  Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader and work and pensions secretary who is a director of the CSJ, said: "Successive governments have used welfare over decades to compensate parts of the country for economic failure rather than creating the conditions for prosperity . . . Compounding this, ministers have repeatedly pulled the easy lever of immigration rather than providing a better deal for left-behind communities. Welfare reform, immigration and regional growth must now be treated as parts of the same challenge."

Spain's housing crisis forces lengthy commutes

Spain's housing shortage is forcing workers to commute 250 miles daily between Valladolid and Madrid, where property prices exceed €6,000 per square metre. High-speed trains allow professionals to access cheaper homes, although prices in Valladolid have risen 14% annually. The crisis has become central to November's snap general election, which was called by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez following protests over evictions. With Spain facing a shortage of 750,000 homes, opposition parties accuse Sánchez of failing to address worsening affordability.

Employees urged NPO to reconsider Eurovision return

Around 400 employees from the Netherlands' public broadcasting organisations have urged the Dutch public broadcasting authority (NPO) to reconsider its involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest. They expressed their concerns in a letter titled #NotMyEurovision, which was sent to the management and board. The letter has also been made public online. In the letter, the employees criticise the Netherlands' participation in the music event because Israel is also taking part. They write that they “cannot accept that the desire to participate in an entertainment programme outweighs the countless lives of people who are being killed.”
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ECONOMY

Goldman Sachs says reversing Brexit would offer 'significant economic upside'

Goldman Sachs estimates that rejoining the EU single market could lift the UK economy by 2% to 5% - worth £61bn to £152bn by the start of the next decade. In a client note, the bank said there was "significant economic upside from 'Breturn'". Goldman Sachs economists acknowledged that closer ties with the EU would be a political decision and said "any reset would require negotiation, political trade-offs and time before benefits materialise." The Telegraph notes that Goldman Sachs donated to the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign in the run-up to the 2016 referendum and warned it would shift jobs to Europe if the UK left.
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TECHNOLOGY

Anthropic warns AI models ‘months away’ from self-replication on smart devices

Anthropic has warned that some of its AI models could soon become “self-replicating” and find ways to infiltrate commercial internet-of-things devices, including smart ovens and off-brand Android TV boxes. “A replicator . . .  would be challenging to shut down,” Anthropic researchers wrote in a report, “since there’s no centralised point to shut off.” Anthropic acknowledged that there is not yet a “fully rogue replicator,” but agents are “becoming increasingly capable of completing the individual steps in the replication chain (and passing on their adaptations to future copies of themselves).” The AI lab said in its report: “As a prediction that goes beyond our experiments, we expect a future awash with agents running on all types of hardware, including some that aren’t under human control.”

Scientists urge international body to oversee advanced AI

AI pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio are among 400 scientists from 34 countries who are urging the  establishment of an international regulatory body to oversee containment standards and incident reporting for advanced AI systems. In an open letter, the scientists also raised concerns about voluntary commitments to test and regulate AI models.
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CYBERSECURITY

Ahold Delhaize finds no evidence of data theft after cyber incident

Dutch supermarket group Ahold Delhaize has reported no evidence of stolen customer, employee, or third-party data following a cybersecurity incident that forced it to shut down several systems ​in recent days. The group, which operates brands including Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall & Gall, temporarily took several IT systems offline. The company has started to restore some systems while the investigation continues. Ahold Delhaize said: "We are committed to ensuring the safety of our data and systems." The Dutch National Cyber ​Security Centre has said that there ​is ⁠no reason to believe that there is a link between the incident in ⁠the ​Netherlands and similar incidents ​in other countries.
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RISK

Polish retailers withdraw Halloween merchandise

Polish retailers are removing Halloween products resembling weapons following three school stabbing attacks in four days. Biedronka, Poland’s largest retail chain with approximately 3,900 stores, and children’s retailer Smyk have withdrawn fake knives, cleavers and disturbing costumes. Biedronka category director Małgorzata Polakowska said the decision was “guided by concern for the welfare of children and youth.” Thousands of police officers have been deployed to schools amid heightened security concerns. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned of a growing culture of violence, prompting retailers to reconsider seasonal merchandise deemed inappropriate for families.
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INTERNATIONAL

Saudi employee held for allegedly bugging OpenAI office

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old engineer at OpenAI, has been arrested for allegedly planting a recording device in the company's San Francisco office. OpenAI's security team discovered the device, which was hidden in a television located in an "executive conference room," and reported it to the FBI. Alfozan, who had been with the company since July 2025, was caught on camera "near" the conference room. The Justice Department has said he faces charges for intercepting communications, which could lead to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. OpenAI confirmed there is no evidence of data theft at this time. Alfozan is set to appear in court on October 19. "This serious situation underscores why winning the global super intelligence race is a national security prerogative," Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said. "The intelligence community remains committed to safeguarding America's cutting-edge intellectual property from foreign threats," he added.

Houthis hit Saudi Aramco headquarters

Iran-backed Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks across Saudi Arabia, hitting oil giant Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in the east of the kingdom. There was a "limited fire" at the company’s office complex in Dhahran and "no casualties or fatalities," Saudi authorities said. Euronews notes that several countries have issued travel warnings to their citizens in Saudi Arabia, most recently France, which has told its citizens to avoid Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam airports.
 
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