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Global luxury and mass-market brands have closed stores and scaled back operations across the Middle East as escalating conflict between the US, Israel and Iran disrupts business, travel and consumer activity in the region. Luxury groups including Kering have temporarily shut stores in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, while Chalhoub Group closed outlets in Bahrain and is operating with voluntary skeleton staff elsewhere. Amazon has suspended regional deliveries, closed its Abu Dhabi fulfilment centre and reported drone strike damage to three data centres in the UAE and Bahrain. Brands such as Apple, H&M, and Primark are adjusting store openings and operations, while Reckitt has shifted staff to remote working and halted travel.

 

Economic Times

CNBC

Reuters

The digital activity of Iranian-linked cyber groups has increased tenfold since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, according to Tel Aviv-based cyber security company Check Point Software Technologies. Attacks and activities have focused on Israel and Arab countries and have included phishing attempts and alleged “hack and leak” operations, Check Point has said.

 

Wall Street Journal

UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has been advised to tone down its lobbying campaign over Swiss government plans to force it to increase its capital requirements by up to $26bn.

 

Financial Times

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has responded to the Department for Business and Trade working paper on options for reform of non-compete clauses in employment contracts. The competition watchdog said it supports proposals to curb the use of non-compete clauses in employment contracts, backing a total ban below a salary threshold and strict time limits for high earners. 

 

Financial Times

GOV.UK

Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, has warned that the global economy may be heading towards another crisis. In an interview, he expressed concerns about hidden leverage in the financial system, and pointed to the rapid growth of the private credit market, which has surged since 2015, as a potential risk. In a separate discussion, Blankfein said people had become complacent about a possible shock to the system because of a lack of major "shakeout" since 2008.

 

City AM

BASF CEO Markus Kamieth has said that if the German chemical group finds its US unit has a legal claim, it will sue for import tariff reimbursement after the US Supreme Court nixed many of President Donald Trump's tariffs. "If this change in regulations does indeed result in a legal title for BASF Corporation, we of course have a fiduciary duty to pursue this claim," he said.

 

Reuters

Kyrgyzstan cabinet member Daniyar Amangeldiev says his country will challenge the EU in court if the bloc imposes sanctions on the Central Asian state over its alleged exports to Russia.

 

Financial Times

ArcelorMittal's meeting with staff representatives last week failed to provide clarity on plans to relocate up to 1,150 jobs from Luxembourg to India and Poland. Jean-Luc Ruffin, secretary of the ArcelorMittal European Works Council, said: "ArcelorMittal's management remains silent on the progress of this project." In a press release, the council said the steel group “does not respect our right to information and consultation by refusing to provide us with detailed information on the process underway,” which prevents it “from reaching the relevant conclusions that would enable it to issue a duly reasoned opinion.”

 

Luxembourg Times

Belgian telecom provider Proximus will cut 1,200 jobs, or 15% of its workforce, by 2030 due to AI efficiency measures, CEO Stijn Bijnens has said. The company will also seek to reduce external workforce costs by €25m by 2028, he said.

 

Reuters

Research by ING suggests that nearly one in three Dutch private investors are reducing their investments in the United States due to geopolitical tensions. Bob Homan, head of ING's investment office, observed: "The tensions are making investors think. They are choosing much more deliberately." Additionally, 49% of respondents reported buying fewer American products and are less inclined to travel to the US.

 

DutchNews.nl

BMW plans to introduce two AI-powered humanoid robots at its Leipzig factory this summer. Developed by Swedish company Hexagon, the 1.65-metre tall robots can autonomously move components in a fully digitised environment. Milan Nedeljkovic, BMW's incoming chairman, said: "The robot is intelligent enough to generate its own decisions." Despite concerns about job losses due to automation, BMW's head of digitisation, Michael Stroebel, said: "It is not planned currently to reduce the workforce by replacing workers with new robots." The robot's battery life is about three hours, but Hexagon said the robots can replace their own battery in about 30 seconds using a charging station.

 

France 24

Millions of migrant workers in the Gulf region are at risk as Iran retaliates against US-Israeli strikes. The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Pakistan are monitoring the location of their citizens and preparing evacuation and repatriation plans, and Vietnam has suspended the deployment of workers to the region. Bloomberg notes that previous conflicts in the Middle East have seen some migrant workers abandoned by employers, often without their wages or travel documents.

 

Bloomberg

South China Morning Post

Straits Times

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Tessa West, a professor of psychology at New York University and the author of “Job Therapy: Finding Work That Works for You”, says many members of Gen Z “are woefully unprepared for surviving - let alone thriving - in their jobs”. She believes “a combination of having fewer real-world relationship experiences, spending their education years in remote environments, and learning to communicate largely through asynchronous methods [means] these 20-somethings have missed opportunities to develop the skills needed to navigate the complex world of work.” Her suggested remedy is that leaders must change how they think about communication for everyone in the workplace with one goal in mind: “Make it clear and direct.”

 

Wall Street Journal