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Renault will face a criminal trial in France for aggravated fraud related to allegations that its diesel vehicles were equipped with devices designed to cheat emissions tests. Renault will be the second carmaker, following Volkswagen, to be prosecuted over the so-called dieselgate scandal that began in 2015. The trial is set for April 2027. "Renault Group will defend its innocence, as well as the professionalism and ethics of its 100,000 employees, before the criminal court," the company said in a statement. Renault pointed to a recent decision by London's High Court that largely exonerated it and four other carmakers from charges that the devices were designed to cheat clean air laws. "The operating limits of the emission control systems strictly reconcile emissions reduction with driver safety," the carmaker said. The French prosecutor's office claims Renault vehicles sold from 2009 to 2017 emitted more pollutants than allowed under normal driving conditions.

 

France 24

Porsche plans to eliminate over 9,000 jobs by 2035, affecting about 20% of its workforce. The decision follows an agreement with trade unions and adds to the 4,400 job cuts already made in the past 18 months. The restructuring reflects challenges in the automotive industry, particularly due to declining sales in China and difficulties in transitioning to electric vehicles. Michael Leiters, Porsche's CEO, said: "The future package is good for Porsche. It gives us the opportunity to strategically realign our company and invest in our competitiveness." Volkswagen, Porsche's parent company, is also pursuing significant redundancies.

 

The Times

Euro zone businesses are struggling to pass higher costs on to consumers despite rising fuel prices, according to a European Central Bank survey. Companies reported that price-sensitive households and increased competition from lower-cost Chinese imports were limiting their ability to raise prices, squeezing profit margins. Food retailers said higher fuel costs were reducing spending on other goods and driving shoppers towards own-brand products. While artificial intelligence is supporting investment in some sectors, the ECB said many manufacturers are increasingly directing investment towards Asia and eastern Europe rather than the euro area.

 

Reuters

More than two-thirds of FTSE 100 companies were forced to change previously reported figures for climate and sustainability metrics last year, according to a Deloitte review of annual reports.

 

Financial Times

President Donald Trump's administration is rebuilding its tariff regime using more established trade laws after earlier measures were struck down by the courts, signalling higher import duties are likely to remain. Officials plan further investigations into industrial subsidies, intellectual property and strategic industries, while maintaining tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on most imports. The White House argues the policy will strengthen domestic manufacturing and reduce the trade deficit, although businesses warn of continued uncertainty and higher costs. Analysts say tariffs are becoming a more permanent feature of US trade policy, with growing fiscal importance through increased government revenue.

 

Reuters

AstraZeneca CEO Sir Pascal Soriot has said that AI will not lead to significant job losses but will enhance productivity. He described AI as making operations "faster and smarter" and expressed confidence that there would not be a "big reduction of headcount" in the pharmaceutical sector. "I personally think that the story about AI killing jobs is a bit of a fake story," he said. "It may apply to some industries, but in many industries, certainly like ours, it will make people faster and smarter - because I mean, the responses you get, the help you get, the interaction you can get with good AI tools really makes you more efficient . . . So it will lift our productivity." Soriot highlighted the need for AstraZeneca to operate at "Chinese speed" to keep pace with rapid innovation in the drugs industry.

 

The Times

US lawmakers have proposed an "AI Kill Switch Act" which would allow federal authorities to halt AI models. The proposal, sponsored by Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas), would give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to order top AI firms to shut down or slow AI models that the government deems too dangerous, and also require those companies to report incidents and create the technical capacity to shut down, limit or suspend their systems. Lieu said the bill is urgently needed to address new cybersecurity risks raised by the latest AI models. "This is urgent, common sense legislation to address the problem of an advanced AI model ​that has gone rogue and escaped its guardrails," he wrote in a post ​on X. OpenAI earlier this month said its AI system had hacked into another AI company on its own in what it called an “unprecedented cyber incident.” 

 

Politico

Reuters

The UK's Fair Work Agency is stepping up enforcement against employers that underpay wages, holiday pay and sick pay. Established this year, the regulator combines enforcement with support for businesses to improve compliance, while targeting rogue employers through fines, legal action and potential director bans. "We want workers to know what their rights are and how to get support. We want businesses to feel that compliance is simpler and easier to achieve and that they're treated fairly," Lisa Pinney, the agency's chief executive, said. "And we want to underpin that by being able to demonstrate really strong action against those who set out to exploit workers or to undercut legitimate business." The agency is also working with other regulators to tackle labour exploitation, modern slavery and "phoenix" companies that evade debts by repeatedly entering insolvency.  

 

The Times

President Trump has announced plans to launch a trade investigation into the European Union and threatened further tariffs following regulatory action against major American technology companies. The move follows the European Commission's €890m fine against Google over competition concerns. Trump accused the EU of unfairly targeting US firms, including Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon, and called for penalties to be reversed. He said the US would begin a Section 301 investigation into European regulatory practices while considering additional tariffs. Google said it had worked to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act but had expressed concerns about recent regulatory decisions.

 

CBC News

CNBC

British banks accuse the Bank of England of publishing a flawed comparison of UK and US capital requirements, complaining it ignores a growing advantage their Stateside rivals gain from digital investments.

 

Financial Times

Members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have voted to dismiss Karim Khan as chief prosecutor amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Khan was suspended last month after the court's oversight body found he had committed a "serious breach of duty and serious misconduct" by engaging in an improper sexual relationship with a junior ICC staff member and attempting to stop her pursuing a complaint. Khan has repeatedly denied all the allegations against him. His lawyer said he would challenge "the lawfulness and fairness of the decision through all available legal mechanisms."

 

Al Jazeera

CNN

New York Times

BBC News

The UK's Crown Prosecution Service is pushing for five Palestine Action activists who vandalised a branch of Barclays Banks in Burnley to be sentenced under  terrorism laws.

 

Financial Times