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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.

 

Sky News

Financial Times

BBC News

Falling water levels in the Rhine have pushed freight rates higher as barges reduce cargo loads to navigate shallow waters. The river’s water levels have dropped to their lowest in almost 150 years amid a protracted period of hot, dry weather. The cost of shipping diesel from Rotterdam to Karlsruhe has climbed to the highest since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 2009. Falling water levels are also causing a shortage for cooling at Hungary’s Paks nuclear power station, which has been forced to fully shut down for the first time in its 44-year history.

 

Bloomberg

Russia is considering a package of financial support for merchants using e-commerce platform Wildberries after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged the company's warehouse network, with sellers estimated to have suffered losses of almost R280bn ($3.5bn). Proposed measures include loan repayment holidays, subsidised working capital loans, temporary tax relief and access to alternative storage facilities, although no final decisions have been made. The attacks have affected more than a dozen Wildberries warehouses since mid-July, reducing the company's storage capacity by at least 17% and prompting it to reorganise its logistics network, suspend its investment programme and introduce support measures for affected merchants.

 

Bloomberg

Swiss pharmaceutical group Sandoz has announced two settlements totalling $478.5m to resolve a long-standing dispute over generic drug pricing in the US. The company will pay $400m to a consortium of 43 states over seven years, starting in 2027, without admitting wrongdoing. An additional $28.5m will be paid to indirect resellers. "The only remaining antitrust claims against the company in the US generic antitrust litigation are those brought by individual plaintiffs who opted out of class settlements," Sandoz said. The Zurich Cantonal Bank observed that the settlement "brings clarity" to a protracted legal dispute; the litigation has been disclosed as a risk factor in every annual report since 2016. "With this settlement, Sandoz . . . reduces potential risks for the future," ZKB analysts noted.

 

France 24

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. 

 

The Guardian

The administrators of collapsed mortgage lender Market Financial Solutions (MFS) have launched legal proceedings against Barclays, claiming the UK bank has withheld over £160m in funds. Alix Partners, appointed as joint administrators, has filed a High Court claim to recover the cash. MFS collapsed with a £1.3bn shortfall and faced allegations of "double pledging" assets. Barclays, which has a total exposure of around £500m to MFS, confirmed it will defend the claim.

 

City AM

The Daily Telegraph

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.

 

The Daily Telegraph

The Times

Cabin crew at SAS's Norwegian branch have rejected a new collective agreement proposal. If a resolution is not reached soon, approximately 500 staff members will commence a strike at 04:00 on Saturday. The trade union Fellesforbundet said that the negotiations focus on issues such as pay and unpredictable working hours. "We need a fair agreement," a union representative said.

 

Copenhagen Post

CAF Bank is still trying to repair services a week after reports of suspected cyber fraud prompted it to suspend access. The bank serves more than 14,000 charities and non-profit organisations across the UK. While online access is down, CEO Alison Taylor assured customers that the core bank remains secure and payments are still processed, prioritising payroll.

 

BBC News

UK government ministers are exploring ways to increase borrowing within existing fiscal rules to fund billions of pounds of investment in infrastructure, housing and business support. The plan could unlock more than £9bn a year by 2031, with funding potentially channelled through institutions such as the National Wealth Fund, British Business Bank and National Housing Bank. The investment would aim to boost economic growth, support regional mayors, help deliver the government’s target of 1.5m homes and prevent high-growth UK companies from relocating overseas for funding. The plans would allow spending on infrastructure to be counted as assets against borrowing costs. Nick Ridpath, a research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that although there was not an "unlimited pot of money" there was "some flexibility" to increase public sector investment. 

 

The Times

Portugal’s government has approved a temporary tax on windfall profits from oil and refining companies, according to a report by the public news agency Lusa. The levy will apply to the share of profits that substantially exceeds the average recorded in previous years, Lusa said, with revenue from the tax to be used to finance measures aimed at ameliorating the impact of higher fuel costs on households and vulnerable businesses.

 

Bloomberg

The UK's Environment Agency (EA) is considering legal action against plastics manufacturer Huntsman Polyurethanes for breaching emissions regulations related to benzene, a known carcinogen. Emissions increased from 13 tonnes in 2022 to 17 tonnes in 2024, despite Huntsman claiming compliance with permit conditions. The EA noted that the new emission control process was "periodically paused," allowing benzene to be released directly into the air.

 

The Guardian

A growing number of South Koreans are turning to so-called "dopamine apps" that recreate the experience of online shopping or ordering food without requiring payment or delivering any products, as younger consumers seek low-cost ways to satisfy spending urges amid rising living costs. Apps such as FoodNeverArrives allow users to browse menus, place virtual orders and track deliveries that never arrive, while mock shopping websites offer fictional products and other platforms simulate experiences such as cigarette breaks. Commentators say the trend reflects financial pressures, including high youth unemployment and inflation, as well as growing economic uncertainty, although privacy experts have warned users to consider how these apps handle personal data.

 

AFR