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A meeting organised by the Airlines for Europe lobby group in Brussels has heard that the aviation industry must accept that there is “no absolute safety and security” to deter cockpit attacks such as the one that occurred during a recent FlyDubai flight, even with stringent vetting of pilots. Deutsche Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr stressed the need to maintain a delicate balance between protecting passengers and ensuring employee privacy. “We have to face the fact that there is no absolute safety and security in this industry,” he said. “This is a very difficult area for regulators.” IAG chief executive Luis Gallego noted a decline over time in the number of dangerous situations involving pilots. “After [the FlyDubai] incident, in the same way we did in the past, we are going to work closely with the authorities to try to see if there is a way to continue to improve this,” he said.

 

Bloomberg

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Asos has confirmed that hackers may have accessed detailed profiles of the firm's users. The breach includes names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and customer numbers, as well as users' search histories, although no bank details or passwords were compromised. The fashion retailer said an "unauthorised party gained access to an Asos employee account by impersonating a trusted contact to obtain login credentials." It added that it has launched a "detailed investigation" into the incident. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office said it had been notified of a breach by Asos and is assessing the situation.

 

Bloomberg

BBC News

City AM

Daily Mail

The Guardian

The Times

AI-driven changes in productivity, climate resilience and energy constraints are altering potential output and make capacity utilisation and price pressures harder to gauge, according to a study from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) which also identified potential financial stability risks from the technology. BIS researchers Leonardo Gambacorta and Salvatore Polizzi observed: “Ultimately, AI is neither inherently a climate solution nor inherently a climate problem . . . The coming decade will be critical in determining whether AI becomes a force that accelerates the transition to a more sustainable economy or one that intensifies existing environmental pressures.”

 

Bloomberg

The UK's Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has fined Deloitte £6.05m for failing to meet the required standards in its audits of transport firm Go-Ahead. The FRC identified a "highly concerning pattern of failure," pointing to "numerous breaches" of audit requirements between 2016 and 2020. The watchdog said Deloitte failed to challenge two of Go-Ahead's subsidiaries wrongfully retaining more than £30m of public money for an extended period. The fine was reduced from £11m due to Deloitte's co-operation and admissions. A Deloitte UK spokeswoman said: "We regret that aspects of our audit work did not meet the standards expected and have learned from this matter."

 

Financial Times

Reuters

The Times

The Daily Telegraph

Building materials company Kingspan has been fined €40m (£33.9m) by the European Commission for providing misleading information during a merger investigation. The investigation focused on Kingspan's attempt to acquire rival manufacturer Trimo in 2021. The Commission found four breaches of EU rules, leading to a €10m fine for each violation. Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera said: "When companies withhold or distort the truth, they undermine a system that protects fair competition for everyone."

 

BBC News

The Times

A Dutch patent court has ruled ​in favour of biopharma company Halozyme against Merck, ordering the drugmaker ‌to halt production and sale of ​injectable Keytruda in Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The court in the Hague determined that the subcutaneous (SC) formulation of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) infringes one of Halozyme's patents around its MDASE technology for subcutaneous drug delivery. "The MDASE technology was developed through years of rigorous research to enable rapid, high-volume subcutaneous drug delivery," said Mark Snyder, Halozyme's chief legal officer. "We're very pleased the Dutch court recognised the validity and infringement of . . . EP622 and granted an injunction." A spokesperson for Merck said: "We strongly disagree with the Dutch court’s decision to grant a cross-border injunction. We consider Halozyme’s patent to be invalid globally and its allegation of infringement to be without merit."

 

FirstWord Pharma

Bloomberg

Reuters

Russian technology giant Yandex has suspended operations at a major data centre in Sasovo, Ryazan, following a drone strike that caused a fire and damaged part of its infrastructure. The company confirmed there were no casualties and emergency services were responding. Although the company's core services remain unaffected, some users may experience temporary disruptions. The incident comes amid an escalation in attacks on Russian infrastructure during the war in Ukraine. While Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the Yandex strike, it has intensified operations targeting Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure.

 

CNBC

Reuters

Audi CEO Gernot Doellner has said the carmaker's factory in Neckarsulm in south-west Germany, one of the Volkswagen Group's four German production sites ​facing possible closure, needs a "viable" solution to ‌secure its future. He said Audi must ​boost competitiveness on costs, speed and productivity, which would mean working "together to develop a sustainable industrial vision." He added: "Neckarsulm boasts extensive industrial expertise and an ​impressive history. But tradition alone does not ​guarantee a future." About 15,000 people work at Neckarsulm.

 

Reuters

UK prime minister Andy Burnham is today expected to commit to a full or partial ban on non-compete clauses in workers' employment contracts, according to people familiar with the matter. More than 20 tech founders wrote to Burnham last month to say that such restrictions, and also long notice periods and enforced gardening leave, were “undermin[ing] the innovation that drives economic growth.” The government of Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer, had previously set out options to limit the use of non-compete clauses.

 

Financial Times

Politico

The Supreme Administrative Court in Slovakia is facing a significant challenge as its entire IT department prepares to leave, raising concerns about the management of electronic case files. Opposition MP Zuzana Števulová said the employees had complained about receiving orders verbally, through intermediaries or outside the usual procedures for recording instructions, precipitating their resignations. The court said the IT department had experienced staff churn in previous years and the latest departures would not put its operations at risk.

 

The Slovak Spectator

Fintech firm Wise is negotiating a settlement with UK tax authority HMRC after software errors caused incorrect tax statements for about 4,000 UK users from 2021 to 2025. The company reported the issue, which arose from a third-party provider's failure, and is seeking a "bulk settlement" to cover tax shortfalls.

 

The Times

AI companies are partnering with some drugmakers on virtual trials to boost the odds that an experimental medicine will be a success when used by human patients in a typically ‌expensive traditional clinical trial. The biopharmaceutical industry spends around $140bn annually on clinical testing: only 12% of drug candidates receive regulatory approval. "We shouldn't only ask how to run trials faster. We should ask how to run fewer trials that are going to fail," observed Francisco Beca, chief medical officer at QuantHealth, a Tel Aviv-based AI clinical trial simulation platform which uses real-world data ​and AI to simulate patient-level responses to therapies.

 

U.S. News

Winning the lottery can lead to unexpected consequences for women, including a higher risk of divorce. A study published in the Journal of Human Resources analysed over 76,000 Swedish lottery players and found that female winners were more likely to divorce shortly after a significant win. The research indicated that a win equivalent to £105,000 effectively doubles the short-term divorce risk for women. In contrast, male winners tend to experience increased marriage stability.

 

Daily Mail