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North American Edition
24th July 2026
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THE HOT STORY

Lawmakers propose AI 'kill switch'

U.S. 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 this week said its AI system had hacked into another AI company on its own in what it called an “unprecedented cyber incident.” 
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ECONOMY

U.S. hits 60 countries with new duties as Trump rebuilds tariff wall

The Trump administration has imposed new tariffs of at least 10% on imports from 60 countries, using a forced labor investigation as the legal basis to replace sweeping duties that were struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The measures, which take effect today, cover major trading partners including the E.U., U.K., Japan, South Korea, India and Canada, and are introduced under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 rather than the emergency powers previously ruled unlawful. The new tariffs include exemptions for oil, gas, fertilizer, certain goods not produced in the U.S., products already subject to national security tariffs, and goods traded under the USMCA agreement with Canada and Mexico. The move follows recent tariffs on Canadian and Brazilian goods and forms part of the administration's broader strategy to rebuild its trade barriers using alternative legal authorities after the Supreme Court's ruling.
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STRATEGY

Uber cuts 10% of customer service roles to ‘embrace’ AI

Uber has cut 10% of jobs within its customer service operations team, saying it is working “to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue to embrace AI.” Employees who had been working remotely for the team were also asked to relocate to a hub office, consistent with the company’s return-to-office mandate, an Uber spokesperson said. “Our organization has become too complex and siloed,” Megha Yethadka, Uber’s vice president of global community operations, wrote in a memo. She said the department “has made some strides” in using AI, “but to unlock this potential, we need an effective organization to layer AI on. We cannot scale frontier technology on top of fragmented processes.”
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WORKFORCE

U.S. jobless claims fall unexpectedly for second straight week

Initial U.S. jobless claims fell unexpectedly to 187,000 in the seven days to July 18th, down 22,000 from the prior week's revised total and well below economists' expectations of 212,000, accord to Reuters - marking the second consecutive weekly decline that defied forecasts. The four-week moving average dipped 7,250 to 207,500, while continuing claims, reported with a one-week lag, edged down to 1.796m. “The economic crisis caused by the energy supply shock is not over yet,” commented Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Trading. “But the labor market has yet to show any sign of wear and tear from the surge in oil prices.”
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REMOTE WORK

Arbitrator orders IRS to reinstate telework for union employees

An arbitrator has ordered the IRS to restore telework and remote work arrangements for unionized employees, ruling that the agency violated its collective bargaining agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union by broadly eliminating remote work to comply with a Trump administration return-to-office directive. The decision requires the IRS to reinstate telework to pre-March 2025 levels unless it successfully appeals within 30 days, with the union arguing that remote work improves productivity, recruitment, retention, and taxpayer service. The dispute follows reports of overcrowded offices and workplace conditions after employees returned in person.
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CORPORATE

DOJ to streamline company merger reviews

The Justice Department plans to announce a new model to streamline merger reviews and allow some deals to clear antitrust scrutiny earlier.  Antitrust investigations for certain transactions will be expedited by initially requesting fewer documents from companies. Mergers valued at more than $133m must be reported to federal antitrust enforcers. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission launched extended investigations, sometimes called a second request, into 2% of the 2,000 deals disclosed to the government last year, according to federal data. “Streamlining the second request process, where appropriate, is a commonsense way to reduce administrative burden without undermining DOJ’s investigations,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said.
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TECHNOLOGY

Amazon cracks down on use of AI images by sellers

Amazon is requiring third-party sellers to label product images and videos featuring AI-generated people in response to a new New York law that mandates disclosure when advertisements use "synthetic performers" instead of human actors. Sellers must add metadata identifying AI-generated content, while Amazon will display labels on applicable product listings to improve transparency for consumers.
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LEGAL

Lindt sued over alleged child labor claims

Swiss chocolatier Lindt has been sued in a U.S. federal court over allegations that it misled consumers by claiming it was committed to eliminating child labor from its cocoa supply chain while knowingly sourcing cocoa produced using child labor in Ghana and Ivory Coast. The lawsuit, filed by International Rights Advocates, alleges the company has been aware of the issue for more than 20 years and seeks to stop the alleged misleading practices, but does not seek damages. Lindt has denied the allegations, saying it strongly condemns child labor, has supplier protocols in place, and systematically investigates suspected cases in its supply chain. The company also pointed to its 2030 Sustainability Plan and Modern Slavery Statement, which outline measures to support cocoa farmers and reduce child labor risks.

Jes Staley quizzed over Epstein ties

Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley has been grilled by members of Congress over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said that Staley, who before he became the boss of Barclays ran JPMorgan’s private wealth and asset management divisions, encouraged the US lender to retain Epstein as a client despite internal red flags. “It appears that within JPMorgan there were flags - red flags - about Epstein, but Mr. Staley is on record defending Epstein and encouraging JPMorgan to keep him as a client,” Comer, R-Ky., told CNBC. “So we have a lot of questions about that.” Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is calling for urgent answers from Barclays over what she claimed was its “apparent failure to meaningfully investigate” ties between Staley and Epstein.

NJ Supreme Court tells lawyers not to have sex with clients

The New Jersey Supreme Court has established new ethics rules barring lawyers from engaging in sexual relationships with clients they represent. Sexual relationships predating a legal representation are permissible, but lawyers cannot begin new intimate relationships with a client they represent, the court said. Attorneys representing a company or other entity are also prohibited from creating new sexual relationships with individuals in the company who are part of the organization's “litigation control group” that oversees legal disputes on which the lawyer works.
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REGULATION

Ryanair CEO chided by U.S. safety agency

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has been rebuked by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for making public comments about a recent flight during which a dislodged window threatened to suck out a passenger. The safety agency said his comments on a public earnings call violated international rules governing aircraft investigations because they provided opinion and analysis of the yet undetermined cause of the accident. O’Leary had intimated that the incident was caused by “foreign object damage,” rather than the aircraft’s age or maintenance issues, according to the NTSB.
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INTERNATIONAL

Poland and Hungary move to curb non-EU migration

Reuters reports that Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk - who have both been besmirched by nationalist rivals as soft on immigration - are opting ​for curbs on foreign labor. Tusk's government cut work permits for non-EU citizens by 22% last year, while Hungary's new government recently ceased issuing worker visas to employees from the Philippines, Georgia and Armenia. Economists and business groups warn such moves may hurt the two countries' growth prospects. "Fewer workers mean slower ​growth and less tax coming in, while an older population costs more in pensions and health," said Marcin Tomaszewski, lead economist for the E.U. region at the European Bank for Reconstruction ​and Development (EBRD). "Both [countries] are ageing before they are rich, and both only recently became places people move to rather than leave," he said. Public opinion ​polls show broad support for migration curbs.
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OTHER

U.S. to spend $5bn to tackle scientific problems

Fifteen federal agencies are to spend $5bn to tackle long-standing scientific problems across multiple fields. The funding will use AI to identify the root causes of ‌chronic diseases and accelerate drug discovery, among other tasks. "The White House is helping bring together all of ​the different agencies that work on different domains to make them part of this larger effort on AI for science," Michael Kratsios, chief technology adviser ​to U.S. President Donald Trump, told Reuters.
 
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