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London-headquartered bank will reduce back-office jobs and aims to move some workers to new rolesBusiness live – latest updatesStandard Chartered plans to cut more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years as it increasingly uses artificial intelligence.The London-headquartered lender is one of the first major global banks to lay out plans to cut thousands of jobs, citing AI as a driver to make its operations slimmer as it seeks to increase its profitability and tackle competition. Continue reading...

• Standard Chartered Bank has established an artificial intelligence lab in collaboration with Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) to commercialize banking AI applications. • The lab will focus on testing AI use cases in wealth management and fraud control as financial institutions transition from pilot programs to full commercial deployment. • This initiative reflects the banking sector's shift toward operationalizing AI technology to enhance customer services and risk management capabilities.

Rival parties demand investigation as Tory party chair refers Reform UK leader to commissioner over gift from crypto tycoonExclusive: Farage given undisclosed £5m by crypto tyoonAnalysis: Farage’s attempt to get ahead of story raises more questionsNigel Farage has been referred to parliament’s standards watchdog after the Guardian revealed he received an undeclared £5m gift from a party donor.The referral was made by the Conservative party citing rules that require MPs to declare any “personal benefit” they have received in the 12 months before taking office, and to do so within a month of being elected. Continue reading...

Eight EU members continue to include force or violence in their definitions in national criminal codesThe European parliament has called on the EU to draw up a standardised consent-based definition of rape, in what legislators described as a crucial step towards addressing the patchwork of laws, some of them insufficient, that currently exist across the bloc.On Tuesday, 447 of the parliament’s 720 MEPs voted to approve a report calling for a common definition of rape, centred on “only yes means yes,” prompting a loud round of applause in the chamber in Strasbourg. Continue reading...

Program portrayed efforts to wean Australia off fossil fuels as morally bankrupt, trashing rainforests and enslaving Australia to ChinaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastChildren sieve mud, workers drop down claustrophobic hand-cut mine shafts, men grimace while others carve out rock with chisels in bare feet to recover cobalt “for our renewable green dream”.These were the dramatic scenes from the Democratic Republic of Congo in a “special investigation” from Channel Seven’s Spotlight program, aired in prime-time on Sunday evening. Continue reading...

Deal will create pensions and savings group with 16m customers and £480bn of assets, while Aegon focuses on USThe Dutch financial services group Aegon has struck a £2bn deal to sell off its almost 200-year-old UK arm to Standard Life, as part of a US push in which the group will be rebranded as Transamerica.Standard Life, previously known as Phoenix Group, said the deal to buy Aegon UK will create a pensions and savings group with 16 million customers and £480bn of assets under administration. Continue reading...

Results of six-week trial prompt concerns over government proposals as children reject healthier mealsA pilot to test England’s new school food standards triggered a 15% decline in uptake of meals, with children rejecting healthier options in favour of a packed lunch, a caterer has revealed.The results of the six-week trial, which took place at a Brighton primary school, have prompted concerns that the government’s proposals, though well-intentioned, could end up having a negative impact on children’s health. Continue reading...

Executive complaints unit finding relates to broadcast of N-word during awards ceremonyThe BBC breached its editorial standards by broadcasting a racial slur during the Bafta film awards ceremony in February, the corporation’s executive complaints unit has found.More details soon … Continue reading...

• The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology announced initiatives on April 7, 2026, to define security standards for AI agents that act autonomously via APIs. • These agents create new attack surfaces where AI decisions directly impact real-world operations, requiring governance to mitigate organizational risks. • The move addresses vulnerabilities as governments accelerate AI deployment despite security gaps in federal projects.

Tougher ethical certification process requires companies to meet standards in every one out of seven categoriesDozens of companies may be at risk of losing their coveted B Corp ethical status after the organisation behind the corporate kite-marking system raised the standards required to qualify.B Lab, which oversees B Corp certification, launched the biggest overhaul in its 19-year history earlier this month, scrapping a system under which companies must gather enough points across multiple categories to qualify. Continue reading...

Catholic Timothy Broglio says ‘hard to cast this war as something that would be sponsored by the Lord’The leader of all Catholic chaplains in the United States’ armed forces has questioned how righteous the US military’s campaign in Iran is, saying that “under the just war theory – it is not”.Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, told CBS News in an interview set for broadcast Sunday that while Iran “was a threat with nuclear arms”, waging war on the theocratic state constituted “compensating for a threat before the threat is actually realized”. Continue reading...

Anger in France after US president puts on French accent and mocks Macron during private lunch in WashingtonEurope live – latest updatesEmmanuel Macron has said Donald Trump’s comments about his marriage were “neither elegant nor up to standard” after the US president put on an accent and mocked his French counterpart and his wife during a private lunch in Washington.Arriving in South Korea on Thursday, Macron made clear his displeasure at Trump’s comments, which appeared briefly in a video on the White House YouTube channel before being removed. Continue reading...

• Netflix announced its second price increase in just over a year, with the standard plan without ads rising to $19.99 and the premium plan climbing to $26.99, both increases of $2 per month. • The ad-supported standard plan will cost $8.99, up $1 from its previous price, reflecting the company's monetization strategy across its tier offerings. • These price changes were reflected on Netflix's website Thursday as the streaming service continues expanding its content library amid ongoing subscriber growth.

• Trump's AI adviser David Sacks defended the decision to allow UAE access to powerful American semiconductor technology, calling it a turning point for establishing US tech dominance globally. • The UAE's $1.4 trillion investment and economic framework with the US, announced last year, continues as planned with accelerated deployment and funding in AI, energy, advanced manufacturing, and critical infrastructure. • Trump's 2025 visit to the UAE resulted in plans for a 5GW UAE-US AI Campus, a major joint infrastructure initiative.

Chris Bowen says move aimed at accessing fuel imports from markets with lower burning temperatures, including the US, Canada and EuropeGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s diesel standards have been temporarily lowered as the federal government rushes to shore up fuel supply, with hundreds of service stations running empty and warnings deliveries from key Asian suppliers could slow as soon as early April.The energy minister, Chris Bowen, said on Tuesday the government had lowered the technical threshold for diesel, known as the flashpoint, in order to access supply from imports from markets with marginally lower burning temperatures, including the US, Canada and Europe. Continue reading...

• CMS issued a final rule on March 23, 2026, standardizing electronic health care claims attachments and electronic signatures to replace fax and mail with digital submissions like notes, images, and reports. • The rule excludes prior authorization attachments and takes effect May 26, 2026, with compliance required by May 26, 2028 for covered entities. • This administrative simplification aims to reduce provider burden and improve efficiency in claims processing across US healthcare systems.

Labor under pressure over fuel crisis as federal parliament returns. Follow updates liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGovernments around the world are unprepared for the growing threat of drones being used to carry out terror attacks, a report warns.Advances in drone technology, 3D printing and AI-assisted navigation should prompt leaders, including those in Australia, to rethink anti-extremism strategies, the paper from the Lowy Institute says.The combination of easy accessibility and payload potential, and the limitations of domestic counter-drone systems, presents a growing challenge. Continue reading...

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Friday to relax air pollution limits on ethylene oxide, a chemical classified as a human carcinogen since 2016 and used to sterilize medical equipment including catheters and syringes. The EPA stated that current Biden-era standards "actively threaten" manufacturers' abilities to sterilize equipment and jeopardize domestic medical device supply chains. Public health advocates, including the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, warned that people living near commercial sterilization facilities face elevated lifetime cancer risks, while medical device manufacturers argue the standards could disrupt critical supplies. The proposal marks the latest EPA action under President Donald Trump to relax pollution limits and reduce costs for industry.