Human Times

European Edition

30th June 2026

THE HOT STORY

BAT to cut 9,000 jobs

British American Tobacco (BAT) has announced plans to cut 5,500 jobs by the end of the year and outsource a further 3,500 as the cigarette-maker looks for ways to push down costs. BAT is contending with falling demand for traditional cigarettes in many markets and shifting its focus to smoking alternatives such as its Vuse vapes and Velo nicotine pouches to drive growth. The company said the cuts were part of a “transformation programme” that is expected to create £600m of annual cost savings by the end of 2028. BAT chief executive Tadeu Marroco said the company was “building a future-ready organisation” that was “more agile, cost disciplined and technology enabled.”

Reuters

BBC News

The Guardian

GUIDE

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HEALTH & SAFETY

Second worker dies at BYD’s under-scrutiny Hungary factory

A second worker has died at Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD's Hungary factory. The Szeged plant is already under scrutiny for labour practices. Local media reported that the worker had been struck by a lorry at the construction site of the factory. AIM Construction Hungary Ltd. - a subsidiary of the construction company linked to a 2024 labour scandal at BYD's EV factory in Brazil - was fined 34,500,000 forints ($110,350) over occupational security issues, the Csongrád-Csanád County Government Office said in response to a CNBC request for comment on the incident.

CNBC

INVESTMENT

London will require private investors to deal with heat

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said the city's efforts to deal with rising temperatures will require the help of private investors due to the considerable financial cost. “This is an environmental crisis, but also it’s an economic crisis, a public health crisis, and a social justice crisis,” Khan said. “The costs of inaction outweigh the cost of action, but also we recognize we can’t do this by ourselves from City Hall.” The Mayor's office has set out an inaugural plan to deal with extreme heat in the age of climate change, including a concession to air conditioning, of which it was previously sceptical due to the energy required to run units. Meanwhile, Khan has said there should be a maximum and minimum limit for how hot workplaces and classrooms get before they close. “Sometimes in winter months schools and workplaces shouldn’t be too cold just as in summer they shouldn’t be too hot . . . I think it’s really important for each individual employer and headteacher to make a common-sense decision based on what’s right for them.”

Bloomberg

LBC

London Evening Standard

HIRING

Tesla to increase production in Germany by 20%

Tesla has said that production at its Berlin plant will increase by 20% to 7,500 vehicles per week from October, in a planned increase in production that means the auto maker will hire a further 1,000 employees.

CNBC

WORKFORCE

UK employers scale back pay expectations for 2027

UK employers are expecting to scale back pay increases in 2027, according to a survey from human resources data firm Brightmine. About 42% of employers said they expected pay awards next year to average between 2% and 3%; the same proportion are expecting deals between 3 and 4%.

Reuters

TECHNOLOGY

Meta races to replace human moderation with AI

Meta is racing to replace human moderation with generative artificial intelligence, as it undergoes a broader cost-cutting drive to offset CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vast spending on AI, the FT reports.

Financial Times

ECONOMY

Eurozone consumers lower short-term inflation expectations

Eurozone consumers became more optimistic about near-term inflation in May, according to the European Central Bank's latest Consumer Expectations Survey, reducing pressure on policymakers to raise interest rates again in the near future. Consumers lowered their inflation expectations for the next 12 months to 3.5% from 4.0% in April, while expectations for inflation three years and five years ahead remained unchanged at 2.9% and 2.4%, respectively. Consumers also became less pessimistic about the economic outlook, forecasting a 1.7% contraction over the next year, compared with an expected 2.2% decline in the previous survey. Income expectations improved modestly, although respondents also anticipated higher unemployment. The ECB added that lower-income households continued to report higher inflation perceptions and expectations than other groups, while younger respondents generally expected lower inflation.

Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

Ford hires veteran engineers to address quality problems

Ford Motor has brought back so-called “grey beard” engineers to help train younger staff and reprogram AI tools to address quality problems. The hiring of these 350 veterans over the last three years to address what were seemingly intractable quality issues that have cost the company billions has helped Ford become the top mainstream brand in the latest JD Power Initial Quality Survey. Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, said: “Over prior years, we didn’t pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers that have been with us through many product cycles.” Ford chief operating officer, Kumar Galhotra, explained: “We had been relying more and more on automated quality systems” and not getting the desired results, adding that the rehired technical specialists “hunt for failure points before a part ever reaches the plant floor.”

Bloomberg

Korea opens up to a 24-hour trading cycle

South Korea launches a 24-hour won-dollar trading market from July 6, with banks trialling the system from Monday. Seoul is removing safeguards that have been in place since the won's collapse during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis,as it pursues an open and fully accessible currency that is a requirement of index provider MSCI's coveted "developed market" designation. "When I first came to the market, it was a 9-to-3 game," observes Namkoong Taehun, who is part of the 37-member FX trading team at Hana Bank in Seoul. "Now, the market has expanded exponentially . . . We are afraid that our workload will increase significantly."

Reuters

China says it has right to ⁠target ⁠people outside of its borders ⁠on ethnic unity

China's new law on ethnic unity allows the government to target individuals outside its borders who undermine it. The law, which was passed in ‌March to create a "shared" national identity among the country's 55 ethnic minority groups, goes into effect on July 1, and includes a clause saying that people and groups beyond the borders of the People's Republic of China can be held legally accountable for undermining "ethnic unity and progress or inciting ⁠ethnic ⁠separatism." Vice Justice Minister Hu Weilie said: "This provision is based on China's national conditions, conforms to legal principles, and is consistent with international practice. It is a legitimate, lawful, necessary, and feasible legal provision . . . Countries around the world all have the right to prevent separatist and destructive activities, and to maintain social solidarity and normal order, through domestic legislation."

U.S. News

OTHER

H&M adapts product range for longer, hotter summers as climate shifts

H&M is redesigning its collections and adjusting its marketing calendar to reflect longer, hotter summers, with chief executive Daniel Erver saying the retailer is introducing lighter materials into its autumn ranges as high temperatures increasingly extend into September. The changes are aimed at ensuring stores remain relevant during prolonged warm weather, particularly in southern Europe, Asia and the southern US. The retailer said hotter and more unpredictable weather is disrupting traditional seasonal buying patterns, increasing demand for items such as shorts, linen, tank tops and swimwear while making it harder to sell autumn clothing.

Reuters

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