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A small group of unauthorised ​users has gained access to Anthropic's new Mythos AI ‌model, according to a Bloomberg report which cites documentation and a person familiar with the matter. Users in a private online forum ​gained access to Mythos on the same ⁠day that Anthropic first announced a ​plan to release the model to a ​limited number of companies for testing purposes, Bloomberg has reported. Anthropic has said it is investigating the report of unauthorised access, and currently has no evidence that the access is affecting any of its systems.

 

Bloomberg

Former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen has been acquitted by Sweden’s Supreme Court in a case related to one of Europe’s largest money laundering scandals.  Bonnesen was cleared of a 2024 conviction for spreading misleading information about the bank’s money-laundering problems in Estonia. She had appealed against her 15-month prison sentence for “gross swindling” related to statements she made in the media. Bonnesen, who was Swedbank's CEO ​from 2016 to 2019, had denied all ‌charges against her.

 

Reuters

Bloomberg

Financial Times

Milieudefensie, the Dutch activist group which is in a long-running battle with Shell over its greenhouse gas emissions, has launched a new court case aimed at halting any drilling for new oil and gas. Shell told shareholders last year that it intends to continue the exploitation of fossil energy by increasing natural gas production and not decreasing oil production. That is contrary to the ruling of the Court of Appeal in The Hague, Milieudefensie has said. The court ruled in November 2024 that Shell has an obligation to reduce its emissions and combat climate change. However, the court ruling also said the oil and gas giant cannot be compelled to take any concrete measures. Milieudefensie appealed against this ruling to the Supreme Court. That hearing is scheduled for May 22.

 

NL Times

Financial Times

The Independent UK

Russian investigators say they have dismantled an organised crime group in Moscow that is linked to over 1 trn roubles ($17bn) in tax losses. The group created over 4,000 fictitious entities and sold fake invoices to nearly 40,000 organisations, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. The information in the invoices was then reflected in tax reporting.

 

Business Times SG

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem has said global financial systems must “come to grips” with the risks posed by rapid advances in AI models such as Anthropic’s Mythos. “I don’t think anybody knows the full implications at this point. That’s precisely what everybody’s trying to get to the bottom of,” Macklem told reporters. He said policy-makers and financial institutions are still in “early discussions” about what Mythos means for the integrity of the global financial system.

 

Financial Post

Investment Exceutive

The Globe and Mail

QBE and Beazley are among insurers that have proposed language for cyber insurance policies limiting payouts on AI losses, according to brokers and documents reviewed by the Financial Times.

 

Financial Times

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched its first crackdown on illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading in London, collaborating with HMRC and the Regional Organised Crime Unit. Eight locations were targeted last week, and cease-and-desist letters were issued to traders. Steve Smart, FCA's executive director of enforcement, said: "Unregistered peer-to-peer crypto traders operating in the UK are doing so illegally and pose a financial crime risk." The FCA aims to disrupt these activities as it prepares for formal crypto regulation in the UK by October 2027.

 

Financial Times

City AM

The Swiss government has mandated UBS to increase its capital by $20bn as part of reforms following the Credit Suisse collapse. The Federal Council said that while it would ease some capital quality measures, UBS must fully capitalise its foreign subsidiaries, rather than 60% as is required now. "It's absolutely manageable for UBS," Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter told a press ​conference, saying the government had moderated its initial proposals and attached great importance to keeping the Swiss financial sector competitive.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has told American ​allies they must pay more for critical minerals ‌sourced from outside China, the Financial Times has reported. Greer said in an interview with the FT that US allies must be prepared to pay a “national security premium” ​for the minerals, which would be sourced from ​within a proposed group of trading partners including ⁠Europe.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

Chinese carmaker Changan is weighing opening a plant in northern Spain. Spain has become an increasingly popular location for Chinese car manufacturers because of its strong network of automotive suppliers and relatively low energy costs. Bloomberg notes that the Spanish government is keen to ensure that Chinese companies transfer high-value technology to Spain and invest in research and development in the country, rather than act simply as a location for assembly.

 

Bloomberg

Deutsche Telekom is weighing a full combination with its American unit T-Mobile US that could result in the largest ​public M&A deal on record. The German telecoms group has been in talks about creating a new holding company that would make a stock bid for shares of both Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile. The potential transaction would create a single, simplified corporate group that controls the operations of the two companies and would be jointly owned by their current investors. Bloomberg says any such deal would require political support and may face significant obstacles, including the need for approval from the German government and state-owned lender KfW, which own a combined stake of about 28% in Deutsche Telekom.

 

Bloomberg

Disruption to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz is raising the risk of a global food shock, as higher gas prices are forcing fertiliser producers to cut output, threatening crop yields and pushing up future food prices. Traders warn that reduced LNG supply, rising shipping costs and competition for key inputs are straining agricultural supply chains, while markets have yet to price in prolonged disruption, increasing the risk of tighter global food availability and higher prices, particularly if governments begin stockpiling. The World Food Programme says that nearly 45m more people could face acute food shortages if the conflict stretches into the middle of the year, with the Food and Agriculture Organization warning that India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, and Egypt are among the countries most at risk.

 

Al Jazeera

Financial Times

The European Court of Justice has ruled that Hungarian anti-LGBTQ laws violate EU rules and infringe its values of equality and minority rights. The laws were brought in by Viktor Orbán's government in 2021 and banned so-called promotion of homosexuality or gender change to under-18s. The European Court of Justice ruled that the Orbán reforms breached EU rules on a number of levels, and that they also broke the founding values of Article 2 of the EU Treaty. John Morijn, professor of law and politics in international relations at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, said the Court's ruling was historic in its symbolism: it meant the rights of a group in society could not be negotiated away.

 

BBC News