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The European Commission has launched a public consultation inviting comments on the draft of the new EU Merger Guidelines. This marks the most significant reform in EU merger control of the past two decades. The public consultation follows a Call for Evidence, which included an initial public consultation launched in May 2025, and several stakeholder events held by the Commission. President Ursula von der Leyen said: “We are publishing our draft merger guidelines to better support companies to thrive, scale, and innovate. This is an ambitious approach to our competition policy - so we can meet the realities of the fiercely competitive global economy and boost our competitiveness, while preserving the predictability and certainty that investors value most in Europe.” EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera warned not to expect blank cheques for big deals, and said the objective of merger rules "remains unchanged: protecting strong, competitive markets ​without allowing an accumulation of power that can be abused . . . In other words, keeping fairness at the heart of Europe." Ribera added: "This means enforcing our rules firmly and protecting European companies and citizens from harmful market power."

 

European Commission

Reuters

Europe's top banks, including BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered, have earmarked €610m ($710m) to brace for the expected impact of the US-Israel war on Iran. The total amount of disclosed war-related charges also includes BBVA, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and ING. “We have used this quarter to increase our provisions in anticipation of a potential deterioration in the economic environment due to the turbulent geopolitical situation surrounding the conflict in the Middle East,” Credit Agricole CEO Olivier Gavalda said. “We are being very cautious.”

 

Bloomberg

Banks are seeking new ways to offload risks tied to data centre debt as the race to build AI infrastructure stretches financing limits among the largest global lenders. 

 

Financial Times

Italy's antitrust regulator, known as ​the AGCM, says it has closed investigations into ​three AI companies - China's DeepSeek, France's ⁠Mistral AI SAS and Turkey's Scaleup ​Yazilim Hizmetleri Anonim Şirketi - over risks related to ​the generation of inaccurate or misleading content after having received binding commitments from them. The three companies have agreed to ​better inform users about so-called hallucination risks ​via their websites and apps, adding permanent disclaimers ‌to ⁠their chatbot services, the authority said.

 

Reuters

Ahead of a planned €20bn stock market listing, Franco-German tank maker KNDS has ordered an independent investigation into bribery allegations related to a 2013 deal with Qatar’s armed forces, adding it had yet to find any evidence of wrongdoing by employees. "Based on ​the current findings of the ongoing investigation, which is well advanced but remains subject to ​completion, there is no evidence which would warrant the conclusion that any KNDS employees (past or present) involved in the transaction engaged in criminal misconduct," the company said.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

More than half of “long-shot” bets on military action made on Polymarket are successful, according to analysis by the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC), a non-profit research and advocacy group. ACDC says it supports a regulatory approach that prohibits or restricts categories of political markets most vulnerable to insider trading, and recommends that Polymarket should be required to collect government-issued identification for all bettors.

 

ACDC	Financial Times

Outsourcing company Capita has been reported to the UK Information Commissioner by the Cabinet Office due to a data breach in the civil service pension scheme. The incident allowed pensioners to access other members' details. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office Minister, has demanded service levels be restored by June.

 

The Times

Puma has replaced chief financial officer Markus Neubrand with former Hugo Boss chief executive Mark Langer, as CEO Arthur Hoeld intensifies a turnaround strategy aimed at restoring the company to the top tier of global sportswear brands, following two profit warnings and a €645m net loss in 2025. The German firm's announcement came alongside its first-quarter report; EBIT rose 19.6% to €51.9m, beating projections for €43m. Currency-adjusted sales dropped 1% to €1.86bn. 

 

Financial Times

Reuters

KKR is exploring a potential sale of Flora Food Group, the former Unilever spreads business, at a valuation of up to $10bn, as the company retreats from its plan to become fully plant-based following weakening demand for dairy alternatives. The business, which generated €3bn of sales in 2025 but remains highly leveraged, could attract interest from private equity buyers as KKR seeks to exit after adapting the strategy to reintroduce dairy products.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

UN rights experts have called on Saudi Arabia to abolish its kafala sponsorship system ahead of the 2034 World Cup, citing ongoing abuse and exploitation of migrant workers. Despite some easing of restrictions in 2021, many workers remain vulnerable. "Five years after the encouraging announcement of labour reforms, we continue to receive reports of abuse and labour exploitation of the estimated 16m migrant workers in the country," the UN experts said in a joint statement. "Migrant worker deaths have allegedly occurred under unclear circumstances and without accountability. Wage theft, workplace violence, retention of identity documents and the imposition of extortionate recruitment fees are all reported to continue. These practices must stop." They urged Riyadh to ensure migrant workers can change jobs freely and receive full national labour protections, emphasising the need for accountability and safe reporting channels.

 

France 24

Supply chain disruptions stemming from the US-Israeli war in Iran are starting to create chokepoints across Japan's auto industry. "We're hearing from smaller suppliers that suddenly say they won't be able to deliver parts in two weeks' time, which makes things very hard to predict,” Koichi Ito, president of Toyota Industries, told reporters on Tuesday.

 

The Japan Times Online