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The IMF has urged policymakers to prepare to deal with an "inevitable" breach of the world banking system by advanced AI models and has called for international cooperation to shore up defences. "IMF analysis suggests that extreme cyber-incident losses could trigger funding strains, raise solvency concerns, and disrupt broader markets," the lender warned in a new report. The risks were systemic, cut across sectors and came with the threat of contagion, it said. "Defences will inevitably be breached, so resilience must also be a priority, specifically to limit how far incidents spread and ensure rapid recovery," the report added. 

 

Financial Times

Daily Mail

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has called on Europe to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and energy imports amid soaring energy costs due to the Iran war. “Today’s surging energy prices are a reminder of the cost of that dependency,” she said. “Alternative sources of energy offer the clearest path to minimizing the trade-offs between Europe’s energy-policy goals of security, sustainability and affordability.” Lagarde told a climate conference in Frankfurt that the status quo is “clearly unsustainable.” Europe imports about 60% of its energy, almost all of it fossil fuels.

 

Bloomberg

France has announced fresh measures to curb reliance on Chinese rare earths. “China has grabbed a very large market share,” French Finance Minister Roland Lescure observed after visiting a plant in southern France that will produce rare earths. “What’s at stake is to recreate competitive industries.” Large carmakers will have to submit plans to broaden their supplies of high-strength magnets if they are to remain eligible for some government subsidies; offshore wind developers will have to commit to diversification plans.

 

Bloomberg

Italy’s UniCredit says it has reached a preliminary deal to sell part of its Russian unit to a private investor in the United Arab Emirates for an undisclosed sum. UniCredit, one of the few Western banks that continues to operate in Russia, has moved to wind down its business there since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The bank’s continued presence in Russia became a political flashpoint in Italy, where the government blocked its Banco BPM bid last year. The total hit from the disposal would represent about a third of UniCredit’s annual profits.

 

Financial Times

Wall Street Journal

Novartis is to cut around 220 jobs in Germany as part ​of the planned ​closure of a production site ⁠in Wehr by the end of ​2028. The facility, which manufactures tablets and capsules, is no longer competitive, ​the Swiss drugmaker said.

 

Reuters

Hundreds of workers at DeepMind - Google's UK AI division - have voted overwhelmingly to unionise, and have requested recognition from the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union. They are seeking an end to the use of Google AI by Israel and the US military, and other demands include restoring a scrapped commitment not to develop AI weapons or surveillance tools, creating an independent ethics oversight body, and the right of individuals to refuse to contribute to projects on moral grounds. “Even if our work is only used for administrative purposes, as leadership has repeatedly told us, it is still helping make genocide cheaper, faster, and more efficient,” said one DeepMind employee. “That must end immediately, as must harm to Iranians and human lives anywhere.”

 

Middle East Eye

ContiTech, the rubber and plastics business of tyre manufacturer Continental, ​has reached an agreement with labour representatives ‌in Germany on a cost-saving programme involving around 1,600 job cuts. The IGBCE union for the ‌German ⁠chemicals industry said the agreement ruled out forced redundancies until at least the end of 2030 and included a commitment to the ​company's German ​sites.

 

Reuters

The tens of millions of foreign workers in the Gulf face a stark dilemma amid conflict in the region: do they keep on working in the Mideast, where wages are far higher, and hope that a stuttering ceasefire endures, or return to already poor countries where prices have soared because of the war. Remittances from the Gulf make up about 1% of the gross domestic product of India, 3% to 5% of the GDP in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; and nearly 10% in Nepal. “It’s a very precarious situation for migrant workers,” observes Udaya Wagle, who studies labour and migration at Northern Arizona University.

 

Dallas Morning News

France 24

San Francisco Chronicle

Poland has carried out as many counter-intelligence investigations over the past two years as in the previous three decades, according to a report published by the country's national intelligence agency.

 

Financial Times

ING has agreed to pay €1.6m to resolve a money-laundering investigation linked to former European Commissioner Didier Reynders, according to the Brussels public prosecutor's office. The inquiry began after Belgium's central bank filed a complaint in April 2025 regarding ING's Belgian branch. Reynders reportedly deposited nearly €700,000 in cash into his ING Belgium account from 2008 to 2018. Prosecutors examined 245 cash deposits and 779 e-Lotto transfers, questioning why the bank did not report suspicious activities sooner.

 

NL Times

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is contesting Ofcom's fees and potential fines under the UK's Online Safety Act in the High Court. The law, effective from July 2025, mandates tech firms to fund Ofcom's online safety operations based on their global revenue. Meta argues that Ofcom's calculations for fees and penalties are "disproportionate" and should reflect UK earnings rather than worldwide revenue. Ofcom plans to defend its position, asserting that its methods align with the law. The next hearing is scheduled for June.

 

BBC News

Financial Times

LVMH is considering selling several brands as it responds to weakening global demand. The group, led by Bernard Arnault, owns major labels including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moët & Chandon. Assets under review include stakes in Fenty Beauty, linked to Rihanna, and Marc Jacobs, alongside parts of its DFS travel retail business in China. The Times says the move reflects slower sales in key markets and softer demand from younger consumers. The paper adds that LVMH has historically reshaped its portfolio through acquisitions and disposals and is now focusing on its core fashion and leather goods divisions while seeking to streamline operations.

 

Daily Mail

The I

The Times

An international team of scientists is working to create a vaccine against hantavirus, which is suspected of killing three people on a cruise ship in the Atlantic. Chemist Professor Asel Sartbaeva, from the University of Bath, is part of the team involving experts in the United States and South Africa currently working on a vaccine. "Obviously, developing a vaccine would be amazing because then we can prevent instances of this disease happening or at least mitigate the really bad consequences of the infection," she said. In its latest update, the WHO said eight cases of hantavirus - three confirmed and five suspected - have so far been identified in people who were on the ship. The origin of the outbreak is still unknown and it is not known if people other than passengers from the ship have been infected.

 

BBC News