THE HOT STORY

We thank Italians with employment decree, Meloni says

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she has launched an employment decree featuring a "fair" wage and youth work incentives and the government is thanking Italians with the decree. "We believe this is the best way to thank the Italians who contribute every day with their work to make our nation great," she said. The decree contains almost €1bn in incentives for jobs, Meloni said. Employment incentives will only be granted if a fair wage is paid, and "there will be no incentives for pirate contracts or those who underpay their workers," she said.

ANSA.it

RETENTION

Workforce mobility emerges as retention tool in tight labour market

Cross-border workforce mobility is emerging as a vital tool for employee retention, according to the EY 2026 Mobility Reimagined Survey. The survey found that 80% of employees felt more inclined to stay with their employer after an international assignment, a significant increase from 2025. Additionally, 88% of respondents emphasised the importance of flexibility in mobility policies. Claudia Sofianu, Partner at EY Romania, observed: "Global mobility is no longer a support function but a business decision with a direct impact on retention, growth, and competitiveness."

Business Review

Romaniapress

ZF English

HIRING

LinkedIn AI hiring products set to generate $450m sales

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn says its hiring products using agentic AI ‌are set to generate $450m in sales in the coming year. The social network's systems work by having an AI agent take instructions from a human recruiter and then sifting through LinkedIn profiles to find the best ones for follow-up. "Recruiters told us half their day was low-value work, so we made a bet on understanding ⁠their pain to get our solution right," said LinkedIn CEO Dan Shapero.

Reuters

LEGAL

More than 7,000 Just Eat couriers in UK take legal action

More than 7,000 couriers working with Just Eat in the UK are pursuing legal action to secure employment rights including minimum wage and holiday pay. The tribunal will decide whether they qualify as workers or remain self-employed contractors. The case follows the company’s 2023 shift back to a gig economy model, ending a trial that offered guaranteed pay and benefits. The Guardian notes that the government's Fair Work Agency, which was launched last month, has identified the gig economy as a high risk area in which workers "often experience precarious conditions [and] systemic barriers to redress." Nigel Mackay, law firm Leigh Day's joint head of employment and discrimination, said: "Whilst we might hope that the new agency will be more willing to challenge gig economy operators, it may be that, as is often the case now, individuals will first need to bring a tribunal claim to show that they area worker and therefore entitled to the national minimum wage, before enforcement takes place."

The Guardian

Franco-German tank maker KNDS launches probe into 2013 Qatar deal

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

CORPORATE

EU overhauls merger rules

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. However, 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

RISK

Europe’s top banks set aside $710m to shield against Iran war impact

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

CYBERSECURITY

International partners warn of Chinese state-sponsored botnet activity

Chinese state-sponsored hackers are using botnets of compromised IoT (Internet of Things) and SOHO (small-office home-office) devices as their cybercriminal infrastructure, according to a new 10-country joint security advisory. Security agencies including the US Department of Justice, UK National Cyber Security Centre and US National Security Agency have published a paper titled “Defending against China-nexus covert networks of compromised devices,” which says hackers are using the botnets to steal people’s data, or disrupt activities. "Anyone who is a target of China-nexus cyber actors may be impacted by the use of covert networks," the report says. "The use of covert networks of compromised devices - also known as botnets - to facilitate malicious cyber activity is not new, but China-nexus cyber actors are now using them strategically, and at scale."

Financial Times

TechRadar

INTERNATIONAL

China's ‘lunch-break economy' is booming

More urban professionals in China are spending on services - including power naps, express facials, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts and 30-minute group meditations - during their lunch-break. Associate Professor Gao Wen, who teaches psychology at Liaoning Normal University in Dalian, observed: “Consumers are mostly white-collar workers who have long commutes, high work intensity, and relatively high disposable income. They are quite willing to pay for their personal physical and mental health, as well as for improved work efficiency.” But while some companies support employees' lunch-break activities, others consider any departure from the desk during lunchtime to be a dereliction of duty.

Straits Times

Firms sued for labour abuses in their supply chains

Labour prosecutors in Brazil have filed lawsuits against five firms, including grain trader Cargill and meatpacker JBS, over labour abuses in ‌their supply chains. JBS is being requested to pay around 119m reais ($23.78m) in damages in a case where workers in Para state were found in “slavery-like” conditions in the company’s supply chain. Cargill is being sued for 109m reais for “grave ‌violations ⁠of human rights” in its soy supply chain in Rondonia state.

Reuters

Mineworkers in Ghana say local outsourcing rule will cut wages, jobs

Ghana's union of mineworkers has said it opposes a government policy mandating international companies to hire local contractors. Union president Abdul Moomin Gbana said local firms pay lower wages and provide less job security. The policy requires companies to shift mining activities to local contractors by December 2026. Gbana noted that local contractors typically pay about 50% less than direct employees. The union plans to resist the policy through strikes and protests. "Any attempt to proceed with this policy in its current form will be met with strong, coordinated and sustained resistance," Gbana said.

Zawya EN

Ex-Tokyo Electron employee sentenced to 10 tears in trade secrets case

A court in Taiwan has sentenced Chen Li-ming, a former employee of Tokyo Electron, to 10 years in prison for stealing trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC). The court also imposed a fine of 150 million new Taiwan dollars ($5m) on Tokyo Electron, while four others received sentences of up to six years. Judge Chang Ming-huang said that Chen used his connections at TSMC to illegally access and share sensitive information to enhance Tokyo Electron's technology and bids. Tokyo Electron acknowledged the court's decision and pledged to improve its information management systems, although it maintained that no organisational wrongdoing was found.

U.S. News

OTHER

Ikea Finland pilots accessibility tools for visually impaired shoppers

Ikea Finland is testing new in-store services at its Vantaa location to improve accessibility for blind and low-vision customers, including a free pre-bookable guided shopping experience and the use of the NaviLens app, which provides audio navigation via coded markers in over 30 languages. The initiative forms part of Ikea's broader push towards inclusive design, building on its Digital Inclusion and Accessibility programme launched in 2021. The pilot is intended as a learning exercise before any wider rollout.

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