THE HOT STORY

Fewer job offers for junior roles as firms adopt AI

Fewer junior roles are being advertised in Switzerland than before 2023 as companies increasingly adopt AI, according to analysis of over 7.3 million job advertisements by Swiss job ‌portal jobs.ch. The share of entry level positions advertised was 32% lower in 2025 than the average between 2019 and 2022, a period defined in the study as the "pre-AI" phase. Meanwhile, AI skills were increasingly sought for roles outside of IT work and offers for senior positions increased 26% in AI-exposed roles in 2025 ‌compared ⁠to the four-year period before 2023, the study found.

Reuters

WORKPLACE

Paris workers brave heatwave

As France endures a severe heatwave, many labourers in Paris continue to work under extreme conditions. Temperatures have soared into the 30s (over 85°F), forcing workers to start their shifts early to avoid the worst of the heat. Abdelkrim, a street cleaner, said: "We started work at five o'clock in the morning to try and get some of our tasks done before the temperatures rose." The French labour ministry has acknowledged heatwaves as a growing occupational risk, particularly in construction and outdoor services, prompting calls for better protections for workers.

France 24

WORKFORCE

Strikes in Italy were down 5.5% last year

In 2025, general strikes in Italy doubled from 17 to 33, despite an overall 5.5% decrease in strike activity, according to the Annual Report of the Guarantor Commission on Strikes in Essential Public Services. President Paola Bellocchi presented the report, noting a total of 1,020 strikes, down from 1,129 in 2023. The increase in the number of general strikes is largely driven by smaller and grassroots unions, with 27 mobilisations occurring over nine days. "2025 consolidates the downward trend in strike activity," Bellocchi said.

ANSA.it

TECHNOLOGY

UK firms unleash unchecked AI agents

Research from Gravitee, an agent management platform, reveals that UK businesses have deployed more than 700,000 AI agents, and 205,000 of them operate without human oversight. The survey of 250 chief technology officers and vice-presidents found that three-quarters of firms have experienced data breaches linked to these agents. Rory Blundell, chief executive of Gravitee, said: "There are now hundreds of thousands of AI agents loose at major firms: a number that's increasing every second. What worries me is that a huge number of these are acting right now without any oversight and with no accountability. There is nothing standing between them and causing untold chaos - leaking data, spending money, deleting files."

The Times

RISK

German rail service resumes after nationwide breakdown

Deutsche Bahn experienced a significant disruption late on Tuesday night when a fault in the Global System for Mobile Communication for Railways (GSM-R) communications system caused a nationwide halt of train services for over two hours. The outage left thousands of passengers stranded as trains were held at stations. "A disruption of this kind has never occurred before due to the high security measures in railway operations," Deutsche Bahn said in a statement on Wednesday. The company has begun an investigation into the incident, which is not being linked to sabotage, according to security sources.

ANSA.it

Deutsche Welle (EN)

LEGAL

UK levies largest ever fine for Russian sanctions breach

The UK has levied its largest penalty since sanctions were introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A UK subsidiary of Sabre, which provides ticketing services for airlines, was fined more than £1m ($1.3m) for providing Russian carrier Ural Airlines with access to its Global Distribution System for seven months after the company was sanctioned in 2022, according to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI). The action “underlines the UK’s increasingly robust enforcement of the Russia sanctions regime in support of Ukraine and sends clear compliance lessons to industry,” OFSI said.

Bloomberg

SUSTAINABILITY

UN's Guterres urges AI firms to detail environmental impact

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged AI companies to disclose their environmental impact, including carbon emissions, water, and land usage. Speaking at London Climate Action Week, he proposed the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, as he highlighted the need for standardised reporting. Mr Guterres noted that data centres, which support AI, accounted for 1.5% of global electricity consumption in 2025. This is projected to rise to nearly 3% by 2030. “By 2030, [data centres] could use ⁠more power than all but five countries – and enough water to meet the basic needs of all 1.3 billion residents of sub‑Saharan Africa for an entire year,” he said. “If AI is to help build a better future, it must be honest about what it costs us now.”

Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

Kenya labour minister accused over Russian forced recruitment

Hundreds of Kenyans who were promised well-paid civilian jobs in Russia ended up being forced to sign contracts with the Russian army, often at gunpoint. While Kenya officially estimates that 291 of its citizens have been victims of Russia's "irregular military recruitment" - including 19 who are now dead and 32 missing - a report by the Kenyan intelligence services puts the total at more than 1,000 and says officials were complicit. Three senior Kenyan sources have told AFP that Labour Minister Mutua was personally and politically involved in the scam. Mutua was questioned by parliament in 2025 about recruitment fraud for workers destined for the Gulf, but so far has escaped reprimand.

Bangkok Post

France 24

US teens struggle to find summer jobs

Finding summer employment is increasingly difficult for American teens, with only about one-third of 16- to 19-year-olds employed last summer, a significant drop from 60% in the late 1970s. Experts like Nicole Bachaud from ZipRecruiter note that teens are among the “most marginalised groups” in the labour market. Jaune Little, director of recruiting services at the human resources company Insperity, says some entry-level jobs have been eliminated and teens now compete with more experienced candidates for the remaining ones. “A lot of the entry-level roles that once existed simply do not any longer,” Little says. “Those that do exist are on leaner teams that have less ability and desire to develop and train someone. In many instances, they are prioritising more skilled workers even if they are overqualified.”

U.S. News

Singapore leaders rate their managers as only ‘modestly effective'

Senior leaders in Singapore rated their organisations' managers as only “modestly effective” in developing and engaging employees, according to the Singapore Workplace Report 2026. The report, released by the Singapore Institute of Directors and Gallup, revealed that managers received an average score of 3.32 out of five. The report found that only 14% of employees in Singapore were engaged at work in 2025 - significantly below the South-east Asia average of 25% and the global mean of 20%. The remaining 86% of disengaged workers are said to be costing the economy an estimated US$73.6bn in lost productivity annually. A press statement accompanying the report said “low engagement is transitioning from a cultural concern to a strategic liability.”

Business Times SG

OTHER

Beer can boost ‘spiritual or mental’ health, says Kirin president

Takeshi Minakata, a top executive at Kirin, Japan’s second-biggest brewer, has said beer’s role in fostering wellbeing from “a spiritual or mental health perspective” should not be overlooked.

Financial Times

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