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North America
CNBC Economy

Bank of England chief warns new AI models threaten global financial stability

The growing threat posed by advanced artificial intelligence models could trigger a disorderly correction in global financial markets, according to Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey. In a two-page letter published Monday to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, Bailey said the emergence of so-called "frontier AI models" is showing "increasingly sophisticated autonomy and problem-solving abilities, as well as threat capabilities." Writing in his capacity as chair of the Financial Stability Board, an international body that coordinates policy and makes recommendations to national authorities, Bailey identified the potential impact of frontier AI — which refers to the most advanced AI models — on cyber risk as "the most immediate concern" for the financial system. "Frontier AI may have the ability materially to alter the speed, scale and economics of cyber risk, which could undermine market confidence system-wide, especially due to highly concentrated third-party service providers," Bailey said. "Recent developments have also highlighted to me that many jurisdictions do not have the protocols in place to manage the development, release, and deployment of advanced frontier AI models, heightening risks for the financial sector and beyond," he added. The letter adds to a growing chorus of warnings about the dangers associated with advanced AI and comes shortly after a series of high-profile incidents in which flagship models tested by Anthropic and OpenAI breached testing safeguards. Financial institutions and technology providers will need to improve vulnerability management, response and recovery capabilities — "and prepare for more severe scenarios involving simultaneous disruption across multiple firms or shared technology dependencies," Bailey said. Alongside new AI models, Bailey cited "fragilities" in sovereign debt markets, the growing use of debt by investors in equity markets and stretched asset valuations, particularly AI-related investments, as among his concerns. The U.S. is hosting the G20 summit in North Carolina this week, convening finance ministers, central bank governors and other senior officials from the world's leading economies to discuss global economic priorities. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Bank of England chief warns new AI models threaten global financial stability
Europe
BBC Business

Stock up on food to prepare for extreme weather, minister warns

Image source, Getty ImagesByArchie MitchellBusiness reporterPublished1 hour agoHouseholds should stock up on food to prepare for extreme weather as the strongest El Niño event in a generation develops over the Pacific Ocean, a government minister has warned. Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle told the Guardian the powerful natural climate phenomenon will lead to "more extreme storms in this country". Her comments came as the National Audit Office (NAO) warned Britain's food supply chain is at risk given the growing threat of cyber-attacks and the climate crisis. The NAO said the government was too reliant on the private sector to deal with food supply disruption. The government is due to unveil a strategy about preparing for national emergencies later this year. Dame Angela said, external: "We're about to experience probably the largest El Niño that has ever been seen, and that will lead to drier summers, wetter winters, with more extreme storms in this country. "It will do a lot more damage in Asia with flooding, and therefore I think that we need to take it seriously. "If you've got a store of a bit of food that can keep you going for a while before the emergency services can get to you, you're going to be a lot better off than if you haven't. "So some of it is that kind of preparation for just being a bit more resilient." Her comments came as an NAO report warned Britain's food supply chain is vulnerable to plant or human disease outbreaks, cyber-attacks and extreme weather. It also cited climate change as a longer-term chronic risk which could leave Britain's food supply at risk. The disruptions could push up prices and leave vulnerable people struggling to buy food, it said. The NAO said the Department for Food, the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) was too reliant on private companies to handle disruptions to food supply.

Stock up on food to prepare for extreme weather, minister warns
Europe
The Guardian

Fox News Media abruptly ousts longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo

Maria Bartiromo during Fox Business Network's show Mornings with Maria in Washington DC. Photograph: Paul Morigi/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenMaria Bartiromo during Fox Business Network's show Mornings with Maria in Washington DC. Photograph: Paul Morigi/Getty ImagesFox NewsFox News Media abruptly ousts longtime anchor Maria BartiromoBartiromo had been a host at the network for more than a decade and Fox gave no explanation for the decision Fox News Media on Thursday abruptly ousted one of its most well-known hosts and anchors, Maria Bartiromo, without providing an explanation. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” the network said in a press release, adding in a statement: “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 and a half years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.” Bartiromo was one of the busiest anchors for the company, hosting a three-hour weekday morning show for the Fox Business Network and the Sunday morning Fox News show Sunday Morning Futures. But Bartiromo has been off the air since early August, with no reason given for her departure, though television hosts regularly take time off during the summer. Bartiromo, who distinguished herself as a financial journalist for CNBC known as “the money hunny” in the 1990s, had in recent years became known primarily for her fervent support for Donald Trump. Bartiromo has regularly been effusive in her praise of the president, and has dined with him on multiple occasions. In January 2025, she sat at Trump’s table for a dinner held for his inauguration. “The world is watching 47 as he is sworn in less than 3-hours thank you @potus47 for this honor and for your dedication and love of this great nation,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. A few months later, she posted a photo of her dining at the White House with Trump and Steven Cheung, his communications director. “Thank you Mr President for your graciousness, your leadership and your protection of this great nation,” she wrote in a caption on Instagram. Bartiromo was a prominent part of two separate defamation lawsuits against Fox News Media owing to the network’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election. One of those lawsuits, filed by Dominion Voting Systems, was settled in April 2023, while another case filed by Smartmatic remains ongoing. Internal communications released as part of the Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits showed that Bartiromo was open to the theory that the 2020 election had been rigged in favor of Joe Biden. “#1 story all trump supporters want right now is stop the steal,” she wrote in a message to a producer. “They do not believe the ejection [sic] was fair or honest. So fox needs to cover it.” (In depositions, Bartiromo denied knowledge that the claims of election fraud were false, as the voting technology companies had contended.) Documents released in the Smartmatic case also showed that Bartiromo had made $70m in her career at Fox. It’s unclear whether Bartiromo might be considered for a job in the Trump administration, as some of her fellow colleagues have been. Last spring, Bartiromo and her fellow Fox News host Laura Ingraham were appointed to the board of the Kennedy Center. Some conservatives have suggested that she could be a candidate for White House press secretary.

Fox News Media abruptly ousts longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo
Europe
BBC Business

Prosecco, cakes and beauty products - how to get birthday freebies and why there's a catch

"It's your birthday!" Cue the influx of emails offering you all sorts of freebies. Sign up to the right apps and loyalty schemes and you could spend the day enjoying free cake, meals out, beauty treats and even cinema snacks. Here are some of the things you can get on or around your birthday - and why they may not all be as free as they seem. Most chain coffee shops and bakeries offer a birthday treat through their loyalty apps. You can get a free sweet treat, usually a cake, cookie, muffin or doughnut, from Greggs, Costa, Caffè Nero, Krispy Kreme, Gail's, Subway and Ole & Steen if you have registered your date of birth in advance. Lidl Plus members can claim a free bakery doughnut within seven days of their birthday, while M&S Sparks members can choose two gifts on their birthday from a range of 15 which includes cookies and chocolates. Hotel Chocolat gives members a £5 birthday reward with a minimum spend of £5.50 and Lindt offers a free box of truffles when you meet its minimum spend requirement. Some fast-food chains offer a free birthday meal or snack - Burger King members can claim a free Whopper or Plant-Based Whopper, while Chopstix offers a free small noodle box. However, most restaurant birthday offers are buy-one-get-one-free deals rather than completely free meals. At Harvester and Zizzi's it's a free main when buying another full-price main. At Frankie & Benny's you get a free main when purchasing two or more main meals. Byron offers a free burger with a £5 minimum spend, while Wagamama offers free gyoza when you spend £12 and have earned at least one stamp on your loyalty card in the last six months. Some chains give money off instead. Turtle Bay offers members a £20 birthday credit with no minimum spend, while Bella Italia gives you £15 off your total bill when you spend a minimum of £30. Las Iguanas offers a free main when two other meals are purchased or a 20% off voucher. Pizza Express birthday rewards depend on your loyalty level. Bronze members may get a free dessert with a £10 spend, while higher tiers can get a free pizza or drinks with a £15 minimum spend.

Prosecco, cakes and beauty products - how to get birthday freebies and why there's a catch
Europe
The Guardian

Nvidia to buy developer platform Hugging Face in $12.9bn deal

Nvidia’s acquisition of Hugging Face will give it direct access to platform developers use to collaborate, test and share tools. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/ReutersView image in fullscreenNvidia’s acquisition of Hugging Face will give it direct access to platform developers use to collaborate, test and share tools. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/ReutersNvidiaNvidia to buy developer platform Hugging Face in $12.9bn dealSemi-conductor giant bets that support for open AI models could offset potential slowdown in demand for chips Nvidia will buy the popular developer platform Hugging Face for nearly $13bn, betting that support for ⁠open AI models could offset a potential slowdown in demand for the semiconductor giant’s chips. Shares ⁠in Nvidia were ⁠slightly lower ​after the $12.93bn (£9.57bn) deal – which ranks among its biggest ever – was announced for the database of AI models on Thursday. Hugging Face, based in New York and backed by the likes of Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Amazon, was founded in 2016 by the French entrepreneurs Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf. Nvidia is already a major open AI player in the US with ⁠its widely used Nemotron model and vocal support for the technology. Acquiring Hugging Face will give it direct access to a platform developers use to ⁠collaborate and test and share tools, potentially providing insight and data that could help it narrow the ​technology gap with top American and ‌Chinese labs. “Nvidia gains visibility into customer’s preferences and the AI models they use,” said Naveen Chhabra, principal analyst at Forrester. “They can see which models are trending, what datasets customers are downloading, and the architectures that are gaining traction weeks before they hit mainstream tech news.” Demand for open-weight models ‌has surged from businesses balking at the steep bill of deploying generative AI. Chinese companies ‌such as DeepSeek, Moonshot and Z.ai have emerged as crucial players with models that can match the best from the US in tasks including generating computer code at a lower cost. There are fears that some US firms could become reliant on Beijing’s models even as both countries race to dominate a technology they see as crucial to their future. The Trump administration has scrambled to respond to the wave of open models from China, weighing whether to restrict their use while also worrying about stifling American businesses that have taken to using them. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, was a signatory of an open letter earlier this year from major tech firms that advocated for open models and warned against government regulation that would stifle their use. Huang pledged that Nvidia would keep Hugging Face open after acquiring it. “Hugging ‌Face will remain an open platform for the entire AI ecosystem,” said Huang, adding that his company’s chips would not be required to ​build on or deploy through Hugging Face. Under the deal, Nvidia will pay about $11.9bn to Hugging Face investors, while offering an equity-based retention program of up to $1bn for employees who join Nvidia.

Nvidia to buy developer platform Hugging Face in $12.9bn deal
Europe
BBC Business

From 'dog fruit' to darling: India's avocado boom

Fifteen years ago there was almost no market for avocados in India, remembers Sunil Bopaiah. Ripe fruit would fall off trees and be eaten by dogs, earning avocados the unappetising name dog fruit, he says. Bopaiah has been working in India's plantation industry for 26 years, he's currently group manager at Cottanad Plantations, which grows cocoa, rubber, coffee, spices and fruits, including avocado, in the hills of Wayanad in the southern Indian state of Kerala. "We never planted avocado as our main crop. We introduced it as a shade tree for coffee plantations, and only later realised it could become a profitable business," he says. He says the turning point was around 2011 when Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty said she used avocado for skincare. Cottanad has responded to that demand by planting avocado trees on 40 acres. Last year they harvested between 10 and 15 tonnes of fruit. In three of four years time they hope to raise that to 40 to 50 tonnes. "We completely changed the way we grow avocados after learning from South African experts. Today we use raised beds, wider spacing and different planting methods because avocado roots are highly vulnerable to diseases," Bopaiah says. "When we studied the market, we found a huge gap between demand and supply. India imports around 15,000 tonnes of avocados every year, while domestic production is only about 8,000–9,000 tonnes," says Manilal Palliyath who helps promote India's avocado industry. He sees a big opportunity for farmers, particularly as traditional crops have suffered. "Coffee and pepper have suffered because of changing climatic conditions, making diversification essential for farmers." Image source, Hunger Inc. HospitalityImage caption, Indian restaurants are offering more avocado dishes "Indian-grown avocados are improving and there are some great farmers working with local varieties, but the quality and availability can vary significantly depending on the season and region," says Hussain Shahzad, the executive chef at Hunger Inc. Hospitality.

From 'dog fruit' to darling: India's avocado boom
North America
CNBC Economy

China's factory activity shrinks for second straight month, contracting less than expected

China's manufacturing activity in August shrank for a second straight month, though by less than market estimates, keeping the pressure on Beijing to support the economy as growth loses momentum. The official purchasing managers' index reading came in at 49.8, compared with 49.2 in July, National Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday, better than Reuters-polled economists' forecast of 49.6. China's economy has come under mounting strain, with growth slowing to 4.3% in the second quarter, the weakest pace since late 2022, as soft domestic demand and a prolonged property slump continue to weigh on activity. The economic malaise deepened further in the second half of this year, as consumer spending stalled, urban investment contracted at a faster pace, and unemployment ticked higher. Retail sales and industrial output both slowed in July, while growth in industrial profits cooled to its weakest pace this year. Exports have been one of the few pillars propping up growth this year, cushioning some of the drag from external shocks as a global boom in AI infrastructure spending lifts demand for Chinese-made tech goods. Outbound shipments recorded double-digit growth for most of this year. Economists expect better growth for the rest of the year, as adverse weather fades and local governments accelerate fiscal spending. Beijing is likely to further accelerate fiscal spending as policymakers have grown increasingly worried over the collapse in urban investment, said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "This should fast-track project approval and fund disbursement." But the effect of such policy expansion will only become more prominent next month, and in the fourth quarter, Xu said, pointing to early signs of recovery in domestic demand. Supply and demand both improved in August, according to the NBS release, with the sub-indexes tracking production and new orders expanding to 50.4 and 50.6, respectively. New export orders rebounded to 50.1 in August from 49.6 in the previous month, signaling a recovery in overseas demand even as the global economy weathered the prolonged Middle East turmoil. The sub-indexes on raw materials inventory and employment, however, were in contractionary territory below the 50-mark threshold.

China's factory activity shrinks for second straight month, contracting less than expected
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

Britain’s Jaguar Land Rover to cut 4,000 jobs over next two years

Jaguar Land Rover, which has major sites in central England, said it was targeting £1.7 billion (S$2.9 billion) of savings. LONDON – British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said on Sept 7 it would cut around 4,000 jobs globally over the next two years as part of a broader plan to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. The manufacturer, which has major sites in central England, said it was targeting £1.7 billion (S$2.9 billion) of savings, lowering its break-even point towards 300,000 vehicles. Owned by India’s Tata Motors, the company confirmed the cuts as finance minister John Healey delivered a speech in nearby Coventry focused on boosting economic growth. The company said it was launching five new products over the next 12 months and that the changes would support investment of £15 to £18 billion over the next five years in electrification, digital technologies, advanced manufacturing and enhanced customer experiences. Business minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sept 6 he would meet chief executive P.B. Balaji this week to discuss the planned job cuts following media reports of the plans. REUTERS

Britain’s Jaguar Land Rover to cut 4,000 jobs over next two years
Europe
BBC Business

Controversial Jackdaw gas field set to be approved in weeks, sources say

The UK government is set to give the go-ahead for a controversial new gas field off the coast of Aberdeen, the BBC understands. Approval for the Jackdaw project could come as soon as mid-September, just before Parliament breaks for party conference season, according to government and industry sources. The gas field was approved by the former Conservative government in 2022 but was delayed by a legal ruling from a Scottish court, after environmental groups successfully argued that consent was given without fully considering the climate impact. Jackdaw's owner says it will provide gas to supply up to 6% of the UK's demand at peak production, but environmental groups say it will only supply 2%. Campaigners launched legal challenges after Jackdaw was approved in 2022 and when the Rosebank oil field off Shetland was given the green light in 2023. The Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled last year that Rosebank and Jackdaw had been unlawfully approved because the government had failed to take into account the climate impact of burning extracted oil and gas from the sites. A judge ruled that more detailed climate assessments had to be published, and these updated estimates were put out for consultation in July. Both Jackdaw and Rosebank are operated by Adura, a joint venture between energy giants Shell and Norway's Equinor. Aberdeen-based firm Ithaca also owns 20% of Rosebank. Adura has estimated that Jackdaw could produce 35.8m tonnes of carbon over its 11-year lifetime, the equivalent of 90% of Scotland's emissions for 2023. But it said a more likely estimate was about 23.6m tonnes - equivalent to 60% of the 2023 figure. Environmentalists insist that more drilling would be unconscionable, hampering efforts to cut planet-warming carbon emissions as deadly heatwaves and extreme weather affect billions across the globe. They also say starting production would not protect energy security and that transitioning sooner to greener technologies would be better for supporting jobs. But industry bodies argue that starting production at the sites would provide much-needed jobs and improve the UK's energy security as overseas conflicts threaten supply.

Controversial Jackdaw gas field set to be approved in weeks, sources say