Author: staff

General Motors swung to a loss in the fourth quarter on huge charges related to China, but still topped profit and revenue expectations on Wall Street. The automaker is also taking a proactive approach with the United States government on regulations and doling out generous profit-sharing payouts to thousands of workers.Last month, GM cautioned that the poor performance of its Chinese joint ventures would force it to write down assets and take a restructuring charge totalling more than $5 billion (€4.8bn) in the fourth quarter.China has become an increasingly difficult market for foreign automakers, with BYD and other domestic companies…

Being part of the EU would ensure Greenland has “protection,” he added. “In a common society, you are secured economically and politically.” Trump has said it is an “absolute necessity” for the U.S. to gain control of Greenland and has refused to rule out using military force to acquire the island. His increasingly aggressive overtures have sparked crisis talks in Copenhagen and other European capitals, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen dashing between Berlin, Brussels and Paris this week to shore up support. Greenland, a self-ruling Danish territory, voted in a referendum to leave the European Communities, a precursor to the EU, in…

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba released a new artificial intelligence model on Wednesday and claims it outperforms its rival DeepSeek. The timely announcement comes after Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek rattled the markets on Monday and prompted a tech-led selloff in the US and Europe after the company claimed its AI is more cost-effective and performs better than leading US models.Alibaba now claims its new AI model, Qwen 2.5-Max, an open-source, is even more impressive than that of DeepSeek, putting pressure on its domestic and overseas rivals. The e-commerce giant said Qwen 2.5-Max is also able to outperform OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Meta’s…

Despite the high adoption rate, “profound disparities persist,” an expert said about using AI tools in job search. More than three out of four job seekers – some 77 per cent – say they have already used artificial intelligence (AI) when looking for employment, according to a new French survey.Automatic recommendations offered by platforms like LinkedIn are the most used AI tool with 63 per cent of the respondents having used it at least once. Over three people out of 10 said they had used chatbots when looking for a new job.”The results of this study are very positive overall on…

In the weeds: After a successful PMQs probing the government’s education legislation, Badenoch dug into the specifics on that workers’ rights plan. Starmer wasn’t having any of it and would not be “taking lectures from” the party of short-lived Tory Prime Minister Liz Truss. On the dole: Badenoch charged that Stramer didn’t want to focus on specifics because he “doesn’t know about” his own government’s plans. She even bagged a telling off from Speaker Lindsay Hoyle for accusing Starmer of misleading the Commons. Raising a businesswoman who is “struggling to keep her head above water, dreading what this government will…

Friedrich Merz, the country’s favourite to become next chancellor, will bring his proposals to parliament even if it means collecting support from the AfD. The leader of Germany’s largest opposition party, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to bring immediate changes to the country’s asylum law before parliament — even if it means collecting votes from the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Merz, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate for chancellor in the upcoming election, has been accused of backtracking on his position of not working with the far-right party and breaking the so-called “firewall” against it to pass the measures. His plan…

The former U.K. business secretary claimed the comments were made at a “time in Britain … with very fraught politics and there was high emotion about many things in Britain at that time.” The incoming ambassador went on to lavish Trump with praise, claiming the 47th president “has won fresh respect” with his “dynamism and energy.” Mandelson, whose appointment is still subject to final rubber-stamping, will be the first non-career diplomat to take up the post in more than half a century, replacing Karen Pierce who has been widely praised across party lines. The news of Mandelson’s nomination initially drew…

US President Donald Trump has ordered most foreign assistance to be halted for 90 days pending a review, causing alarm among aid agencies worldwide. From life-saving HIV treatment to shelter for refugees to food for malnourished children, US-funded aid projects around the world are being paused, downsized or scrapped due to the Trump administration’s unprecedented freeze on almost all foreign assistance.US President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order suspending development assistance funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for 90 days, during which time his administration will review which of the thousands of humanitarian, development and…

“I am happy if the survey is an expression that many Greenlanders will be able to see continued close cooperation with Denmark,” Frederiksen said Tuesday. The survey was conducted by research company Verian for national newspaper Sermitsiaq in Greenland and media outlet Berlingske in Denmark. Trump has called taking ownership of the Arctic island an “absolute necessity” and refused to rule out using military force or economic coercion to do so. He reportedly ramped up his threats in a fiery 45-minute phone call with Frederiksen earlier this month. However, Trump has been repeatedly rebuffed by both Copenhagen and Nuuk, with the Danish prime…

BERLIN — A taboo-breaking gambit from Germany’s likely next chancellor to crack down on migration with the help of far-right lawmakers looks to be paying off — at least for now. The German parliament is set to debate conservative leader Friedrich Merz’s plans for tougher migration measures, with votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party potentially giving Merz the parliamentary majority he requires to push through a law to sharply cut migration. The move is hugely significant weeks ahead of a national election because Germany’s mainstream political parties have long sought to maintain a Brandmauer, or “firewall,” around…