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Gerstner was chair and CEO at a time when the firm was struggling for relevance faced with rivals such as MicrosoftLouis Gerstner, the businessman credited with turning around IBM, has died aged 83, the company announced on Sunday.Gerstner was chair and CEO of IBM from 1993 to 2002, a time when the company was struggling for relevance in the face of competition from rivals such as Microsoft and Sun Microsystems. Continue reading......

More young people are following the money and going into trades like construction where AI can't easily replace themWhile standing on the sideline watching a high school soccer game, my friend, who owned a small and successful construction company, complained that his son – a senior – was starting at a respected local university that fall, which would cost roughly $200,000 over the next four years.“I could take the same money and set him up in a contracting business,” he said. “It would be a much better investment.” Continue reading......

Silver rose sharply in December, part of a precious metals rally that also pushed gold and platinum to record levelsA surge in the price of silver to record highs this month has prompted a warning from Elon Musk that manufacturers could suffer the consequences.Silver has risen sharply during December, part of a precious metals rally that also pushed gold and platinum to record levels on Boxing Day. Continue reading......

The chipmaker's sprawling partnerships are driving extraordinary growth but also bank its future on the AI boom paying off quicklyNvidia is, in crucial ways, nothing like Enron – the Houston energy giant that imploded through multibillion-dollar accounting fraud in 2001. Nor is it similar to companies such as Lucent or Worldcom that folded during the dotcom bubble.But the fact that it needs to reiterate this to its investors is less than ideal. Continue reading......

Looking at the government's own report cards, how did the US fare under the first year of Trumponomics 2.0?The US economy is thriving, according to Donald Trump: jobs are surging, prices are falling, wages are soaring. The government's own official statistics paint a more complicated picture of 2025.“The Trump Economic Golden Age is FULL steam ahead,” the president claimed on social media, after growth data for the third quarter of the year – covering July, August and September – was unexpectedly strong. Continue reading......

Productivity is up in retail and other low-paying sectors as tech replaces relatively expensive humans Walk through a supermarket and the technology is everywhere. Self-service checkouts, electronic shelf labels, handheld barcode scanners, and the video screens showing you – caught by AI facial recognition cameras – leaving the shop.In an economy struggling for growth, the encroachment of these machines in our everyday lives could be an early sign of a new dawn – a tech-driven renaissance in activity, after years of flatlining growth in productivity and stalled business investment. No bad thing. Continue reading......

In towns such as Northampton, in-person help with finances is a promise many customers still depend upon On a crisp Friday morning in early December, Abington Street in Northampton is starting to stir. Despite having lost high street stalwarts like Marks & Spencer, Moss Bros and H&M in recent years, it is drawing in locals for one end-of-week errand: banking.Along the pedestrianised road, customers are streaming in and out of HSBC, Barclays, Metro Bank and the building society Nationwide. But it is a rare scene that defies a wider trend: more than 6,000 bank branches in the UK have closed since 2015 as bosses try to cut costs and push millions of customers towards online services. Continue reading......

Company owners say bonus was unrelated to water business and complied with ban after pollution convictionThe former chief executive of Wessex Water received a £170,000 bonus from its parent company last year despite a ban on performance-related pay after criminal pollution failures on his watch.Colin Skellett received a total of £693,000 in pay from the water company's Malaysian-owned parent company, YTL Utilities (UK), including the bonus, according to its accounts up to June 2025. Continue reading......

Both industries dominate the world but now face fundamental transformation and uncertainty at homeSouth Korea's entertainment dominance appears unshakeable. From BTS conquering global charts to Parasite sweeping the Oscars in 2020 and Korean dramas topping Netflix, Korean popular culture has never been more visible. Exports driven by the country's arts hit a record $15.18bn (£11bn) in 2024, cementing the country's reputation as a cultural superpower.But inside South Korea, the two industries that helped build the Korean Wave – cinema and K-pop – are now experiencing fundamental transformations, with their survival strategies potentially undermining the creative foundations of their success. Continue reading......

Balkan country will become 21st country to adopt EU currency, with policymakers hoping move will boost economy Bulgaria is preparing to adopt the euro in January amid fresh domestic political turbulence and fears that Russia-aligned disinformation is deepening distrust of the new currency.The Balkan country of 6.5 million people will become the 21st country to join the eurozone on 1 January, as policymakers in Brussels and Sofia hope it will boost the economy of the EU's poorest nation and cement its pro-western trajectory. Continue reading......

GMB union says 30,000 claims settled with six local councils for average of £30,000 and expects 10,000 more in 2026Equal pay settlements for female workers at local councils have passed the £1bn mark, with thousands more expected next year.Legal claims have been brought against local councils on behalf of people in female-dominated roles, such as cleaners or carers, who for years have been denied the conditions and benefits given to employees in traditionally male-dominated jobs. Continue reading......

Alondra Sotelo Garcia took over her father's business when he was deported to Mexico after three decades in the USAlondra Sotelo Garcia saw the same headlines as everybody else. Masked immigration agents making increasingly bold arrests. Community members disappearing without warning.As the middle child of immigrants, she feared for her parents. She started tracking her father's iPhone location, put in her two weeks' notice at her job, and told her father she wanted to start working at the vineyard management company he founded after decades in the wine industry. Continue reading......

Low-quality AI-generated content is now saturating social media – and generating about $117m a year, data showsMore than 20% of the videos that YouTube's algorithm shows to new users are “AI slop” – low-quality AI-generated content designed to farm views, research has found.The video-editing company Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world's most popular YouTube channels – the top 100 in every country – and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop. Continue reading......

Rightwing parties want to follow in US's footsteps of minimal government intervention, but at what cost?Next month, Donald Trump will welcome a poverty-stricken family to peruse his plans for a $300m glitzy state ballroom in the White House. The event will be staged as part of National Poverty in America Awareness Month, the time every year when charities document the number of US residents surviving on low incomes.Of course, the president will do no such thing, preferring to summon the press to watch him rub shoulders with the billionaire class as he did at last month's black tie dinner for the Saudi ruler and his entourage. Continue reading......

Trump is using the presidency as a branding opportunity. He's slapping his name on as many buildings, monuments and government projects as he canIn 2011, Donald Trump published a book with the self-help guru Robert Kiyosaki titled Midas Touch. It's a typical self-empowerment manual in which the pair expound on the secrets of entrepreneurial success while drawing on their personal experiences. At one point, they write, “Building a brand may be more important than building a business.”That was certainly Trump's approach to business: he was the New York real estate tycoon who turned his fame into a brand that symbolized luxury and savvy strategy – even if his companies had filed for bankruptcy six times. Trump spent decades trying to use his name to turn a profit: he owned an airline and a university, and slapped his moniker on vodka, steaks, neckties, board games and even bottled water. Leveraging the fame he gained from the Apprentice TV show, he expanded to licensing Trump-branded global real est...

Mysterious donors gave a fleet of 10 of the vehicles – which have had a number of recalls – to the police earlier this yearThe Las Vegas police department rolled out a new fleet of tactical vehicles to city streets last month: all Tesla Cybertrucks. The steel cars, wrapped in black-and-white vinyl, come decked out with warning lights and flashing sirens on the roof. They seem to be heftier, more angular versions of a traditional police car. Las Vegas is the first city in the US to grant its officers access to a battalion of the futuristic trucks, which have become synonymous with the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world.“They represent something far bigger than just a police car,” Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a recent press conference showcasing the vehicles. “They represent innovation.” Continue reading......

Stockton's JobsPlus is a pilot scheme with caseworkers who connect individual people with potential jobs, providing direct financial help where necessary“We've had quite a few people on the estate get jobs,” says Bryan Stokell, who found work as a full-time security guard thanks to Stockton-on-Tees's JobsPlus project. The 47-year-old father has since become a “community champion”, encouraging his neighbours to enrol.“It got to the point where even my little boy was coming home and saying, 'my friend's mam and dad are looking for work',” he grins. “They [the project] have a lot of contacts, they can open doors into places.” Continue reading......

West Somerset Lagoon would harness renewable energy for UK's AI boom – and create 'iconic' arc around Bristol ChannelThe architect of the London Eye wants to build a vast tidal power station in a 14-mile arc off the coast of Somerset that could help Britain meet surging electricity demand to power artificial intelligence – and create a new race track to let cyclists skim over the Bristol Channel.Julia Barfield, who designed the Eye and the i360 observation tower in Brighton, is part of a team that has drawn up the £11bn proposal. It would curve from Minehead to Watchet and use 125 underwater turbines to harness the power of the second-highest tidal range in the world. Continue reading......

Royals are expected to make separate trips after Donald Trump paused implementation of agreementKing Charles III and the Prince of Wales are expected to make separate trips to the US in 2026 as part of a campaign to revitalise a trade deal with Donald Trump, it has been reported.Advanced talks on a visit by the king are said to be under way, the Times reported. The paper suggested that Charles's visit to the US was likely to take place in April. Continue reading......

You really want me to review my buy? Yes, it was fine. But that is where I would like our relationship to end When I buy something online, I don't want to receive more than two emails: one to confirm my order has been received, and another to tell me when it will be delivered. The numerous notifications we receive while browsing, buying and then waiting for delivery are presumably meant to be reassuring. But since when is harassment reassuring?Imagine a world in which the second you walk into a shop, someone taps you on the shoulder and asks: “Can I help you today?” Then someone asks for your email address in exchange for a 5% discount. When you find what you are looking for and place it in your basket, this instigates more nuisance. “Hurry! Twenty-one other people have this in their basket too!” Of course 21 other people have this in their basket, it's shower gel and a significant number of people shower. This doesn't make you rush. It makes you thrilled that the consensus remains in favour of...