President-elect Donald Trump has reiterated his stance to thwart a $15 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese corporation once he assumes the presidency, asserting that the former titan of American industry can regain its footing independently. In a statement on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared, "We will revitalize U.S. Steel through strategic tax incentives and tariffs, ensuring its strength and greatness. As President, I will prevent this acquisition from proceeding. Buyer Beware!!"

Employers are well aware that their success hinges on their ability to attract and retain top talent. However, there are instances where they might prefer certain employees to leave voluntarily, rather than just the underperformers they would typically dismiss. Instead of passively hoping for their departure, some employers resort to creating conditions that, while perfectly legal, encourage employees to resign.

The incoming President, Donald Trump, has pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, a move that would constitute the most extensive deportation initiative in U.S. history. However, financial experts on Wall Street are skeptical that the scale of the immigration enforcement will match the grand promises made during Trump's campaign. A recent Goldman Sachs survey indicates that only a small fraction, 6%, of investors anticipate that net immigration—calculated as the balance between arrivals and departures—will become negative under Trump's tenure. This suggests that the financial sector is wagering on the likelihood that the number of individuals entering the U.S. will surpass those being deported, despite the stringent measures promised by Trump. This outlook could be a relief to business owners who have expressed concerns that mass deportations, as repeatedly threatened by Trump, would lead to labor shortages and increased costs for consumers.

Minnesota-based food production colossus, Cargill, is implementing a workforce reduction of approximately 5% due to a decline in food commodity prices. Recognized by Forbes as the largest privately-owned company in the United States, Cargill also holds the title of the world's leading trader in agricultural commodities. In a recent statement, the corporation disclosed that these adjustments are in alignment with a "long-term strategy" that was initiated earlier this year. Cargill plays a pivotal role in the ingredients sector, acting as a distributor of grains, meats, and other agricultural products on a global scale. The company experienced significant profits during the pandemic era, largely due to inflation and geopolitical tensions that caused food prices to fluctuate wildly. However, the current trend shows a decrease in grocery prices.

Unanticipated and unwelcome, a brand notorious for its association with corporate malfeasance has seemingly risen from the ashes, more than two decades after its infamous downfall. Yes, you heard it right: Enron is making a comeback, albeit in a peculiar fashion. To summarize succinctly: An apparel company has acquired the Enron trademark and seems to be leveraging it to promote merchandise for the creator of the tongue-in-cheek conspiracy theory "Birds Aren't Real." No, this is not a joke.

The era of Gemini AI Assistant as a standalone application has arrived, now gracing the iOS platform. The app, which has been recently spotted in select regions, is now broadly accessible as of Wednesday. It's important to distinguish this from the Gemini AI Assistant integrated within Google's app on iOS; while the functionalities are comparable, the standalone app offers a more streamlined experience. Users can interact with Gemini through text or voice queries and even enhance their inquiries by attaching images.

On July 14, 2023, Workday's Chief Executive Officer, Carl Eschenbach, attended the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. However, the company's stock experienced a decline of up to 11% in after-hours trading following the release of a quarterly forecast that fell short of market expectations. For the fiscal fourth quarter, Workday projected an adjusted operating margin of 25% with subscription revenue of $2.03 billion, which was below the 25.5% margin and $2.04 billion in subscription revenue anticipated by analysts from StreetAccount.

Saving money has become my top priority in recent times. I've meticulously reviewed my subscriptions, canceling those that I no longer use. I scrutinize my bank statements on a monthly basis. I've even made the investment in a bamboo whisk to prepare my own matcha lattes at home. However, I encountered a persistent obstacle when it came to economizing on my mobile phone plan. My previous carrier had recently hiked the rates for my plan and introduced an additional monthly charge. Despite this, I felt somewhat powerless, as I simply cannot do without my phone.

Dutch scaleup Lumicks has recently secured a substantial €20 million investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB), aimed at accelerating the discovery of immunotherapy drugs for cancer. This venture debt funding will enable Lumicks to further develop and market its innovative cell avidity analyzer, a device with the potential to revolutionize the way researchers study and develop treatments for Europe's second most deadly disease. Lumicks' technology allows scientists to collect real-time data on the interactions between immune cells and cancer cells, offering a more direct and precise approach compared to traditional methods that rely on indirect biomarkers.

OroraTech, a Munich-based innovative enterprise, has successfully raised €25 million in funding to enhance its AI-driven wildfire detection technology. The investment round was spearheaded by Korys, the investment division of the Colruyt family, a Belgian nobility. Additionally, the European Union's Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) and Bayern Kapital, an existing investor, participated in the funding. This capital injection will be instrumental in propelling OroraTech into its next phase of expansion, with ambitions to extend its reach to international markets beyond Europe and to continually improve its proprietary technology.

In the heart of Germany's bustling innovation scene, a startup named Vay has captured the spotlight with its groundbreaking teledriving technology. Recently bolstered by a substantial €34 million investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB), Vay is gearing up to transform the urban transportation landscape, not just in Germany but across Europe. This funding, a testament to Vay's potential, follows the successful launch of a commercial remote-controlled car service in Las Vegas earlier this year, signaling a new era in mobility solutions.

OpenAI, the innovator behind ChatGPT, has introduced a groundbreaking AI system named Strawberry, which transcends the capabilities of its predecessors by incorporating the ability to reason. This advancement, while impressive, has sparked significant concerns. If Strawberry is indeed capable of reasoning, could it potentially deceive or manipulate humans?

Renowned filmmaker James Cameron, celebrated for his work on blockbusters such as "Avatar," "Terminator," and "Titanic," has recently taken a bold step into the realm of artificial intelligence by joining the board of Stability.AI, a prominent entity in the Generative AI sector. This move comes as a surprise to some, considering Cameron's past portrayal of AI in his "Terminator" franchise, where Skynet, an artificial general intelligence, becomes a threat to humanity. However, it seems the director is now embracing the technology, which he views as a significant advancement in the field of cinematic visual effects.

With Donald Trump on the brink of re-entering the White House, his policy priorities are set to encompass the oversight of artificial intelligence (AI), a technology that could be the most influential of our era. The President-elect has pledged to "reduce unnecessary regulations" and has enlisted the help of tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is also known for his skepticism towards government regulations, to spearhead this initiative. Specifically, the Republican Party's election platform has indicated its intention to rescind an extensive executive order issued by President Joe Biden. This order outlined measures to mitigate AI's national security threats and to prevent discrimination by AI systems, among other objectives. The Republican platform labeled the executive order as containing "radical leftist ideas" that impede innovation. Sandra Wachter, a professor of technology and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, is closely monitoring the unfolding situation. She asserts that AI is fraught with risks that "should have been addressed long ago" through robust regulation. Here are some of the perils associated with unregulated AI.

Microsoft reported that the majority of its Outlook and Teams services were back online by Monday evening, following a technical disruption that lasted for over 24 hours. On Tuesday afternoon, the company confirmed that all services had been fully restored. At the height of the outage, the tracking platform Downdetector indicated over 5,000 user-reported issues, although this figure does not capture the full extent of the disruption. In an update on X, Microsoft stated shortly before 11:00 p.m. ET, "We have restored functionality for all impacted services except for Outlook on the web, which remains affected for a small subset of users. We are actively monitoring the situation and working on a comprehensive resolution." By Monday afternoon, Microsoft had observed some improvements after implementing a fix for the issue, and the number of outage reports on Downdetector had significantly decreased.

Dawn Aerospace, a pioneering aerospace company, has achieved a remarkable feat by successfully conducting a supersonic test flight of its rocket-powered aircraft, the Mk-II Aurora. This historic event took place on New Zealand's South Island, where the aircraft surpassed the speed of sound, reaching Mach 1.1 and soaring to an altitude of 25 kilometers. This accomplishment marks a significant milestone, as it is the first time since the Concorde that a civilian aircraft has broken the sound barrier. The test follows a previous achievement in August, where the Aurora reached Mach 0.92, which was already a substantial increase from its earlier test in 2023, tripling the speed and quintupling the altitude.

In the quest for sustainable solutions, Meta has joined forces with the Dutch startup VSParticle (VSP), a collaboration that has yielded remarkable results in the realm of nanoporous materials. This alliance has not only secured a $14 million funding boost for VSP, bringing its Series C round to a total of $40 million, but has also led to the synthesis of 525 AI-guided recipes into nanomaterials known as electrocatalysts。

UK-based scaleup Tokamak Energy has recently raised $125 million, marking a significant step towards harnessing fusion energy—a clean and virtually inexhaustible power source that fuels the Sun and stars.

A pioneering British startup, Surf Security, has unveiled the beta release of what it asserts to be the world's inaugural browser equipped with an inbuilt capability to identify AI-generated deepfakes.

A Dutch startup, Skytree, is poised to implement its innovative carbon-capture technology in a groundbreaking carbon sequestration initiative in Texas, United States. The ambitious project, named "Project Concho," is a $100 million Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility with the initial goal of extracting 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, with a long-term vision to increase this capacity to 500,000 metric tons. The captured carbon will be securely stored beneath the surface at the site. Skytree has confirmed that the facility is expected to commence operations in 2028.

In the serene expanse of Sweden's innovation landscape, a startup named Candela has emerged as a beacon of progress, securing a staggering $14 million in funding and elevating its Series C round to an impressive $40 million. This financial triumph has propelled the company's overall funding to nearly $90 million, a testament to the growing recognition of its groundbreaking work in the realm of electric passenger vessels.