The Guardian reported that the family of Adrian Howe, a former mobile phone store manager found drowned days before his new Vodafone franchise was due to open, was pressing the government to introduce protections for franchisees. The family said they believed fears the deal would prove financially ruinous had led him to take his own life.
TechCrunch reported that Monday.com became the latest technology company to name artificial intelligence as a stated factor in job cuts this year. The outlet is keeping a running, reverse-chronological list of major tech employers that announced significant layoffs while citing AI, placing Monday.com alongside roughly twenty other firms. It did not specify how many roles were affected.
The Financial Times reported that fast-fashion retailers are gaining ground in India, with chains such as Zudio drawing cost-conscious shoppers through cut-price designs and contemporary stores. The trend marks a shift away from traditional bazaars and saris toward modern retail formats, as brands compete for a growing base of value-focused Indian consumers in a fast-changing market.
Team Spoon defeated Team Coop 129-122 in the WNBA All-Star Game, ESPN and Yahoo Sports reported. New York Liberty's Jonquel Jones took game MVP honours with 22 points, finishing two assists shy of a triple-double, while Caitlin Clark added 17 for the winners. Fans jeered commissioner Cathy Engelbert during the post-game presentation.
More than 300,000 people fled homes and holiday accommodation as wildfires spread across parts of Europe, according to Guardian coverage. The report described one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuation operations ever carried out in France, with fires also burning in Spain. Earlier figures in the same coverage cited more than 250,000 people displaced across the two countries.
The New York Times reported that the technology industry is divided over whether open-source AI models from China should circulate freely in the United States or face restrictions. Anthropic and OpenAI are pushing to limit access, according to the report, clashing with much of the rest of the sector, which favors keeping the Chinese models openly available.
The Financial Times reported that China is channeling funding into green-energy deals through its Belt and Road Initiative, capitalizing on rising appetite for renewables as the Iran conflict drags on. Separately, Investing.com noted analysts questioning whether Chinese oil consumption will stay strong enough to support crude prices, leaving the outlook for global energy markets uncertain amid the Middle East tensions.
Liverpool beat Sunderland 4-2 in a pre-season friendly in Nashville, marking Andoni Iraola's first match in charge, the Guardian and Sky Sports reported. The new head coach's side produced what Sky Sports called an impressive display, though an injury to Joe Gomez forced a central defence of two teenagers and deepened concerns over Iraola's defensive options.
Venezuelan men sent last year to a high-security prison in El Salvador under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown sued the US aviation companies that transported them, the Guardian reported. The lawsuit named CSI Aviation and GlobalX and accused them of violating the men's civil rights by flying them to the facility.
Harvard Magazine reported on research arguing that humans have not stopped evolving, describing continuing selective pressure acting on human genes. The article contends that natural selection still shapes the species rather than having halted with modern medicine and technology, and it circulated on Hacker News, where it drew dozens of reader comments.