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The demonstration was fuelled by local anger over fears Britain's sovereign bases have jeopardised the safety of Cypriots following a drone attack on RAF Akrotiri last Sunday.

When Block cut 4,000 jobs — nearly half its workforce — co-founder Jack Dorsey "pointed to AI as the culprit," writes Entrepreneur magazine. "Dorsey claimed that AI tools now allow fewer employees to accomplish the same work." "But analysts see a different explanation: poor management." Block more than tripled its employee base between 2019 and 2022, growing from 3,835 to 12,430 workers. The company's stock had fallen 40% since early 2025, creating pressure to cut costs. "This is more about the business being bloated for so long than it is about AI," Zachary Gunn, a Financial Technology Partners analyst, told Bloomberg. The phenomenon has earned a nickname: "AI-washing," where companies use artificial intelligence as cover for traditional cost-cutting. Goldman Sachs economists estimate that AI is eliminating only 5,000 to 10,000 jobs per month across all U.S. sectors, hardly enough to justify Block's massive cuts. "European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told lawmakers in Brussels last week that ECB economists are monitoring for signs that AI is causing job losses," reports Bloomberg, "and are 'not yet seeing' the 'waves of redundancies that are feared'..." And "a recent survey of global executives published in the Harvard Business Review found that while AI has been cited as the reason for some layoffs, those cuts are almost entirely anticipatory: executives expect big efficiency gains that have not yet been realized." Even a former senior Block executive "is questioning whether AI is truly the reason behind the cuts," writes Inc.: In a recent opinion piece for The New York Times, Aaron Zamost, Block's former head of communications, policy, and people, asked whether the layoffs reflect a genuine "new reality in which the work they do might no longer be viable," or whether artificial intelligence is "just a convenient and flashy new cover for typical corporate downsizing." Zamost acknowledged that the answer is unclear and perhaps unknowable, even within Block itself... Looking more closely at the layoffs, Zamost argued that the specific roles affected suggest more traditional corporate cost-cutting than a sweeping AI transformation... Many of the responsibilities being eliminated, he argued, rely on distinctly human skills that AI systems still cannot replicate. "A chatbot can't meet with the mayor, cast commercial actors, or negotiate with the Securities and Exchange Commission," Zamost wrote. "Not all the roles I've heard that Block is eliminating can be handled by AI, yet executives are treating it as equally useful today to all disciplines." Ultimately, Zamost suggested that the sincerity of companies' AI explanations may not really matter. "It matters less whether a company knows how to deploy AI and more whether investors believe it is on track to do so," he wrote. Indeed, whatever the rationale for Dorsey's statement, " Wall Street didn't seem to mind..." Entrepreneur magazine — since Block's stock shot up 15% after the announcement.

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Now in its 17th year, the top British pair in Sunday's race qualified to represent the nation at the Wife Carrying World Championships, to be held in Finland in July.

Constabulary employees are either pressing the same keys repeatedly or weighing them down with items such as staplers or drink cans to give the impression they are busy.

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, affects 14 million adults in the UK and numbers are rising. Pictured: File photo

Flanco Esposito, who runs La Delizia in Hastings, East Sussex, said the group arrived on February 28, ordered multiple courses and 'ate everything' before raising a complaint.

Walliams was first dumped by Simon Cowell for being cruel, then his Little Britain show was retrospectively branded racist before he was dropped by his publisher for alleged inappropriate behaviour.

A recent social media post has many sounding off on the design of a common household item. Do you know what the tiny hole in nail clippers is used for?

Meta supposedly considering untapped capacity in deal brokered by Nvidia

OpenAI and compute partner Oracle have reportedly abandoned a planned expansion of their flagship Stargate datacenter, after negotiations were stalled by financing and Sam Altman's apparent fear of commitment.…

Remembering the day the Venera 3 impacted Venus

It is 60 years since humanity first got up close and personal with another planet, with the impact of the Soviet Union's Venera 3.…

There are now plans to build hundreds of new homes on the empty site

It's long been one of the UK's most visited tourist spots but, say those who live there, the scales have now tipped in the wrong direction when it comes to visitor numbers.

The Mail on Sunday revealed that Noel quietly split from his girlfriend of two years, Sally Mash, several months ago - and has since 'grown close' to socialite Tori.

Three men struck nine times across the UK while a fourth lay in wait and hid stolen cars for them. Their crime spree lasted nearly a year and used specialist equipment like angle grinders.

Vittoria Figueiredo-Barreto, 30, who is Brazilian, was visiting the UK and had been staying in the Southend area while she considered the option of completing a doctorate degree here.

A skincare expert has shared that a common makeup product could be better at tackling greasy hair than dry shampoo - but it's still not a replacement for washing your hair

The former Duchess of York has spoken fondly of the late Queen and their relationship at seemingly every opportunity, hailing her everything from 'legendary' to an 'invisible hand of love'.

Cornell University makes an announcement. "Employees who are impressed by vague corporate-speak like 'synergistic leadership,' or 'growth-hacking paradigms' may struggle with practical decision-making, a new Cornell study reveals." Published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, research by cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell introduces the Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale (CBSR), a tool designed to measure susceptibility to impressive-but-empty organizational rhetoric... Corporate BS seems to be ubiquitous - but Littrell wondered if it is actually harmful. To test this, he created a "corporate bullshit generator" that churns out meaningless but impressive-sounding sentences like, "We will actualize a renewed level of cradle-to-grave credentialing" and "By getting our friends in the tent with our best practices, we will pressure-test a renewed level of adaptive coherence." He then asked more than 1,000 office workers to rate the "business savvy" of these computer-generated BS statements alongside real quotes from Fortune 500 leaders... The results revealed a troubling paradox. Workers who were more susceptible to corporate BS rated their supervisors as more charismatic and "visionary," but also displayed lower scores on a portion of the study that tested analytic thinking, cognitive reflection and fluid intelligence. Those more receptive to corporate BS also scored significantly worse on a test of effective workplace decision-making. The study found that being more receptive to corporate bullshit was also positively linked to job satisfaction and feeling inspired by company mission statements. Moreover, those who were more likely to fall for corporate BS were also more likely to spread it. Essentially, the employees most excited and inspired by "visionary" corporate jargon may be the least equipped to make effective, practical business decisions for their companies.

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Emergency services were called to Crawley station just after 11.20pm last night following reports a man in his 30s had been injured.

It takes a lifetime to grow your pension savings, and getting it wrong can have serious consequences come retirement. Which mistakes are you at risk of making?