“I want us to step up our efforts in France and across Europe, to become a leader and to be able to manage the risks,” Lescure added when asked about the discussion around AI safety on the sidelines of an event

International News via Reuters:

Calls to slow down the development of AI serve the interests of U.S. leaders in the sector, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said on Wednesday, adding that France and Europe must accelerate AI usage so that they can control the risks.

“I can clearly see that the calls to slow down are now coming from those at the top of the class … Making everyone behind them slow down so they can stay in first place, I can clearly see their self-interest,” Lescure told Reuters.

“I want us to step up our efforts in France and across Europe, to become a leader and to be able to manage the risks,” Lescure added when asked about the discussion around AI safety on the sidelines of an event organised in Paris by French startup lobby, France Digitale.

The debate around AI risks accelerated last week, with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calling for a slowdown in development of the technology, citing several risks including losing control of AI systems.

Meanwhile, the CEO of rival OpenAI, Sam Altman, said he agreed with the need to pace AI development.

Their statements added to the debate prompted by Anthropic researchers who said last week that rapidly progressing AI could lead to the extinction of the human race in the near future.

“I am always wary of definitive statements,” said Lescure when asked about the risks to humanity from AI, adding: “Definitive statements can sometimes in the end serve as a way to escape collective responsibility”.

However, he identified risks due to AI implementation in the cyber sector and in education, saying France and Europe had to be aware of them in order to manage them. 

Reporting by Florence Loeve, Writing by Florence Loève and Dominique Vidalon, Editing by Alex Richardson and Alexander Smith

The Fed’s hike cranks up pressure on every other central bank, starting with the Bank of England today

International News via Reuters:

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Stella Qiu

Turns out the guy Trump hired to cut interest rates just raised them instead. Kevin Warsh delivered the Fed’s first hike in more than three years, and did it in lock step with his colleagues – a united front presumably designed to show markets that the bank still has the upper hand on inflation and its independence.

Just as after the Fed’s last rate decision, Warsh didn’t provide forward guidance, insisting he wouldn’t fixate on any single data point. However, markets know well that hikes are like cockroaches – if you see one, there are probably more behind the wall.

Futures are pricing in three more hikes even though the dot plot pencilled just one this year. Goldman Sachs wasted no time in calling for a follow up move in October, arguing it was natural to deliver consecutive hikes to support a “timelier” return to the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.

The Fed’s hike cranks up pressure on every other central bank, starting with the Bank of England today. Market watchers expect the BoE to hold steady, but the board is likely to split again so every syllable will be parsed for any hawkish hints that sticky energy prices could force its hand into a November hike.

The Bank of Japan is all but certain to lift its rate on Friday. And if you look around the world, the market assumes central banks in the U.S., Europe, Britain, Australia and New Zealand will all have to tighten policy again by the end of the year.

As Warsh talked, short-term Treasury yields shot up to their highest since mid-2024, lifting the dollar to seven-week highs. Longer-dated bonds actually found relief in the Fed rediscovering its inflation-fighting religion, with the benchmark 10-year yield hovering below the critical 5% level.

That offered relief to stocks in Asia, with most share markets catching a bid. European bourses are set for a 0.5% rise at open, while Nasdaq futures lifted 0.6% and S&P futures added 0.5%.

How long the calm lasts is anyone’s guess. The world is adjusting to an era of recurring supply shock, where inflation is running hotter than central banks would like and interest rates higher than investors had counted on.

Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday:

• The Bank of England interest rate decision

• Final Eurozone CPI figures for August

• U.S. weekly jobless claims

By Stella Qiu; Editing by Christopher Cushing

Brussels wants Beijing to limit Chinese hybrid vehicles sales to around 15% of the EU market, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter

International News via Reuters:

The European Union has asked China to voluntarily restrict exports of hybrid cars as part of efforts to prevent a trade war, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Brussels wants Beijing to limit Chinese hybrid vehicles sales to around 15% of the EU market, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

“If they will not limit their exports to our market then we will,” the FT quoted an EU official as saying. “This is about stopping deindustrialisation. We have to act. It’s about managed trade.”

The EU has asked China to limit exports of other products, including chemicals, while seeking increased Chinese purchases of European exports, according to the report.

The EU did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the bloc would use every available tool to reduce what she called its “unsustainable” trade deficit with China.

She said in a speech to the European Parliament the EU’s goods trade deficit with China, which hit €360.6 billion ($413.4 billion) last year and widened by 9% in the first six months of this year, had reached a tipping point and that Europe was already experiencing a second “China shock” through deindustrialisation.

European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who is leading talks with China to tackle the trade gap, has said he wants tangible results by October and is expected to visit China by early next month.

The EU says a surge in Chinese exports, including chemicals, batteries and vehicles, has been driven by overcapacity. Beijing rejects that criticism, saying concerns over economic imbalances and excess capacity are protectionist and aimed at constraining China.

($1 = 0.8723 euros)

Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Sonali Paul

The U.S. dollar hit a seven-week high against its major peers, underpinned by a jump in short-term Treasury yields

International News via Reuters:

Shares edged up in Asia on Thursday as investors bet the Federal Reserve is finally getting the jump on inflation, delivering its first rate hike in more than three years and calming a global bond selloff that had sent long-term yields soaring.

The U.S. dollar hit a seven-week high against its major peers, underpinned by a jump in short-term Treasury yields as markets ramped up wagers that the Fed may have to lift rates again, with a move by December fully priced in. That proved a headwind for commodities, with oil prices giving back ground.

The focus now shifts to the Bank of England, which is widely expected to leave interest rates steady later in the day, but all eyes will be on any hint about if high energy prices could force it to hike in November. The Bank of Japan, by contrast, is all but certain to lift interest rates on Friday.

European shares are set for a higher open, with pan-region stock futures up 0.5%. Nasdaq futures gained 0.7% and S&P 500 futures bounced 0.6%, after small declines on Wall Street. [.N]

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3% while Japan’s Nikkei also gained 0.3%. Chinese blue-chips slipped 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7%.

As widely expected, the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter point overnight, but the unanimous decision tilted to the hawkish side. The dot plot projected one more rate hike this year but stopped short of signalling any moves next year.

 Tai Hui, APAC chief market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, said investors would need to reassess the valuations for assets especially tech stocks if the Fed remained hawkish going into 2027.

“We think the chance of U.S. policy rates returning to above 5% is still limited. Nonetheless, a catalyst to extend the equity bull market is looking unlikely in the foreseeable future,” he added.

Futures imply there is a 53% chance that the Fed could follow up with a second hike as soon as next month to rein in inflation. A total of three rate rises have been priced in for this tightening cycle.

The Treasury yield curve bear flattened, with short-term maturities taking a hit but long bonds heaving a sigh of relief. Two-year Treasury yields slipped 1 basis point to 4.7174%, after spiking 6 basis points overnight to the highest since July 2024. 

That helped boost the U.S. dollar to a seven-week high of 100.36 against its major peers, having surged 0.7% overnight, the biggest daily gain in three months.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was back at 5%, having dipped to as low as 4.9385% overnight, while 30-year bond yields were flat at 5.3522%, off from a 19-year high of 5.401%.

“Chair Warsh will be pleased that the breakout of the 10-year yield shows a moderate fall in inflation expectations, which telegraphs a nod of approval from the market to the hike as an inflation containment one,” said Padhraic Garvey, regional head of research, Americas, at ING. 

“It was still an eloquent performance. But it won’t rescue the back end of the curve. We identify 5.25% as a next target for the U.S. 10-year yield.”

Commodity markets took a hit on the stronger dollar. Brent crude futures slipped 0.2% to $105.67 a barrel after falling 2.7% overnight as Saudi Arabia was reportedly offering crude cargoes through Oman, easing some concerns about Middle East supply disruption.[O/R]

Gold, however, showed some resilience, rising 0.7% to $4,293 an ounce, offsetting a similar fall overnight. [GOL/]

Editing by Stephen Coates

Burke said Australia would toughen its enforcement on visa overstayers, including hiring 100 additional compliance officers

International News via Reuters:

Australia will stop foreign students from bringing partners and children to accompany them while they study and tighten working holiday visa rules, a senior minister said on Thursday, amid growing debate over high migration levels.

The government’s move comes after the hard-right One Nation party, which has been surging in recent polls, said this week that it would slash the number of temporary migrants by 750,000 over three years, to give Australians “breathing space.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke dismissed suggestions the changes were politically motivated by the One Nation party, which describes its approach as “Australia first” and whose policies have drawn comparisons to those of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“It’s simply demonstrably wrong to suspect that somehow this is a recent bit of work done to deal with a political climate – it’s not,” Burke told reporters.

The reforms are expected to bring annual net migration down to about 225,000 by 2028 – broadly in line with pre-pandemic levels – from around 300,000 now. The cost of living and immigration have consistently ranked among voters’ top concerns in recent polls.

Burke said Australia would toughen its enforcement on visa overstayers, including hiring 100 additional compliance officers and exploring the repurposing of a pandemic-era quarantine facility in Melbourne to house immigration detainees.

“If you want to come on a temporary basis to Australia, apply for a temporary visa. If you want to come to Australia permanently, apply for a permanent visa. And if you no longer have a valid visa, you should leave Australia,” he said.

BALLOT FOR BACKPACKERS

Under the new measures, a ballot system will be introduced for backpackers seeking to extend their working holiday visas. All visitor visas will carry a “no further stay” provision preventing holders from remaining in Australia while applying for another visa category such as a partner visa.

International students will only be permitted to renew their student visas if they move up the qualification scale.

Some students from Pacific Island nations and Southeast Asia will be able to bring their partners and children, but secondary applicants will not be allowed on most student visas.

Spouses and partners of international students can currently work in Australia, although the number of hours they are permitted varies depending on the course of study.

International education contributed A$53.6 billion ($38 billion) to the Australian economy in the year to June 2025, making it the country’s fourth-largest export. Despite this, foreign students have been a central focus of the centre-left Labor government’s migration reduction efforts.

Student visa application fees have risen by nearly 300% to A$2,500 over the past four years, while English-language requirements and minimum savings thresholds for graduate visa applicants have also been tightened.

“It is chipping away the confidence in what has been a great national asset for this country – international education,” Luke Sheehy, CEO of Universities Australia, said in a radio interview with public broadcaster ABC on the proposed policy shift.

Migration surged after Australia reopened its borders in February 2022 following nearly two years of COVID-19 closures, driven largely by international students, backpackers and temporary workers.

However, numbers have been declining over the past two years. Net overseas migration stood at 306,000 in the year to June 30, 2025, with international students accounting for more than half, down from a peak of 518,000 in 2023.

($1 = 1.4085 Australian dollars)

Reporting by Renju Jose; Additional reporting by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Jamie Freed

Israel and Lebanon have held several rounds of U.S.-brokered talks aimed at easing tensions along their border

International News via Reuters:

European and Arab military chiefs will meet in Paris on Thursday to assess the Lebanese Armed Forces’ needs and discuss the looming end of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, amid fears of a renewed Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon have held several rounds of U.S.-brokered talks aimed at easing tensions along their border. But with elections in Israel and the United States approaching in the coming weeks, diplomats say a breakthrough is unlikely.

Thursday’s talks, which will initially be chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron alongside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Jordan’s King Abdullah, are not formally part of Washington’s efforts.

The U.S. will be represented by a senior military official involved in Middle East security issues.

FRAMEWORK DEAL

As part of the U.S.-brokered talks, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework deal that envisions Israeli troops gradually withdrawing as Lebanese authorities disarm Hezbollah and deploy across the country’s south.

Officials in Paris will seek to assess the precise military and financial requirements ahead of a donor conference likely to be held in late 2026 or early 2027, diplomats said.

The most immediate concern is how to fill the security vacuum that could be left when the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL, which has about 7,500 personnel, begins drawing down from January.

Despite Lebanon and France both favouring an extension of the U.N. mandate, neither the United States nor Israel has signalled support for prolonging the mission.

The officials in Paris will discuss options for a new international mission, backed by France and Italy, operating outside a U.N. mandate, as well as a possible European Union-led mission.

Both concepts would focus on training, equipment, intelligence sharing and mentoring support for the Lebanese Armed Forces.

“The modalities of this international or multinational action remain to be defined — if only because the Lebanese have not voiced requests that align with, in particular, U.S. demands at the Security Council, and because we still need to calibrate the terms of this presence and be absolutely clear about the mandate,” a French presidency official told reporters ahead of the meeting.

Highlighting the fragility of the situation, Israeli strikes on a town in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people, including six children, on Monday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, making it one of the deadliest days of Israeli bombardment in recent weeks.

Fears of a renewed Israeli military campaign are growing in Lebanon after days of escalating strikes despite a June ceasefire that was intended to halt fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.

Reporting by John IrishEditing by Rod Nickel