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Star Wars Zero Company studio furloughs most staff amid Steam success
The studio behind Star Wars Zero Company reportedly furloughed the majority of its staff even as the tactical strategy game ranked among Steam’s current bestsellers, highlighting how commercial success on launch offers little protection from cost-cutting in the games industry. The apparent contradiction between a chart-topping release and widespread staff cuts underscores the financial pressures…
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Chalmers is betting data centres will help save Australia’s economy. In reality, we’re dumb landlords set to get a very poor return
The Albanese government is treating Australia’s data centre boom, worth over $130 billion by the end of the decade, as a key driver that will help rescue the country’s sluggish economy. However, the article argues this optimism is misplaced, as the actual economic payoff is likely to be far smaller than promised, with Australia positioned…
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‘A huge learning curve’: apprentices on the benefits and pitfalls of vocational training
As the UK grapples with youth unemployment, with almost a million young people not in education, employment or training, the government is pushing to expand technical and vocational learning from age 14 and create thousands more apprenticeships. Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden has announced a new bursary to stop families losing out financially when…
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Child trust fund firms face review over efforts to find who owns £1.5bn worth of pots
The Financial Conduct Authority has launched a review of child trust fund providers to check they are doing enough to reunite young people with lost savings accounts, after finding around 760,000 accounts worth over £1.5bn in total remain unclaimed. The regulator will require all 55 providers to explain what steps they are taking to trace…
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From Bill Gates to Bernie Sanders, most agree the AI arms race is disastrous. Only Europe can make it stop
This Guardian comment piece argues that the artificial intelligence industry’s rapid, largely unregulated expansion risks disastrous outcomes, from environmental damage and financial collapse to authoritarian surveillance and misuse by bad actors. Figures as varied as Bill Gates and Bernie Sanders, alongside AI firm Anthropic itself, have called for a slowdown, but the author contends that…
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‘I didn’t jump into the pool to save my drowning sister because I didn’t want my clothes to get wet’ – reveals psychopath as he shares other childhood stories
A 26-year-old man from Belgium, Loïc De Marie, has spoken publicly about being diagnosed with psychopathy, describing childhood incidents in which he felt no emotional response to danger or death, including watching his sister drown before eventually rescuing her with a golf club because he did not want to get his clothes wet. Speaking to…
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Shein shares slide in long-awaited stock market debut
Shein’s shares fell in the first day of trading after its long-delayed listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, closing down 0.12% having dipped by as much as 10% earlier in the session. The muted debut follows years of failed attempts to list in the US and UK, where regulators and campaigners raised concerns over…
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Sydney homeowners set for largest fall in prices in 40 years – why Melbourne is faring even worse
Sydney homeowners are facing what analysts warn could be the largest house price correction in 40 years, with the median house price falling for six consecutive months. Higher interest rates have pushed mortgage costs to among the highest in Australia, squeezing affordability and driving some buyers out of the market, while a potential Reserve Bank…
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Suspected DUI driver leads cops on wild chase before dramatic takedown on popular California beach
A man suspected of driving under the influence led San Diego police on a chaotic pursuit that ended with a dramatic arrest on the sand at Pacific Beach on Sunday morning. Officers had been alerted to reckless driving in the area before the chase spilled onto the beach, where startled onlookers watched police move in…
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Boyfriend of Sydney schoolgirl, 16, who died after suspected sexual choking shares heartbreaking message
A 16-year-old schoolgirl from Sydney’s Northern Beaches has died two days after suffering a seizure during a consensual sex act involving choking, prompting an outpouring of grief from friends and her boyfriend on social media. Emergency services were called to a home in Elanora Heights on 23 August after reports that the girl was having…