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Europe
BBC Business

AI needs a 'brake pedal', warns Anthropic co-founder

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark has called for the ability to slow progression of artificial intelligence (AI), warning the technology is nearing a point where it could develop without human input. "You want the option to be able to take your foot off the gas and put your foot on the brake", Clark told BBC Newsnight. "Right now, it's like the AI industry has a gas pedal, but it doesn't have a brake pedal." He stressed people, through government policy, need to keep control of AI systems, which will only get more powerful and have broader impacts on society. "The world needs to do some thinking and we need to eventually develop some new regulations that allow us to be confident in these systems," he said. Already, Anthropic's popular chatbot Claude is operating on code of which 80% the system wrote itself. Getting to 100% is possible within two years, Clark said, and "would have huge implications". Clark did not outline how a "brake pedal" for AI research and development could be created, but drew a parallel between AI and the oil boom and barons of the turn of the last century. "Society's response was to come up with a sensible policy and regulatory framework that gave people confidence in oil and the benefits that oil could provide to the world, and meant that you didn't have to worry about the personalities of the people leading the companies", Clark said. "That's clearly where we end up here." Yet, Anthropic this week welcomed an executive order on AI from US President Donald Trump that was relatively hands-off in its directives toward the companies. It did not require AI companies to submit to safety testing by the government, something that remains a voluntary effort. Major AI companies pursuing advances in the technology, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google, have also not said they will pause their own research. Anthropic has grown so quickly since its founding five years ago that it is preparing to debut on the public stock market. It is poised to be one of the first public listings by a newer AI firm and one of the most valuable stock listings in history, as Anthropic's valuation is estimated by private investors to be nearly $1tn (£745bn).

AI needs a 'brake pedal', warns Anthropic co-founder
Europe
BBC Business

British Heart Foundation plans to close 150 charity shops

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) says it is planning to close around 150 charity shops, citing an "exceptionally challenging trading environment". The charity, which carried out a review of its retail arm, said rising operating costs and changing customer habits meant some stores were "no longer financially sustainable". Its overall financial position "remains healthy", it said, adding it is continuing to see strong fundraising and legacy income. The BHF currently has 640 shops and stores across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The proposed closures, within the next two years, make up just under a quarter of the total. The charity plans to close around 90 stores by the end of March 2027, and the remaining affected stores by March 2028. It said it would share the locations of the stores earmarked for closure on its website once affected colleagues had been informed. Chief Executive Charmaine Griffiths acknowledged this would be a difficult time for colleagues and volunteers, thanking them for their contributions. "Like most retailers, we are facing an exceptionally challenging trading environment," she said. "Cardiovascular disease remains one of the UK's biggest killers and our priority is funding research to save lives. "We must take the difficult step to close some of our shops to sustain retail's important contribution to funding BHF's groundbreaking research." As well as its network of shops and donation points, the BHF has online retail channels including on its website and eBay. It said it will continue to evolve its retail operations "to reflect changing customer shopping behaviours and donor habits".

British Heart Foundation plans to close 150 charity shops
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Sensex today | Stock Market Live: Stock to buy today: Olectra Greentech

Candle stick graph chart of stock market investment trading, Stock exchange concept design and background. Vector illustrations. | Photo Credit: EMOJOEZ Aurobindo Pharma: Company’s arm Theranym Biologics starts biologics contract manufacturing facility. (Positive) Agarwal Industrial: Company bags HPCL bitumen supply order worth Rs 477.5 crore for 1.3 lakh MT. (Positive) Marsons Ltd: Company secures order worth Rs. 31.27 cr from Assam Electricity Grid Corporation (AEGCL), for supply of 132/33kv, 50mva power transformers and related services. (Positive) NBCC: Company bags multiple orders worth Rs. 83.24 cr for project management consultancy. (Positive) IEX: Company may power trade volume jumps 18.6% YoY to 12,983 mu, day-ahead market volume rises 25% with average price at Rs. 4.88/unit. (Positive) Shree Rama Multi-Tech: Company commences production on new tubing machine; adds 45 lakh tubes per month capacity with Rs. 10 crore investment (Positive) Jeena Sikho Lifecare: Company Bhopal hospital receives NABH accreditation for Panchakarma services, valid until May 2029. (Positive) Jain Irrigations: Company has commissioned 20,000 tonne/annum biochar facility in Jalgaon. (Positive) JBM Auto: Company leads India’s electric bus market with 49% share in May 2026, records industry-highest 157 e-bus registrations. (Positive) Natural Capsules: New HPMC line boosts capacity from 19.5B to 25B capsules/year. (Positive) Jubilant Agri: Company has started Polymer Production at Vadodara Facility. (Positive)

Sensex today | Stock Market Live: Stock to buy today: Olectra Greentech
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

SpaceX sets IPO price at $135, becomes largest public offering in history

Despite reporting a loss of over $4.9 billion last year due to heavy investments in artificial intelligence, SpaceX posted strong revenue growth and plans to use the IPO proceeds to fund orbital data centres, lunar manufacturing facilities and future Mars missions. | Photo Credit: Dado Ruvic SpaceX set a price for its initial public offering at USD 135 a share, positioning Elon Musk’s rocket and artificial intelligence company to exceed the 2019 initial public offering of Saudi Aramco in both valuation and money raised. According to a news report by The New York Times, the USD 135 share price values the company at USD 1.77 trillion, making it the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. SpaceX will raise USD 74.4 billion from the offering. As per the news report, this valuation represents an increase of more than 40 per cent compared to the USD 1.25 trillion valuation the company gave itself in February. Saudi Aramco previously held the record, holding a USD 1.7 trillion valuation and raising more than USD 29 billion when it went public in 2019. “Most companies that go public set a preliminary price range for their stock offering before settling on a final number in case investor demand for their shares changes. But Mr. Musk and SpaceX sidestepped that and simply declared one price for investors. SpaceX could still change that price but is not expected to do so. It is likely to begin trading on the Nasdaq next week under the ticker symbol SPCX,” the news report said. “More than every U.S. I.P.O. combined in the last two years,” the report quoted Matthew Kennedy, a senior IPO market strategist at Renaissance Capital. The offering serves as a bellwether for other massive tech offerings, including Anthropic, which filed confidentially on Monday, and OpenAI. Both artificial intelligence start-ups approach valuations of USD 1 trillion. According to the news report, Musk, who controls a 50 per cent stake in SpaceX, will see his holdings valued at just over USD 752 billion. Regulatory filings show Musk cannot sell some shares until the company hits specific operational milestones. A surge in early trading could make him the world’s first trillionaire. Musk controls more than 85 per cent of SpaceX shareholder votes through super-voting shares. An IPO prospectus released last month revealed the company’s financial results, with SpaceX reporting a loss of more than USD 4.9 billion last year due to increased spending on artificial intelligence, following a USD 791 million profit in 2024. As per the news report, revenue rose 33 per cent to USD 18.7 billion. The company will use the capital to fund orbital data centers, a lunar factory, and Mars expeditions. “The records are broken more than once,” the report quoted Nicolas Owens, an equity researcher with the investment research firm Morningstar. “A trillion-dollar market capitalization for a company going public used to be unheard-of,” Owens said, “Now it seems normal.” Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

SpaceX sets IPO price at $135, becomes largest public offering in history
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

What to know about the SpaceX IPO

The IPO is expected to be a market spectacle as investors get a chance to buy into Musk’s vision to create a combined space and AI powerhouse. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is poised to have the largest stock-market debut in history when it goes public later in June. SpaceX is aiming to raise US$75 billion (S$96.23 billion) in the initial public offering, more than twice the previous record holder. The IPO is expected to be a market spectacle as investors get a chance to buy into Musk’s vision to create a combined space and AI powerhouse. His long list of growth plans – including putting data centres in space – are hugely ambitious but also come with high costs, significant risks and could take many years to come to fruition. The company plans to market about 555.6 million shares at US$135 apiece, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. At that price, SpaceX would have a market value of almost US$1.77 trillion. SpaceX’s goal of raising US$75 billion in the IPO would shatter the previous record set by Saudi Aramco’s US$29.4 billion in 2019. The big question is whether such a large valuation can be sustained in public markets. Analysts value companies based on their future earnings and growth, as well as industry competition and profit margins. But valuation is not a pure science. Especially in bullish market conditions, investors are sometimes prepared to pay up for a company’s shares based on something other than fundamentals. Some might see the seemingly vast potential of the company’s space businesses as justifying a higher price than the current financials would ordinarily support. But the challenges surrounding SpaceX’s xAI business could dampen the appeal. Even though SpaceX generates significant cash flow, largely from Starlink, its satellite-based internet broadband service, the company requires a lot more money to fund its biggest ambitions. SpaceX has indicated that IPO proceeds will be used, among other things, to expand the company’s AI computing infrastructure, enhance its space infrastructure and rockets and boost its satellite constellations. SpaceX could have opted to continue raising capital in private markets rather than going public. But the company’s funding needs appear to have risen substantially with the acquisition in February of xAI, which is burning through around US$1 billion of cash per month to cover the cost of computing infrastructure including training its AI models, according to people briefed on the company’s financials. IPO paperwork shows that SpaceX’s AI segment, which includes xAI, had an operating loss of US$6.4 billion in 2025 and nearly US$2.5 billion in the first three months of 2026. That said, SpaceX just entered into a deal in which Anthropic PBC will pay it US$1.25 billion per month through May 2029 for AI computing capacity.

What to know about the SpaceX IPO
Europe
BBC Business

The ancient trick making food waste useful and tasty

Vayu Hill-Maini's lab has created a new cheese, or at least something that tastes like cheese, but is actually made from food waste. The bioengineer, who runs a lab at Stanford University in California, is experimenting with fermentation using fungi. "One of the most amazing things that we found recently is that we could take waste and add a few other ingredients in a fungal fermentation and create this delicious cheese that is like a Pecorino or Parmigiano," he says. Fermentation is a biological process whereby organisms convert carbohydrates like starch or sugar into substances like alcohol, without using oxygen. Perhaps the best-known examples of fermentation are in baking and brewing, where yeast breaks down sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. But it's not just wheat flour, or barley that can fuel fermentation, all sorts of substances are suitable - in biology those fermentation hosts are known as substrates. With the latest biotech tools, companies are taking by-products of the food industry, that are currently discarded or have little value, and using fermentation to turn them into something useful. UK-based Fermtech is transforming cocoa shells, which are normally thrown away, into a cocoa powder substitute, using fermentation. "If you were to sniff a bag of cocoa shells, you would be really struck by the intense chocolatey nature of it," says Andy Clayton, Fermtech's CEO. He says it's a shame that by-products of the food industry are composted or burnt, rather than using microorganisms to break down the hard bits of the plant and make it bioavailable for humans, while retaining the flavours. Utilising a broader palette of substrates can save money, help the environment, and expand flavour. Take peas. Protein makes up about a quarter of a pea, and pea protein has become an increasingly popular source of plant-based protein.

The ancient trick making food waste useful and tasty
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

This research firm says SpaceX is worth less than half its IPO target

Morningstar analysts pegged SpaceX‘s valuation at US$780 billion, less than half the US$1.77 trillion ($2.3 trillion) that the Elon Musk’s company is targetting. Bengaluru - SpaceX just set a price for its initial public offering that would make it the largest ever, but one research firm has warned that Elon Musk’s rocket and AI behemoth is “significantly overvalued.” Morningstar analysts pegged SpaceX‘s valuation at US$780 billion (S$1 billion), less than half the US$1.77 trillion ($2.3 trillion) that the company is targetting with its US$135 per share IPO. Prospects for the company’s artificial intelligence business, which includes xAI and social media platform X, were uncertain given unclear economics and competition from OpenAI and Anthropic, the research firm said. “We don’t see Grok as one of the leading AI labs today,” said Morningstar equity analyst Nicolas Owens, referring to the chatbot developed by xAI. Owens also warned that the future promise of SpaceX‘s AI segment relies on untested technology such as orbital data centres. Starlink, the satellite broadband business, also faces technological hurdles, many of which may be outside the company’s control, he said. “We think the company has been significantly overvalued and investors will have opportunities to buy the stock at more attractive levels after the IPO,” Owens said. The warning stands out as a rare contrarian view at a time when enthusiasm for the IPO has been high. Most companies that go public set a preliminary price range for their stock offering before settling on a final number in case investor demand for their shares changes. But Musk and SpaceX sidestepped that and simply declared one price for investors, the New York Times noted. SpaceX could still change that price but is not expected to do so, the newspaper added. Its current valuation of US$1.77 trillion from its IPO price would be more than 40 per cent higher than the US$1.25 trillion that SpaceX valued itself at in February. The company was also last valued at US$1.53 trillion on secondary trading platform Forge Global. SpaceX is aiming to launch a roadshow on June 4, with the stock scheduled to debut on the Nasdaq on June 12. Morningstar said the stock could ascend in the near term, given the low float and the strong cadre of major investment banks underwriting the IPO.

This research firm says SpaceX is worth less than half its IPO target
Europe
The Guardian

Democrats oppose Trump officials’ effort to include crypto in 401(k) plans

Democrat Bobby Scott, the ranking member of the House education and workforce committee. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenDemocrat Bobby Scott, the ranking member of the House education and workforce committee. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesUS newsDemocrats oppose Trump officials’ effort to include crypto in 401(k) plansChange backed by labor department would expose workers to greater financial risk, letter shared with Guardian says Congressional Democrats are strongly opposing a US Department of Labor proposal that would allow 401(k) investments to include cryptocurrency, private credit and private equity assets, arguing the change will expose workers to riskier and more complex investments. In a letter shared exclusively with the Guardian, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren and House education and workforce committee ranking member Bobby Scott of Virginia, argued the rule would expose an estimated $14.2tn of 401(k) retirement savings to volatile assets and would probably not withstand a challenge in court. “This would strip long-held investor protections from retirement savers and encourage the use of more risky, complex, and expensive investments,” said the letter. “The proposed rule is harmful to American workers.” These high-risk assets can experience extreme volatility, the Democrats said, citing Trump’s memecoin, which soared to over $75 per token during Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 but has since dropped to $2 per token. The letter noted seniors in the US were already struggling financially, with more than 22.8% of seniors in the US living in poverty, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), compared with just 5.1% in Denmark, 5.8% in France, 12.6% in Germany and 14.8 % in Canada. The proposal could also expose workers to higher fees and erode their long-term returns. The Financial Industry Regulation Authority (Finra) cautions that crypto investments “have experienced higher levels of volatility relative to more traditional investment assets” and “the risk of losing all of your investment is significant”. The FBI reported cryptocurrency fraud complaints comprise some of the highest losses for Americans among cyber-enabled fraud, with over $11bn in losses reported in 2025. Consumer advocates argue the proposed rule only puts retirement savings accounts at higher risk while benefiting the crypto industry. “Opening 401ks to these products risks turning workers’ retirement savings into a Ponzi-like scheme that throws a lifeline to an industry scrambling for fresh cash,” Oscar Valdés Viera, a senior policy analyst at consumer advocacy group Americans for Financial Reform, said in a statement. Democrats flagged Trump’s ties to the crypto industry and the conflict of interest it could present to the proposal. Trump’s adult sons have been managing the family’s crypto business, which includes a new Trump-based digital currency, as he carries out his second term in the White House. The ventures in crypto have potentially raised as much as $5bn for the family after the launch of its digital currency in September, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Democrats oppose Trump officials’ effort to include crypto in 401(k) plans
Europe
BBC Business

Musk's SpaceX share sale: Four things you need to know

Next week shares go on sale in Musk's Texas-based SpaceX, a company that is planning to colonise Mars and put artificial intelligence (AI) data centres in space. It is set to be the largest ever public sale of shares and will make SpaceX one of the US's top ten largest listed firms. But for those who invest, what exactly will they be buying and what are the risks? On 12 June millions of new shares in the company will go on sale and then will start trading publicly on the stock market in what is known as an Initial Public Offering, or IPO. The IPO aims to raise a vast amount of money - at least $75bn - and gives investors the chance to buy into a business whose activities range from space exploration and satellite communication to the social media site X and the controversial AI platform Grok. SpaceX is separate from Musk's most well-known company, the electric car maker Tesla, although it is thought the two may end up merging next year. Musk plans to use the extra money he is raising to expand SpaceX's current activities but also to fund new future ventures: mining asteroids, colonising Mars and putting AI data centres in space. The sci-fi style sales prospectus says humans must avoid "the same fate as dinosaurs" and plan for an "age of abundance" based in space because the "light of consciousness" will not be tied to a single planet. There is plenty of scepticism about the feasibility of some of these ambitions. But Musk's backers say he has beaten the doubters before. SpaceX shares will be traded on the New York technology-focused Nasdaq market, and some of the big global investment institutions are likely to buy shares. But individuals, including in the UK, will also get a chance to buy via certain investment platforms and brokers. There are more than 550 million shares available, which SpaceX has announced it hopes to sell at $135 (£100) each. Investors must decide if they think the shares are worth that much. And once they start trading their value could quickly rise or fall depending on whether the wider market thinks that initial price was too low or too high. Even if you do not invest in SpaceX shares directly you may find you have an indirect financial interest if your pension or savings fund manager buys shares as part of their investment strategy, or if you have an index-tracking fund that automatically buys into the biggest firms.

Musk's SpaceX share sale: Four things you need to know