Tech company offers buyouts in an effort to reduce costs amid the rising use of AI, according to reports

Microsoft announced that it would offer buyouts to 60,000 employees in an effort to reduce costs amid the rising use of artificial intelligence, according to reports, the latest example of how AI is reshaping tech companies and the greater workforce.

This is the latest of several trimmings Microsoft has made to its workforce this year. The company announced in April that it was offering voluntary retirement to about 7% of its US workforce, which consisted of about 125,000 employees at the time. Its global workforce is made up of about 223,000 workers globally.

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© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

John Steinbeck’s hometown of Salinas is the least affordable city in the US for the middle class, a recent Brookings Institution analysis found

Nestled between two mountain ranges at the crook of central California’s coastline sits a valley known as the “salad bowl of the world”.

Farm workers stoop over neatly lined rows of crops off Highway 101 to harvest more than half of the nation’s supply of lettuce and nearly a third of its strawberries. The soil here is so rich that author John Steinbeck made the Salinas valley the promised land in his literary depictions of people chasing the American dream: immigrants, farm workers, westward-moving hopefuls, hungering for a better life.

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© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

Trump urges lower rates after central bank agrees increase by quarter-percentage point to range of 3.75% to 4%

• Federal Reserve raises interest rates – live

The US Federal Reserve voted to raise interest rates on Wednesday for the first time since 2023 as the central bank continues to fight to tamp down inflation.

The Fed’s open market committee voted unanimously to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4%. This is the first time the Fed has raised rates since July 2023 and potentially sets Kevin Warsh, the current Fed chair, on a collision course with Donald Trump.

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© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Network wants to serve Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr after president sues over January 6 documentary

The BBC is trying to subpoena Donald Trump’s children as it builds its defense against the president’s defamation lawsuit centered on a documentary on the January 6 insurrection.

In a motion filed on Friday, the BBC sought authorization to serve Trump’s two eldest children, Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, with subpoenas for testimony and their records on the events of 6 January 2021.

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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/EPA

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/EPA

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/EPA

Exclusive: Companies that kept policies did just as well financially, even after Trump’s executive order, as those that didn’t

Conservative backlash was supposed to put an end to the diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) movement as companies were warned “go woke, go broke”.

In January 2025, Donald Trump delivered a death knell, ending DEI within the federal government with executive orders and threatening to target companies that still supported it. Companies including Google, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s and Walmart that had embraced DEI years earlier fell into line and announced an end to their policies.

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© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

President has sued the broadcaster for $10bn, claiming a documentary on 2021 Capitol attack led to financial harm

Donald Trump’s legal team is making an 11th-hour attempt to block a court order that would grant the BBC access to the president’s financial records, as part of his multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the British broadcaster.

Trump claims that the BBC’s 2024 documentary on the January 6 attacks have damaged the president’s business interests. In July, a Miami-based judge ruled that the president would have to start handing over detailed financial records to the BBC by 6 August. The records would reveal details into the hundreds of businesses owned by the US president’s family trust.

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© Photograph: UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

© Photograph: UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

© Photograph: UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Rates remain unchanged for fifth time since December as tenuous Iran peace deal pushes energy prices up again

The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, leaving rates unchanged for the fifth time since December despite Donald Trump’s renewed calls to lower rates.

Cooler inflation data published earlier this month eased expectations for an imminent rate hike. But the tenuous peace deal between the US and Iran has made energy prices creep up again, strengthening the case for an increase. The Fed’s federal open market committee voted 9-3 to maintain rates, with three dissenting members who preferred to raise the rate by a quarter-percentage point.

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© Photograph: Eric Lee/Reuters

© Photograph: Eric Lee/Reuters

© Photograph: Eric Lee/Reuters

After Google fined €890m by EU, US president said Brussels was ‘robbing’ American companies and taxpayers

• What to know about Trump’s new tariffs on more than 80 countries

Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with additional and “substantial” tariffs after Brussels imposed a series of steep fines on US tech giants.

The US president accused Brussels of taking “direct aim” at several American companies including Apple, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Google, writing in a Truth Social post: “The United States of America is not a ‘PIGGYBANK’ for Europe, nor will we allow it to be!”

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

New tariffs will replace 10% global duty and come after US supreme court declared many of the earlier levies illegal

Donald Trump has imposed a fresh round of tariffs on more than 80 countries to replace a 10% global duty that was due to expire, provoking a wave of criticism and protests from US allies and major trading partners.

In the latest attempt to instate aggressive trade policies despite challenges from the US supreme court, the president has imposed tariffs of between 10% or 12.5% on dozens of countries, including the UK, Mexico, Canada, Australia, India, China and the 27 countries that make up the European Union. It in effect replaces the blanket 10% tariff that Trump imposed in February, right after the supreme court declared many of his earlier tariffs were illegal.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Government figures show unemployment rate at 4.3% amid rising inflation and economic uncertainty from Iran war

US employers added 172,000 jobs in May while the country’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, a sign of a resilient labor market despite rising inflation and economic uncertainty brought on by continued conflict in the Middle East.

Despite the positive update on the labor market, US stocks fell sharply by Friday afternoon after a big sell-off of AI chip stocks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed 4% down, the largest single-day drop in over a year. The S&P 500 and and Dow were also down 2.6% and 1.3%, respectively.

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© Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

© Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

© Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The National Mall and its surroundings are one of the safest areas in Washington.

© Kylie Cooper/Reuters

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has criticized landlords and vowed to freeze what tenants in rent-stabilized apartments pay monthly.

Below his signature on the order, the judge included a photo of Liam Ramos as he was taken into custody wearing a Spider-Man backpack and bright blue hat.

Below his signature on the order, the judge included a photo of Liam Ramos as he was taken into custody wearing a Spider-Man backpack and bright blue hat.

U.S. population growth slowed as net immigration plunged from July 2024 through June 2025, new census data shows.

Net immigration fell from 2.7 million to 1.3 million from July 2024 through June 2025, new census data shows.

Alex Pretti was kind and didn’t often discuss politics, friends and colleagues said. His family sharply disputed the Trump administration’s version of the shooting.

Alex Pretti was kind and didn’t often discuss politics, friends and colleagues said. His family sharply disputed the Trump administration’s version of the shooting.

Alex Pretti was kind and didn’t often discuss politics, friends and colleagues said. His family sharply disputed the Trump administration’s version of the shooting.