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BEIJING (Reuters) -Baidu announced a partnership with Switzerland's PostBus on Wednesday to launch its Apollo Go autonomous vehicle service in the European country, as the Chinese tech firm accelerates a global push of its self-driving business. The partnership comes after Baidu partnered with Lyft in August to deploy robotaxis across Europe starting next year and follows a deal with Uber to deploy thousands of its autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform across several international markets. The partnership with PostBus, the public transport operator subsidiary of Swiss Post, will see an initial trial fleet begin testing in December 2025 with regular operations to be rolled out in the first quarter of 2027 at the latest, Baidu said in a statement. Baidu and PostBus plan to deploy Apollo Go's autonomous vehicles in eastern Switzerland, covering an area that stretches across the cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden. Baidu, China's leading search engine operator, has been increasing its focus on technologies including AI and self-driving as its advertising-driven search engine business has slowed due to a weakening Chinese economy. Baidu said Apollo Go currently operates a fully driverless fleet of over 1,000 vehicles globally, with its footprint spanning 16 cities including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong. (Reporting by Liam Mo and Brenda Goh; Editing by Joe Bavier)

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Jakarta (dpa) – Palm is the world's most widely used vegetable oil and likely the most versatile, featuring in anything from cosmetics to chocolate to fuel to margarine. Harvested from the oil palm tree, its yields per hectare exceed those of similar crops, meaning less land is needed to produce the same volume of oil.  But palm oil is sourced from environmentally damaging monocultures, says Janine Korduan from the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND). The commodity has long been a target for activists seeking to curb the destruction of rainforest and orang-utan habitat in Indonesia and Malaysia, where around 80% of the world's supply is grown. Companies operating in the sector have been accused not only of razing jungle, but of intimidating residents, harassing critics and abusing workers: the US last week banned imports of palm oil from Malaysian company FGV Holdings, a Proctor & Gamble supplier, over allegations it uses forced labour. But proponents of palm say it has been targeted excessively compared to other oils, including scientists and conservationists writing in Cell Reports Sustainability, part of the Cell Press network of science publications. "Almost all oils are associated with biodiversity and human rights issues," the researchers said, including olive oil, the high demand for which has been tied to effects such as loss of habitat for nesting birds. While conceding that concerns about palm oil production are "justified," the team – whose research was funded by chocolate maker Ferrero Group and who are members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Oil Crops Taskforce – said other crops "can cause just as much ecological damage." "Soybean production has driven massive deforestation in South America," the team point out, adding that "sesame production has been linked to human rights abuses in South Sudan and Ethiopia." Public debates about such crops are based more on myth than fact, the researchers say, calling for a rethink of what are deemed "good" and "bad" oils. "Crops don’t destroy forests and other biodiverse habitats; people do," says conservation scientist Erik Meijaard of the Brunei-based conservation group Borneo Futures and the University of Kent. The following information is not intended for publication dpa spr coh arw

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By James Pearson LONDON (Reuters) -The August hack of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), owned by India's Tata Motors, cost the British economy 1.9 billion pounds ($2.55 billion) and affected over 5,000 organisations in the country, an independent cybersecurity body said in a report published on Wednesday.  The report, produced by the Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC), an independent, not for profit organisation made up of industry experts including the former head of Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said losses could be higher if there were unexpected delays to the restoration of production at the vehicle manufacturer to pre-hack levels. "This incident appears to be the most economically damaging cyber event to hit the UK, with the vast majority of the financial impact being due to the loss of manufacturing output at JLR and its suppliers," the CMC report said. JLR started to resume manufacturing earlier this month after an almost six-week shutdown caused by the hack. The luxury carmaker has three factories in Britain, which together produce about 1,000 cars per day.  The incident was one of a string of high profile hacks to affect major British companies this year. Retailer Marks & Spencer lost about 300 million pounds (about $400 million) after a breach in April shut down its online services for two months. JLR, which analysts estimated was losing around 50 million pounds per week from the shutdown, was provided with a 1.5 billion pound loan guarantee by the British government in late September to help it support suppliers. The CMC, which is funded by the insurance industry and categorises the financial impact of major cybersecurity incidents affecting British businesses, ranked the JLR hack as a Category 3 systemic event, out of a scale of five.  The CMC's estimate "reflects the substantial disruption to JLR's manufacturing, to its multi-tier manufacturing supply chain, and to downstream organisations including dealerships," the report said. ($1 = 0.7451 pounds) (Reporting by James Pearson, Editing by William Maclean)

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By James Pearson LONDON (Reuters) -The August hack of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), owned by India's Tata Motors, cost the British economy 1.9 billion pounds ($2.55 billion) and affected over 5,000 organisations in the country, an independent cybersecurity body said in a report published on Wednesday.  The report, produced by the Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC), an independent, not for profit organisation made up of industry experts including the former head of Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said losses could be higher if there were unexpected delays to the restoration of production at the vehicle manufacturer to pre-hack levels. "This incident appears to be the most economically damaging cyber event to hit the UK, with the vast majority of the financial impact being due to the loss of manufacturing output at JLR and its suppliers," the CMC report said. JLR started to resume manufacturing earlier this month after an almost six-week shutdown caused by the hack. The luxury carmaker has three factories in Britain, which together produce about 1,000 cars per day.  The incident was one of a string of high profile hacks to affect major British companies this year. Retailer Marks & Spencer lost about 300 million pounds (about $400 million) after a breach in April shut down its online services for two months. JLR, which analysts estimated was losing around 50 million pounds per week from the shutdown, was provided with a 1.5 billion pound loan guarantee by the British government in late September to help it support suppliers. The CMC, which is funded by the insurance industry and categorises the financial impact of major cybersecurity incidents affecting British businesses, ranked the JLR hack as a Category 3 systemic event, out of a scale of five.  The CMC's estimate "reflects the substantial disruption to JLR's manufacturing, to its multi-tier manufacturing supply chain, and to downstream organisations including dealerships," the report said. ($1 = 0.7451 pounds) (Reporting by James Pearson, Editing by William Maclean)

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(Reuters) -A group including right-wing U.S. media personalities Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck has signed a statement calling for a ban on developing superintelligent artificial intelligence until the public demands it and science paves a safe way forward, according to the non-profit organizers of the initiative. The proposal, also signed by technology pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, is the latest organized by the Future of Life Institute, which for more than a decade has raised concerns about the risk it says intelligent machines pose to humanity. The institute, founded in 2014, was supported early on by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and software programmer and tech investor Jaan Tallinn. Many in the technology industry and the U.S. government have opposed such pauses, arguing these worries are unwarranted and undermine innovation and economic growth. Still, the support from figures such as Bannon reflects potentially growing AI unease among the populist right at a time when many with ties to Silicon Valley hold influential roles in the Republican administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Other signatories for the statement include Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, Ireland's former President Mary Robinson, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, the institute said. (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Chandni Shah in Bangalore; Editing by Chris Reese)

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By Francesco Guarascio HANOI (Reuters) -A landmark U.N. cybercrime agreement aimed at curbing offences that cost the global economy trillions of dollars annually is set to be signed by representatives from dozens of states in Hanoi this weekend, despite criticism over human rights risks. The convention, which would come into force after it is ratified by 40 states, is an unprecedented move that the United Nations expects will make responses to cybercrime quicker and more effective. Activists, major technology companies and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights have warned about possible abuses from its vague language on crime, with some saying it would facilitate rather than combat illegal activities. The list of signatories has not been released, though the European Union and Canada are set to sign the pact, which they said included safeguards to protect human rights. The U.S. State Department declined to say whether a U.S. representative will attend the signing ceremony. VIETNAM'S APPROPRIATENESS AS HOST QUESTIONED Vietnam's selection as host has drawn criticism due to its human rights record. In a report in August, the U.S. State Department cited "significant human rights issues" in Vietnam, including restrictions on online freedom of expression. At least 40 people have been arrested this year in Vietnam, for alleged crimes including online postings against the state, according to Human Rights Watch. The one-party Communist nation expects to raise its international profile by hosting the event and sees the pact as a tool to boost its cyber defences, Vietnamese officials said. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to attend the signing ceremony on Saturday. CRITICS DUB PACT 'SURVEILLANCE TREATY' The Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a coalition that includes Meta and Microsoft, has labelled the pact "a surveillance treaty" that facilitates the exchange of personal data among governments and risks "making it easier, not harder, for criminals to engage in cybercrime." The convention targets a broad spectrum of offences from phishing and ransomware to online trafficking and hate speech, the U.N. has said, citing estimates that cybercrime costs the global economy trillions of dollars each year. But the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights warned during treaty negotiations that "laws with overly broad definitions of cybercrime are frequently used to impose undue restrictions on the right to freedom of expression." Raman Jit Singh Chima of Access Now, an advocacy group, said the treaty could facilitate the extradition of individuals persecuted by their governments. The signing in Vietnam "sends a very bad signal" to human rights defenders, he added. Vietnam is experiencing an escalation of cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure and big corporations, Le Xuan Minh, head of cybersecurity at the public security ministry, told a press conference this month, noting more international cooperation could help identify perpetrators. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which led the treaty talks, said the agreement includes provisions to protect human rights and allows states to reject cooperation requests that conflict with international law. Activists and tech firms have also voiced concern that the treaty could criminalise ethical hackers who test systems for vulnerabilities, especially when their findings expose sensitive government flaws. The UNODC said the convention "encourages" states to enable legitimate research activities. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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(Reuters) -A group including right-wing U.S. media personalities Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck has signed a statement calling for a ban on developing superintelligent artificial intelligence until the public demands it and science paves a safe way forward, according to the non-profit organizers of the initiative. The proposal, also signed by technology pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, is the latest organized by the Future of Life Institute, which for more than a decade has raised concerns about the risk it says intelligent machines pose to humanity. The institute, founded in 2014, was supported early on by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and software programmer and tech investor Jaan Tallinn. Many in the technology industry and the U.S. government have opposed such pauses, arguing these worries are unwarranted and undermine innovation and economic growth. Still, the support from figures such as Bannon reflects potentially growing AI unease among the populist right at a time when many with ties to Silicon Valley hold influential roles in the Republican administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Other signatories for the statement include Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, Ireland's former President Mary Robinson, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, the institute said. (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Chandni Shah in Bangalore; Editing by Chris Reese)

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(Reuters) -A group including right-wing U.S. media personalities Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck has signed a statement calling for a ban on developing superintelligent artificial intelligence until the public demands it and science paves a safe way forward, according to the non-profit organizers of the initiative. The proposal, also signed by technology pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, is the latest organized by the Future of Life Institute, which for more than a decade has raised concerns about the risk it says intelligent machines pose to humanity. The institute, founded in 2014, was supported early on by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and software programmer and tech investor Jaan Tallinn. Many in the technology industry and the U.S. government have opposed such pauses, arguing these worries are unwarranted and undermine innovation and economic growth. Still, the support from figures such as Bannon reflects potentially growing AI unease among the populist right at a time when many with ties to Silicon Valley hold influential roles in the Republican administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Steve Bannon and Glenn Beck did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Other signatories for the statement include Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, Ireland's former President Mary Robinson, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, the institute said. (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Chandni Shah in Bangalore; Editing by Chris Reese)

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By Juby Babu and Krystal Hu (Reuters) -OpenAI on Tuesday unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a long-anticipated artificial intelligence-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot, in a direct challenge to Google Chrome’s dominance. The launch marks OpenAI’s latest move to capitalize on 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users, as it expands into more aspects of users' online lives by collecting data about consumers' browser behavior. It could accelerate a broader shift toward AI-driven search, as users increasingly turn to conversational tools that synthesize information instead of relying on traditional keyword-based results from Google — intensifying competition between OpenAI and Google. Shares of Alphabet, which owns the Chrome browser, were down 1.8% in afternoon trading. Reuters earlier reported on OpenAI’s planned browser launch. It is the latest entrant in a crowded field of AI browsers, which includes Perplexity’s Comet, Brave Browser and Opera’s Neon, as companies race to weave in tools that can summarize pages, fill out forms and draft code to attract users. Atlas lets users open a ChatGPT sidebar in any window to summarize content, compare products or analyze data from any site. In “agent mode,” now available to paid users, ChatGPT can interact with websites on their behalf — completing tasks from start to finish, such as researching and shopping for a trip. In a demo on Tuesday, OpenAI developers showcased how ChatGPT could find an online recipe and then automatically purchase all the ingredients. The agent navigated to the Instacart website and added the necessary groceries to the cart — a task that took several minutes to complete. The browser is now available globally on Apple’s macOS. Versions for Windows, iOS and Android will be released later. Led by Sam Altman, OpenAI upended the tech industry with the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. Following its initial success, the company has faced stiff competition from Google and startup Anthropic and has been seeking new areas of growth.  Google, meanwhile, has been developing ways to adapt to shifting search behaviors since ChatGPT’s debut. Depending on the query, each Google search result can now display an AI overview, or AI Mode, alongside traditional links, offering a chatbot-like experience. Last month, Google integrated its Gemini AI model into Chrome for U.S. users, with plans to bring Gemini to the iOS Chrome app as well. In a win for Google, a federal judge in September ruled that Google won't have to sell the Chrome browser. Judge Amit Mehta said Google can continue paying partners to promote its search engine, noting that heavy investment in generative AI by Big Tech and startups alike now threatens traditional search, making such payments more acceptable. Despite increasing competition, Google Chrome has held its dominance, with 71.9% market share in the global browser market in September, according to StatCounter. Still, analysts say a new browser from OpenAI could introduce fresh competition for ad dollars. “Integrating chat into a browser is a precursor for OpenAI starting to sell ads, which it has yet to do so far. Once OpenAI starts selling ads that could take away a significant part of search advertising share from Google, which has around 90% of that spend category,” said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Krystal Hu in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Anhata Rooprai; Editing by Leroy Leo, Alan Barona and Lisa Shumaker)

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By Kenneth Li (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics released its Galaxy XR extended reality headset on Tuesday, counting on AI features from Google to propel it into the nascent and uncertain market of computing-on-your-face that is dominated by Meta and Apple. The headset, resembling those made by others such as Meta, will cost $1,799, or about half of what Apple charges for its Vision Pro headset.  It is the first of a family of new devices, powered by the Android XR operating system and artificial intelligence, in a long-term partnership with Alphabet's Google and Qualcomm. "There's a whole journey ahead of us in terms of other devices and form factors," said Google's vice president of AR/XR Sharham Izadi in an interview ahead of the launch. Up next will be the release of lighter eyeglasses, executives said, declining to elaborate. Samsung has announced partnerships with Warby Parker and South Korea's Gentle Monster luxury eyewear. The race to find new form factors for entertainment and computing, underpinned by AI, has fueled a battle among the biggest technology companies. Instagram-owner Meta overwhelmingly dominates the VR headset industry with about an 80% market share, with Apple trailing behind.  ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is also diving into the market and spent $6.5 billion to buy iPhone designer Jony Ive's hardware startup io Products in May to figure out devices in the AI age. Samsung has studied the extended reality segment for the past 10 years, and it was not until about four years ago that the company approached Google to jointly develop the project, codenamed "Moohan," meaning "infinite" in Korean, said Jay Kim, executive vice president at Samsung's mobile division. "We have been agonizing over when to bring the product to the market, and considering various factors such as technology evolution and market situation, we believe that now is the best timing," he said at a briefing in Seoul on Wednesday.    USING GOOGLE AI STRENGTH The long-awaited Samsung Galaxy XR, first demonstrated last year, combines virtual reality and mixed reality features. The goggles immerse users watching videos, such as on Alphabet's YouTube, or playing games and viewing pictures, while also allowing users to interact with their surroundings. The latter feature takes advantage of Google's Gemini service, which can analyze what users are seeing and offer directions or information about real-world objects by looking and circling objects with their fingers. In an interview last week, executives from Google and Samsung discussed how they believe extended reality headsets, which have yet to ignite mass consumer interest, would benefit greatly from the application of Google's powerful multimodal AI features throughout the device that can process information from different types of data such as text, photos and videos. It's a set of software capabilities that Apple has yet to demonstrate, despite rolling out an updated Vision Pro with a more powerful chip. "Google entering the fray again changes the dynamic in the ecosystem," said Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, noting that Google's software added $1,000 in value to the device by some estimates. "Google really wants people to get the full experience of Gemini when using this headset." Customers who buy the device this year will receive a bundle of free services including 12 months of access to Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass and other specialized XR content, the companies said. The prototype for AI-enhanced goggles was ready by the time Apple had launched its Vision Pro headset in 2024, executives said, as they sought to enhance existing applications like YouTube and Google Photos and Google Maps, while creating new immersive experiences. Like many first generation technologies, it attempts to do multiple things that could have consumer and enterprise applications. Qualcomm is providing its Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip to power the headset. DIFFICULT MARKET Many tech CEOs have been seduced by what they say is the next big thing in personal computing, but the market remains tiny by tech standards. Research firm Gartner estimated the global Head-Mounted Display market is expected to rise by 2.6% from this year to $7.27 billion next year. Lighter, eyeglass-type AI devices such as Meta's smartglasses made in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica Ray-Bans are expected to drive most of this growth. Despite the expanding competitive landscape, the global virtual reality market, which includes so-called "mixed reality" headsets launching more recently, has faced three consecutive years of decline. Weakening again, shipments in 2025 are expected to fall 20% year on year, according to research firm Counterpoint. "With a potentially more competitive price point than Apple’s Vision Pro, Samsung’s Project Moohan headset could emerge as a strong contender in the premium VR segment, particularly within the enterprise market," Counterpoint senior analyst Flora Tang. The Galaxy XR is the first Android XR device. But Samsung has dabbled with face-mounted computing devices dating back a decade, involving slipping a smartphone into a headset, called the Gear VR, in partnership with VR headset maker Oculus. Meta acquired Oculus in 2014. (Reporting by Kenneth Li in New York and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Editing by Sonali Paul)

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