Economy
Google targeted by French newspapers over AI summaries
A federation representing nearly 300 French daily newspapers said Tuesday it had filed a complaint with the country’s competition authority over Google’s new AI-generated search summaries, fearing the feature will erode traffic to publishers’ websites.
It is the latest salvo by media companies against the U.S. tech giant’s use of their articles and other content as they grapple with ad revenue declines.
Google launched its AI Overviews in France in late July, which appear above regular links to search results and compile information from a wide array of sources.
But the APIG association of newspapers wants the country’s competition regulator to ensure “Google’s respect of commitments made in 2022” as part of a compensation deal with French media groups.
Information “has considerable value,” APIG President Marc Feuillee, also managing director of the center-right Le Figaro newspaper, said in a statement.
“The editors are not seeking to halt innovation. They are asking for this value to be shared, and for compensation of the use of their content,” the association said in its statement.
It said Google had sprung the new artificial intelligence summaries without their consent, an alleged violation of the 2022 deal.
The competition authority had already fined Google 250 million euros ($290 million) in 2024 for not respecting parts of the agreement.
Many media groups have seen their revenue dwindle over the past two decades as advertising moved increasingly online, where tech firms take a big share of the profits.
Critics say AI summaries cause further harm by leading to a drop in internet traffic to newspapers’ articles – with many users no longer clicking through to read the original source of the information.
Google contends they let people ask more complex questions and discover new content, and says it provides controls to help publishers manage their content.
The EU announced in December 2025 that it was investigating whether Google breached competition rules by using content put online by media and other publishers to train and provide AI services without appropriate compensation.
Natural disasters have incurred economic losses estimated at $100 billion in the first half of this year, reinsurance group Swiss Re said Tuesday, in what is seen as a sharp decline from the same period last year.
Despite severe storms in the U.S. and the deadly earthquakes that struck Venezuela in June, the losses were well below the $152 billion recorded in the first half of 2025, the group said in its latest report.
The losses were also 10% below the 10-year average for the period.
But Swiss Re, which serves as an insurer for insurance companies, noted that losses from natural disasters often increase in the second half of the year, mainly due to hurricanes in the North Atlantic Ocean.
“A less costly first half of the year does not mean the risk has gone away,” said Balz Grollimund, the group’s director of Catastrophe Perils.
“One major hurricane, earthquake, or wildfire can quickly change the picture.”
Severe heat across Europe since June has sparked an early wildfire season in France and Spain that has already destroyed thousands of homes and businesses as well as infrastructure.
“Wildfire risk has so far accounted for only a relatively small share of insured losses in Europe. Yet it is the fastest-growing weather peril globally,” the company said.
It said insured wildfire losses had risen by 8% to 11% per year in Europe since 1970 after adjusting for inflation and other factors.
Looking forward, Swiss Re warned that the El Nino climate pattern, which began in June and is expected to peak later this year, could accentuate the cost from weather-related disasters.
“El Nino may influence tropical cyclone activity in the Central and East Pacific and could alter the risk of floods, wildfires and other weather extremes elsewhere,” it said.
“The long-term drivers of catastrophe losses remain unchanged, including growing exposure in hazard-prone areas and rising reconstruction costs,” it added.
Türkiye’s overall trade sales volume decreased by 4.5% on an annual basis in June, driven by a moderation in most of the subcategories, official data showed on Tuesday.
The drop in sales was driven by the fall in volume of wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which decreased by 13.8%, and wholesale trade sales volume, which was down by 9.4%, the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) revealed.
In contrast, retail sales volume rose by 11.8% compared to the same month last year.
On a monthly basis, the country’s total trade sales volume was up by 1.9% in June, while retail sales also increased by 0.7%.
Month-on-month, motor vehicle sales volume dropped by 5.7%, while wholesale trade increased by 4%.
Retail sales growth eases
The retail sales have been relatively resilient in recent months, particularly in the first quarter of the year. However, the pace of expansion moderated as June sales were slower than the 12.8% growth recorded in May.
Retail sales track consumer demand for finished goods and serve as a critical economic barometer.
Within the retail sector, non-food sales excluding automotive fuel surged by 17.6% annually in June, according to the institute’s figures.
Data also showed that mail order and internet retail sales expanded significantly, growing by 22.4% year-over-year.
Food, drinks, and tobacco sales grew by 2.9% annually, while automotive fuel retail sales rose by 1.1% during the same period.
Turnover up 25.8%
A separate report shared by TurkStat on Tuesday showed that the total turnover of the Turkish economy increased by 25.8% on an annual basis in June.
Looking at the details of the total turnover index, industry turnover increased by 26.7%, construction surged by 29.9%, trade saw a 23.5% rise, and turnover in the services sector increased by 31.3% on a yearly basis.
Turkish engineering and defense tech company Volt Technology is looking to expand its domestically developed aircraft electrical power generation systems to additional national aviation platforms, its top executive said Tuesday.
That plan follows Volt’s successful development of the main power system for Türkiye’s indigenous fifth-generation Kaan fighter jet, with new projects now underway for the Hürjet advanced jet trainer and Gökbey multirole utility helicopter.
The western Izmir-based company, one of a limited number of manufacturers worldwide capable of developing aircraft main power generation systems, has already adapted the technology developed for Kaan to the Hürküş trainer aircraft.
Development work continues for Hürjet and Gökbey, Volt Technology General Manager Ulaş Tutan told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Aircraft main power generation systems, which include generators, alternators and control units, provide continuous electrical power for onboard systems and are considered critical for flight safety and mission performance.
Developed without reverse engineering
Volt said it began work on Kaan’s indigenous power generation system about four years ago, developing the product from scratch without copying or reverse engineering an existing design.
The company said the system’s architecture, control algorithms and electromagnetic design were created entirely through domestic engineering expertise before undergoing design validation, environmental and functional testing, electromagnetic compatibility assessments, integration and certification.
The system was used during Kaan’s taxi tests and maiden flight campaign.
Building on the engineering experience gained through the Kaan program, Volt has completed research and development work to adapt the system for the Hürküş aircraft and has started deliveries.
The company is also developing next-generation electrical power generation systems tailored to the different performance and power requirements of the Hürjet and Gökbey, Tutan said.
‘Only handful of companies can do this’
Tutan said Volt was established to develop advanced technologies, bring them into serial production and support Türkiye’s indigenous defense programs.
“Our most important achievement has been the alternator, generator and control units we developed for the national fighter Kaan,” Tutan said.
“As a result of our R&D activities since 2020, Kaan completed its taxi tests and first flight using our products. We succeeded in developing a product that had never before been produced in Türkiye and that perhaps only five companies worldwide are capable of manufacturing.”
Tutan said the company supplies the generator and control unit that provide electrical power to Kaan’s onboard systems.
“We produce the generator that provides Kaan’s electrical power together with its control unit. We power all the electrical systems, the heart of the aircraft, that require electrical power,” he said.
Tutan said their product has successfully fulfilled the expected functions in the tests. However, he said their in-flight trials are still ongoing.
“The product we have developed is a high-tech product. Only five companies in the world are capable of manufacturing such a product, and providing this product with that level of technology requires significant infrastructure. We are currently able to provide this infrastructure,” he said.
Supporting exports
Tutan said Volt aims to equip Türkiye’s growing fleet of domestically developed aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, with locally produced electrical power systems to eliminate foreign dependence.
“We have the capability to customize products in different kilowatt ratings and sizes for those platforms,” he said.
“Our main objective is to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers to zero,” he added.
He added that using domestically developed subsystems on aircraft exported abroad would both reduce external dependency and make exports easier by minimizing reliance on imported components.
A U.S. judge dismissed on Monday a case against Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani after the Trump administration decided to drop the fraud and bribery allegations against him brought to light in 2024.
Court filings showed Brooklyn federal judge Nicholas Garaufis formally rubber-stamped a May request by prosecutors to throw out the 2024 allegations that Adani participated in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts.
U.S. media had reported that Adani’s attorney Robert Giuffra, who is also Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, told Justice Department (DOJ) officials in April that if charges were dropped, the magnate would be willing to invest $10 billion in the American economy.
The judge in the case had previously asked if the reported investment pledge was a factor in the U.S. government’s decision to drop the case, a rare move in the federal legal system, but ultimately concluded it was not part of prosecutorial decision-making.
Garaufis was, however, scornful of the way in which Trump-appointed Deputy Associate Attorney General Trent McCotter went about having the case dismissed.
“The fact that McCotter came to this decision largely in collaboration with defense counsel, and seemingly without input from the FBI and SEC agents who investigated the alleged misconduct, or (prosecutors) who brought the case, appears to be highly unusual,” he wrote.
The Adani Group is one of India’s largest business empires, operating businesses ranging from ports and power plants to cement factories and media houses.
Adani, one of India’s richest men and a vocal backer of Trump on social media, has been rocked in recent years by corporate fraud allegations and a stock crash.
Adani is a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hails from the leader’s home state of Gujarat.
“I welcome the U.S. court’s decision with humility and deep respect for the judicial process,” Adani wrote on social media.
“Throughout this challenging period, our faith in truth, fairness and the rule of law remained unwavering.”
Finalists with AI- and 5G-driven ideas to make roads safer gathered at Istanbul Technical University (ITÜ) for the last stage of Turkcell’s “5G and Artificial Intelligence for Smart Road Safety Competition,” held as part of Teknofest 2026.
The competition, organized in cooperation with the T3 Foundation, attracted 745 teams from more than 150 universities across 11 countries, including Türkiye, Azerbaijan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
Twenty teams advanced to the final round after qualifying through preliminary stages involving 163 shortlisted teams.
Finalists tested their solutions using Türkiye’s domestically produced Togg electric vehicle, developing systems designed to detect road hazards and driver errors by combining artificial intelligence with 5G connectivity.
Turkcell CEO Ali Taha Koç said technology gains value when it addresses real needs.
“At Turkcell, we have been supporting the dreams and goals of our young people for 32 years. The Smart Road Safety Competition, featuring 5G and Artificial Intelligence, is a reflection of this vision. It is also a highly valuable initiative that showcases our young people’s potential to create technology,” Koç said.
He recalled the launch of 5G in Türkiye this April.
“5G now transmits data at high speed, artificial intelligence gives meaning to that data, and human intelligence directs technology,” said Koç.
“Our young finalists have combined these capabilities to create safer roads. Every project they have presented also makes a concrete contribution to Türkiye’s National Technology Initiative,” he noted.
“Developing smart road safety systems using domestic technologies is of strategic importance for Türkiye’s digital future.”
The competition focused on demonstrating how 5G’s low-latency connectivity and artificial intelligence can be integrated into intelligent transportation systems.
Teams developed applications capable of analyzing data in real time while dynamically managing network resources. Participants also utilized GSMA Open Gateway standards, including Number Verification services that enable password-free user authentication, and Quality on Demand technology to ensure low-latency, high-quality connectivity for mission-critical applications.
Three special awards were presented during the final round. The Polaris team from Çukurova University won the Best Application Architecture Award, while the university’s Eureka team received the Best Presentation Award. The Turkcell Special Award went to the Mimik team from Karadeniz Technical University.
The winners of the overall competition will be announced during this year’s edition of Teknofest, the country’s largest aerospace and technology festival, which will be held in southeastern Şanlıurfa province from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4.
Goods tied to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are still reaching European markets, prompting questions about how they are exported, labeled and distributed, and whether current European rules are doing enough to stop settlement-linked trade.
A June 2026 report by the Global Echo Litigation Center, Importing Occupation, has drawn fresh attention to these supply chains.
It says that goods made in Israeli illegal settlements have entered European markets through systems that hide their actual place of origin.
Here is how the system works.
How widespread is the trade?
The report focuses on agricultural exports, including dates, citrus fruits, herbs, fruit and vegetables, which have been recorded as among the most common settlement products reaching Europe by previous research.
To illustrate how the trade operates, Global Echo examined the supply chains of three major Israeli exporters: Hadiklaim, Mehadrin Ltd. and Yonatan Packing and Marketing.
It traced products from illegal settlement farms through packing facilities and Israeli ports before they entered European markets.
The actual scale of these trades has been unknown, as neither Israel nor the European Union releases comprehensive data on settlement exports.
The report says it analyzed more than 30,000 export documents covering more than 6,800 agricultural shipments between October 2017 and February 2026. Of the 5,900 shipments bound for Europe, 17.2% contained settlement products. For the EU specifically, the figure was 19.2%
The report says that farm products from Israeli settlements are not unusual or occasional, but are regularly part of Israel’s agricultural exports to Europe.
How do settlement products enter Europe?
According to the report, exporters use what it calls a “supply chain of obfuscation,” a system designed to hide the fact that products come from Israeli settlements and make their actual origin harder to identify.
The report describes three main methods.
The first is what it calls “hiding in plain sight.” In this method, exporters may include the actual settlement location, including its postal code, but still list Israel as the country of origin, excluding the fact that the goods were produced in a settlement.
The report says the responsibility falls on the European customs authorities, rather than Israeli exporters, for checking whether a postal code belongs to a settlement. It argues that this allows loopholes that allow settlement produce to enter European markets without being identified as such.
The second method involves what the report calls “sham addresses.” Exporters use addresses inside Israel instead of the actual production site, making settlement produce appear to have originated in Israel.
The third method is “mingling.”
Illegal settlement produce is mixed with goods grown inside Israel at shared packing or storage facilities before export. Once combined, the shipment carries Israeli origin documents, making it difficult for importers and customs officials to identify which products came from settlements.
What steps have European countries taken?
European countries have taken multiple approaches toward products originating from Israeli settlements, ranging from national import bans to calls for stronger EU-wide restrictions.
At the European Union level, there is still no bloc-wide ban on imports from Israeli settlements. But the issue has moved closer to EU-level action. In July, the European Commission presented member states with options including a full or partial import ban, prohibitive tariffs and an import-licensing system. EU foreign ministers discussed the proposals on July 13, with a full ban receiving the most support, but no agreement was reached and further work was ordered.
The Netherlands has adopted a national ban on the import, purchase and sale of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The measure also prohibits circumvention and is due to take effect on Sept. 22, 2026.
Ireland has also advanced legislation to prohibit imports of goods originating in Israeli settlements. The government approved the Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026 in May, and the bill subsequently passed through the Irish parliament in July. Once enacted and commenced, importing settlement goods will be an offence.
Spain has already banned the import of products originating in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. Belgium has also approved a ban on imports from Israeli settlements, while supporting stronger EU-wide action.
France and Sweden have pushed for a common European approach rather than separate national measures. In an April 2026 letter to the European Commission, France and Sweden called for additional measures targeting settlement products, including tariffs and restrictions through export-licensing schemes.
Why does the system continue to function?
Global Echo argues that responsibility is divided between Israeli exporters and European authorities.
Researchers say they identified hundreds of origin certificates that appeared to relate to settlement products while claiming preferential treatment available under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
The report also questions the validity of plant health certificates and organic certifications issued for products originating in occupied territory, arguing they may not comply with EU legal requirements.
According to the report, the current system places the burden of identifying settlement postal codes on European authorities rather than Israeli exporters, creating opportunities for settlement products to go undetected.
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