© PA Archive
Up to 1.4 million people could benefit from change to trading allowance announced in budget, with some saving hundreds in tax
The amount Britons can earn from a side hustle without paying tax will rise to £3,000 next year in a fillip for those who make extra cash from hobbies or reselling.
Up to 1.4 million people could benefit from the change announced in the budget, with the chancellor confirming the tax-free “trading” allowance will increase from £1,000 to £3,000 in April 2027.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Photononstop/Alamy
© Photograph: Photononstop/Alamy
© Photograph: Photononstop/Alamy
Investment platform Wealthyhood has recorded a five-fold increase in investors and an eight-fold rise in client assets in Cyprus between June and September 2026, with data from its partnership with the Bank of Cyprus pointing to growing interest in local shares, exchange-traded funds and accessible long-term investing.
The figures, published in ‘Wealthyhood’s Cyprus Investor Pulse 2026‘ report, cover anonymised and aggregated data from clients resident in Cyprus between June 1 and September 30, with the findings highlighting how lower entry costs and simpler account funding can encourage participation in financial markets.
Alexandros Christodoulakis, co-founder and chief executive of Wealthyhood, told the Cyprus Mail that the response from Cypriot investors had exceeded expectations in terms of the quality of their engagement.
“People in Cyprus didn’t need to be convinced that investing matters. What they were missing was a simple, trusted way to start, and once that existed, they moved quickly,” he said.
The report found that 88.6 per cent of clients who deposited money went on to buy a stock or exchange-traded fund (ETF), compared with 80.4 per cent among clients who signed up in Greece during the same period.
Christodoulakis said the company was encouraged by the extent to which customers were continuing to invest after opening their accounts, rather than simply registering and leaving the platform.
“Of those who joined in June or July and invested, 88.9 per cent were still invested on September 30,” he said.
“Seven in ten (70.3 per cent) have never sold an investment, and six in ten (59.1 per cent) made a second deposit within 30 days of their first,” Christodoulakis continued. “People are not trying the app once and walking away; they are building a habit.”
He added that four months of activity remained an early snapshot, but that the quality of engagement had been particularly encouraging.
The report also found that 58.4 per cent of new investors made their first investment within 7 days of signing up, while 14.4 per cent invested on the same day.
The typical first deposit was €100, while the typical first investment amounted to €55. Almost two-thirds of investors, or 64 per cent, started with €100 or less, suggesting that many were entering the market with relatively modest sums.
More than half, or 56.8 per cent, made their first investment in an ETF, which allows investors to buy into a collection of companies through a single product.
The most popular first investment was the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, accounting for 16.6 per cent of first investments, followed by Bank of Cyprus shares at 10.2 per cent.
Christodoulakis said traditional barriers to investing included high minimum investment requirements, fees that eroded smaller amounts, paperwork and complicated terminology.
“Faced with that, many people who could invest simply never start. Not because they don’t care about their future, but because the first step looks expensive, complicated and opaque,” he stated.
Wealthyhood aims to address these obstacles by allowing customers to invest in international and local markets from €1, with zero commission and fractional shares, alongside an education hub containing more than 50 guides.
The platform also offers Autopilot, an automated investing service through which users can make regular investments without having to manage each transaction manually. The typical Autopilot user invests €150 a month, according to the report.
Christodoulakis said access to financial markets needed to be accompanied by a better understanding of investment products and their risks.
“Access alone isn’t enough, though. People also need to understand what they’re buying and why, which is why education sits at the core of the app, not in a corner of it,” he said.
The report’s demographic findings challenge the assumption that investment applications primarily attract younger users.
The typical investor in Cyprus is 40 years old, works full-time and declares an annual income of between €30,001 and €50,000. The largest age group is 35 to 44, accounting for 31.7 per cent of investors, followed by those aged 45 to 54 at 25.9 per cent and those aged 25 to 34 at 25.3 per cent.
People under 30 account for 19.3 per cent of investors.
Income levels were also higher than those recorded among investors in Greece. Some 31 per cent of Cypriot investors declared annual incomes above €50,000, while 24 per cent reported incomes below €20,000, compared with 58 per cent of investors in Greece in the latter category.
Full-time employees account for 86.5 per cent of investors, while 4.7 per cent are self-employed.
Finance and insurance is the most common industry, employing 31.5 per cent of investors, followed by information technology at 10.5 per cent and the public sector at 8.1 per cent.
Nicosia district accounts for 50.5 per cent of investors, followed by Limassol at 25.6 per cent, Larnaca at 14.9 per cent, Paphos at 5.1 per cent and Famagusta at 3.9 per cent.
Christodoulakis said the available data was not yet sufficient to establish how the investor profile had changed over time or to draw reliable conclusions about customers’ previous investing experience.
However, he said the behaviour observed so far pointed towards a cautious, long-term approach, characterised by small initial investments, ETFs and limited selling.
“One number I’d like to see change: about one in six new investors is a woman. Closing that gap is one of the biggest challenges for retail investing, in Cyprus and beyond,” he said.
He added that the market was increasingly being shaped by working people seeking greater control over their long-term finances, rather than traders attempting to profit from short-term market movements.
“As cost and complexity keep falling, I expect that profile to broaden, especially to younger people and to women,” he said.
The availability of domestic shares has also helped attract investors to the platform, with the Bank of Cyprus emerging as its most-bought individual stock.
Cypriot and Greek shares became available through Wealthyhood on July 17, allowing customers to hold domestic investments alongside international stocks and ETFs.
Customers can access Bank of Cyprus shares and 8 other companies listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange, namely Vassiliko Cement, Demetra Holdings, Logicom, Cyprus Cement, Petrolina, Atlantic Insurance, Pandora Investments and GlobalWealth Group.
Within less than 3 months of the launch, 29.2 per cent of buyers had purchased at least 1 Cypriot share.
The Bank of Cyprus was bought by 35.8 per cent of stock investors, ahead of US technology company NVIDIA at 21.3 per cent and SpaceX at 12.6 per cent.
Among investors who purchased Cypriot shares, 82.6 per cent chose the Bank of Cyprus, followed by Vassiliko Cement at 16 per cent, Petrolina at 12.3 per cent and Logicom at 8.2 per cent.
The report found that domestic shares were bringing new participants into the market. For 52.8 per cent of investors holding Cypriot shares, a local company had been their first investment on Wealthyhood, compared with just 1.8 per cent among other investors.
Those holding Cypriot shares also had larger portfolios, with a typical portfolio 1.8 times the size of those held by other investors and containing 3 investments rather than 1.
Christodoulakis said familiar domestic companies could provide an accessible entry point for people who were less comfortable with international markets.
“People invest more readily in companies they know, and familiar local names are often the bridge into the market,” he said.
However, he stressed that local shares were complementing rather than replacing international investments.
The report found that 8.6 per cent of money invested since July 17 had gone into Cypriot shares, while Greek shares accounted for 12.3 per cent. Some 18.9 per cent of buyers had purchased at least 1 Greek share.
Across portfolios, 37.6 per cent of invested money was allocated to the United States, 21.1 per cent to global ETFs, 16.5 per cent to the rest of Europe, 11.3 per cent to Greece and 8.9 per cent to Cyprus.
The figures also showed the importance of ETFs in investors’ portfolios. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, which tracks the 500 largest US companies, had been purchased by 42.7 per cent of ETF investors and was held by 24.4 per cent of all investors on September 30.
Other popular ETFs included the Vanguard LifeStrategy 80 per cent Equity fund, purchased by 13.6 per cent of ETF investors, the SPDR MSCI World at 13.1 per cent and the iShares Nasdaq 100 at 11.9 per cent.
Among investors who still held investments on September 30, 42.5 per cent held only ETFs.
The report also examined access to shares listed in Athens. On September 30, 25.6 per cent of investors held at least 1 stock listed on Euronext Athens, including the Bank of Cyprus, while 7.6 per cent held a stock listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange and 4.2 per cent held shares listed on both exchanges.
Athens-listed stocks accounted for 17.1 per cent of invested money, while Cyprus Stock Exchange-listed shares represented 2.1 per cent.
After the Bank of Cyprus, the most widely held Athens-listed stocks were Eurobank, at 5.1 per cent, followed by Allwyn and Alpha Bank, each at 2.8 per cent. Half of the 10 most widely held names were banks.
Christodoulakis said the company’s priorities in Cyprus were to improve financial education, encourage customers to turn initial investments into regular habits and expand the role of automated investing.
He said Wealthyhood and the Bank of Cyprus shared a responsibility to help close the financial literacy gap, particularly among younger people and women, by improving understanding of risk, diversification and the importance of time in investing.
“Giving people access to markets is only half of the job; helping them understand risk, diversification and time is the other half,” he said.
The company also wants to build on existing customer behaviour through services such as Autopilot, which can make regular investment contributions easier to maintain.
Christodoulakis said the first months of activity had demonstrated a clear appetite for accessible investing in Cyprus, but that the next challenge was to turn the initial momentum into sustained participation.
“Four months in, Cyprus has shown us the appetite is real. Now the work is to turn that early momentum into a generation of long-term investors,” he said.
Paul Nowak says ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of employers could sign access agreements as ‘transformative’ rules come into force
The TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, is predicting a wave of union recognition deals in the private sector over the next year as “transformative” rules on accessing workplaces come into force.
From Friday, as part of Labour’s Employment Rights Act, unions will have the right to enter workplaces or communicate with staff electronically. From January, employers will be obliged to inform workers of their right to join a union.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
© Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
© Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in what analysts say is the biggest crypto hack ever, an attack that could prompt investors to rethink the risks of owning digital assets.
The hackers behind the raid were from North Korea, according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis. The attackers targeted Binance wallets on 10 blockchains and shifted most of the funds in about 20 minutes, TRM Labs said in a statement.
Binance said it worked with partners to freeze the affected assets with about $3 billion located so far. It did not mention the status of the remaining $3.3 billion, and its co-founder Yi He said the exchange would cover “all hacking losses”.
Binance said its deposits were unaffected and it expects to resume withdrawal services in the next 48 hours.
TRM said several features of the attack matched earlier heists linked to North Korea, including a 2025 hack of crypto exchange Bybit that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had attributed to Pyongyang.
“We make this judgment with high confidence,” it said in a statement.
North Korea’s mission in Geneva and its embassy in China did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The incident could be the world’s biggest crypto heist, according to analytics firm Chainalysis and other industry experts.
“It’s the biggest hack in history,” said Aravind Srinivasan, head of large crypto market maker GSR’s systematic OTC business.
Bitcoin BTC= dropped more than 3% to a six-week low of $76,368 and ether ETH= fell more than 3% to a two-month low of $2,178. BNB BNB=CCCL, a token originally launched as Binance Coin that can be used to pay Binance fees, was down 5% over the past 24 hours at $709.70, according to market aggregator CoinGecko.
Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global COIN.O slid 4.8% while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy MSTR.O fell nearly 6% in extended US trading.
An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of its engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorized withdrawals, Binance said.
“The incident stems from multiple factors. Our security team is tracing the full attack path through the compromised computer which may be the entry point of the incident,” Binance said.
Beyond the potential loss of assets, the security breach was likely to have wider ramifications for crypto, which had already been under pressure due to higher US interest rates and softer demand from exchange-traded fund buyers, analysts said.
“It may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralized exchanges, as well as counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks,” said Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, based in Hong Kong.
Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has 335 million registered users globally and had about $162.8 billion in assets under custody as of the exchange’s 2025 annual report.
“User funds remain safe,” Binance said in a statement.
Binance runs a secure asset fund for users, which is a reserve held entirely in bitcoin that is intended to protect user assets in cases of security breaches, according to its website.
“It’s becoming very hard to counter hacks as AI can find vulnerabilities faster than you can fix them,” said Bernardo Brites, CEO of Trace Finance, a payments and stablecoin infrastructure company.
“My view is that users will move away from smaller and medium-sized exchanges, (it is) becoming too risky to park your money somewhere that couldn’t cover a hack of meaningful size.”
Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had frozen nearly $1.57 billion in assets linked to the incident, while Circle froze more than $800 million.
World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to US President Donald Trump and his family, said on Thursday it had worked with cryptocurrency custodian BitGo to freeze funds stolen in what it described as a Binance hack. Binance’s Yi said $27 million in stablecoins and about $2 million worth of World Liberty tokens had been frozen.
Crypto firm Ripple also froze roughly $200 million in funds, Yi said. Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple, said the company was closely monitoring reports of a potential exploit involving Binance and was freezing affected funds and coordinating with relevant parties.
Miguel Morel, CEO of blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, said data indicated that billions of dollars appeared to have been hacked from Binance by an unknown actor.
The incident adds to a string of crypto thefts. Last year, attackers stole $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks, according to researchers at TRM Labs. In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget said roughly $350 million in crypto had been stolen from its platform, underscoring the industry’s vulnerability to hackers.
Authorities have warned that organised crime groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to move funds across borders outside the traditional financial system.
Binance.US, a separate cryptocurrency exchange, said it was not affected by the security incident.
Coinbase COIN.O said it was unaffected and was monitoring the situation.
In an unrelated incident earlier on Thursday, prediction market operator Polymarket temporarily halted trading after a security incident involving a third-party provider. It later resumed trading and said it would fully reimburse affected traders.
| Time period | Company | What was stolen | What happened |
| February 2025 | Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit | Digital tokens worth $1.5 billion | The crypto was taken from a “cold wallet” – a digital wallet usually stored offline and so supposedly more secure – that was used for ether tokens. |
| March 2022 | Ronin Network, a network that allows transfer of crypto coins across different blockchains | Roughly $540 million from a blockchain project linked to the popular online game Axie Infinity | Hackers stole some 173,600 ether tokens and 25.5 million USD Coin tokens. |
| February 2022 | Wormhole, a DeFi site | $320 million | Hackers making off with 120,000 digital tokens connected to the second-largest cryptocurrency, ether. The crypto arm of Chicago-based Jump Trading, which had the year before acquired the developer behind Wormhole, later replaced the funds. |
| August 2021 | Poly Network, a platform that facilitates peer-to-peer token transactions | $610 million (Hackers behind the heist later returned nearly all of the stolen funds) | The hack underscored vulnerabilities in the burgeoning decentralised finance, or DeFi, sector, where users lend, borrow and save in digital tokens, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of finance such as banks and exchanges. |
| January 2018 | Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck | $530 million | The thieves attacked one of Coincheck’s “hot wallet” – a digital folder stored online – to drain the funds, drawing attention to security at exchanges.South Korea’s intelligence agency said at the time that a North Korean hacking group may have been behind the heist. |
| Between 2011 and 2014 | Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox | Bitcoin worth close to $500 million was stolen in one of the earliest and most high-profile crypto hacks. | Mt. Gox, which once handled 80% of the world’s bitcoin trade, filed for bankruptcy in early 2014 after the hack was revealed, with some 24,000 customers losing access to their funds. |
The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) in Cyprus will hold an online information session on November 19, 2026, to present funding opportunities available to businesses and organisations under the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) 2027 work programme.
The event, announced by the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Keve), which coordinates EEN activities in Cyprus, will explain the main funding instruments available under the programme and outline the most important changes and new developments planned for 2027.
The session is aimed at businesses and organisations seeking European funding to support innovation, develop new technologies and scale up their operations.
Participants will receive information on the EIC Pathfinder, EIC Transition and EIC Accelerator programmes, as well as the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Scale Up initiative.
These instruments support different stages of innovation, from early-stage research and the development of technologies towards commercialisation to the growth of businesses seeking to expand their operations.
The event will also feature EEN2EIC, which will present its activities, services and tools designed to help innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups access EIC funding opportunities.
The special session will also explain how EEN2EIC supports businesses in improving their investment readiness, helping them prepare to attract funding and pursue opportunities under the European innovation funding framework.
Interested businesses and organisations can register through the event’s registration link provided by the organisers.
The plans were discussed in Busan, South Korea, where Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis met India’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, as part of a wider round of meetings aimed at bringing the two countries’ maritime industries closer together.
At the centre of their talks was the Cyprus–India Maritime Business Forum, which will take place in Mumbai on November 23, 2026, during Hadjimanolis’ visit to India.
Sonowal confirmed that India was ready to welcome the Cypriot delegation and support the forum, with both sides keen to see businesses make the most of the opportunity.
The China-Cyprus Subnational Exchange and Cooperation Forum and Business Forum, organised by Keve in cooperation with the Chinese embassy and the Cyprus-China Business Association on Tuesday, brought together business representatives, local authority officials and institutional representatives from both countries to discuss closer economic cooperation and opportunities for commercial partnerships.
In his opening address, Keve secretary general Philokypros Roussounides said the countries’ longstanding friendship, founded on mutual respect and trust, provided a strong basis for expanding economic ties.
The island has been named one of Europe’s ten best winter-sun escapes by the international travel publication, just as separate research by Britain’s Post Office Travel Money puts Paphos 14th among 24 destinations worldwide for value.
And while Cyprus may not be winning the battle on price, it has been collecting some impressive international endorsements of its own, from American travel writers to European tourism rankings.
In its latest guide, released earlier this week, Lonely Planet describes Cyprus as ‘Best for the warmest Mediterranean winter’, placing it fifth among ten recommended European destinations.
The community was created by TechIsland, the largest technology association on the island, as a dedicated platform for CTOs, CIOs, CISOs, technology architects, software developers, DevOps and platform engineers, data and AI specialists, cybersecurity professionals, UX experts and digital transformation leaders.
Its purpose is to give these professionals a space to meet peers outside their own organisations, exchange practical experience, discuss the challenges they are facing and build stronger connections across Cyprus’ technology ecosystem.
The regulator on Thursday announced that it took part in the international initiative for the eighth consecutive year, focusing on emerging digital investment risks, strengthening financial resilience and helping the public make informed investment decisions.
World Investor Week is an initiative of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which seeks to raise awareness of investment risks and promote responsible investing.
CySEC’s campaign placed particular emphasis on fraudulent practices involving misleading online advertisements, false investment recommendations and deceptive content generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
The lender confirmed the change this week, following a share capital increase approved by its board of directors on September 30 and registered with the General Commercial Register on October 13.
The increase resulted from the implementation of the bank’s stock options plan, under which eligible participants exercised options granted to them during the September 2026 exercise period.
Following the increase, Alpha Bank’s share capital stands at €654,351,248.35, divided into 2,256,383,615 ordinary shares, each carrying voting rights and having a nominal value of €0.29.
The latest seasonally adjusted quarterly data from the EU’s statistical office show that household real income per capita in the euro area continued to grow at the same modest pace as in the first quarter, when it also increased by 0.1 per cent.
Household real consumption per capita, meanwhile, rose by 0.3 per cent in the euro area, following a stable reading in the previous quarter.
Across the EU as a whole, household real income per capita increased by 0.1 per cent in the second quarter, slowing from growth of 0.3 per cent in the first 3 months of the year.
The event, held on October 8, brought together business owners, directors and technology specialists to explore how companies can integrate AI into their operations, with demonstrations of practical applications and discussions on the foundations needed to make the technology effective.
ClickUp, an American software company valued at $4 billion and known for its project management, task management and AI capabilities, held its first event on the island in partnership with essere.ai, which is ClickUp’s official and certified partner in Cyprus and the only partner it works with directly on the island.
Zisiadou explained that e-commerce has fundamentally changed the way consumers search for, compare and purchase products and services. Consumers now have more choice and easier access to products across different markets, while businesses can reach customers beyond the geographical boundaries of their operations.
The scale of this growth is reflected in the figures. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), business e-commerce sales across 43 developed and developing economies were estimated at nearly $27 trillion in 2022.
The bank announced the completion on Thursday, following the receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals and the fulfilment of the relevant closing conditions.
The transaction involved the acquisition of 80 per cent of Eurolife FFH Life Insurance Single Member Société Anonyme Company, which operates under the name Eurolife FFH Life Insurance SA, from entities controlled by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.
The resignation concerns the bonds with international securities identification number CY0240422119 and trading code iDNAB28.
The trustee stepped down from the post in accordance with the provisions outlined in the Trust Deed dated January 18, 2023.
The departure became effective upon the expiry of the prescribed notice period set out in the governing agreement.
Under the terms of the Trust Deed, the power to appoint a replacement rests solely with the company, the announcement mentioned.
Under the decision, approved during an extraordinary general meeting, the board is now authorised to acquire shares in the company during the 12-month period following the meeting.
The number of shares acquired must not exceed 10 per cent of the company’s issued share capital or 25 per cent of the average value of transactions traded on the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) during the 30 days preceding each purchase, whichever limit is lower.
President Elpi Petraki outlined the association’s achievements over the past year at its Annual General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week, emphasising growing membership, closer ties with international maritime organisations and new opportunities for companies to become involved.
The meeting formed part of the WISTA International AGM and Conference 2026, taking place from October 28 to 30 under the theme ‘Bridging Borders, Driving Change: Asia Shaping the Future of Maritime and Trade’.
Co-hosted by WISTA Malaysia, WISTA Singapore and WISTA Hong Kong SAR China, the gathering brings together shipping executives, policymakers and industry professionals to examine the future of maritime trade, technology, sustainability and leadership.
The changes are intended to strengthen the group’s management structure and support its next phase of development and growth across its main areas of activity.
Christakis Charalambous will become non-executive chairman of the board on January 1, 2027, succeeding Demetris Demetriou, who will remain a member of the board.
Charalambous is already a board member and chairman of the board executive committee. He also serves on the board of Hermes Airports, the Nicosia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Evel) and the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (Oev).
The board expressed its appreciation to Demetriou for his contribution during his tenure as chairman.
The dividend amounts to €0.25984252 per share, before tax withholding, according to the investment services company’s announcement.
Shareholders registered in the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) register on November 20, 2026, will be entitled to receive the interim dividend.
The company’s shares will trade without the right to the dividend from November 19, meaning investors buying shares from that date will not qualify for the payment.
Investors who purchase shares by the close of trading on November 18, the final date on which shares will trade with the dividend entitlement, will qualify for the distribution.
As thousands of datacentres are constructed across Europe, the Guardian and Investigate Europe have uncovered disturbing evidence that some workers building them are exposed to dangerous conditions and living in fear of speaking out
Sandu* checked his watch. He was winding down the last 15 minutes of his shift at a vast Google datacentre site in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, in March, when the call came in. The 34-year-old electrical tester had already worked almost 10 hours, but says such last-minute jobs were normal: “I had no choice. People have been fired after saying no.”
The task was one Sandu had done many times before and involved a series of tests measuring the safety and integrity of the electrical wiring. A protective suit was locked away in an equipment room. The round trip would have added another 15 minutes to the job, he says, and people were waiting, so he decided not to retrieve the suit.
Continue reading...
© Illustration: Alamy/Mei-Ling McNamara
© Illustration: Alamy/Mei-Ling McNamara
© Illustration: Alamy/Mei-Ling McNamara
As thousands of datacentres are constructed across Europe, the Guardian and Investigate Europe have uncovered disturbing evidence that some workers building them are exposed to dangerous conditions and living in fear of speaking out
Sandu* checked his watch. He was winding down the last 15 minutes of his shift at a vast Google datacentre site in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, in March, when the call came in. The 34-year-old electrical tester had already worked almost 10 hours, but says such last-minute jobs were normal: “I had no choice. People have been fired after saying no.”
The task was one Sandu had done many times before and involved a series of tests measuring the safety and integrity of the electrical wiring. A protective suit was locked away in an equipment room. The round trip would have added another 15 minutes to the job, he says, and people were waiting, so he decided not to retrieve the suit.
Continue reading...
© Illustration: Alamy/Mei-Ling McNamara
© Illustration: Alamy/Mei-Ling McNamara
© Illustration: Alamy/Mei-Ling McNamara
There is no end in sight for the drivers of illegal mining, while police action appears ineffective
Cora Bailey has been encountering illegal miners ever since she first started treating injured animals in the townships around Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, in 1991. But as the price of gold has soared, so too has activity in the abandoned mine shafts that mark the area.
In late September, dozens of zama zamas – the name given to illegal miners in South Africa, meaning roughly “to take a chance” in Zulu – arrived to dig for gold across the dirt road from her charity, Claw (Community Led Animal Welfare).
Continue reading...
© Photograph: James Oatway/The Guardian
© Photograph: James Oatway/The Guardian
© Photograph: James Oatway/The Guardian
Businesses can reduce duplication, improve efficiency and gain better insight from their data by connecting their tax compliance functions, according to Varnavas Nicolaou, partner, tax and legal at PwC Cyprus, who argues that increasing regulatory demands, greater scrutiny and continued pressure on resources are making traditional compliance models increasingly difficult to sustain.
Nicolaou explained that, for many businesses, tax compliance has traditionally developed around individual obligations. Corporate income tax, VAT, transfer pricing, Pillar Two and other reporting requirements may involve different teams, different processes, different technologies and, often, repeated requests for overlapping data.
“That model is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain,” he said, referring to the growing pressure businesses face to manage costs, address resource constraints and obtain better insight from their data as regulatory requirements expand and tax authorities increase their scrutiny.
He also identified fragmented and low-quality data, increasing regulatory demands, rising audit activity, limited visibility and cost pressures among the challenges facing clients today.
According to Nicolaou, the question for tax leaders is therefore changing. It is no longer simply “How do we complete each compliance obligation?” but increasingly “How do we connect compliance so that the same data, processes and controls work harder for the organisation?”
He explained that connecting tax compliance does not mean removing the technical expertise required for individual taxes or jurisdictions. Rather, it means creating an operating model in which people, processes, data and technology work together rather than in parallel.
At the centre of that model, he added, is data.
Traditionally, similar financial and operational information may be collected several times to support different tax obligations. A connected model seeks to capture data intelligently, standardise and enhance it, and make it available for multiple compliance purposes.
As an example, Nicolaou referred to PwC’s Connected Tax Compliance approach, which describes a model of acquiring, enhancing, using and reusing data across areas including corporate income tax, statutory financial statements, indirect taxes, Pillar Two, transfer pricing and other tax services.
“This apparently simple change has significant implications,” he pointed out, identifying efficiency as the first benefit.
When compliance processes operate independently, organisations can find themselves maintaining multiple workflows, reconciling similar datasets and responding to repeated information requests. Connecting these activities, he explained, creates opportunities to standardise inputs, automate routine processes and eliminate duplication.
At the same time, Nicolaou stressed that “The technology should support the process, rather than become another layer of complexity.”
He noted that PwC’s approach combines workflow, data gathering, collaboration, progress reporting, governance, controls and analytics within a connected technology environment.
Importantly, he clarified that increased automation does not mean removing people from tax compliance.
Instead, Nicolaou described the emerging model as “technology- and AI-powered but human-enabled”, explaining that routine activities can increasingly be automated while professional judgement remains focused on areas where technical interpretation, risk assessment and business understanding matter most.
“That distinction is critical,” he stressed, adding that “The objective is not automation for its own sake.”
The aim, he explained, is to free scarce tax resources from repetitive administration and allow them to concentrate on higher-value activities.
Beyond efficiency, Nicolaou identified visibility as another important benefit of connecting compliance functions.
As he explained, a connected compliance environment gives management something that fragmented processes often struggle to provide.
Instead of managing obligations through separate spreadsheets, email trails and local processes, a connected model can provide central oversight of status, responsibilities, data and risk.
In this respect, he referred to PwC’s Connected Tax Compliance methodology, which provides for end-to-end visibility across workstreams, centralised governance and digital audit trails, supported by technology for oversight and coordination across jurisdictions.
This matters particularly for multinational and multi-entity businesses, Nicolaou noted, as management needs to understand not only whether a return has been filed, but where information is incomplete, where risks are emerging and where intervention may be required.
He also drew attention to the measurable benefits of technology investment beyond tax, citing PwC’s Global Compliance Survey, 2025.
According to the findings he presented, organisations investing in technology and data for compliance reported benefits including better visibility of risks and risk-management activities, 64 per cent, faster identification and response to compliance issues, 53 per cent, and more insightful reporting, 48 per cent.
Other benefits included faster or more confident decision-making, 46 per cent, and increased productivity, efficiencies and cost savings, 43 per cent.
For Nicolaou, these findings illustrate how visibility changes compliance from a retrospective reporting exercise into a more active management process.
The third opportunity, which he described as perhaps the most important, concerns using compliance data to see more.
He explained that businesses already invest substantial effort in gathering, validating and analysing information for tax compliance. Once that information is structured and connected, the organisation has an opportunity to use it for more than producing returns.
Connected data and analytics, he added, can help identify trends, risks and opportunities that would otherwise remain buried across individual compliance processes.
Nicolaou again referred to PwC’s Connected Tax Compliance approach, highlighting potential insights around cash tax savings, tax-efficient strategies, tax controls, tax risks, deal readiness and the implications of regulatory change.
This, he argued, represents a fundamental shift in perspective, as “Compliance becomes not only an obligation to satisfy, but a dataset from which the business can learn.”
To illustrate the point, he explained that information collected across entities and jurisdictions may expose inconsistencies requiring attention, while common datasets can support several reporting requirements.
Similarly, dashboards can concentrate management attention on exceptions rather than every individual process.
He added that information historically examined only when preparing a return can contribute to earlier conversations about tax risk and business decisions.
In the same context, Nicolaou cited PwC’s Global Compliance Survey, which notes organisations rationalising data sources to create a “single version of the truth” and mapping controls where common controls can address multiple reporting obligations.
For organisations considering this journey, Nicolaou stressed that the starting point should not necessarily be a new technology platform.
Instead, he called for an examination of the whole compliance ecosystem, beginning with the questions “Where are we requesting the same data more than once?” and “Which processes are genuinely different and which have simply developed separately?”
He also raised the question “Which activities require specialist human judgement, and which can be standardised or automated?” alongside “Can common controls support several compliance obligations?”
Equally important, he noted, is whether management has a clear view of compliance status and emerging risk across the organisation.
Finally, Nicolaou asked “are we using the information generated through compliance to identify opportunities and support better business decisions?”
The appropriate answer, he explained, will differ between organisations.
A connected model can support different delivery models, from insourcing and co-sourcing through outsourcing and managed services.
“What matters is that the components operate as part of a coherent system rather than as isolated solutions,” he stressed.
Looking beyond the tax return, Nicolaou maintained that the future of tax compliance is not simply about completing the same processes faster.
“It is about connecting them,” he said, explaining that connecting data reduces duplication, while connecting technology and processes creates efficiency and control.
Connecting teams, he added, provides clearer accountability, while connecting the resulting information gives tax leaders an opportunity to turn compliance activity into insight.
For businesses facing more regulation, greater scrutiny and continued pressure on resources, Nicolaou stressed that this distinction matters.
“The organisations that gain most from compliance will not necessarily be those that do more compliance,” he concluded, adding that “They will be those that connect it better.”
Cyprus’ industrial production fell by 1.3 per cent year-on-year in August 2026, with a decline in manufacturing outweighing increases in mining, water supply and electricity, according to the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat).
The Industrial Production Index reached 90.9 points in August, using 2021 as the base year with a value of 100, marking a decrease compared with August 2025.
Despite the monthly annual decline, industrial production increased by 1.2 per cent during the first eight months of 2026 compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.
The manufacturing sector recorded a 2.5 per cent annual decrease in August.
By contrast, mining and quarrying production rose by 11 per cent, while water supply and materials recovery increased by 5.7 per cent.
Electricity supply recorded a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent over the same period.
Within manufacturing, the strongest annual increases in August were recorded in the production of rubber and plastic products, which rose by 7.1 per cent, and wood and cork products, excluding furniture, which increased by 6.4 per cent.
The sharpest decline was recorded in the manufacture of machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and other transport equipment, where production fell by 12.8 per cent compared with August 2025.
Manufacturing of refined petroleum products, chemicals and chemical products, and pharmaceutical products and preparations declined by 7.1 per cent.
Production of other non-metallic mineral products fell by 4.8 per cent year-on-year.
Looking at the January to August 2026 period, the strongest increases compared with the same period in 2025 were recorded in water collection, treatment and supply, which rose by 11.5 per cent.
Manufacturing of basic metals and fabricated metal products increased by 5.5 per cent, while production of wood and cork products, excluding furniture, rose by 5 per cent.
The largest cumulative declines were recorded in materials recovery, which fell by 6.7 per cent, and the manufacture of machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and other transport equipment, which decreased by 6.2 per cent.
Login