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Analysts suspect that regulators, such as California Attorney General Rob Bonta, could attempt to challenge Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros Discovery.

Bonta, a Democrat, said late on Thursday that his office would take a ‘vigorous’ approach to the deal.

“Paramount/Warner Bros is not a done deal. These two Hollywood titans have not cleared regulatory scrutiny — the California Department of Justice has an open investigation, and we intend to be vigorous in our review.”

“We’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”

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Artificial intelligence is boosting productivity in the euro zone but it is not yet causing a wave of layoffs due to greater automation of labour, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has claimed.

Testifying to the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs committee this morning, Lagarde said:

“What we are seeing for the moment is that it’s increasing productivity. But we are not yet seeing consequences in terms of labour market and waves of redundancies that are feared, and that you know we will be extremely attentive going forward.”

“Our transformation continues with pace and intensity. We are consistently achieving outcomes that were not possible before our transformation. With our new capabilities and mindset, we have navigated challenges from supply chain to tariffs, and delivered a strong performance in 2025, all while we built the foundations for significant growth for years to come.”