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Santander says 750 jobs at risk as it pursues UK branch closures

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Jonathan Nicholson | NurPhoto | Getty Images

The British unit of Spanish lender Santander on Wednesday said 750 of its staff were at risk of redundancy as it targets 95 branch closures in the U.K.

The decision is part of the bank’s broader plans to update its presence from June 2025 and will bring Santander UK’s network to 349 branches, including 290 that are full-service, 36 operating with reduced hours and 18 that are counter-free and five Work Cafes.

“Closing a branch is always a very difficult decision and we spend a great deal of time assessing where and when we do this and how to minimise the impact it may have on our customers,” a Santander UK spokesperson said.

This breaking news story is being updated.

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Key AI hub China restricts schoolchildren’s use of the tech

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A student is playing chess with an intelligent robot in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China on May 13, 2025.

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

BEIJING — China’s latest education policies for the year restrict the extent to which children can use generative artificial intelligence in the classroom, according to a local government report on Thursday.

The guidelines cited in the report, which weren’t publicly available, covered AI education and generative AI use in primary and secondary schools during 2025.

China’s Ministry of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Primary school students are prohibited from using unrestricted generative AI tools on their own, although an instructor may use the tech to assist with teaching, according to the local government report.

It added that middle schoolers can explore how generative AI reasons and analyzes information, while high schoolers are allowed to use the tech more broadly.

The report said the policies banned students from directly copying AI-generated content into homework and called on schools to establish a list of approved generative AI tools that can be used on school grounds.

The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, mentioned the new guidelines on the sixth page of its Thursday edition.

But the national state media report did not discuss specific limits on AI use, and instead focused on how the policies aimed to promote “scientific” and “standardized” promotion of AI education suited to various stages of education, according to a CNBC translation.

Use of generative AI in China has increased significantly after DeepSeek, a homegrown rival to OpenAI, in late January released a chatbot app. Tencent, ByteDance and other companies have released similar chatbots that have surged in popularity in China. 

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Steve Cohen says stocks could retest their April lows, sees a 45% chance of recession

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Warren Buffett tells WSJ he stepped aside as CEO after finally feeling old

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Warren Buffett does a walkthrough of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.

David A. Grogen | CNBC

Age isn’t just a number for Warren Buffett after all.

The 94-year-old investment legend recently surprised shareholders by announcing his intention to step down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO after an epic 60-year run. The reason behind the decision was the physical effects of aging he’s been experiencing, Buffett said in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal.

“I didn’t really start getting old, for some strange reason, until I was about 90,” he told the Journal in a phone interview. “But when you start getting old, it does become—it’s irreversible.”

The Oracle of Omaha, who turns 95 in August, revealed to the paper that he started to lose his balance occasionally, while experiencing issues remembering someone’s name sometimes. His vision also turned less clear when reading newspapers.

It marked an end of an era at Berkshire, which was a failing New England textile mill six decades ago and was transformed into a one-of-a-kind conglomerate with businesses ranging from Geico insurance to BNSF Railway. Buffett is handing over his reins on a high note as Berkshire shares are near a record high, giving the conglomerate a market cap of nearly $1.2 trillion.

Berkshire’s board voted unanimously to make Greg Abel, now vice chairman of noninsurance operations,  president and CEO on Jan. 1, 2026, and for Buffett to remain as chairman.

Still, Buffett said he remains mentally sharp to make investment decisions when opportunities arise. The value investing icon is known to take advantage of market turmoil and depressed prices to make big purchases.

“I don’t have any trouble making decisions about something that I was making decisions on 20 years ago or 40 years ago or 60 years,” he told the Journal. “I will be useful here if there’s a panic in the market because I don’t get fearful when things go down in price or everybody else gets scared….And that really isn’t a function of age.”

— Click here to read the original WSJ story.

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