Apple and Google have agreed to alter their app stores in the UK following intervention from the UK markets regulator, while Lloyds Banking Group announced plans to close another 95 branches. In other news, the US job market saw surprising growth in January, and the mother of fire disaster victims spoke to Swiss bar owners at a hearing.
According to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Apple and Google will make changes to their app stores, committing to not giving preferential treatment to their own apps and being transparent about how others are approved for sale. This comes seven months after the regulator said the tech giants had an "effective duopoly" in the UK over their dominance in the sector, as reported by BBC Technology. The CMA's head, Sarah Cardell, said the proposed commitments "will boost the UK's app economy."
Lloyds Banking Group announced it would close another 95 branches between May this year and March 2027, including 53 Lloyds, 31 Halifax, and 11 Bank of Scotland sites. This is in addition to an ongoing closure program that will see 49 sites shut by October, leaving Lloyds with 610 branches remaining once all closures are complete, according to BBC Business. A spokesperson for Lloyds said, "Customers want the freedom to bank in the way that works for them and we offer a range of options."
The US job market saw unexpected growth in January, with employers adding a greater-than-expected 130,000 jobs, helping nudge the unemployment rate lower to 4.3, according to the Labor Department, as reported by BBC Business. This comes after the weakest year for new jobs since the Covid-19 pandemic. The US added just 181,000 jobs in 2025, according to the latest data, even weaker than previously reported.
In Switzerland, the mother of two young women injured in the New Year's Day fire in Crans-Montana had a private encounter with the couple who own the bar, as reported by BBC World. Leila Micheloud had said earlier she wanted to "speak privately" to Jacques and Jessica Moretti, who were attending a hearing on the fire that left 41 people dead and 115 injured. A lawyer for the victims' families, Sébastien Fanti, said it was "an extremely intense moment and rare in its humanity," without going into what was said.
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