It’s almost time for the final pre-season test of 2026, as teams continue their preparations for next month’s curtain-raising Australian Grand Prix. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s happening, and how to follow the action…

IT productivity researcher Erik Brynjolfsson writes in the Financial Times that he's finally found evidence AI is impacting America's economy. This week America's Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a 403,000 drop in 2025's payroll growth — while real GDP "remained robust, including a 3.7% growth rate in the fourth quarter."


This decoupling — maintaining high output with significantly lower labour input — is the hallmark of productivity growth. My own updated analysis suggests a US productivity increase of roughly 2.7% for 2025. This is a near doubling from the sluggish 1.4% annual average that characterised the past decade... The updated 2025 US data suggests we are now transitioning out of this investment phase into a harvest phase where those earlier efforts begin to manifest as measurable output.


Micro-level evidence further supports this structural shift. In our work on the employment effects of AI last year, Bharat Chandar, Ruyu Chen and I identified a cooling in entry-level hiring within AI-exposed sectors, where recruitment for junior roles declined by roughly 16% while those who used AI to augment skills saw growing employment. This suggests companies are beginning to use AI for some codified, entry-level tasks.

Or, AI "isn't really stealing jobs yet," according to employment policy analyst Will Raderman (from the American think tank called the Niskanen Center). He argues in Barron's that "there is no clear link yet between higher AI use and worse outcomes for young workers."

Recent graduates' unemployment rates have been drifting in the wrong direction since the 2010s, long before generative AI models hit the market. And many occupations with moderate to high exposure to AI disruptions are actually faring better over the past few years. According to recent data for young workers, there has been employment growth in roles typically filled by those with college degrees related to computer systems, accounting and auditing, and market research. AI-intensive sectors like finance and insurance have also seen rising employment of new graduates in recent years. Since ChatGPT's release, sectors in which more than 10% of firms report using AI and sectors in which fewer than 10% reporting using AI are hiring relatively the same number of recent grads.



Even Brynjolfsson's article in the Financial Times concedes that "While the trends are suggestive, a degree of caution is warranted. Productivity metrics are famously volatile, and it will take several more periods of sustained growth to confirm a new long-term trend." And he's not the only one wanting evidence for AI's impact. The same weekend Fortune wrote that growth from AI "has yet to manifest itself clearly in macro data, according to Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok."

[D]ata on employment, productivity and inflation are still not showing signs of the new technology. Profit margins and earnings forecasts for S&P 500 companies outside of the "Magnificent 7" also lack evidence of AI at work... "After three years with ChatGPT and still no signs of AI in the incoming data, it looks like AI will likely be labor enhancing in some sectors rather than labor replacing in all sectors," Slok said.

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DEN HAAG (ANP) - Oude uniformen van militairen en de politie worden bouwmateriaal voor rijksgebouwen. Producent Agricon Nederland gaat de afgedragen kleding verwerken tot constructiepanelen. De rijksoverheid wil hiermee de textielafvalberg verkleinen.

Agricon krijgt 120 ton textielafval en dat levert 12.000 vierkante meter bouwmateriaal op. Dit materiaal wordt gebruikt voor buitengevels en binnenwanden. Jaarlijks produceert de rijksoverheid 600 ton textielafval. Dit zijn oude uniformen en ander gebruikt textiel.

"Als Defensie dragen we verantwoordelijkheid voor de volledige levenscyclus van onze materialen. Uniformen die hun operationele functie hebben verloren, krijgen via deze samenwerking een nieuwe bestemming in de bouw", zegt luitenant-kolonel Koert Jan Eefting.

MILAAN (ANP) - Bondscoach Niels Kerstholt had het nooit voor mogelijk gehouden dat de Nederlandse shorttrackers vier gouden medailles zouden winnen op de Olympische Spelen. Dat vertelde hij na afloop van het goud van Xandra Velzeboer op de 1000 meter in de Milano Ice Skating Arena. Velzeboer schreef eerder de 500 meter op haar naam en bij de mannen behaalde Jens van 't Wout goud op de 1000 en 1500 meter.

"In onze sport is alles mogelijk. De domino valt de ene keer jouw kant op en de andere keer een andere kant", aldus Kerstholt. "Als je goed in vorm bent en erg scherp, vallen de puzzelstukjes wat beter in elkaar en win je wat meer. Dat we nu in één keer alles pakken, is heel bijzonder. Die kans is statistisch gezien niet zo groot. Bovendien is iedereen op de Olympische Spelen in vorm en scherp."

Juist omdat shorttrack zo'n onvoorspelbare sport is, relativeert Kerstholt prestaties vaak. "Ik 'downplay' altijd onze verliezen, maar ik 'downplay' ook onze overwinningen. Het is niet zo dat je als team héél goed bent of héél slecht. Wij groeien als team. Stapje voor stapje. Het is niet realistisch om te zeggen: we gaan alles winnen. Zo werkt het gewoon niet. Maar we zijn wel kneitergoed op dit moment."

TALLINN (ANP) - De NAVO zal diep in Rusland toeslaan als dat land de Baltische landen binnenvalt. Dat zegt de Estse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Margus Tsahkna in een interview met de Britse krant The Telegraph. "We kunnen het niet laten gebeuren dat Rusland de Baltische landen binnenvalt en we dan pas terugvechten", aldus Tsahkna.

In de Baltische landen - Estland, Letland en Litouwen - wordt de Russische dreiging door hun ligging tegen of dicht bij dat land sterk gevoeld. Vergeleken met andere EU-landen geven de Baltische landen daarom procentueel veel uit aan defensie, onder meer aan de zogenoemde Baltische Defensielinie.

In de Thomassentunnel op de A15 is een ongeluk gebeurd met een vrachtwagen en auto. Richting Europoort is de tunnel dicht. Eerder op de maandag waren de Beneluxtunnel en Rottemerentunnel ook al dicht. Beide tunnels zijn inmiddels weer open.

Senior European intelligence officials called the former Wagner personnel an “effective — if crude” tool for the GRU.

Plant closures possible as part of German carmaker’s efforts to create resilience in face of competition from China

Volkswagen plans to cut costs by 20% by 2028, with plant closures not ruled out, as part of an effort to reshape the company in the face of increasing competition from China, according to reports.

The German automotive company’s chief executive, Oliver Blume, and its finance chief, Arno Antlitz, are said to have presented a plan for “massive” savings at a meeting of the company’s top executives last month.

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Museum revises labelling on maps and panels, saying term used inaccurately and no longer historically neutral

The British Museum has removed the word “Palestine” from some of its displays, saying the term was used inaccurately and is no longer historically neutral.

Maps and information panels in the museum’s ancient Middle East galleries had referred to the eastern Mediterranean coast as Palestine, with some people described as being “of Palestinian descent”.

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De Gezondheidsraad adviseerde begin 2024 al te vaccineren, maar daarvoor had het ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Wetenschap en Sport op dat moment de „financiële middelen” niet.