Breaking news

Mousiouttas Chairs EU Discussions On Skills And Labour Market Policies

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

March 9, 2026

Cyprus Sets Ambitious Youth Employment Agenda

Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas announced new initiatives aimed at strengthening employment opportunities for young people. The measures form part of a labour market strategy for 2026-2028.

Policy Frameworks And Targeted Initiatives

Responding to a question from MP Charalambos Theopemptou of the Green Party, Mousiouttas said the initiatives build on existing policies under the National Strategy for Active Employment Measures for 2023-2025 and a draft strategy submitted to the European Commission in December 2025. Planned actions include personalised counselling, individual action plans and subsidised employment programmes designed to support young job seekers entering the labour market.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

Eurostat data show that youth unemployment in Cyprus stood at 15% in December 2025, close to the EU average. Data from the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) indicate that unemployment among people aged 15-24 reached 14.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared with 9.6% in the same period a year earlier.

Structural Reforms And Long-Term Vision

Mousiouttas also referred to measures introduced in recent years to support young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs). An early identification system allows individuals registering with public employment services to be referred to employment counsellors.

An outreach programme operating between January 2024 and August 2025 used mobile units to provide employment support in both urban and rural areas. According to the ministry, the programme engaged 542 young people classified as NEETs, providing information and guidance on available employment services. Efforts to strengthen technical and vocational education are also underway. The education ministry has allocated €30 million to support related programmes.

At the same time, a project aimed at modernising the public employment service is running until 2027 with a budget of €17.8 million. Authorities have also established the National Lifelong Guidance Agency to provide career guidance and support services.

EU Engagement And Strategic Dialogue

Mousiouttas is currently in Brussels participating in meetings of the EU Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO). Agenda items include discussions on the 2026 European Semester, labour market policies linked to skills shortages and the impact of artificial intelligence on employment. The council is also expected to discuss a new EU recommendation on human capital aimed at improving coordination between education, training and labour market policies across the bloc. Participants in the discussions include EU commissioners and economists such as Christopher Pissarides.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

by News Editor

August 24, 2026

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

Follow THE FUTURE on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram

Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.