The UK’s first Vocational Celebration Day will take place on Thursday 6 August, nine days after Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that pupils in England will be offered technical education pathways from the age of 14.

The event is organised by Enginuity, the engineering and manufacturing skills charity, and EAL, its awarding and end-point assessment organisation. It will be hosted by the broadcaster Steph McGovern from Teagle, an agricultural machinery manufacturer in Truro, Cornwall.

Enginuity said the hour-long programme, a special edition of the Steph on Skills podcast, will be streamed live on YouTube and social platforms at 10am, provided free of charge to news organisations, and will feature learners, employers, educators and government figures.

The charity said the day will be marked annually on the first Thursday of August, placing it a week before A-level results day.

Burnham set out the technical pathways on 28 July. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, students from Year 10 will be able to combine core academic subjects including English, maths and science with technical education linked to jobs available in their area, alongside work experience and employer-set projects. The Government said it wants to begin rolling out the routes from September 2028.

“From today, Britain will value the hard hat every bit as much as the graduation cap,” Burnham said. He said the school system had been built around the academic path and that this “has let down young people seeking technical qualifications”.

Ofsted will change the way it inspects schools so that inspectors recognise the quality of technical education and the support given to young people preparing for work, the Prime Minister’s Office said. Regional mayors, local leaders, schools, colleges and employers will shape the pathways, with employers expected to provide mentoring, workplace visits and work experience.

The announcement follows Alan Milburn’s interim report, which warned that Britain risks a “lost generation”. Official figures published in February showed 957,000 people aged 16 to 24 were not in education, employment or training in the final quarter of 2025, or 12.8 per cent of the age group.

Ann Watson MBE, chief executive of Enginuity, said: “We are right behind this reset in the psyche of our country.

“Our campaigning is starting to bring dividends to the next generation, business, education and the nation as a whole.”

McGovern, a former apprentice engineer at Black+Decker on Teesside, said: “Why should academics have all the fun and glory? We have graduation days, A Level Day, GCSE Day – now Vocational Celebration Day. I’ve been banging on for years about the need to celebrate vocational qualifications in the same way we do purely academic success stories.

“Let’s face it, vocational learners are the lifeblood of our country and yet have been left in the shadows. We want to make sure that this changes and these brilliant people get to celebrate in style.”

Enginuity’s Mind the Gap report, published on 17 June and produced by consultancy SQW, estimated that skills shortages and skills gaps cost UK engineering and manufacturing £5.2 billion a year, equivalent to around 2 per cent of the sector’s annual output. The report found around half of engineering and manufacturing SMEs reported skills gaps or shortages, with technical manual skills the capability most in demand, cited by 74 per cent of those firms.

Separate Enginuity research published in August 2024, based on a survey of parents and children aged 11 to 18 in 1,000 households in England, found 93 per cent of parents wanted to know more about apprenticeships and 86 per cent of children would consider an apprenticeship over a university degree.

Skills gaps extend beyond engineering. The Department for Education’s Skills Horizon Barometer found 92 per cent of manufacturing SMEs expected a skills shortfall in their business over the following year, with a third reporting the gap at entry level.

The technical pathways sit alongside the £725 million apprenticeship package announced in December, which covers the full cost of training for eligible under-25s at small and medium-sized businesses and commits to 50,000 additional placements over three years.

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Apple launched a hardware leasing programme provided by Klarna on Tuesday, with iPhone leases starting at $17.99 a month and the scheme available only in the United States.

The programme, Apple Upgrade, is available on the Apple Store online, in the Apple Store app and at US Apple Store locations, Apple said. It offers 12 and 24-month leasing terms for iPhone and Apple Watch, and 24 and 36-month terms for Mac and iPad.

Leases start at $17.99 a month for iPhone, $11.99 for Apple Watch, $24.99 for Mac and $11.99 for iPad, according to Apple.

At the end of the term, customers can upgrade to a new device under a fresh lease, buy the device with a one-time payment, or return it and exit the programme.

“At Apple, we put the customer at the centre of everything we do,” said Karen Rasmussen, Apple’s vice president of the Apple Store online, “and we’re thrilled that Apple Upgrade offers our customers, both online and in-store, a more flexible way to pay for the products they love.”

Apple said it will no longer offer the iPhone Upgrade Program or iPhone Payments in the United States. Customers already enrolled can lease under Apple Upgrade when eligible, use Apple Card Monthly Installments, buy outright or take carrier financing.

The monthly cost is lower than under the discontinued scheme, but customers do not own the device at the end of the term. Apple said an iPhone 17 Pro 256GB with a purchase price of $1,099 carries a typical monthly payment of $31.99 over 24 months, or $45.99 over 12 months. Under the iPhone Upgrade Program the same model cost $57 a month over two years, with ownership at the end of the term. That programme also required customers to buy AppleCare cover; under Apple Upgrade, AppleCare is optional.

Applicants are subject to a soft credit inquiry that does not affect their credit score, and no security deposit is required, Apple said. Its terms state that customers may incur substantial fees for terminating a lease early, and that a lease not ended, upgraded or bought out converts to a month-to-month arrangement for up to six months, during which payments may increase.

Leases are available only to US residents and cannot be taken out through Apple at Work for small businesses or enterprises, or through Apple’s education, government or employee purchase programmes, according to Apple’s terms. Apple has not announced a UK launch. Klarna already offers instalment payments to UK consumers through partners including Airbnb, which introduced Pay Over Time with Klarna for UK guests in 2023.

In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority began regulating deferred payment credit on 15 July 2026. The regulator defines this as interest-free credit repayable in 12 or fewer instalments over 12 months or less, and says agreements taken out before that date remain unregulated.

The launch follows price rises across parts of Apple’s range. Last month Apple increased Mac and iPad prices by $200 or more on some models. Chief executive Tim Cook said higher iPhone prices were unavoidable because of the cost of memory and storage chips, demand for which has risen from artificial intelligence companies.

Apple shares rose slightly in early trading on Tuesday, while Klarna shares fell slightly. Apple briefly passed a $5 trillion valuation earlier this year and reported record iPhone sales for the final quarter of 2025, with total revenue of $144bn.

John Ternus takes over from Cook as chief executive on 1 September, shortly before Apple is expected to announce a foldable iPhone.

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Foreign investors continued to pare their exposure to Indian equities, withdrawing Rs 27,048 crore so far this month, indicating cautiousness among global investors amid an evolving global macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.

With this, total outflows by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from the equity market have reached Rs 2.2 lakh crore in 2026, higher than the Rs 1.66 lakh crore pulled out during the entire 2025, according to data with the NSDL.

FPIs were net sellers in all months of 2026, except February. They withdrew Rs 35,962 crore in January before turning net buyers in February, when they invested Rs 22,615 crore, the highest monthly inflow in 17 months.

However, the trend reversed in March, when foreign investors pulled out a record Rs 1.17 lakh crore. The selling continued in April with net outflows of Rs 60,847 crore and extended into May with withdrawals of over Rs 27,000 crore so far.

Himanshu Srivastava, Principal – Manager Research at Morningstar Investment Research India, said the latest outflow trend reflected persistent uncertainty surrounding global growth, elevated geopolitical tensions across key regions and volatility in crude oil prices, which continued to weigh on risk appetite towards emerging markets, including India.

He added that a stronger US dollar and elevated US bond yields remained key drivers behind the selling activity, as higher returns in developed markets improved the relative attractiveness of safer assets and prompted investors to adopt a more defensive stance.
Srivastava further said concerns over the trajectory of global inflation and uncertainty regarding the pace and timing of future interest rate cuts by major central banks continued to influence capital allocation decisions globally.Geojit Investments Chief Investment Strategist V K Vijayakumar said sustained FPI selling, coupled with a widening current account deficit, has exerted pressure on the rupee.

“At the beginning of the year, the rupee was at 90 to the US dollar. On May 15, it breached the 96-mark to touch 96.14,” he said.

Vijayakumar said the rupee could weaken further if FPI outflows persist and crude oil prices remain elevated. He also noted that the continuing flow of capital into artificial intelligence-focused companies globally has led to some diversion of funds away from markets such as India, which are seen as lagging in the AI space.

“This trend could reverse when the AI trade, which appears to be in bubble territory, eventually cools off,” he added. PTI

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are set to help reshape the healthcare industry in the years ahead, a new report finds.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the largest group of technical professionals that’s dedicated to advancing technology to benefit humanity, released its Technology Megatrends 2030 Report on Wednesday after it was reviewed exclusively by FOX Business.

The report looked across five core areas, including AI, energy, health and biotech, space tech, and robotics and assessed the potential of each to reshape human life by 2030. The experts whose insights were used to compile the report ranked developments in health technology as having the largest potential impact on humanity.

Dejan Milojicic, IEEE fellow and chair of the IEEE Future Directions Committee Industry Advisory Board, told FOX Business that within the megatrends analyzed in the report, “health technologies emerge as among the most transformative and humanity-beneficial, driven by a fundamental shift from reactive treatment to proactive protection.”

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IEEE’s report identified several technological areas that can advance the healthcare industry, including personalized medicine; genetic engineering and gene therapy; accessible early disease diagnostics and biomarkers; molecular therapeutics; protein synthesis; and understanding life.

Of those six areas, IEEE graded personalized medicine, genetic engineering and gene therapy, and accessible early disease diagnostics and biomarkers the highest in terms of their impact, likelihood of success, maturity and adoption.

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Over the next five to 10 years, IEEE sees advances in health tech leading to impacts like the reduction of preventable chronic diseases, personalized clinical outcomes, improved food safety and increased access to high-quality, nutrient-dense foods.

“As populations age, using physical AI technologies, such as virtual nursing and intelligent monitoring, will become vital to supporting the needs of an expanding revitalized economy,” Milojicic said. “At the same time, we see food systems being reimagined as core healthcare infrastructure, using AI-enhanced tools like smart traceability to deliver personalized nutrition and curb chronic disease at scale.”

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IEEE identified several enablers for advancements in healthcare tech, including biotechnology, digital health, and things like agricultural drones and personalized nutrition.

Inhibitors to the impact of health technology advancements include privacy and security for data used for public health prevention through epidemiology and surveillance, as well as status quo culture.

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“Our panel of experts is clear that none of this works without robust trust, privacy, and safety standards guiding how these technologies are built and deployed,” Milojicic said.

EXCLUSIVE: By next summer, Miami’s skyline will be shaped by a new architectural landmark, bringing a fresh wave of corporate titans and global elites into the heart of South Florida.

As Cipriani Residences Miami officially topped off its approximately 950-foot construction project — the tallest residential tower in the city — the 85-story tower stands as a physical monument to the Magic City’s evolution from a sun-soaked vacation spot into a permanent capital for international wealth.

Cipriani revealed to Fox News Digital that its first ground-up residential development in North America is more than 80% sold, and will welcome buyers from over 30 countries who are now calling Miami their primary home.

“Residential living is a natural extension of hospitality, but it was important to us to do it in the right way,” Giuseppe Cipriani exclusively told Fox Digital. “With Cipriani Residences Miami, we found the right city, location and a great partner… Our family has been closely involved in shaping the design and the overall experience so that it reflects the same traditions we have carried with us for generations. For us, it is not simply about putting the Cipriani name on a building. It is about creating a home where the way you live is the way we would live.”

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“Every time I drive by it, my emotional reaction is, ‘Wow.’ I am humbled by the fact that we’re building something of this scale, because when I started my business, although I always aspired to get here, I didn’t know when it would happen — and it has happened,” Mast Capital founder and CEO Camilo Miguel Jr., the developer behind the building, also said. “One of the biggest challenges was actually the upfront planning part, because when you’re building a 950-foot building… the engineering that goes into that is quite different than building something that’s 20 stories.”

The leading international markets for buyers, in order, come from Mexico, Italy, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Canada, France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Domestic buyers continue to flood in from high-tax states like New York and California, too.

“There are countries that are having a lot of their own economic challenges and headwinds and political challenges and headwinds, as well… And people are not only buying in Miami as [an] investment, but people are actually buying in Miami to live. And people were looking at Cipriani and saying, ‘This is going to be home,’” Miguel said.

“We have some buyers who have bought for their whole family and intend to move everybody into the building,” he added.

“Every city has its own character, but what people appreciate about Cipriani is remarkably consistent: warmth, discretion, good service and a sense of familiarity,” Cipriani said. “Miami is a very international city, and that has always felt natural to us. People come here from all over the world, just as they do in Venice or New York. The lifestyle naturally is shaped by its beautiful weather, its connection to the water, its seamless relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces. Cipriani Residences Miami brings that way of living into our world.”

“People are increasingly choosing Miami not only as somewhere to visit, but somewhere to live,” Cipriani continued. “They want privacy, comfort, good service and a quality of life that feels effortless.”

Earlier this month, the New York Post reported that soccer superstar Lionel Messi had purchased four units in the building, followed by a wave of other Argentine players. Buyers also allegedly include executives from Citadel and Amazon who are relocating from New York and California.

“We don’t change who we are depending on the guest. That has never been our philosophy,” Cipriani said. “For nearly a century, our family has welcomed people from many different countries, culture[s], generations and paths of life. Royals, aristocrats, powerful businessmen but also writers, intellectuals and all kind[s] of interesting people have been coming to our locations — as human beings.”

“That sense of warmth and understated elegance that comes from our Italian heritage, and it remains at the heart of everything we do, fortunately has appealed to many of them,” the grandson of the Cipriani patriarch added.

“One of the main reasons that people are choosing Miami over New York City right now is the pro-business mentality. I mean you live in a business-friendly city and a business-friendly state, and the growth and the global nature of our city,” Miguel explained. “And you realize quickly that as a hedge fund or a financial institution, you no longer just need to be in New York City to be relevant and be successful.”

“These are big companies that are moving here, signing leases, taking space, and moving their top executives to Miami, their high-income earners. And these individuals are buying homes and condos across Miami,” Miguel said.

The development is also on track to become the only new residential tower in the Brickell neighborhood, delivering completed homes in 2027.

“We are very proud, of course, of what has been built, and of where the company is today, 95 years after the opening of that small bar in Venice. Seeing the tower reach its full height makes us even more excited to bring that spirit to life for the residents who will call it home,” Cipriani nodded to his grandfather’s founding of Harry’s Bar in 1931, where the Bellini was born and “warmth, simplicity and genuine care” became Cipriani’s brand.

“The principles have never changed,” he said. “Whether it is a restaurant, a club, a hotel or now a residence, the idea is the same: people should feel comfortable, free and at home. The world changes, but our hospitality values do not.”

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“This is really about heritage, about people, about a family,” Miguel agreed, recalling his first time at a Cipriani restaurant. “What I really liked about it is that subtle elegance that you feel when you walk in, and the fact that everybody that works there is smiling, everybody that’s there is welcoming and everybody that is there is hyper-focused on making sure that you have a positive experience.”

“I never dreamed of Miami being what it is today,” Miguel said, “and I think the sky’s the limit.”

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