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Venezuela was set to hold talks on Saturday with US envoys in Caracas on restoring diplomatic ties, days after US forces deposed Nicolas Maduro as its president.Venezuela said Friday it had launched discussions with US diplomats in the capital, the latest sign of cooperation following the leftist leader’s capture and US President Donald Trump’s claim to be “in charge” of the South American country.Officials said the US envoys were in Caracas to discuss reopening the country’s embassy, while in Washington Trump met with oil companies over his plans to access Venezuela’s huge crude reserves.The government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez “has decided to initiate an exploratory diplomatic process with the government of the United States of America, aimed at re-establishing diplomatic missions in both countries,” Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said in a statement.John McNamara, the top US diplomat in neighboring Colombia, and other personnel “traveled to Caracas to conduct an initial assessment for a potential phased resumption of operations,” a US official said on customary condition of anonymity.Venezuela said it would be reciprocating by sending a delegation to Washington.Rodriguez in a statement condemned “the serious, criminal, illegal and illegitimate attack” by the United States and vowed: “Venezuela will continue to confront this aggression through the diplomatic route.”- Trump vows oil investments -Trump said earlier Friday that he had called off a second wave of attacks on Venezuela due in part to the release of political prisoners.The US president had suggested he might use force again to get his way in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.At a White House meeting on Friday, he pressed top oil executives to invest in Venezuela’s reserves, but was met with a cautious reception — with ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods dismissing the country as “uninvestable” without sweeping reforms.Trump said foreign firms had enjoyed no meaningful protections under Maduro, “but now you have total security. It’s a whole different Venezuela”.He also stressed that the companies would deal only with Washington, not Caracas, when exploiting Venezuela’s oil resources.Trump earlier said that oil companies promised to invest $100 billion in Venezuela, whose oil infrastructure is creaky after years of mismanagement and sanctions.He had earlier announced a plan for the United States to sell between 30 million and 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, with the money to be used at his discretion. He promised any funds sent to Caracas would be used to buy only US-made products.In the meanwhile, Washington has maintained maritime pressure on oil tankers in the Caribbean, where it seized a fifth tanker carrying Venezuelan crude — oil that would be sold, Trump said.State-owned oil company PDVSA confirmed in a statement that one vessel was returning to Venezuelan waters, describing it as the “first successful joint operation” with Washington.- Prisoners’ release -Anxious relatives waited outside Venezuelan jails for a glimpse of their loved ones as the authorities began releasing political prisoners — a move Washington claimed credit for.”When I heard the news, I broke down,” said Dilsia Caro, 50, waiting for the release of her husband Noel Flores, who was jailed for criticizing Maduro.Venezuela began releasing prisoners on Thursday in the first such gesture since US forces removed and detained Maduro in the deadly January 3 raid.Some relatives still gathered outside the prison had waited more than 36 hours to see their family members.”We’ve been living with this uncertainty for several days now… We are worried, we are very distressed, filled with anxiety,” said one woman, awaiting the release of her brother.In Nicaragua, meanwhile, authorities have arrested at least 60 people for reportedly expressing support for Maduro’s capture, according to a local human rights group. Trump told Fox News he would meet next week with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whom he earlier brushed aside as lacking the “respect” to lead Venezuela.Exiled Venezuelan opposition figurehead Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia said that any democratic transition in the country must recognize his claim to victory in 2024 presidential elections.Maduro was proclaimed the winner of the vote, but his re-election was widely seen as fraudulent.Gonzalez was hoping Friday for the release of his son-in-law, who was detained a year ago in Caracas.- Protests in Caracas -Maduro was seized in a US special forces raid accompanied by airstrikes, operations that left 100 people dead, according to Caracas.US forces took Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores to New York to face trial on drug-trafficking and other charges.Rodriguez insisted Thursday her country was “not subordinate or subjugated” despite her pledge to cooperate with Trump.Angry protesters rallied in the streets of Caracas on Friday demanding Maduro’s release in the latest of a daily series of demonstrations.”We don’t have to give one little drop of oil to Trump after all that he has done to us,” said one protester, Josefina Castro, 70, a member of a civil activists’ group.”Our Venezuelan brothers died (in the attack), and that hurts.”

When Jennifer Arnold learned one of her neighbors in the midwestern city of Minneapolis had been arrested by immigration authorities late last year, she reached out to lend a hand.”She answered the phone sobbing because she had gone to a work site with her husband, and he had been pulled out of their car and picked up,” Arnold recalled.Now, a month later, Arnold is connecting neighbors to help immigrants survive the sweeping crackdown by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which turned deadly this week when a federal agent opened fire on a woman driving an SUV.Arnold said at first she helped her neighbors, who were terrified of leaving their homes “because it’s not safe.”Then she noticed that the school bus stop nearby, which usually had 20 children waiting for a ride to school in the morning, only had 10 kids.”Many of those families didn’t feel safe sending their kids because they had to walk” a couple blocks to get to the stop, Arnold said.She took action, asking neighbors “if I could get someone to walk with your kid to the bus stop, or take them, drive them to school, would you send them?”Neighbors said yes.With that, Arnold began helping a dozen children get to school beginning the second week of December.”And then the next week, it was 18 kids. And now I have 30 on my list,” Arnold said.- Adopting a family -Parents, neighbors and friends of friends signed up to take children to and from school — walking them to a bus stop or driving them — to help them avoid falling behind in class.And when Christmas came and schools closed for the holiday, Arnold asked volunteers to adopt a family for the holiday and organized food deliveries. “They went shopping and brought bags of groceries to the family they adopted. We did one right before Christmas and one right before New Year’s. And folks said to me ‘my kids would have been hungry’ if we hadn’t done that,” Arnold said.Wednesday’s shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good at the hands of masked ICE agents — who are still conducting operations on Minneapolis streets — has only inspired more volunteers.”I went to pick up a four-year-old and introduce him to a neighbor who’s gonna walk him home every day. And there were all these people out on the streets who were like, ‘Can we do this too?’ And since what happened on Wednesday, my list is growing,” Arnold said. Now, schools are adapting to the families’ fears: Minneapolis announced Friday that it is launching remote learning through mid-February for students who need it.On the streets, neighbors have been vigilant in using whistles to alert each other about the presence of ICE agents. Education union leader Natasha Dockter says she wears her whistle “all the time now,” adding: “I use it more often that I would like to.”She said it also becomes “an invitation to talk to other neighbors about what’s going on,” and she keeps extra whistles in her pocket to share with those who are interested in helping.While neighbors in Minneapolis are trying to alert each other to potential suffering, there are also those who are coping in silence.”There are kids who have lost a family member, who are completely traumatized, who are terrified every day, who can’t leave their houses other than to go to school,” Becca Dryden, 36, told AFP, adding that the duty of parents to inform kids about what was happening was a tough one.”As parents, we keep having to explain these tragedies to them. Whether they are targeted themselves or watching their neighborhood and community be targeted, this is a trauma that’s happening to all of our children.”

The capture by US forces of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the killing in the operation of 32 Cubans assigned to protect him represent a major blow for the island’s revered intelligence services, experts say.Fearful of betrayal by dissenters within Venezuela’s ranks, the leftist Maduro — like his late mentor Hugo Chavez — sourced his security detail in communist-ruled Cuba.But the Cubans proved little match for the US special forces sent by helicopter to snatch Maduro from a military compound after US jets had pummeled Venezuela’s air defenses.Of the 32 Cubans killed – along with 23 Venezuelan troops — 21 were from the Cuban interior ministry, which oversees the intelligence services, officials said.The remaining 11 were from Cuba’s military.Experts consulted by AFP agreed that the key to the seamless execution of the US operation — meticulously prepared for months, in complete secrecy — was the element of surprise.But former Venezuelan military officer Jose Gustavo Arocha of the Center for a Secure Free Society, a US think tank specializing in defense issues, also suggested that Cuba had misjudged the threat.Cuban intelligence “convinced the Maduro regime and its security agencies that the United States would never attack on Venezuelan territory,” Arocha said.Former US intelligence officer Fulton Armstrong, who is now a Latin America researcher at American University in Washington, also pointed to intelligence failures.Chief among them, he said, was the failure to anticipate the attack and then to detect helicopters entering Venezuela’s airspace.”Even a five- or 10-minute warning would have made a massive difference for the guards and for Maduro,” the former CIA agent said.US forces however had a major advantage in the form of stealth drones, used to monitor the Venezuelan leader’s movements in real time, as well as more advanced weapons and combat gear.Paul Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba and Venezuela, argued that Cuban intelligence underestimated US access to “insider cooperation in Venezuela” — an informant within Maduro’s camp.Citing sources close to the operation, The New York Times reported that a CIA source within the Venezuelan government revealed Maduro’s location.The United States had issued a reward of $50 million for information leading to his capture.- Aura of invincibility – For decades, the Cuban secret service, trained during the Soviet era by the KGB, enjoyed a reputation for invincibility.Besides having foiled some 600 assassination attempts against late leader Fidel Castro, Cuba was reputed for its ability to infiltrate foreign intelligence services and recruit high-ranking informants, particularly Americans.The most recent case to come to light was that of Victor Manuel Rocha, a former US diplomat sentenced in 2024 to 15 years in prison after working for over four decades for the Cuban state.But Cuba “didn’t adequately read the Trump administration,” said Arocha, noting that the administration’s National Security Strategy unveiled in December clearly articulated Trump’s goal of asserting US dominance over Latin America.Washington had regularly denounced Cuba’s role, since the 2000s, in the Venezuelan security apparatus.The routine response from Caracas and Havana was that Cuba, in return for Venezuelan oil supplies, provided its ally with doctors and humanitarian workers. Arocha argued that “so many years… doing the same thing successfully” blinded the Cubans to Trump’s willingness to defy diplomacy and international law, so they did not see him coming.The Republican leader stunned the world by ordering the capture of the Venezuelan president in what his administration said was a law enforcement operation that did not require authorization from Congress.”All the capabilities of Cuban intelligence were blocked for the first time in the region… because their traditional methods became irrelevant against this new decision-making style,” Arocha said.

Local officials in Minneapolis slammed federal agencies Friday for excluding them from the probe into an immigration officer’s fatal shooting of a woman, as public outrage grew ahead of planned weekend protests.Officials in the midwestern state of Minnesota said their law enforcement agencies have been excluded from the investigation into the killing of motorist Renee Good, 37, by a federal immigration officer on Wednesday.A local prosecutor said Friday that federal investigators had taken Good’s car and shell casings from the scene.The Trump administration has sought to paint the victim as a “domestic terrorist,” insisting that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot her was acting in self-defense.Cell phone footage apparently taken by the officer who fired the fatal shots shows him interacting with Good as he approaches and circles her car, and her saying, “I’m not mad at you.”After he passes in front of the car, another agent can be heard ordering Good to exit the vehicle before she tries to drive off and shots ring out.The agent filming the video can be heard saying “fucking bitch” at the end of the clip.The White House insisted the video gave weight to the officer’s claim of self-defense — even though the clip does not show the moment the car moved away, or him opening fire. “This is not the time to bend the rules. This is a time to follow the law…the fact that Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice and this presidential administration has already come to a conclusion about those facts is deeply concerning,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, told a briefing on Friday. “We know that they’ve already determined much of the investigation,” he said, adding that the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, within its department of public safety, has consistently run such investigations.”Why not include them in the process?” Frey said.On Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance said that the ICE officer, named in US media as Jonathan Ross, had “absolute immunity” — a claim disputed by local prosecutors.Court filings seen by AFP showed that in June 2025, Ross was dragged 100 yards (meters) along a road by a car driven by a man who was the subject of immigration enforcement activity.”When the FBI, when the federal agencies, say they won’t share evidence with the local authorities, the public can’t trust that it’s going to be a true, transparent investigation,” said local Patrick O’Shaughnessy, 43.- ‘Get out’ -Minnesota officials have said that local investigators were initially invited by the FBI to participate in the inquiry into the shooting of Good, but were subsequently blocked from taking part.Good was one of four people who have been killed by ICE since Trump launched his immigration crackdown. Good’s wife Becca Good told local media that they had gone to the scene of immigration enforcement activity to “support our neighbors.””We had whistles. They had guns,” she said.Local prosecutor Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, said “our goal must be that a thorough investigation is completed at the local level.””The FBI currently has, for example, Ms Good’s car, the shell casings and witness interviews.”Moriarty unveiled an online evidence portal, calling for submissions so that all available leads could be compiled.The divide between local and federal authorities widened Friday when US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins suspended the payment of $129.2 million in federal financial agriculture awards, according to a letter she posted to X.Federal authorities have openly clashed with Minnesota officials over allegations that Somali immigrants have committed large-scale fraud to extract public benefit funds, with Rollins accusing local officials of turning “a blind eye” to the problem. Protest action continued Friday with hundreds gathering at a federal facility that has become a focal point of anti-ICE demonstrations with at least one detention seen.Federal immigration officers armed with pepperball guns and tear gas clashed with the noisy crowd.There were some 1,000 weekend protest gatherings planned across the United States, according to organizers.

US President Donald Trump pressed top oil executives Friday to invest in Venezuela’s vast reserves, but was met with a cautious reception — with one major CEO dismissing the country as “uninvestable” without sweeping reforms.Trump told the industry leaders that his administration — not Caracas — would decide which firms are allowed to operate in Venezuela following the stunning capture of president Nicolas Maduro.”We’re going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in… (we’re) going to cut a deal with the companies,” Trump said at the White House, arguing that foreign firms had had no meaningful protections under Maduro. “But now you have total security. It’s a whole different Venezuela,” he added.Trump said oil companies would “deal with us directly,” signaling that the US government would attempt to cut the oil-rich, cash-poor Latin American nation completely out of the loop when it came to exploiting its own resources. Despite Trump’s assurances, ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods struck a note of skepticism.”We’ve had our assets seized there twice and so, you can imagine, to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes,” he said. “If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela — today, it’s uninvestable.”The White House meeting came less than a week after US forces seized Maduro, with Trump making no secret that control of Venezuela’s oil was central to his actions. Opening the session, he said the talks would focus on how US companies could rapidly rebuild the country’s dilapidated oil industry and boost production by millions of barrels a day.Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended alongside executives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas and Repsol, among others.A spokesman for ConocoPhillips said CEO Ryan Lance appreciated the discussion about “preparing Venezuela to be investment ready.”Speaking after the meeting, Trump said participants had “sort of formed a deal,” but offered no specifics. He claimed oil companies were prepared to invest “at least 100 Billion Dollars.”- Rebuilding will ‘take time’ -Analysts told AFP that Trump’s push to revive Venezuela’s oil industry rests on shaky economic and strategic ground.Experts warned that vast reserves on paper do not translate into quick or profitable production, pointing to outdated infrastructure, political instability, heavy crude that is costly to extract, and investor unease in a world shifting away from fossil fuels.”There’s lots of talk about the size of the reserves — 300 billion barrels of proved reserves — but what’s often missing from the conversation is how realistic it is for those to be economically extracted,” said Rich Collett-White, an energy analyst at Carbon Tracker.After the talks, Wright — who has said Washington will control Venezuela’s oil industry “indefinitely” — admitted that it will “take time” to rebuild its infrastructure.- Further strikes cancelled -While Trump touts the country’s oil resources to US companies, Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has said her government remains in charge. The state oil company has said only that it was in negotiations with Washington.Chevron is currently the only US firm licensed to operate in Venezuela. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing demands by then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state.In a social media post, Trump said he cancelled a second wave of strikes on Venezuela due to what he called “cooperation” from the country.Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.But it produced only around one percent of the world’s total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions and embargoes.Trump sees the country’s massive oil reserves as a windfall in his fight to further lower US domestic fuel prices. 

A Virginia man pleaded not guilty on Friday to planting pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican Party headquarters on the eve of the January 6, 2021 US Capitol riot, US media reported.Brian Cole Jr, of Woodbridge, Virginia, was arrested in early December after a nearly five-year manhunt.Cole, 30, entered a plea of not guilty in a federal district court in Washington to charges of interstate transportation of explosives and malicious attempt to use explosives, CNN and other media outlets said.His arrest was the first breakthrough in a case that spawned numerous conspiracy theories among the far right.Prosecutors, in a filing with the court, said Cole had confessed in interviews with the FBI to planting the bombs and believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen from President Donald Trump.Democrat Joe Biden won the 2020 vote but Trump continues to falsely claim that he was the rightful winner.The pipe bombs — placed outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee offices in Washington on the evening of January 5 — failed to detonate.The devices were discovered by authorities the next day as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to prevent congressional certification of Biden’s election victory.The FBI released numerous photos and video clips of a masked and hooded suspect over the years and eventually increased the reward for information leading to an arrest to half a million dollars.The failure of law enforcement to swiftly solve the case birthed a number of conspiracy theories, including baseless accusations that the bomber may have been a US Capitol Police officer.After taking office for a second time last January, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people charged or convicted of taking part in the assault on the Capitol.

US President Donald Trump pressed top oil executives Friday to invest in Venezuela’s vast reserves, but was met with a cautious reception — with one major CEO dismissing the country as “uninvestable” without sweeping reforms.Trump told the industry leaders that his administration — not Caracas — would decide which firms are allowed to operate in Venezuela following the stunning capture of president Nicolas Maduro.”We’re going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in… (we’re) going to cut a deal with the companies,” Trump said at the White House, arguing that foreign firms had faced no meaningful protections under Maduro. “But now you have total security. It’s a whole different Venezuela,” he added.Trump said oil companies would “deal with us directly,” signaling that the US government would attempt to cut the oil-rich, cash-poor Latin American nation completely out of the loop when it came to exploiting its own resources. Despite Trump’s assurances, ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods struck a note of skepticism, saying major reforms would be needed before companies could justify returning to Venezuela.”We’ve had our assets seized there twice and so, you can imagine, to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes,” he said. “If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela — today, it’s uninvestable.”The White House meeting came less than a week after US forces seized Maduro, with Trump making no secret that control of Venezuela’s oil was central to his actions. Opening the session, he said the talks would focus on how US companies could rapidly rebuild the country’s dilapidated oil industry and boost production by millions of barrels a day.Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended alongside executives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas and Repsol, among others.While some of those executives appeared more open to investing than ExxonMobil, analysts told AFP that Trump’s push to revive Venezuela’s oil industry rests on shaky economic and strategic ground.Experts warned that vast reserves on paper do not translate into quick or profitable production, pointing to outdated infrastructure, political instability, heavy crude that is costly to extract, and investor unease in a world shifting away from fossil fuels.”There’s lots of talk about the size of the reserves — 300 billion barrels of proved reserves — but what’s often missing from the conversation is how realistic it is for those to be economically extracted,” said Rich Collett-White, an energy analyst at Carbon Tracker.- Further strikes cancelled -Trump had earlier claimed on his Truth Social platform that “at least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL.” Wright has said Washington will control Venezuela’s oil industry “indefinitely.”Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has said her government remains in charge, while the state oil company said only that it was in negotiations with Washington.Chevron is currently the only US firm licensed to operate in Venezuela. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing demands by then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state.In his social media post, Trump said he cancelled a second wave of strikes on Venezuela due to what he called “cooperation” from the country.Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.But it produced only around one percent of the world’s total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions and embargoes.Trump sees the country’s massive oil reserves as a windfall in his fight to further lower US domestic fuel prices. But Friday’s meeting demonstrated the challenge he faces in convincing the major US oil companies to invest in Venezuela due to uncertainty about governance in the post-Maduro era.

The United States added fewer jobs than expected in December, government data showed Friday, capping the labor market’s weakest year since the Covid-19 pandemic amid growing concerns about hiring.US employment rose by 50,000 last month, slowing from a revised 56,000 in November, the Department of Labor said.The jobless rate — measured by a different survey within the report — inched down to 4.4 percent from 4.5 percent.For 2025, payroll employment grew by 584,000, significantly lower than the increase of 2.0 million in 2024.Investors will be digesting the data for its potential bearing on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions, as a sharp deterioration in the jobs market could nudge the US central bank to lower rates sooner to boost the world’s biggest economy.While December’s figures were decent, job growth has slowed significantly over the past year while the unemployment rate crept up towards its highest level since 2021.Economist Ryan Sweet of Oxford Economics told AFP that the United States is seeing slower labor force growth, with less immigration while the native population ages, alongside tepid demand with businesses hesitant to hire.This is partially due to stronger productivity but also business uncertainty as firms grapple with President Donald Trump’s fast-changing tariff policies.”We’re in a new normal, in a new equilibrium,” said Sweet, adding that this is roughly the level of job growth one should expect going forward.Friday’s hiring number was lower than the 73,000 figure expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.Among sectors, employment continued trending up in restaurants and bars, health care and social assistance, the Labor Department said.But retail trade lost jobs, with employment dropping in areas like warehouse clubs, supercenters and other merchandise retailers.”Since reaching a peak in January, federal government employment is down by 277,000, or 9.2 percent,” the department said.- ‘Warning lights’ -In a CNBC interview, White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett pointed to US productivity as an encouraging sign beyond job creation.But “job growth in 2025 was the weakest in over a decade, outside of the pandemic,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement.Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long added that 2025 marked the worst year for job gains outside of a recession since 2003.While the overall report appears positive at first glance, Northlight Asset Management’s chief investment officer Chris Zaccarelli expects skeptics to point out the “very meager increase of 50,000 in jobs.””In essence, we are seeing validation of the idea that job creation is very weak and companies have been letting workers go at a slow pace,” he said in a note.”There aren’t any red flashing lights indicating an imminent recession, but there are plenty of yellow warning lights flashing and there is the risk that we could approach stall speed.”- Fed easing ahead -On Friday, the Trump administration also acknowledged that it inadvertently published some hiring data on social media a night before the full jobs report was due to be released Friday.”Following the regular procedure of presidents being prebriefed on economic data releases, there was an inadvertent public disclosure of aggregate data that was partially derived from pre-released information,” a White House official said.”The White House is accordingly reviewing protocols regarding economic data releases,” the official added.For now, economist Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics expects December’s figures are “weak enough” to keep a further interest rate reduction by the Fed in the cards.The sluggish job growth figure was underpinned by a mere 37,000 increase in private payrolls, he said.While the unemployment rate crept down, analysts have noted that this was no surprise as it could have resulted from an earlier pick-up in layoffs linked to a lengthy government shutdown.”For many businesses, uncertainty about federal government policy and the impact of AI warrants an extended pause on new hiring. Accordingly, we look for only a small pick-up in employment growth ahead,” Tombs said.

European officials and tech campaigners on Friday slammed Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok after its controversial image creation feature was restricted to paying subscribers, saying the change failed to address concerns about sexualized deepfakes.Grok has faced global backlash after it emerged the feature allowed users to sexualize images of women and children using simple text prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”Grok appeared to deflect the criticism with a new monetization policy, posting on the platform X late Thursday that image generation and editing were now “limited to paying subscribers,” alongside a link to a premium subscription.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office joined the chorus of critics, condemning the move as an affront to victims and “not a solution.””That simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.”It’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence.” EU digital affairs spokesman Thomas Regnier said “this doesn’t change our fundamental issue, paid subscription or non-paid subscription. We don’t want to see such images. It’s as simple as that.””What we’re asking platforms to do is to make sure that their design, that their systems do not allow the generation of such illegal content,” he told reporters.The European Commission, which acts as the EU’s digital watchdog, has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026 in response to the uproar.- ‘Safety gaps’ -Grok, developed by Musk’s startup xAI and integrated into X, announced the move after Wednesday’s fatal shooting in Minneapolis by an immigration agent, which triggered a wave of AI deepfakes.Some X users used Grok to digitally undress an old photo of the victim, as well as a new photo of her body slumped over after the shooting, generating AI images showing her in a bikini.Another woman wrongly identified as the victim was also subjected to similar manipulation.The fabricated images still appeared to float around X — and spread to other tech platforms — on Friday despite the new restriction.There was no immediate comment from X on the Minneapolis deepfakes. When reached by AFP for comment by email, xAI replied with a terse, automated response: “Legacy Media Lies.””Restricting Grok’s image-generation tools to paying subscribers may help limit scale and curb some misuse, but it doesn’t fully address the safety gaps that allowed nonconsensual and sexualized content to emerge,” said Cliff Steinhauer, from the nonprofit National Cybersecurity Alliance.”Access restrictions alone aren’t a comprehensive safeguard, as motivated bad actors may still find ways around them, and meaningful user protection ultimately needs to be grounded in how these tools are designed and governed.”France, Malaysia and India have also previously pushed back against the use of Grok to alter women and children’s photos, after a flood of user complaints, announcing investigations or calling on Musk’s company for swift takedowns of the explicit images.Britain’s communications regulator Ofcom announced earlier this week that it had made “urgent contact with X and xAI” over the Grok feature, warning that it could open an investigation depending on their response.On Friday, an Ofcom spokesperson said the regulator had “received a response” and was now “undertaking an expedited assessment as a matter of urgency.”Last week, in response to a post about the explicit images, Musk said that anyone using Grok to “make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”But he appeared to make light of the controversy in a separate post, adding laughing emojis as he reshared to his 232 million followers on X a post featuring a toaster wrapped in a bikini. “Grok can put a bikini on everything,” the original post said.burs-lga-raz-ac/aha

AI took over CES 2026, powering coffee machines to brew the perfect espresso, a device to create your perfect scent, and ball-hitting tennis robots that make you forget it’s human against machine.- Alexa, make me an espresso -German group Bosch presented a new feature for its fully automated 800 Series coffee machine (sold from $1,700) that can be synchronized with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. After a short night’s sleep, users can order a double espresso with voice commands only, and the coffee maker will deliver. Some 35 different espresso options are available.”We’re one of the first manufacturers to really lean in with AI,” explained Andrew de Lara, spokesperson for Bosch. The century-old company, positioned at the high end of the market in the United States, wants to gradually bring AI into the kitchen, notably through its Home Connect mobile app, which already allows users to control several appliances remotely. – Scent of AI -South Korean company DigitalScent has developed a machine, already available in some airports, that creates a personalized fragrance based on your mood and preferences. Once you have picked your preferences, it releases a scent that gives you an idea of the final result. You can then make adjustments before making your final decision. Once you have placed your order, the machine uses AI to produce a virtually unique fragrance in a matter of seconds, choosing from a range of over 1,150 combinations. The fragrance is contained in a small, portable vial, costing $3 to $4, according to a spokesperson.- Game, set, AI -Several start-ups unveiled new-generation ball machines powered by artificial intelligence. While Singapore-based Sharpa already offers a convincing humanoid table tennis robot with a reaction time of just two hundredths of a second, there is no equivalent on the market for tennis. A few days ago, China’s UBTech posted a video online of its Walker S2 robot playing rallies with a human, but at a slow speed and without any real movement. UBTech’s robots are designed for industrial use rather than tennis courts and, in all likelihood, the video was produced solely to demonstrate the agility of the Walker S2 to attract business customers.While we wait for the humanoid robot that can volley at the net, another Chinese company, Tenniix, is marketing a robot that sends balls at speeds of up to 75 miles per hour (120.7 kilometers per hour). It has 10 different shots, some with spin, and even a lob that reaches eight meters high. The basic version, which can hold up to 100 balls, will set you back $699, but the most complete version, at $1,600, includes cameras and wheels that allow it to move around. The fast-moving machine uses AI to analyze the trajectory of your cross-court forehand and fires off a ball from about where a real-life return shot would most likely come, giving the player the impression of a real rally. “There’s a real rhythm,” says Run Kai Huang, spokesperson for Tenniix, “as if you were playing with a real person.”