AFP USA

Cuba paid tribute on Thursday to 32 soldiers killed in the US military strike that ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, in a ceremony attended by revolutionary leader Raul Castro.Havana, under pressure from US President Donald Trump, had decreed two days of tribute for the men, some of whom had been assigned to Maduro’s protection team.Twenty-one of the soldiers were from the Cuban interior ministry, which oversees the intelligence services, officials have said. The others were from the military.President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Castro, the 94-year-old retired former Cuban leader, were present in full military uniform to receive the soldiers’ remains early Thursday.Their urns, draped in Cuban flags, were unloaded from a plane at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport, according to footage broadcast on state TV.At the event, Interior Minister General Lazaro Alberto Alvarez expressed the country’s respect and gratitude for the soldiers he said had “fought to the last bullet” during US bombings and a raid by US special forces who seized Maduro and his wife from their Caracas residence on January 3.”We do not receive them with resignation; we do so with profound pride,” the minister added, and said the United States “will never be able to buy the dignity of the Cuban people.”The soldiers’ bodies were then transported in Jeeps to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, with Cubans lining the streets and applauding the procession.Residents of the capital can pay their respects throughout the day, which will close with a gathering outside the US embassy in Havana.- ‘Manipulation’ -The homage serves as an opportunity for Cuba to make a display of national unity at a time it is batting away pressure from US President Donald Trump.Trump on Sunday urged Cuba to “make a deal,” the nature of which he did not divulge, or face the consequences.The Republican president, who says Washington is now effectively running Venezuela, has vowed to cut off all oil and money that Caracas had been providing to ailing Cuba.Cuba, which is struggling through its worst economic crisis in decades, has reacted defiantly to the US threats even as it reels from the loss of a key source of economic support.Havana has dismissed as “political manipulation” a US announcement of humanitarian aid for victims of Hurricane Melissa, which hit last October and killed nearly 60 people across the Caribbean.”The US government is exploiting what might seem like a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic purposes and political manipulation,” Cuba’s foreign ministry said in a statement in response.It added Washington had not been in touch about the delivery, which it would welcome “without conditions.”Jeremy Lewin, the senior US official for foreign assistance, on Thursday cautioned Havana not to “politicize” the help.”We look at this as the first, the beginning of what we hope will be a much broader ability to deliver assistance directly to the Cuban people,” he said.US-Cuba relations have been tense for decades but hit a new low after the US capture of Maduro and his wife.Twenty-three Venezuelan soldiers were also killed in the US strike that saw Maduro and his wife whisked away to stand trial in New York on drug-trafficking charges.

A US appeals court overturned a ruling that led to the release of prominent pro-Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, according to court documents filed Thursday, raising the prospect of his re-arrest.Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, was detained by immigration authorities for three months beginning in March. He faced potential deportation for allegedly posing a threat to US foreign policy interests.A former Columbia University student who was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide pro-Palestinian campus protests, Khalil was released from custody in June, but faced continued threats of deportation from federal authorities.New Jersey federal judge Michael Farbiarz had ruled that Khalil’s detention by immigration authorities was unlawful. But Thursday’s ruling by the Philadelphia-based appeals court said Farbiarz did not have “subject-matter” jurisdiction in the case and that an immigration court should have adjudicated it.”Today’s ruling is deeply disappointing, but it does not break our resolve,” Khalil said in a statement. “The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability.”The ruling, which could be appealed, does not take immediate effect, meaning Khalil will remain free for now.The New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that “Mr Khalil’s legal team has several legal avenues they may pursue.”In September, an immigration judge in Louisiana ordered Khalil be deported to Algeria or Syria after failing to disclose information on his application for US permanent residency. Khalil’s lawyers vowed to appeal that ruling.

President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to invoke the “Insurrection Act” to quell protests over federal immigration raids in the northern US state of Minnesota.Here is a look at what the act entails and its previous use:- Insurrection Act -The Insurrection Act allows for domestic deployment of the US military for civilian law enforcement purposes such as conducting searches and making arrests.Trump has threatened to invoke it in response to protests against his mass deportation drive not only in Minnesota but also in other Democratic-ruled states — California, Illinois and Oregon.Intermittent and sometimes violent protests have occurred in the states when Trump has launched targeted “surges” of federal agents, including from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of ICE, who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” he said in a Truth Social post on Thursday.- Posse Comitatus -Using the US military domestically to conduct law enforcement activities is normally barred by another law, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act.The Insurrection Act lets a president sidestep the Posse Comitatus Act to suppress “armed rebellion” or “domestic violence” and use the armed forces “as he considers necessary” to enforce the law.- Past use -The Insurrection Act has been invoked by US presidents about 30 times previously but rarely in recent history, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.It was enacted in 1792 but the current version dates to 1807.America’s first president, George Washington, used it to put down state rebellions against federal authority and president Abraham Lincoln relied upon it at the start of the 1861-65 Civil War.The Insurrection Act was most recently invoked by president George H.W. Bush at the request of California’s governor to help put down riots in Los Angeles in 1992 that followed the acquittal of police officers involved in the beating of a Black motorist, Rodney King.It was used by president Lyndon Johnson in 1968 to quell riots that broke out in the nation’s capital and other cities following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.- National Guard deployments -Trump separately relied on a seldom-used law known as Title 10 to send National Guard troops to Los Angeles last year against the wishes of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.Title 10 permits National Guard federalization in times of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against government authority, but does not give the troops the powers to perform domestic law enforcement duties.Trump’s bid to deploy the National Guard to another city, Chicago, suffered a setback last month when the Supreme Court ruled he had “failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.”The Supreme Court rebuff was a rare defeat for Trump at the top court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lashed out Thursday at world leaders who he said were seeking to “put international cooperation on deathwatch” amid brazen violations of international law, but held off naming offending countries.He also reiterated that he was “deeply concerned about the violent repression in Iran,” ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting on the crisis scheduled for later Thursday.Guterres, who will step down at the end of 2026, was giving his last annual speech setting out his priorities for the year ahead and said the world was riven with “self-defeating geopolitical divides (and) brazen violations of international law.”He also slammed “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid” — an apparent reference to deep cuts to the budgets of UN agencies made by the United States under the Trump administration’s “America First” policies. “These forces and more are shaking the foundations of global cooperation and testing the resilience of multilateralism itself,” Guterres told the General Assembly. “At a time when we need international cooperation the most, we seem to be the least inclined to use it and invest in it. Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch.”Guterres said the UN is “totally committed in the cause of peace in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and far beyond and tireless in delivering life-saving aid to those so desperate for support.”Those three deadly, protracted conflicts have come to define Guterres’s time at the helm of the UN, with critics arguing the organization has proved ineffective at conflict prevention.Trump has questioned the UN’s relevance and attacked its priorities. The organization’s top decision-making body, the Security Council, is paralyzed because of tensions between the United States and Russia and China, all three of which are permanent, veto-wielding members.”As we meet today, the snares of conflict have trapped millions of members of the human family in miserable, prolonged cycles of violence, hunger and displacement,” Guterres said.On Gaza, the UN chief called for humanitarian aid to “flow unimpeded” and on Ukraine he said “we must spare no effort” to stop the fighting.He also called for the resumption of talks to bring about a lasting ceasefire in Sudan.Guterres also used his wide-ranging remarks urge action against the abuse of artificial intelligence, to call for efforts to fight inequality.

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whose pro-democracy movement he has sidelined since toppling her country’s leader, and whose Nobel Peace Prize he openly envies.Machado’s White House visit comes a day after Trump used glowing terms to describe his first known call with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, confirming his satisfaction with the allies of Nicolas Maduro remaining in power, for now at least.Trump called Rodriguez a “terrific person” and hailed “terrific progress” made since US special forces seized Maduro and his wife in a deadly raid.Rodriguez said the call was “productive and courteous,” and characterized by “mutual respect.””Many topics were discussed,” Trump said on social media, “including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security.”Notably absent was any mention of a political transition, an issue that Washington has recently downplayed compared to economic concerns, especially access to Venezuelan oil.Machado, who campaigned for years to end Maduro’s rule, will seek Thursday to bring the issue back into the foreground.- Nobel sharing? -Machado, 58, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her activism in pursuit of democracy in Venezuela, despite threats of imprisonment by Maduro’s government.Venezuela’s opposition has argued and presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election from Machado’s party, namely candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia — claims supported by Washington.Venezuela’s electoral authorities, seen as allied with Maduro, never released data from the vote.Hundreds of people were arrested in post-election protests, and while Gonzalez Urrutia fled to Europe for asylum, Machado remained in the country in a hidden location, appearing only intermittently at rallies.She appeared in Oslo, Norway last month to collect her Nobel prize after a daring escape by boat, and has not yet returned to her home country.Trump has openly fumed about not being awarded the prize, calling it a “major embarrassment” for Norway.Machado has offered to share her award with Trump, and the president indicated she might give it to him when they meet.”I understand she wants to do that. That would be a great honor,” Trump said in a recent Fox News interview.The Nobel Institute has stressed that the prize cannot be transferred from one person to another.- Prisoner releases -Under pressure from Washington, Venezuela has released dozens of political prisoners in the past week, though hundreds remain behind bars.Rodriguez claimed a total of 406 political prisoners had been released since December in a process that “has not yet concluded.”The Foro Penal legal rights NGO, which defends many of the detainees, gave a much smaller tally of around 180 freed.AFP’s count, based on data from NGOs and opposition parties, showed 70 people released since the fall of Maduro, who has been taken to the United States to face trial for alleged drug trafficking.To avoid scenes of jubilant opposition activists punching the air as they walk free from prison, the authorities have been releasing them quietly at other locations, far from the TV cameras and relatives waiting outside detention centers.The United States on Wednesday seized another tanker in the Caribbean in its campaign to control oil leaving Venezuela.Marines and sailors apprehended the Tanker Veronica without incident in a pre-dawn raid, the US military command said on social media, with a video showing soldiers rappelling onto a vessel’s deck.”The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” it said. The tanker is the sixth seized in recent weeks.

A European military mission was taking shape in Greenland on Thursday, drawing a sharp rebuke from Russia, as Denmark said Washington still aimed to take control of the mineral-rich Arctic island.Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen insisted meanwhile that “dialogue and diplomacy are the right way forward”, hailing in a Facebook post the fact that a dialogue was now “underway”.The developments came a day after a White House meeting failed to resolve “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory that President Donald Trump insists the United States needs to ensure its security.Two Danish troop transport planes landed in Greenland on Wednesday.Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have also announced the deployment of military personnel as part of a reconnaissance mission to Greenland’s capital Nuuk, under Denmark’s “Arctic Endurance” exercise organised with NATO allies.The modest military reinforcements — 13 soldiers from Germany, for example — are meant to prepare armed forces for future exercises in the Arctic, according to European defence sources.”A first team of French service members is already on site and will be reinforced in the coming days with land, air, and maritime assets,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday.Germany’s defence ministry said the aim was to “explore the framework conditions for possible military contributions to support Denmark in ensuring security in the region”.- ‘NATO consensus’ -The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday.Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement Thursday that “a working group” was being set up to discuss how Arctic security could be improved.”However, this does not change the fact that there is a fundamental disagreement, because the American ambition to take over Greenland remains intact,” Frederiksen said, hailing the arrival of European military personnel in Greenland.”There is consensus within the NATO alliance that a strengthened presence in the Arctic is crucial for European and North American security,” she said.Trump has argued that if the United States does not take Greenland, “China or Russia will”, deriding Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds”.Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.The Russian embassy in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered, said the arrival of NATO forces to Greenland was concerning.”The situation unfolding in the high latitudes is of serious concern to us,” the embassy said in a statement late Wednesday.NATO is “building up its military presence there under the false pretext of a growing threat from Moscow and Beijing”, it added. – ‘Frightening’ -On the streets of Nuuk, where red and white Greenlandic flags fly in shop windows, on apartment balconies and on cars and buses in a show of national unity, some residents have described anxiety over the geopolitical tensions.”It’s very frightening because it’s such a big thing,” said Vera Stidsen, a 51-year-old teacher.”I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed,” she told AFP.After attending the White House talks, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen posted Thursday on Facebook that “We agree on the objective: enhancing long term security in the Arctic. But we disagree on the method.””This is 2026 — you can trade with people, but you don’t trade people.”After the meeting, Trump for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark’s interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.”I think something will work out,” Trump said.Trump has insisted Greenland is “vital” for his planned “Golden Dome” air and missile defence system, as it lies on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States.

More governments vowed crackdowns Thursday to prevent Grok, the AI chatbot on Elon Musk’s X platform, from undressing or sexualizing images of real people in their jurisdictions, in a face of a growing backlash against the deepfakes. The Philippines became the third country to ban Grok altogether, following Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia, while Britain and France said they would keep up the pressure.Several countries have demanded that Musk’s xAI, the developer of Grok, rein in the chatbot after it was used to generate a flood of lewd photos of women and children.X said Wednesday that it would “geoblock the ability” of all Grok and X users to create images of people in “bikinis, underwear, and similar attire” in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal.The announcement came after California’s attorney general launched an investigation into xAI over the sexually explicit material, and several countries either blocked access to Grok or opened their own probes.”We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing,” X’s safety team said, adding that the restriction applied to “all users” without exceptions.In an “extra layer of protection,” image creation and the ability to edit photos via X’s Grok account is now available only to paid subscribers, it said.”I welcome that X is now acting to ensure full compliance with UK law — it must happen immediately”, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — a favourite target of Musk’s political posts — wrote Thursday on X.”If we need to strengthen existing laws further, we are prepare to do that,” Starmer warned.Meanwhile, Philippines cybercrime chief Renato Paraiso said the country’s block could be effective by the end of the day.He said X’s pledge to limit access would have no effect on the plans, adding that the government would watch to see if the platform follows through on its promises.”We need to clean the internet now because much toxic content is appearing, especially with the advent of AI,” Philippine telecommunications secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda said.- ‘Shocking’ -Grok’s so-called “Spicy Mode” allowed users to create deepfakes using simple text prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”An analysis of more than 20,000 Grok-generated images by AI Forensics, a Paris-based nonprofit, found that more than half depicted “individuals in minimal attire” — most of them women, and two percent appearing to be minors.The European Commission, which acts as the EU’s digital watchdog, had said it will “carefully assess” additional measures taken by X to ensure “they effectively protect citizens.””France and Europe taking action… is producing results,” Paris’s digital minister Anne Le Henanff told AFP on Thursday, warning that “no platform is above the law”.Her British counterpart Liz Kendall said in a statement that she welcomed X’s move — while backing an investigation by media watchdog Ofcom into whether the images breached British law.California Governor Gavin Newsom had said that xAI’s “vile” decision to allow sexually explicit deepfakes to proliferate prompted him to urge the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, to hold the company accountable.”We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material,” Bonta said Wednesday.He added that the California investigation would determine whether xAI violated state law after the explicit imagery was “used to harass people across the internet.”- Posts removed -Adding further pressure onto Musk’s company Wednesday, a coalition of 28 civil society groups submitted open letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google, urging them to ban Grok and X from their app stores amid the surge in sexualized images.Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with Malaysia following the next day.On Thursday, Malaysia’s communications minister said national regulators had found that X’s steps to prevent Grok generating indecent images were “not done in totality.”If X can successfully deactivate and prevent the generation of such online content considered harmful, Malaysia will lift the temporary restriction on Grok, Fahmi Fadzil said.

Washington’s ambition to take control of Greenland remained intact, Denmark said on Thursday, as a European military mission arrived on the mineral-rich strategic Arctic island, drawing a sharp rebuke from Russia.The developments came a day after a high-level meeting at the White House failed to resolve “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory that President Donald Trump has repeatedly said Washington needs to seize to ensure US security.The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday.Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement Thursday that “a working group” was being set up to discuss how Arctic security could be improved.”However, this does not change the fact that there is a fundamental disagreement, because the American ambition to take over Greenland remains intact,” Frederiksen said.”This is obviously a serious matter, and we are therefore continuing our efforts to prevent this scenario from becoming a reality,” she added.The head of government’s comment came as European military personnel had begun arriving in Greenland.France, Sweden, Germany and Norway announced Wednesday that they would deploy military personnel as part of a reconnaissance mission to Greenland’s capital Nuuk.”Soldiers of NATO are expected to be more present in Greenland from today and in the coming days. It is expected that there will be more military flights and ships,” Greenland’s deputy prime minister Mute Egede told a news conference on Wednesday, adding they would be “training”.Germany’s defence ministry said Thursday that the reconnaissance mission to Greenland by several European NATO members aims “to explore options for ensuring security in light of Russian and Chinese threats in the Arctic”.”The first French military personnel are already on their way. Others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.Trump has argued that if the United States does not take Greenland, “China or Russia will”.The Russian embassy in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered, said the arrival of NATO forces to Greenland was concerning.”The situation unfolding in the high latitudes is of serious concern to us,” the embassy said in a statement published late Wednesday.NATO is “building up its military presence there under the false pretext of a growing threat from Moscow and Beijing,” the embassy added.- ‘Good relationship’ -After leaving the White House on Wednesday Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said a US takeover of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary.””We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Lokke told reporters.He also noted that “there are no Chinese warships along the coast of Greenland”.”Nor are there any massive Chinese investments in Greenland,” he told the Danish press after the meeting.Trump, speaking after the meeting which he did not attend, for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark’s interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.”I have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out,” Trump said without explaining further.He again said Denmark was powerless if Russia or China wanted to occupy Greenland, but added: “There’s everything we can do.”- Live ‘in peace’ -On the streets of Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity this week.Some residents described anxiety from finding themselves at the centre of the geopolitical spotlight.”It’s very frightening because it’s such a big thing,” said Vera Stidsen, 51, a teacher in Nuuk.”I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed,” Stidsen told AFP.

Four International Space Station crewmembers splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, NASA footage showed, after the first ever medical evacuation in the orbital lab’s history.A video feed from NASA showed the capsule carrying American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui land off the coast of San Diego at 12:41 am (0841 GMT).”On behalf of SpaceX and NASA, welcome home,” mission control told the crew moments after landing.”It’s so good to be home, with deep gratitude to the teams that got us there and back,” Cardman replied.A health issue prompted their mission to be cut short, after spending five months in space.The US space agency has declined to disclose any details about the health issue but stressed the return was not an emergency situation.The affected crewmember “is doing fine,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters after the splashdown.Isaacman said only that the crewmember experienced “a serious medical condition” that “could have happened on Earth completely outside of the microgravity environment.”He said all crewmembers are safe, in good spirits and were undergoing standard post-arrival medical checks.”They just executed… a near-perfect mission on orbit,” Isaacman said.Fincke, the SpaceX Crew-11 pilot, shared a similar message in a social media post earlier this week: “First and foremost, we are all OK. Everyone on board is stable, safe, and well cared for.””This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists. It’s the right call, even if it’s a bit bittersweet.”The Crew-11 quartet arrived at the ISS in early August and had been scheduled to stay onboard the space station until they were rotated out in mid-February with the arrival of the next crew.James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, previously said “lingering risk” and a “lingering question as to what that diagnosis is” led to the decision to bring back the crew earlier than originally scheduled.- Ready for the unexpected – The crew conducted a little under 900 hours of experiments during its 167 days in orbit, said Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate.American astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, who arrived at the station in November aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, remained on the ISS.The Russian Roscosmos space agency operates alongside NASA on the outpost, and the two agencies take turns transporting a citizen of the other country to and from the orbiter — one of the few areas of bilateral cooperation that still endure between the United States and Russia.Continuously inhabited since 2000, the International Space Station seeks to showcase multinational cooperation, bringing together Europe, Japan, the United States and Russia.Located some 400 kilometers (248.5 miles) above Earth, the ISS functions as a testbed for research that supports deeper space exploration — including eventual missions to return humans to the Moon and onward to Mars.The four astronauts who were evacuated had been trained to handle unexpected medical situations, said Amit Kshatriya, a senior NASA official, praising how they have dealt with the situation.The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030, with its orbit gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, a spacecraft graveyard.

Elon Musk’s platform X announced measures to prevent its AI chatbot Grok from undressing images of real people, but the Philippines on Thursday said it would become the latest country to block the online tool in a growing global backlash.Pressure had been building on Musk’s xAI, the developer of Grok, to rein in the chatbot after it was used to generate a flood of lewd photos of women and children.The company’s announcement came after California’s attorney general launched an investigation into xAI over the sexually explicit material, and multiple countries either blocked access to Grok or opened their own probes.X said Wednesday it will “geoblock the ability” of all Grok and X users to create images of people in “bikinis, underwear, and similar attire” in those jurisdictions where such actions are deemed illegal.”We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing,” X’s safety team said, adding that the restriction applied to “all users” without exceptions.In an “extra layer of protection,” image creation and the ability to edit photos via X’s Grok account was now only available to paid subscribers, they added.But the Philippines said Thursday it planned to block Grok nationwide, joining Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia.”By tonight or within today, we are expecting (Grok) to be blocked in the entire Philippines,” Renato Paraiso, acting executive director of the country’s cybercrime center, told AFP.He said X’s pledge to limit access would have no effect on the plans, adding that the government would watch to see if the platform follows through on its promises.”We need to clean the internet now because much toxic content is appearing, especially with the advent of AI,” Philippine telecommunications secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda said.- ‘Shocking’ -Grok’s so-called “Spicy Mode” feature allowed users to create deepfakes using simple text prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”An analysis of more than 20,000 Grok-generated images by Paris non-profit AI Forensics found that more than half depicted “individuals in minimal attire” — most of them women, and two percent appearing to be minors.The European Commission, which acts as the EU’s digital watchdog, had said it would “carefully assess” additional measures taken by X to stop the deluge to ensure “they effectively protect citizens.”California Governor Gavin Newsom said that xAI’s “vile” decision to allow sexually explicit deepfakes to proliferate prompted him to urge the state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta to hold the company accountable.”The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” Bonta said on Wednesday.”We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material.”Bonta said the California investigation would determine whether xAI violated state law after the explicit imagery was “used to harass people across the internet.”- Posts removed -Adding further pressure onto Musk’s company Wednesday, a coalition of 28 civil society groups submitted open letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google, urging them to ban Grok and X from their app stores amid the surge in sexualized images.Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with Malaysia following the next day.On Thursday, Malaysia’s communications minister said national regulators had found that X’s steps to prevent Grok generating indecent images were “not done in totality.”If X can successfully deactivate and prevent the generation of such online content considered harmful, Malaysia will lift the temporary restriction imposed on Grok, Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.India has said X removed thousands of posts and hundreds of user accounts in response to its complaints.And Britain’s Ofcom media regulator on Thursday called X’s new measures a “welcome development.””However, our formal investigation remains ongoing,” an Ofcom spokesperson said, referring to a probe it announced this week into whether X failed to comply with British law over the sexual images.