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Meta on Thursday said it had laid off 20 workers for leaking information to the media, as the social media giant faces pressure over the recent political shift of its boss Mark Zuckerberg towards US President Donald Trump.”We tell employees when they join the company, and we offer periodic reminders, that it is against our policies to leak internal information, no matter the intent,” a Meta spokesperson said, confirming a story first reported in The Verge.”We recently conducted an investigation that resulted in roughly 20 employees being terminated for sharing confidential information outside the company, and we expect there will be more,” the company added. “We take this seriously, and will continue to take action when we identify leaks.”The round of firings came following a recent series of reports based on Zuckerberg’s meetings with employees.In one meeting, first reported by The Verge, Zuckerberg told employees he would no longer be forthcoming with information because “we try to be really open and then everything I say leaks. It sucks.”He also warned them to “buckle up” for the coming year and said that Meta would be a productive partner with the White House.Tech leaders have broadly fallen in line around Trump since he won the election in November, with Zuckerberg making a particular turn towards the Republican since his return to office.Zuckerberg has multiplied his advances towards Trump, who last summer threatened the tech tycoon with life imprisonment after Meta excluded the president from Facebook in January 2021 for encouraging the assault on the Capitol.The CEO and founder has dined with the Republican on several occasions, donated to the president’s inauguration fund, eased up on content moderation, and ended Facebook’s US fact-checking program in an effort to draw closer to the new Republican leadership in Washington.His longtime political affairs boss was also replaced by a prominent Republican, and he named Trump ally Dana White to his board after the US election.The measures align with the conservative views of the president and his allies, as well as masculinist entertainers and personalities like Elon Musk.On the Joe Rogan podcast, Zuckerberg complained that “a lot of the corporate world is pretty culturally neutered” and that embracing masculine energy “is good.”

Apple unveiled Thursday a series of initiatives aimed at enhancing safety for children and teens using its devices, as it fends off calls that it more directly check the age of its users.The changes came amid growing legislative pressure in US states, including Utah and South Carolina, which have proposed bills requiring app store operators to verify children’s ages by uploading official documents and obtain parental consent before minors download apps.In a notable shift, Apple will introduce a new Declared Age Range function that will allow developers to access age information volunteered by parents during an Apple child account setup. This approach represents a compromise between Apple’s historical stance of pushing age verification on app creators and the position of companies like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, that app stores should handle verification.The two tech behemoths, as well as Google which owns the Android operating system, have bitterly fought over the issue as big tech companies face increasing parental frustration on harmful content reaching children and teens.Under the new system, which was announced in a paper published by Apple, the company said it was also streamlining the creation of child accounts, which are mandatory for users under 13 and optional for those up to 18. Parents can now select their child’s age range during setup and verify their status already on file with Apple.In the Apple app store itself, product pages for third-party apps will feature additional information to guide parents, including details about user-generated content, advertisements, and available parental controls.Apple said some features are already available in the latest operating system updates, with the complete rollout of the age rating system and other features expected later this year.In response to the update, a Meta spokesperson told AFP the move was “a positive first step,” but added it did not go far enough.”Parents tell us they want to have the final say over the apps their teens use, and that’s why we support legislation that requires app stores to verify a child’s age and get a parent’s approval before their child downloads an app,” the company said.

US President Donald Trump’s threat to strip oil giant Chevron of a license to operate in Venezuela could plunge the troubled South American nation into deeper economic and social turmoil, experts say.Chevron currently produces and exports almost a quarter of the million barrels per day from Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest known oil reserves.The company had only resumed Venezuela-US exports in 2022 after a sanctions exemption granted by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.At the time, the world was in the midst of an energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro had pledged to allow fair elections. It is a promise much of the world, including Trump, considers Maduro to have broken. So what are the implications of Trump’s decision to revoke Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela?- For Venezuela -Experts say the loss of Chevron-linked exports could spell recession and an even greater number of people fleeing the country.For the government, it would immediately dry up already sparse foreign reserves — a loss of some $150-200 million per month.Energy expert Francisco Monaldi of Rice University in Texas told AFP “the hit to cash flow will undoubtedly have macroeconomic impacts.”Leonardo Vera, an economist at the Central University of Venezuela, said the loss of Chevron would mean that “a modest growth scenario for this year could turn into a recessive and highly inflationary one.”It’s not difficult to imagine how bad things could get. Between 2014 and 2021, Venezuela’s GDP fell by 80 percent, thanks in part to low oil prices and biting US sanctions.During Trump’s first term and his policy of “maximum pressure” Venezuela’s oil production had reached its lowest point in decades, just 400,000 barrels per day in 2020 — a return to 1934 levels. Twelve years earlier, the petrostate was producing 3.5 million barrels per day, with the United States as its main client.The economic and political turmoil has already forced nearly eight million Venezuelans — about a quarter of the population — to flee the country.- For the United States -Jorge Rene Pinon of the University of Texas’s Energy Institute said there would be “no major change” for consumers in the United States, which will likely easily replace Venezuelan imports with those from Canada or elsewhere.One big winner could be Venezuela’s leftist ally and fellow US sanctions target Cuba.Prioritizing cash from US exports, Venezuela’s crude deliveries to Cuba had recently dropped to about a fifth of what they once were.”Now you are going to see some of those barrels going to Cuba,” said Pinon.Under previous rounds of sanctions, Venezuela had been able to shift exports to major economies such as China and India, albeit at lower prices — so Beijing and New Delhi could benefit too.But with Chevron out in the cold, it is not clear the struggling PDVSA can keep up production solo.- Can it be undone? -“There is some uncertainty about which licenses are cancelled and what they might be replaced with,” said energy analyst Rachel Ziemba.Chevron’s licence was last renewed on February 1, and remains valid for six months to August 1.This leaves “time to negotiate” with the Trump administration, said Monaldi.Trump has linked the move to his vow to deport some 600,000 Venezuelans from the United States.In announcing the revocation of Chevron’s license, Trump said Caracas had not been taking back its nationals “at the rapid pace that they had agreed to.”This causes some to believe there may yet be room to negotiate.”It may be like what Trump did with Colombia or like he did with Mexico,” exerting pressure “so that Maduro yields to what he wants,” said Monaldi.

US President Donald Trump held out the prospect of a “great” post-Brexit trade deal that could avoid tariffs on Britain Thursday — as he hailed Prime Minister Keir Starmer as a tough negotiator.”We’re going to have a great trade agreement, one way or the other,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference with Starmer at the White House, adding that a new deal could come together “rather quickly.” Pro-Brexit politicians dangled the promise of a US-UK trade deal as one of the benefits of leaving the European Union ahead of the 2016 referendum on EU membership. But they failed to agree a deal following the vote. Billionaire property tycoon Trump, who authored a book called the “Art of the Deal,” hailed former human rights lawyer Starmer’s negotiating skills during the press conference.”You’re a very tough negotiator — I’m not sure I like that, but that’s ok,” Trump joked.Asked if Starmer had managed to persuade him to drop the threat of tariffs, the US president chuckled and said: “He tried. he was working hard, I’ll tell you that.””He earned whatever the hell they pay him over there,” he added.Since taking office, Trump has threatened to impose sweeping tariffs against trading partners with whom the United States has a large trade deficit, including the European Union and China. Trump’s comments on a deal signal that his administration is keen to revive the trade talks with Britain, which made little progress during his predecessor Joe Biden’s term in office.Starmer said he had had a “productive discussion” with Trump, adding that the United States and Britain were now working on a new “economic deal.” “We could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary,” Trump told reporters, adding that the eventual deal could be “really terrific for both countries.”On Thursday, Starmer defended Britain’s trade balance with the United States, calling it “fair, balanced and reciprocal.” 

Mexico announced the extradition Thursday of 29 alleged drug traffickers to the United States, as it faces mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump to tackle fentanyl smuggling or face sweeping tariffs. The mass extradition, which reportedly included some major cartel figures, comes as Mexico seeks a deal with Washington to avoid being hit with trade duties that Trump has linked to illegal migration and drug flows.The handover of so many suspects at the same time was “historic,” Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), told AFP.Mexico usually extradited only a few suspects at once, he said, adding: “They’re certainly hoping that it will have a positive impact on the tariff negotiations.”The US Justice Department requested the handover, the public security ministry and the public prosecutor’s office said in a joint statement, without naming the suspects.According to Mexican media, the former leaders of the ultra-violent Zetas cartel, Omar and Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, as well as veteran drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, who is accused of murdering an undercover US agent, were among those extradited.Caro Quintero was on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of 10 most-wanted fugitives until his capture in 2022.He was accused of ordering the kidnap, torture and killing of DEA special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.Vigil said the agency was “celebrating” his extradition.The Webb County Sheriff’s Office in the US state of Texas issued an alert warning of possible violence in the city of Nuevo Laredo across the border due to the extradition of the Trevino-Morales brothers.”Previous incidents have shown that the cartel tends to respond with extreme violence against Mexican government entities, which increases the risk for citizens in Nuevo Laredo,” it said on social media.- ‘National security threat’ -The extraditions follow Trump’s designation of eight Latin American drug trafficking organizations — including six Mexican cartels — as terrorist organizations.The announcement came as a high-level Mexican delegation, including the foreign, defense and security ministers, visited Washington for talks with counterparts, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to collaborate with Washington, while rejecting any “invasion” of her country’s sovereignty.She has repeatedly expressed optimism that tariffs between the two countries can be avoided, and said Thursday she hoped to speak to Trump to seal a deal.Shortly after taking office, Trump announced duties of up to 25 percent on Mexican imports, citing illegal immigration and the flow of deadly fentanyl.He issued a last-minute suspension until March 4 after Sheinbaum agreed to deploy 10,000 more troops to the Mexico-US border to tackle illegal migration and drug smuggling.Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in the White House last month saying that the cartels “constitute a national security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime.”The move has raised speculation about possible military action against the cartels — something that Sheinbaum has said she would oppose.Last week, Sheinbaum confirmed that the United States had been operating drones spying on Mexican cartels as part of a collaboration that has existed for years.Mexican authorities have recently announced a series of major drug seizures and announced the arrest last week of two prominent members of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was among the groups designated terrorist organizations by Trump.

The EU’s top diplomat said Thursday that NATO offered the best security guarantee for Ukraine, accusing President Donald Trump of falling for a Russian narrative by closing the door.In an interview with AFP on a visit to Washington, Kaja Kallas also warned that the Europeans would not be able to assist in an eventual ceasefire deal in Ukraine’s three-year conflict with Russia unless they are included by Trump, who has reached out directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.Kallas, a former prime minister of frontline state Estonia, said NATO countries have never attacked Russia which instead was “afraid of democracy.” “Why are we in NATO? It is because we are afraid of Russia. And the only thing that really works — the only security guarantee that works — is NATO’s umbrella,” she said. Russia cited potential Ukrainian membership in NATO as a reason for its invasion three years ago. Putin has since questioned the historical legitimacy of Ukraine as a separate country from Russia. Trump, who broke Putin’s isolation with a telephone call earlier this month, said Wednesday that Ukraine can “forget about” joining NATO in any settlement, explaining: “I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.””These accusations are totally untrue,” Kallas said when asked about Trump’s remarks. “That is the Russian narrative that we should not buy.” “My question is, why we should give Russia what they want on top of what they have already done — attacking Ukraine, annexing territory, occupying territory, and now offering something on top of it,” she said. “Consider here in America that after 9/11 you would have sat down with Osama bin Laden and said, ‘OK, what else do you want?’ I mean, it’s unimaginable.”Russia has insisted that the United States promised at the end of the Cold War not to expand NATO, the US-backed alliance.Some US diplomats from the era deny the account, although some have also cautioned that Ukrainian membership in NATO would be a red line for Moscow.- ‘Europeans need to be on board’ -Trump has been dismissive of NATO, saying it is unfair for the United States to offer security to wealthy allies that mostly pay less on defense in relation to the size of their economies. Trump, who is expected to sign a deal Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to secure much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth, has refused to offer US security guarantees to Ukraine and said it was up to Europeans.Kallas said that in any deal on Ukraine, “Europeans need to be on board.” “We need to be part of those discussions. I think without it we can’t provide anything.”Trump, in his remarks at the White House on Wednesday, also said that the European Union was set up to “screw the United States” as he plans tariffs to close a trade deficit. The now 27-nation bloc was created three decades ago as part of efforts to avoid further conflict after two world wars ravaged the continent. Kallas called Trump’s remarks “surprising” and said the two sides long had common values. The Trump administration has also slashed the vast majority of US foreign assistance.While the United States was the largest donor in the world in dollar terms, the European Union as a whole provides more and a number of northern European countries provide more as a share of their economies. Kallas said Europe will “not be able to fill the gap that America is leaving” but that the world is “looking to us” on what more it can provide. “I feel that we need to also increase our geopolitical power,” she said. “If America is turning inwards, Europe is turning outwards.”

From tariffs to counter “unfair trade” to duties over illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling, President Donald Trump has unleashed a volley of threats since taking office, sparking fears of widening trade tensions.Since January, Trump has unveiled and suspended levies on Canada and Mexico, and imposed additional tariffs on China that he plans to ramp up further.What are Trump’s plans, and where do we stand?- Feb 4: China tariffs take effect -On February 1, Washington unveiled a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico imports, with a lower rate on Canadian energy resources.Chinese goods faced an additional 10 percent duty.Hours before those levies were due to take effect on February 4, Trump agreed to pause the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a month.But the Chinese duties took effect, prompting Beijing’s retaliation.- March 4: Canada, Mexico, China -Trump’s month-long pause expires March 4, and he affirmed Thursday that the proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico would “go into effect, as scheduled.”On top of that, he said China would be charged an additional 10 percent tariff on this day.He cited a lack of progress on the flow of drugs like fentanyl into the United States.China has pushed back on its alleged role in the deadly fentanyl supply chain, saying Beijing has cooperated with Washington and arguing that tariffs would not solve the drug problem.- March 12: Steel and aluminum -In February, Trump signed orders to impose 25 percent tariffs on US steel and aluminum imports from March 12, ramping up a long-promised trade war.The justification was to protect US steel and aluminum industries, on grounds that they have been “harmed by unfair trade practices and global excess capacity.”The European Union has vowed to retaliate with firm and proportionate countermeasures.- April 1: Trade policy updates -On the day of his inauguration, Trump released a presidential memo titled “America First Trade Policy,” calling for government agencies to study various trade issues.Most of these reports are due by April 1.They include an investigation on US trade deficits in goods and whether measures like a global supplemental tariff would be an appropriate remedy.- April 2: Reciprocal tariffs -Trump has also inked plans for sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” that could hit both allies and adversaries.He said Thursday on social media that an April 2 reciprocal tariff date “will remain in full force and effect.”The levies would be tailored to each US trading partner and consider the tariffs they impose on American goods, alongside taxes seen as discriminatory, such as value-added taxes, according to the White House.- April 2: Autos? -Trump has said that tariffs on automobiles, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and lumber are upcoming, with a rate of around 25 percent.He added that an announcement could come as early as April 2.Trump has also said this week that tariffs on EU products would 25 percent, adding that the bloc has “taken advantage of us.”

US President Donald Trump signaled to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday that he is willing to back the British deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.Britain struck an agreement with Mauritius late last year to return the archipelago to its former colony and pay it to lease a key UK-US military base on Diego Garcia island.The British government have said that Trump’s administration would have the final say on the agreement, and the deal would effectively be ditched without its approval.”We’re going to have some discussions about that very soon, and I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he sat beside Starmer.”They’re talking about a very long-term, powerful lease, a very strong lease, about 140 years actually.”That’s a long time, and I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country.”Britain kept control of the Chagos Islands after Mauritius gained independence in the 1960s.The base is leased to the United States and has become one of its most strategic military facilities in the Asia-Pacific.Washington has used it as a hub for long-range bombers and ships, notably during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.Britain evicted thousands of Chagos islanders who have since mounted a series of legal claims for compensation in British courts.In 2019, the International Court of Justice recommended that Britain hand the archipelago to Mauritius after decades of legal battles.Starmer says the ruling has put Britain’s ownership of the Chagos in doubt and only a deal with Mauritius can guarantee that the base remains functional.The deal, which Mauritius has since renegotiated under a new prime minister, would give Britain a 99-year lease of the base, with the option to extend.The UK government has not denied that the lease would cost the UK £90 million ($111 million) a year.Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam has said his country would pursue its fight for full sovereignty over the islands if Washington refuses to support the deal.

Elon Musk, the billionaire appointed by President Donald Trump to downsize the US government, suggested Thursday that members of Congress should get salary increases as a way to discourage corruption.Although the tech billionaire is officially only an advisor, Trump has bestowed him with enormous power to cut federal spending and bureaucracy, as part of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).”It might make sense to increase compensation for Congress and senior government employees to reduce the forcing function for corruption, as the latter might be as much as 1,000 times more expensive to the public,” Musk posted on his social media platform X.Lawmakers in both parties are typically wary of the optics of large pay rises but acknowledge that competitive salaries are the best way of ensuring that the less well-off can serve.The first draft of a short-term government funding bill that Musk helped defeat in December would have allowed for a modest salary increase by reenacting an automatic cost-of-living adjustment for lawmakers.Congress has been blocking the adjustments every year since 2009.Musk argued against the provision, claiming falsely that it would mean a lavish 40 percent rise, and it was removed from the package.The real increase for members of both chambers would have been about $6,600 per year, or 3.8 percent.Their $174,000 annual salary has been frozen for 15 years but is still far more than the average household income.Musk, the world’s richest person, spoke about the controversial DOGE program at Trump’s first cabinet meeting Wednesday. “If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt,” the tech tycoon said, adding that he was “taking a lot of flak, and getting a lot of death threats.” – ‘Musk in charge’ -One-third of his DOGE staff resigned in protest on Tuesday after he engineered a mass email to the federal government’s two million workers, ordering them to justify their work.Cabinet members have voiced frustration over the DOGE emails, according to US media, but Trump insisted that his team was “thrilled” with Musk.The operation has been shrouded in mystery, with the government only naming its administrator this week, after weeks of DOGE announcements of firings, aid freezes and other cuts that angered critics.Amy Gleason, a former official at the US Digital Service, is the acting DOGE administrator, a White House official said, without revealing when she was formally appointed.The White House argued in a court filing last week that Musk doesn’t even work for DOGE, let alone lead it, despite Trump repeatedly implying that Musk is in charge.”I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and put a man named Elon Musk in charge,” Trump said in a speech in Miami as recently as last week. “Thank you, Elon, for doing it.”Musk — who was not accompanied by Gleason — met Republicans in the Senate’s DOGE Caucus at the White House on Thursday to brief them on the task force’s work. Mike Lee, a hardline Trumpist, posted on social media that Musk had clarified that DOGE personnel “have no authority to fire federal workers or cancel federal contracts or payments.””Rather, they make recommendations to department heads and other executive-branch personnel who have such authority,” he added.”Those most inclined to demagogue @DOGE are attributing to @DOGE authority it does not have.”

The Earth’s next ice age is expected to begin in about 11,000 years — unless human-caused global warming disrupts natural cycles.That’s according to a new study published Thursday in Science, which analyzed how subtle shifts in Earth’s orbit around the Sun have historically triggered massive climate changes.A research team examined a million-year record of climate change, focusing on land-based ice sheets across the Northern Hemisphere and deep ocean temperatures. They then paired this data with small but cyclical variations in Earth’s orbital patterns.”For many years, the difficulty in answering how small changes in Earth’s orbit around the Sun translate to large shifts between glacial and interglacial states has been a central theme in paleoclimate research,” lead author Stephen Barker, a professor at Cardiff University, told AFP.Earth has long alternated between ice ages and warmer interglacial periods, with the last glaciation ending approximately 11,700 years ago. This transition marked the beginning of the Holocene epoch, an era of relative climate stability that enabled early human societies to shift from nomadic hunting and gathering to settled agriculture.Scientists have long recognized a connection between Earth’s orbit and ice ages. However, due to challenges in accurately dating climate changes that occurred so far in the past, they struggled to pinpoint which orbital parameters were responsible for starting and ending these glacial cycles.According to Barker, the key breakthrough came from analyzing the “shape” of the ancient climate record — the curves showing how temperatures rose and fell over time — rather than just the timing of ice age transitions.This approach allowed the team to determine how the three orbital factors — tilt, wobble, and the shape of Earth’s orbit around the Sun — interact to drive ice age cycles over the past 900,000 years.Barker said that without the Industrial Revolution, assuming fossil fuels had never been burned, “we would expect a glaciation to occur within the next 11,000 years, and it would end in 66,000 years’ time.”Co-author Lorraine Lisiecki, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, emphasized the significance of the study, stating that it “confirms the natural climate change cycles we observe on Earth over tens of thousands of years are largely predictable and not random or chaotic.”However, Barker strongly cautioned against interpreting the findings to suggest that human-caused climate change is beneficial.Carbon dioxide levels have nearly doubled since the Industrial Revolution, and if emissions remain unchecked, “then in around 8,000 years’ time, Antarctica would have melted, leading to around 70 meters of sea-level rise,” said Barker.”Instead of there being glaciers, you’ll be underwater,” he warned.Looking ahead, the research team aims to expand on their findings by investigating the long-term impact of human-driven climate change and how it may reshape the planet’s natural climate cycles.