'We weren't soft, we were skilled': Nowitzki on NBA's European revolution

Meta plans to cut a tenth of its workforce, looking for productivity gains from its remaining workers as it invests heavily in artificial intelligence.

Meta will lay off about 8,000 employees and leave thousands of other positions unfilled next month, a source told AFP.

The move comes as co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg makes a priority of delivering "superintelligence" in a costly AI race against rivals including Amazon, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI.

Reports on Thursday also indicated that Microsoft is looking to trim its ranks with voluntary buyouts of some US employees in an unprecedented move by the tech stalwart founded in 1975.

About seven percent of US employees at Microsoft were reported to be eligible for an offer aimed at workers senior director level or lower whose years of employment and age add up to 70 or more, according to a CNBC report.

Microsoft, which has also been pouring billions of dollars into AI, did not respond to a request for comment.

Meta and Microsoft are both set to report quarterly earnings next week.

Meta in January reported quarterly earnings that topped market expectations, as revenue grew along with investments in AI.

Meanwhile costs tallied $35.15 billion, an increase of 40 percent from the same period a year earlier, the earnings reported noted.

Capital expenses, including infrastructure such as data centers to power AI, were $22.14 billion in the quarter, according to the company.

Meta anticipated capital expenditures in the $115 billion to $135 billion range this fiscal year, driven by increased investment in Meta Superintelligence Labs and its core business.

"I'm looking forward to advancing personal superintelligence for people around the world in 2026," Zuckerberg said on an earnings call.

Meta is locked in a bitter rivalry with other tech behemoths racing to invest heavily in AI, aiming to ensure the technology generates profits in the not-so-distant future.

Most analysts believe Meta will make the investment pay off by improving advertising efficiency and creating new opportunities, such as with its smart glasses through a partnership with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica.

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Only one person has been approved for US President Donald Trump's "gold card" visa program so far, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday, referring to a million-dollar residency card unveiled last year.

The US leader signed an order last September to create the program offering residency for a fee of $1 million. It started accepting applications in December.

US officials have recently approved one person, Lutnick told a US House committee on Thursday.

"And there are hundreds in the queue" who are going through the process, he added.

Applicants also have to pay a $15,000 Department of Homeland Security processing fee, and Lutnick said they would go through a "most serious vetting and analysis."

The "gold card" residency program charges a $1 million fee for individuals and $2 million for sponsorships by corporations.

Its creation came at the same time that Trump ordered an annual $100,000 fee be added to H-1B skilled worker visas.

Trump initially said the new visa would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the national deficit.

Since returning to the presidency in 2025, Trump has tightened immigration and his administration has conducted harsh deportation raids.

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European leaders celebrated the long-awaited approval of the release of a 90-billion-euro ($105-billion) loan for Ukraine on Thursday, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly pushed the debate back to his country's EU accession.

After months of wrangling with Hungary, the final sign-off for the loan and a new package of EU sanctions on Russia boosted Zelensky as he touched down for talks with the bloc's leaders in the resort town of Ayia Napa on Cyprus.

Zelensky said he was "very grateful" for the funds that will help Kyiv keep its army equipped and show Moscow that Europe's backing for Ukraine remains strong.  

But then he told reporters he wanted EU leaders to move Ukraine to the next step in its bid to join the bloc.  

"We will push everybody," Zelensky told reporters outside the seaside conference venue, adding that "of course" his dream was to make Kyiv a member by 2027.   

Ukraine's path forward appears to have become easier now Hungary's nationalist leader Viktor Orban is on his way out of power after losing elections this month.

Orban had refused to allow the opening of negotiating "clusters" between Ukraine and the EU.

European Council President Antonio Costa, who represents the 27 member states, said the EU must "look forward and to prepare the next step", which would mean "to open formally the first clusters of negotiations for the European accession of Ukraine".

However, some in the EU are reluctant to fast-track Ukraine's bid and have instead floated a lesser status without full membership rights. 

"We must continue to proceed on a merit-based approach," Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said. "Fast tracks are not possible."

Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden agreed, saying: "You simply cannot become a member of a club without meeting the conditions."

Zelensky has insisted that Kyiv wants full EU membership, not a  "symbolic" status.

French President Emmanuel Macron would not be drawn on the question of accelerated membership but called on the EU executive to provide "a precise timetable and outline the actions to be taken in the coming weeks".

- 'Strengthen' Ukraine -

Orban, who skipped what was meant to be his last summit,  had stalled the 90-billion-euro loan in a row with Zelensky that infuriated his EU counterparts.

Orban used his veto as leverage to get Zelensky to fix a pipeline damaged by a Russian strike. Following its repair this week, Russian oil flowed once more via the pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia.

Zelensky has said the 90 billion euros will be used to "strengthen" the Ukrainian army, boost production in air defence and protect the country's energy grid.

He hopes the money will be disbursed by late May or early June at the latest.

After resolving the row over Ukraine, EU leaders will turn to the Middle East war and its fallout, including skyrocketing energy prices.

Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency, was sucked into the conflict in March after a drone hit a British base on the Mediterranean island.

European leaders will be joined on Friday by counterparts from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan for what a senior EU official described as "intensive dialogue".

A key issue for Europe is the Strait of Hormuz, whose effective closure has sent oil prices soaring and crimped supply of jet fuel in Europe.

The European Union's 2028-2034 budget will also be discussed for the first time, with hopes of securing a final agreement by the end of 2026.

The EU executive wants a bigger budget worth around two trillion euros ($2.3 trillion) though national governments are reluctant to pay more.

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OpenAI released a new model it touts as its best yet for handling research work like making improved versions of itself, as rapid-fire releases by AI rivals pick up pace.

GPT-5.5 was billed as a "new class of intelligence" and comes just months after the launch of its predecessor.

"What is really special about this model is how much more it can do with less guidance," OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman said at a briefing with journalists.

"It can look at an unclear problem and figure out just what needs to happen next."

The model is particularly adept at "agentic" coding and computer use in which digital assistants independently tend to tasks as directed, according to the San Francisco-based startup behind ChatGPT.

"It feels like it's setting the foundation for how we're going to do computer work going forward," Brockman said.

In the short term, OpenAI is focused on letting humans act as "orchestrators" while AI models do the "heavy lifting," chief research officer Mark Chen said at the briefing.

OpenAI was adamant that it built its strongest safeguards to date into GPT-5.5 "to reduce misuse, especially for bio and cyber capabilities."

That means a ramped-up tendency for the latest model to refuse requests to attempt "cyber-related activities," OpenAI executives said.

Rival company Anthropic has held back a new Claude Mythos AI model deemed so adept at finding vulnerabilities in software it could be a boon for hackers.

Anthropic restricted the release of Mythos to select major tech firms to give them a head start in fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities and is looking into reports of unauthorized use of the model.

"There are enough model releases that it's probably going to be hard to distinguish one from another," Brockman mused during the briefing.

"This model is a real step forward towards the kind of computing that we expect in the future, but it is one step, and we expect to see many."

According to OpenAI, artificial general intelligence in which computers think as well or better than people is no longer theoretical, and AI models that research how to essentially improve themselves take the world further in that direction.

The executives described GPT-5.5 "as one of the clearest steps yet toward models that can accelerate AI research itself."

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R&B singer D4vd, who is facing murder charges over the death and dismemberment of a young teenager whose decomposing body was found in his car, had child porn on his mobile phone, a US prosecutor said Thursday. 

The 21-year-old, whose real name is David Burke, faces a possible death penalty over the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who prosecutors say he murdered and hacked up, dumping her body in bags that he left to rot in his Tesla in the Hollywood Hills.

The youngster, 14, was believed to have been in a sexual relationship with the up-and-coming star.

Detectives say Burke killed her on April 23 last year to protect his burgeoning career when she threatened to expose that relationship. 

Her badly decomposed corpse was found in the front trunk of his car at a tow yard in September, within days of what would have been her 15th birthday.

At a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles, prosecutor Beth Silverman said a search of Burke's iPhone had revealed "a significant amount of child pornography."

She gave no details about the imagery, including whether it involved the dead girl.

The murder drew international interest, with some noting haunting parallels with Burke's music career, which included a breakout hit called "Romantic Homicide."

Amateur sleuths have also uncovered details that include appearances the pair made together on streaming platforms, and matching finger tattoos -- saying "Shhh."

Burke was on a nationwide tour when Rivas Hernandez's body was found, and he initially said he would continue playing gigs.

The seven-month investigation into her death culminated in his arrest a week ago.

An autopsy released Wednesday revealed she had died from "multiple penetrating injuries." It did not specify what caused the wounds.

Tests revealed the presence of illegal drugs and alcohol in her system.

The teen's family said they were "absolutely devastated by the findings contained in the Medical Examiner’s Report involving the horrible and gruesome death of their beloved daughter."

Her mother had reported her missing when she was 13.

Burke, who appeared in court on Thursday dressed in an orange jail-issue jumpsuit, has denied one count each of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.

The singer remains in jail. His case is next expected to be dealt with on Wednesday when attorneys will negotiate over a date for a preliminary hearing, the moment in which the court decides if there is enough evidence to proceed with the case.

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US President Donald Trump will meet Lebanese and Israeli envoys at a new round of peace talks Thursday, with Beirut seeking a one-month extension of a shaky ceasefire set to expire.

With Trump struggling to push Iran into a deal on the wider regional war, the United States is hoping for progress on Lebanon, which Israel has pounded in response to Hezbollah fire.

The talks, previously planned at the State Department like the first round last week and to be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, were shifted to the White House.

"President Trump will greet both representatives upon their arrival," a US official said on condition of anonymity.

Israel stated ahead of the talks that it has no "serious disagreements" with the Lebanese government, calling on it to "work together" against Hezbollah, which is notably absent from and opposed to the negotiations. 

During the meeting, Lebanon will request "to extend the ceasefire, which also includes a halt to the destruction of homes and attacks on civilians, places of worship, journalists and the medical and educational sectors," Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said.

A Lebanese official told AFP that the government would request the extension by one month.

Aoun said he hoped to visit Washington and meet with Trump.

However, he said he never planned to have a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, contradicting an announcement by Trump earlier this month.

The two countries have been at war for decades and had not met so directly since 1993. 

Israel launched a major attack on Lebanon -- killing over 2,450 people and displacing one million, according to authorities -- in response to fire by Hezbollah, which vowed to avenge Israel's killing of Iran's supreme leader.

The United States announced a 10-day truce shortly after the first meeting. It is set to expire Sunday.

Israel and Lebanon will be represented by their ambassadors in Washington.

In an addition from the last round, a US official said the talks will also include the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, an evangelical pastor and stalwart defender of Israeli expansionism.

- Strikes ahead of talks -

Israeli strikes killed five people in Lebanon on Wednesday, as Israel continues to hit what it says are Hezbollah targets despite the ceasefire.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency on Thursday reported an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near Nabatieh, around 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the border with Israel.

Under the truce terms, Israel says it reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks."

Hezbollah on its end claimed at least two attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and said it targeted a reconnaissance drone in retaliation for Israel's "ceasefire violations."

Among the dead on Wednesday was a Lebanese newspaper journalist, Amal Khalil.

Israeli troops have also taken over southern Lebanese villages in a 10-kilometer (six-mile) deep "security zone" from its border.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said "the obstacle to peace and normalization between the countries is one -- Hezbollah."

Iran had demanded the truce in Lebanon as a condition to resume talks with Washington on a permanent end to weeks of war.

Iran refused to attend a second round of talks with the United States this week due to an ongoing US naval blockade.

But Trump extended a truce with Iran indefinitely.

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Mizzou softball has hit the road and is heading south to face No. 6/8 Arkansas in a weekend series. As the end of the season creeps closer, these last weekend series are imperative for Tiger softball.

After winning an added mid-week game against SIUE on Wednesday, Missouri is now 25-24 overall and 7-11 in conference. The game was added after Mizzou’s disappointing weekend series against No. 25 South Carolina. The Tigers struggled to hit Gamecocks pitcher Jori Heard and won just one of three games. 

“The loss is the loss, but it's how your team reacts to adversity,” said head coach Larissa Anderson after the Game 3 loss against South Carolina. “I want them to grow through adversity and get stronger and claw their way and fight. It's those qualities and characteristics that they have to take with them for the rest of their life.”

The Tigers are coming off Marissa McCann's perfect game, which included 11 strikeouts, the 13th perfect game since 2022 for Mizzou softball. 

Arkansas is 37-8 overall and 11-7 in conference. It is coming off a mid-week win against Tulsa, 7-2. Its last weekend series was a loss against Oklahoma, and like the Tigers, the Razorbacks only won one of three.

Arkansas has handful of powerful hitters, with an overall batting average of .357. Brinli Bain and Tianna Bell are the Razorbacks top hitters, with Bain hitting .391 and Bell at .386. Bell has hit 14 home runs this season, Bain three. The senior-freshman pair could cause serious damage if the Tigers don't pitch them skillfully.

Robyn Herron is the staff ace, with a 2.03 ERA and a 13-4 win-loss over the season. She had a season high with 13 strikeouts against Tulsa. Her ability to control pitching speeds, as well as her changeup sprinkled among her riseballs and curveballs, makes her a tough at-bat.

Pitcher Payton Burnham has a cannon as well, with a 2.08 ERA and a 10-3 record on the season. She keeps her changeup in the bottom of the strike zone, where Mizzou hitters struggle most. In Game 2 of Arkansas' weekend series against Oklahoma, she struck out three hitters and earned her 10th victory of the season.

With a .273 team batting average, Missouri is led by Stefania Abruscato, who has a .343 batting average with eight home runs on the season. On Wednesday she recorded her 15th multiple hit game.

Abby Hay remained relatively silent last weekend, but rebounded against SIUE. She ended the game with three RBI, the second time she has ended with three this season. Overall she has a .338 batting average and has had seven home runs. She recently hit a game-winning home run against Kansas, and her last homer hit was against SIUE.

McCann will need to remain solid to hold off the Razorbacks. She has a 3.40 ERA, and her changeup held South Carolina at bay in Game 2 of the weekend series, where she allowed no runs and four hits. 

Cierra Harrison has a 3.65 ERA. She took both losses vs. South Carolina and is 9-8 overall. Abby Carr has struggled with command at times this season. She had five walks in Game 1 against South Carolina.

Still, Carr has remained a strong relief pitcher for the team. She was named to the 2026 NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Top 25 list, as announced on Thursday by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. She is one of 25 players from across the country who have received the honor.

It's push time for the Tigers. To be considered for the NCAA Division 1 Tournament, it must remain at .500 overall or higher, as well as have its RPI reviewed. Now at .510, they will need to win at least three of the seven remaining games to be eligible.

They have this weekend against Arkansas, a mid-week game against Kansas City, and a series against Tennessee next weekend. After that they will have the SEC Tournament to close the season. 

Game 1 against Arkansas will be at 5 p.m. on Friday, followed by Game 2 at 11 a.m. on Saturday, and Game 3 at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

(The Center Square) — New data filed in Minnesota’s lawsuit over Operation Metro Surge estimates more than $240 million in lost wages and more than $600 million in business losses.

The amended federal complaint, filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, incorporates a report from the University of California San Diego’s U.S. Immigration Policy Center.

That data includes what officials describe as the “lasting impact” of the federal immigration enforcement surge earlier this year.

“More and more data on exactly how harmful the surge was to Minnesota residents, workers, and businesses keeps coming in,” Ellison said. “We are fighting to have Operation Metro Surge declared unlawful to protect Minnesota from ever having to endure another violent, painful, and destructive federal occupation again.”

According to the survey, respondents who encountered Department of Homeland Security agents were significantly more likely to miss work. Researchers estimate those disruptions resulted in roughly $189.2 million in lost wages in Minneapolis and $54.6 million in Saint Paul.

The findings build on earlier economic concerns raised by state officials. Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha previously warned that the enforcement surge could send ripple effects through local economies, as exclusively reported by The Center Square.

“Chaos is costly. So this chaos is going to ripple through our entire economy,” she said.

Beyond missed wages, the new data suggests broader disruptions to daily life. Survey respondents who reported encounters with federal agents were far more likely to miss medical appointments or avoid seeking care altogether, raising concerns about longer-term health consequences.

The complaint also alleges disparities in enforcement.

According to the survey, in Minneapolis, people of color were more likely than white residents to be questioned about their race or immigration status, stopped by agents, or distrusted even after providing identification.

“Many businesses, especially in communities of color, are still grappling with the lasting impacts of the Trump administration’s actions,” said St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her. “No community should have to endure what ours has faced. This new information brings sharper clarity to the scale of the damage and strengthens our resolve to move forward.”

The economic effects extended to local businesses as well. Researchers estimate businesses lost about $444.8 million in Minneapolis and $165.4 million in St. Paul, with majorities reporting declines in customer traffic and workforce disruptions.

Those figures align with earlier city estimates. Minneapolis previously reported a $203.1 million hit to its economy in January alone, including $47 million in lost wages and $81 million in lost revenue to restaurants and small businesses.

Officials say those disruptions highlight how closely tied federal actions are to local economic stability.

“These systems are deeply interconnected,” Blaha previously explained.

The operation is seeking the courts declare Operation Metro Surge “unconstitutional and unlawful” under the 1st and 10th Amendments.

“The lawsuit seeks to have Operation Metro Surge declared unlawful to ensure similar violence and harm are not inflicted on another state or on Minnesota once again,” a press release from Ellison’s office said.

At the same time, tensions between state and federal officials over the operation continue to escalate.

Just last week, Minnesota prosecutors filed criminal charges against a federal immigration agent tied to conduct during the surge, part of a broader effort to investigate law enforcement actions.

“Our work continues on all fronts,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at the time of the announcement. “We will not rest until we get the answers we seek about federal agent conduct . . . and accountability is delivered wherever appropriate.”

Federal officials, including White House border czar Tom Homan, have broadly defended Operation Metro Surge, saying agents apprehended more than 4,000 individuals, including violent offenders and gang members.

(The Center Square) - Arizona local government policies restricting federal immigration enforcement from performing their duties are illegal because state law overrides local law, according to experts.

In recent months, local jurisdictions have passed policies aimed at impeding federal officers from conducting operations.

In February in Southern Arizona, the Pima County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution that banned federal law enforcement from using county-owned property without permission for civil immigration enforcement activities. (Pima is the state's second-most populous county and is home to Tucson.)

The next month, the Phoenix City Council approved an initiative requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain the city's permission before conducting operations within it.

State Republicans filed legal complaints with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office regarding these two local government actions.

Both complaints cite Arizona law that states “no official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may limit or restrict the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law.”

John Kincaid, the president of the Center for the Study of Federalism, told The Center Square that “if state law says local governments have to cooperate, then they have to do that because state law is supreme over local law.”

Andrew Arthur, who is the Center for Immigration Studies’ resident fellow in law and policy, also said “state law is going to trump” local law and overrule decisions made at the local level.

According to Kincaid, a professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., if states don’t have a law in effect requiring local governments to enforce federal immigration laws, then local governments are not required to do so.

Kincaid said because of “dual sovereignty” in America’s federal system, “state and local governments are not obligated to assist the federal government in carrying out its functions.”

“They are not obligated to enforce federal law,” he said.

Kincaid noted these entities can’t “interfere with or obstruct the federal government from performing its own functions.”

“That crosses a line. They can simply be non-cooperative,” he said.

Kincaid said one of the earliest foundations for this legal interpretation is the U.S. Supreme Court's 1842 case, Prigg v. Pennsylvania.

Justices said states “did not have to cooperate with the federal government in apprehending fugitive slaves, so many northern states passed personal liberty laws, which said state and local officials would not assist the federal government or anyone else in apprehending fugitive slaves,” the professor said.

This Supreme Court case is the origin of local governments passing resolutions that prevent them from obstructing the federal government but not from cooperating with it, he noted.

Local governments can restrict access to their properties, but if the restriction is specifically directed at federal immigration authorities, it raises constitutional issues, said Arthur, a former immigration judge.

These restrictions are “really questionable because they may run afoul of the anti-discrimination interpretations of the Supremacy Clause,” he added.

The U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause says that federal law takes precedence over state law when they conflict.

Kincaid cited a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court case, Printz v. United States, which said the federal government can’t make state and local officials enforce federal law.

“Under the Printz decision, there’s no way that the federal government could require state and local officials to cooperate with federal ICE agents,” he said.

Jeremy Beck, co-president of NumbersUSA, said local jurisdictions started passing policies pushing back against federal immigration law during the Obama administration.

He said former President Barack Obama inherited a program that started in the George W. Bush administration called “Secure Communities.” The program created “automatic cooperation between local jails and federal agencies,” Beck said.

If people were booked into a jail and had their fingerprints taken, they were run in a federal database, and if the database determined people were in the country illegally, then federal immigration authorities would be notified and have a hold put on them so they could pick them up in jail, according to Beck.

After activists pushed back, the Obama administration ended the program, Beck said.

Since the Trump administration, local jurisdictions have been passing policies that “limit, prohibit or ban cooperation” with federal law enforcement, Beck said.

Beck also noted that more state and local police departments nationwide have joined the federal 287(g) program, which allows state and local law enforcement officers who are trained to perform specific immigration duties.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office, the federal program has seen a 641% increase in partnerships with local and state law enforcement, with more than 1,000 agencies now participating, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The foreigner ministers of Chile and Bolivia met Thursday in a step toward restoring relations severed 50 years ago, the latter's foreign minister said.

These two countries severed ties in 1975 after failing to reach agreement on a long-standing beef for landlocked Bolivia: access to the Pacific Ocean.

Bolivia used to have a coast but lost it in a war with Chile in the late 19th century. Regaining this access has been a key goal of Bolivia for decades.

Every year Bolivia celebrates a holiday called Dia del Mar, or Day of the Sea, to remember the loss of its 250-mile (400-km) stretch of coastline to Chile in the conflict known as the War of the Pacific.

On Thursday foreign ministers Francisco Perez Mackenna of Chile and Fernando Aramayo of Bolivia met at a border crossing and traveled together to La Paz.

Aramayo told reporters the meeting was "a fundamental milestone" on the road to restoring relations.

Ties between the two former enemies are warming now that center-right President Rodrigo Paz governs in Bolivia and far right President Jose Kast recently took power in Chile.

A key focus for Chile is to crack down on illegal immigration across its northern border with Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in South America. Chile is one of the most developed.

Kast, who took power March 11, ordered the digging of a three meter (10-foot) deep ditch along the frontier to make it harder for people to sneak into Chile. Bolivia has not publicly objected to this project.

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