US economy added fewer jobs than forecast in December, but January interest rate cut very unlikely – as it happened

Newsflash: The US economy added fewer jobs than expected last month.America’s non-farm payroll rose by 50,000 in December, missing forecasts of a 60,000 rise.Employment continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, health care, and social assistance, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, while retail trade lost jobs.That shows a hiring slowdown, compared with the previous month; the BLS now estimates that 56,000 jobs were created in November, 8,000 fewer than its first estimate of 64,000.Time to wrap up!Hiring held firm in the US last month, official data showed, amid uncertainty over the strength and direction of the world’s largest economy

High costs, falling returns: what could go wrong for Trump’s Venezuela oil gamble?

Donald Trump has laid claim to billions of dollars’ worth of Venezuelan crude this week, which at a stroke has handed the world’s biggest consumer of oil up to 50m barrels – but his ambitions are far greater.The White House said Venezuela would be “turning over” the nearly $3bn (£2.3bn) of crude stranded in tankers and storage facilities before it is sold on the international market and after that the US plans to control all the country’s oil sales “indefinitely”.For the Trump administration, the seizure is the first move in taking control of Venezuela’s vast crude reserves, estimated to represent almost a fifth of the proven reserves on Earth, in a push to cut the oil price to $50 a barrel.But experts have been quick to point out that the crude cargo grab could be the last easy win for the president, with no quick or cheap fix to reignite the country’s oil production

No 10 condemns ‘insulting’ move by X to restrict Grok AI image tool

Downing Street has condemned the move by X to restrict its AI image creation tool to paying subscribers as insulting, saying it simply made the ability to generate explicit and unlawful images a premium service.There has been widespread anger after the image tool for Grok, the AI element of X, was used to manipulate thousands of images of women and sometimes children to remove their clothing or put them in sexual positions.Grok announced in a post on X, which is owned by Elon Musk, that the ability to generate and edit images would be “limited to paying subscribers”. Those who pay have to provide personal details, meaning they could be identified if the function was misused.Asked about the change, a Downing Street spokesperson said it was unacceptable

X UK revenues drop nearly 60% in a year as content concerns spook advertisers

UK revenues at Elon Musk’s X fell by almost 60% in a year as advertisers pulled their spending over concerns about the social media platform’s content.News of the plummeting financial performance comes after X switched off the image creation function on its AI tool Grok for the vast majority of users after a widespread outcry about its use to create sexually explicit and violent imagery.In the UK, the social media site recorded a 58.3% fall in revenues from £69.1m in 2023 to £28

England ruthlessly privatised cricket – Australia embraces it with constant public displays of affection | Emma John

The drive to Bowral in New South Wales takes you through some of Australia’s most English countryside. Pastoral hills roll right up to the roadside and finish in grassy verges, flecked with yellow and white wildflowers. Alliums stand sentinel around vibrant lawns. Even the eucalypts are cosplaying as beech and oaks. You might be in Hampshire, if it weren’t for the dazzling sun

Racing holds its breath as deep freeze threatens weekend programme

The valuable meetings at Warwick and Kempton on Saturday are subject to inspections at 8am due to the threat of overnight frost as cold weather continues to threaten the racing programme.Kempton was initially declared fit for racing on Friday afternoon but a revised forecast for sub-zero temperatures overnight forced Barney Clifford, the clerk of the course, to adopt a more cautious approach.“We’re now forecast a -2C or possibly -3C [frost] tonight,” Clifford said, “so it’s prudent to call a precautionary inspection.”Nessie Chanter, the clerk of the course at Warwick, said that the course was “raceable at present” but the forecast was for a -2C frost between 4am and 8am overnight.A field of 17 runners is due to go to post for Kempton’s Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle at 3