US hiring held firm in December capping weakest year of growth since pandemic

Hiring held firm in the US last month, official data showed, amid uncertainty over the strength and direction of the world’s largest economy.Employers added 50,000 jobs to the US labor force last month, capping the weakest year of growth since the pandemic, according to data released from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.The closely watched reading was slightly shy of the approximately 73,000 jobs economists expected to be added in the US economy in December.Previous readings for October and November were also revised lower, with the BLS now estimating that the US added 76,000 fewer jobs during those two months. In October, during the longest US government shutdown in history, the US economy shed 173,000 jobs

Glencore and Rio Tinto are at it again – and it seems the markets smell action

Here we go again. A combination of Rio Tinto and Glencore has been talked about for years and the duo held aborted negotiations at the end of 2024. With the global mining industry in deal-making mode – frenzies come along every 15 years or so – the idea of RioGlen or GlenTinto was due another whirl. On Friday, the two FTSE 100 companies said they were in “preliminary discussions” about a “possible combination of some or all of their businesses”. A full-blown tie-up would be worth about $260bn (£120bn), including debt

Robots that can do laundry and more, plus unrolling laptops: the standout tech from CES 2026

This year will be filled with robots that can fold your laundry, pick up objects and climb stairs, fridges that you can command to open by voice, laptops with screens that can follow you around the room on motorised hinges and the reimagining of the BlackBerry phone.Those are the predictions from the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas that took place this week. The sprawling event aims to showcase cutting-edge technology developed by startups and big brands.Many of these fancy developments will be available to actually buy, moving from outlandish concepts to production devices, although some are still limited to costly prototypes.The rise of the humanoid robot continues, with the show floor filled with myriad prototypes, some of which operated autonomously rather than being remotely controlled or performing set routines this year

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

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

Your Guardian sport weekend: FA Cup third round, NFL playoffs begin and the WSL returns

There’s no better way to ease into the football weekend than our essential rolling blog. Sarah Rendell and David Tindall buckle up to bring you breaking news and insights from around the grounds as the Premier League elite join the fray for the FA Cup’s third round. Saturday’s potential giantkillings see Macclesfield meet Crystal Palace, Manchester City host Exeter, Wolves face Shrewsbury Town, Charlton confront London rivals Chelsea and Burnley face off against Millwall, not forgetting the all-Premier League clash of Tottenham v Aston Villa. Why not join the conversation by emailing matchday.live@theguardian