U.S. stocks are sinking as Wall Street gets back to hunting and punishing companies that could be made losers by the artificial-intelligence revolution. A surprisingly discouraging update on inflation also hurt the market.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and is staggering toward the finish of what would be just its second losing month in the last 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 569 points, or 1.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower.

A report showing that inflation at the U.S. wholesale level was at 2.9% last month, much higher than the 1.6% that economists expected, upset the market. The number was so much worse than expected that it could help persuade the Federal Reserve to hold off longer on its cuts to interest rates.

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Lower rates would give the economy and prices for investments a boost, but they risk worsening inflation at the same time.

The discouraging data layered more worries atop a Wall Street where investors returned to knocking down software companies and others whose businesses may end up getting supplanted by AI-powered competitors.

Block, the company behind Cash App, Square and other businesses, gave a signal of what AI could do after CEO Jack Dorsey said he was cutting its workforce by nearly half. Thats even though Blocks profit is growing and its sending more cash to shareholders through stock buybacks.

Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company, Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders while announcing Blocks latest profit results. Were already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools were building, can do more and do it better.

The co-founder of Twitter also said, I dont think were early to this realization. I think most companies are late. Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes.

Block is cutting more than 4,000 jobs from its workforce of over 10,000. Its stock jumped nearly 20%.

Capable AI tools that can replace humans could also replace entire companies, or at least eat away at their profit margins. Fears about AI disruption have been causing sudden and swift sell-offs for stocks seen as potentially under threat, rolling through industries as seemingly disparate as trucking logistics and legal services.

Salesforce, whose platform helps customers manage their relationships with clients, fell 4.4%. It gave back its 4% gain from the day before after reporting a better profit than analysts expected.

Even the companies currently seeing their revenue and profits soar because of AI-related demand are also weakening. Nvidia fell 2.6%, a day after dropping to its worst loss since last spring, even though it reported a better profit than analysts expected and forecast more in revenue for the current quarter.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Inside the secretive data centers powering the AI boom

Rival chip companies fell by similar amounts, and Broadcom dropped 2.6%. Worries are hurting such companies not only about whether their stock prices following huge gains in recent years but also whether the huge spending driving their growth can continue. Can big spenders like Amazon, Alphabet and others possibly make back all their billions of dollars in AI investments through higher productivity and profits in the future?

On the winning side of Wall Street was Netflix, which jumped 8.6% after walking away from its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discoverys studio and streaming business. That put Skydance-owned Paramount in a position to take over its Hollywood rival.

Paramount Skydance shares climbed 2.2%, while Warner Bros. Discovery fell 1.9%.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 3.97%. It swiveled higher following the inflation report, but its down from its 4.02% level late Thursday.

ln stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia. South Koreas Kospi fell 1% from its latest record, and Hong Kongs Hang Seng rose 0.9% in two of the worlds larger moves.

In energy markets, the price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 3.2% to $67.27. Worries about rising tensions between the United States and Iran over Irans nuclear program have been causing big swings.

The U.S. military has already gathered a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the Middle East, and a conflict could disrupt the global flow of oil and drive prices higher.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.1% to $73.04 per barrel.

The U.S. Embassy in Israel on Friday told its staff that it could leave the country and urged anyone considering departure to do so immediately, as the threat of an American strike on Iran looms.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told embassy employees in an email that discussions with officials in Washington had led to a decision authorizing departures for those who wished to leave.

The email was recounted to The Associated Press by someone involved with the U.S. mission who wasn't authorized to share details. Sent before 10:30 a.m., it urged staff considering departure to do so quickly, advising them to to focus initially on getting any flight out of Israel and to then make their way to Washington.

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Those wishing to take AD should do so TODAY," Huckabee wrote, using an acronym for authorized departure.

While there may be outbound flights over the coming days, there may not be," he added.

Huckabee said that there was no need for panic, but for those desiring to leave, it was important to make plans soon.

The email came a day after Iran and the United States walked away from nuclear negotiations without a deal. Airlines such as Netherlands-based KLM have already announced plans to suspend flights out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, and other embassies have also made plans for authorized departures from Israel and neighboring countries.

Australia on Wednesday directed the departure of all dependents of Australian officials posted to Israel in response to the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East. India and several European countries with missions in Iran advised citizens to avoid travel to the country as well.

On a town hall meeting Friday after the email was sent, Huckabee told staff that he was encouraging airlines to keep flying.

RELATED STORY | Trump weighing next steps with Iran

The departure authorizations signal a new level of contingency planning as a massive fleet of U.S. aircraft and warships mass in the Middle East.

Badr al-Busaidi, Oman's foreign minister who is mediating in the negotiations, said that there had been significant progress made on Thursday, though officials from Iran and the United States haven't announced steps forward.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday offered no specifics, but said what needs to happen has been clearly spelled out from our side.

Shares in the financial technology company Block soared more than 20% in premarket trading Friday after its CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalize on its use of artificial intelligence.

The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company, Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders in Block, the parent company to online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App. A significantly smaller team, using the tools were building, can do more and do it better, he said.

PAST STORY | Twitter Names Co-Founder Jack Dorsey As New CEO

Dorsey's comments explicitly naming AI as a key driver behind the move were also posted on X, or Twitter, a company he co-founded. The assertion that the job cuts will add to Block's profitability and efficiency led investors to jump in and buy, analysts said.

Blocks shares gained 5% Thursday to $54.53, before it reported its earnings. They shot up to nearly $69 in after-hours trading. The mobile payments services provider reported its fourth quarter gross profit jumped 24% from a year earlier.

For years, we have debated whether AI would dent jobs at the margin. Now we have a public case study in which the CEO explicitly says that intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

Other large employers have announced tens of thousands of cuts in recent months. Some have downplayed the AI link. Block did not, he said.

A global technology company founded in 2009, San Francisco-based Block operates in the United States, Canada, parts of Europe, Australia and Japan.

RELATED STORY | If cash apps fail, consumers could lose billions, feds warn

In a post on X, Dorsey outlined various ways the company will support those laid off. For employees overseas, the terms might differ, he said.

It was unclear which employees would be laid off where.

Layoffs by American companies remain at relatively healthy levels, but the job cuts at Block are the latest among thousands announced in recent months.

A number of other high-profile companies have announced layoffs recently, including UPS, Amazon, Dow and the Washington Post.

Pakistan and Afghanistan traded attacks in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the countries that Pakistans defense minister said Friday means they are now in open war.

Tensions have been high between the neighbors for months, with border clashes in October killing dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistans Taliban government of harboring militant groups that then stage attacks across the border and also of allying with its archrival India.

A Qatari-mediated ceasefire ended the fighting, although the two sides still occasionally trade fire. Several rounds of peace talks in Istanbul in November failed to produce a formal agreement.

Late Thursday, Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan, saying it was in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas Sunday.

RELATED STORY | Pakistan and Afghanistan announce ceasefire after deadliest clashes in years

Pakistan then carried out airstrikes in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces early Friday.

After the strikes Friday, Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said in an X post that Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021 and expected the Taliban, which seized power in the country, to focus on the welfare of the Afghan people and regional stability.

Instead, he said that the Taliban had turned Afghanistan into a colony of India, with which Pakistan has periodically engaged in wars, clashes and skirmishes since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947. India has had improved ties with Afghanistan recently, offering to enhance bilateral trade, to the annoyance of Islamabad.

Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us, he said. There was no immediate reaction from Afghan officials.

Afghan authorities in the eastern Nangarhar province said that fighting was ongoing in the Torkham border area Friday morning. The province's information directorate said that Pakistani mortar fire hit civilian areas in Torkham, including a refugee camp, which had been evacuated overnight. In response, Afghanistan was targeting Pakistani army posts across the border, it said.

Exporting terrorism

Asif, the Pakistani defense minister, accused Afghanistan of exporting terrorism. Islamabad frequently levies the allegation at its western neighbor as militant violence has surged in Pakistan, accusing Afghanistan of supporting the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and outlawed Baloch separatist groups.

Pakistan accuses the TTP which is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistans Taliban of operating from inside Afghanistan. Both the group and Kabul deny that charge.

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Pakistan has also frequently accused neighboring India of backing the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army and the Pakistani Taliban, allegations New Delhi denies.

Asif's comments came hours after Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Afghanistans capital, Kabul, as well as in Kandahar in the south and Paktia province in the southeast, according to Pakistani officials and Afghanistan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. Pakistan said the strikes were in retaliation for the Afghan cross-border attacks.

Retaliatory strikes

Afghanistan, meanwhile, said that it launched its attack late Thursday also in retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas Sunday.

The governments have issued sharply differing casualty claims. Each said that it inflicted heavy losses of dozens of soldiers on the other, while putting its own casualty figures in the single digits. The claims couldn't be independently verified.

Afghanistan also claimed it had captured an undisclosed number of Pakistani soldiers. Mosharraf Ali Zaidi, a spokesperson for Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, denied any soldiers had been captured.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistans anti-drone systems shot down several small drones over the northwestern cities of Abbottabad, Swabi, and Nowshera on Friday. He said the drones appeared to be part of a failed attack by the Pakistani Taliban, and that there were no casualties. Tarar claimed the drone attacks once again exposed direct linkages between the Afghan Taliban regime and terrorism in Pakistan.

International calls for restraint

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held separate phone calls with his Pakistani, Afghan, Qatari and Saudi counterparts on Friday to discuss the conflict, a Turkish official said, without providing details on the talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

In October, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia had facilitated talks between the sides.

U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres urged both sides to protect civilians as required under international law and to continue to seek to resolve any differences through diplomacy, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Russia called for an immediate halt to the fighting and for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, Russian diplomat Zamir Kabulov told news agency Ria Novosti. Kabulov, who is President Vladimir Putins special envoy for Afghanistan, said that Moscow would consider mediating between the two countries if asked, according to Ria Novosti.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to resolve their differences through dialogue during the holy month of Ramadan. He also said that Tehran was ready to assist in facilitating dialogue.

Refugees at the border

Pakistani authorities said that dozens of Afghan refugees in the Torkham border area had been relocated to safer places.

Pakistan launched a sweeping crackdown in October 2023 to expel migrants without documents, urging those in the country to leave of their own accord to avoid arrest and forcibly expelling others. Iran also began a crackdown on migrants at around the same time.

Since then, millions have crossed the border into Afghanistan, including people who were born in Pakistan decades ago and had built lives and created businesses there.

Last year alone, 2.9 million people returned to Afghanistan, the U.N. refugee agency has said, with nearly 80,000 having returned so far this year.

The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone, according to members of Congress, and the Federal Aviation Administration responded by closing more airspace near El Paso, Texas.

Just over two weeks ago, the FAA shut down the El Paso airport and the surrounding area after another use of an anti-drone laser. This time, commercial flights are not affected by the expanded airspace closure over Fort Hancock.

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Rep. Rick Larsen and several other top Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee said they were notified through official channels.

Our heads are exploding over the news that DoD reportedly shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone using a high risk counter-unmanned aircraft system, Larsen and the other representatives wrote. We said months ago that the White Houses decision to sidestep a bipartisan, tri-committee bill to appropriately train C-UAS operators and address the lack of coordination between the Pentagon, DHS and the FAA was a short-sighted idea. Now, were seeing the result of its incompetence.

The Defense Department and Transportation Department referred questions to the FAA, which said in a brief statement that it had expanded the airspace closure around Fort Hancock. Border Protection did not immediately respond to questions.

World Economic Forum head Brge Brende said Thursday that he is stepping down after facing pressure over his contacts with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister, said in a statement that he had decided after careful consideration to step down as president and chief executive of the forum, known for its annual January summit in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.

RELATED STORY | Powerful men, including 'Melania' director, dispute Epstein connection after appearing in more files

I am grateful for the incredible collaboration with my colleagues, partners, and constituents, and I believe now is the right moment for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions, Brende said in a statement released by the WEF.

Brende was Norways foreign minister from 2013-2017 and is one of several prominent Norwegians who have faced scrutiny following the latest release of Epstein files.

He didn't refer directly to that controversy in Thursday's statement, but the WEF announced earlier this month that it was opening an internal review into Brende to determine his relationship with Epstein after files indicated the two had dined together several times and exchanged messages.

Brende told Norwegian broadcaster NRK at the time that he was cooperating with the investigation, that he only met Epstein in business settings and that he had been unaware of Epsteins criminal background.

RELATED STORY | Citizen journalists, sleuths helping to unravel the tangle of Epstein documents

WEF co-chairs Andr Hoffmann and Larry Fink said in a statement that the independent review conducted by outside counsel has concluded. The findings stated that there were no additional concerns beyond what has been previously disclosed.

They said that Alois Zwinggi will serve as the forum's interim president and CEO.

When sifting through the seemingly endless collection of documents in the Epstein files gets to be too much and Ellie Leonard needs a break, she takes a walk outside. Then it's back to the computer.

The New Jersey mother of four is among hundreds of citizen-journalists, or sleuths, absorbed by the material connected to the late Jeffrey Epstein. She's determined to learn the stories behind his illicit sex ring and relationships with some of the world's most powerful people, and publish what she finds on Substack.

I like a good puzzle, Leonard said. I like an investigation. I like things that we have to solve and looking for clues.

Professional news outlets immediately went to work, sometimes in tandem, when the Justice Department released over three million pages of documents and tens of thousands of visual images on Jan. 30. Hundreds of journalists at The Associated Press, CBS, NBC, MS NOW and CNBC are collaborating to examine the files and share what they find.

RELATED STORY | Hillary Clinton denies knowledge of Epsteins crimes in deposition

Dozens of journalists at The New York Times alone are assigned to examine the documents, using artificial intelligence to speed the process along. Still, the newspaper said last week it had examined only a small percentage of what is there.

That's where people like Ellie Leonard come in.

There's plenty of material for the professionals and amateurs

A steady stream of news stories has emerged as more is found and people and institutions react. Some result in resignations or job losses the chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs, executive chairman at Hyatt Hotel, chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, government officials in Slovakia and Norway.

SmartNews is one of the independent places selling itself as a reliable source to sum up the reports. CNN is focused on one angle, Fox is pushing another, Twitter is a mess, a narrator said in one of its social media ads. I'm seeing the same story with completely different narratives ... Who do I trust?

With all that, there's plenty of room for people like Leonard. She's been journalism-adjacent for much of her career, running a business that offered transcription services until AI rendered it largely obsolete. She worked briefly in education and wrote about politics and social issues on her Substack, The Panicked Writer.

But after seeing the interest generated when she started looking at Epstein documents a few months ago, she began devoting all of her professional time to it.

RELATED STORY | New Mexico DOJ investigating claims of burials near Jeffrey Epsteins Zorro Ranch

She describes her glee in spotting, at 1 a.m. after an evening of scrolling, a document involving lawyer Alan Dershowitz and Virginia Giuffre, who alleged sex abuse by several men who knew Epstein. In recent Substack postings, she wrote about what was in a young victim's journal and email conversations between Epstein and Sarah Ferguson.

Leonard said she looks for nuggets of information others may not be talking about and likes to show how things within Epstein's wide circle tie together. I'm putting four kids into the world, she said, and I don't want to see something like this happen again.

Journalist Wajahat Ali, who runs the Left Hook Substack, said he admires Leonard's work and often features her on his site. Some of the Epstein citizen journalists gather on livestreams to talk about what they've found.

Over the past decade, Ali has watched the growth of a subculture of people obsessed about true crime stories who love to comb through evidence and advance their own theories. Authorities involved in the Arizona search for the missing mother of NBC's Savannah Guthrie have complained about distractions caused by amateur sleuths.

The Epstein files are the mother lode, he said. If you love conspiracy theories, if you love true crime, this is the Citizen Kane of true crime. It is the unfortunately sordid gift that will keep on giving.

A story that fascinates and repulses

Like Leonard, Anne P. Mitchell and Kassandra Mable Costa have professional backgrounds that have helped them with the Epstein files. Costa, from North Carolina, is accustomed to research in her marketing job. Mitchell is a former law professor from Colorado with an expertise in hunting down legal documents and explaining what they mean in plain language.

RELATED STORY | New Mexico DOJ investigating claims of burials near Jeffrey Epsteins Zorro Ranch

Fascinated and repulsed by the story, Costa was drawn to the source material. She doesn't write about what she's found. Instead, she uses her skills to help others, collecting evidence for a friend who is trying to get the name of former Maine Sen. George Mitchell removed from an elementary school. The former politician has denied wrongdoing, but the files show he maintained a relationship with the sex offender.

I am not really politically active, Costa said. There are ways that I try to help and ways that I try to create a better world. But Im not overly political. Im not looking for conflict, Im not looking for controversy.

Anne P. Mitchell's Notes From the Front Substack serves as a connector for Epstein sleuths; she holds chat groups and offers access to a multitude of documents to the few thousand followers who have a paid subscription. We may have just found a smoking gun, she writes of a file she's offering of images that appear to show men with victims. Both Mitchell and Leonard offer some material to followers for free, and sell some to the more obsessed.

Mitchell applauds people who are working through the Epstein files. The more people who are doing it, the more that is going to come to light, she said. But Im guessing that the more people who are doing it, the more its not going to be good for their mental health.

Unproven accusations emphasize the need to verify facts

Matthew LaPlante, a journalism professor at Utah State University, said having more citizens using reportorial skills whether they know it not can benefit society. He cited Minneapolis residents who used phones to document immigration enforcement efforts.

The downside, he says, is that few of these people are trained in the painstaking task of verifying facts or, for that matter, who understand the legal implications of publishing rumors. The New York Times, in a story that explained to readers how it is examining the material, stressed this need for care. We dont publish anonymous information that we cant verify ourselves, the newspaper said.

LaPlante pointed to one Substack post last week with more than a dozen videos from the file, most partly redacted and making little sense without any context like one of two unidentified men writing on a sex doll.

Many unproven accusations, some outlandish, are included in the Epstein files. How much of that unvetted material will find its way into the public discourse to say nothing of false or doctored information created by the unscrupulous?

What is in the files is damaging enough, Ali said. You don't need to indulge in conspiracy theories. It would be a disservice to the survivors and would hurt the credibility of what is already there.

There's enough to keep the curious occupied professional and amateur alike. Potentially, there's more new or unredacted material to come.

I hope I'm around for 15 or 20 years, said Mitchell, who is largely confined to her home due to health issues. Because I really think it's going to take that long for the full extent of this to be exposed.

The Justice Department on Thursday filed federal lawsuits against five states, accusing them of failing to provide full voter registration lists.

The lawsuits target Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and New Jersey.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi said accurate voter rolls are essential to election integrity, an issue President Donald Trump has emphasized since making false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

RELATED STORY | Justice Department sues Connecticut and Arizona as part of effort to get voter data from the states

Accurate, well-maintained voter rolls are a requisite for the election integrity that the American people deserve, Bondi said in a statement. This latest series of litigation underscores that this Department of Justice is fulfilling its duty to ensure transparency, voter roll maintenance, and secure elections across the country.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, said the department will continue to pursue access to records regardless of political affiliation.

Three of the five states sued Utah, Oklahoma and West Virginia have Republican governors. The other two, Kentucky and New Jersey, are led by Democrats.

RELATED STORY | Search warrant allowed FBI to seize ballots, voting records in Fulton County

The Justice Department will continue to fulfill its oversight role dutifully, neutrally, and transparently wherever Americans vote in federal elections, Dhillon said. Many state election officials, however, are choosing to fight us in court rather than show their work.

Bondi said the attorney general has authority under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to request and inspect election records, including statewide voter registration lists. The department said those records can be analyzed to identify potential improper registrations.

The states named in the latest lawsuits did not immediately respond publicly. Critics of similar requests have raised concerns about how the federal government would use voter data if the rolls are turned over.

The department has said it has made similar requests to more than two dozen states and the District of Columbia.

Netflix is declining to raise its offer to buy Warner Bros. Discoverys studio and streaming business, in a stunning move that effectively puts Paramount in a position to take over the fellow storied Hollywood giant.

On Thursday, after Warners board announced that Skydance-owned Paramounts offer was superior to the agreement it had previously struck with Netflix, the streaming giant said the new price that would be required to buy Warner would make it a deal that is no longer financially attractive.

Unlike Netflixs bid, Paramount wants all of Warners operations, including networks like CNN and Discovery. That would put CNN under the same roof as Paramounts CBS and combine two of Hollywoods last five remaining studios.

RELATED STORY | Paramount goes hostile in bid for Warner Bros., challenging a $72 billion bid by Netflix

The owner of HBO Max, DC Studios and popular titles like Harry Potter had backed Netflixs proposal for months. But after Skydance-owned Paramount upped its rival bid for the entire company to $31 per share, in addition to other revisions, Warners board on Thursday said that the offer constitutes a company superior proposal.

A Paramount buyout Warner's business would vastly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape. Paramounts CBS has seen significant editorial shifts, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss at CBS News, under new Skydance ownership. And if Paramounts acquisition of Warner is successful, many expect the reach of those changes to only grow.

A Paramount-Warner combo would also combine two of Hollywoods five legacy studios that remain today, in addition to their theatrical channels. Beyond Harry Potter, Warner movies like Superman, Barbie, and One Battle After Another as well as hit TV series like The White Lotus and Succession would join Paramounts content library.

Today, Paramounts lineup of titles include Top Gun, Titanic and The Godfather. And beyond CBS, it owns networks like MTV and Nickelodeon, as well as the Paramount+ streaming service.

Executives at Paramount have argued that merging will be good for consumers and the wider industry. But lawmakers and entertainment trade groups have sounded the alarm warning that a Warner takeover would only further consolidate power in an industry already run by just a few major players. Critics say that could result in job losses, less diversity in filmmaking and potentially more headaches for consumers who are facing rising costs of streaming subscriptions as is.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Paramount completes merger with Skydance

Combined, that raises tremendous antitrust concerns. The U.S. Department of Justice has already initiated reviews, and other countries are expected to do so, too.

Netflix, Warner and Paramount have spent the last couple of months in a heated, public back and forth over whose deal has a better regulatory path and offers more value for Warner shareholders. Thursday's announcement arrived shortly after Paramount upped the ante on its offer.

Beyond increasing its proposed purchase price for Warner, the company also agreed to a regulatory termination fee of $7 billion. And Paramount pledged to move up a previously-promised ticking fee. The company initially said it would pay 25 cents per share for every quarter the deal drags on past the end of the year. Now its agreed to pay that amount if the deal doesnt go through by the end of September, Warner said.

But Paramount is taking on billions of dollars in debt to finance its offer. And David Ellison's father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, is heavily backing the bid for his son's company. Foreign sovereign wealth funds have also provided equity for the offer, drawing scrutiny.

The Ellisons also have a close relationship with President Donald Trump bringing more politics into question. Trump previously made unprecedented suggestions about his involvement in seeing a deal through, before walking back those statements and maintaining that regulatory approval will be up to the Justice Department.

The push to acquire Warner also arrives just months after Skydance closed its own buyout of Paramount in a contentious merger approved just weeks after the company agreed to pay the president $16 million to settle a lawsuit over editing at CBS 60 Minutes program. Still, Trump has continued to publicly lash out at Paramount and 60 Minutes since.

Meta, the parent company of the social media platform Instagram, announced Thursday that it will soon begin notifying parents if their teenage children repeatedly attempt to search for suicide or self-harm content over a short period of time.

The Silicon Valley-based company said move adds another safeguard to Instagrams Teen Accounts and parental supervision features. Meta said the feature will begin rolling out "in the coming weeks" and will include expert resources to help parents have potentially sensitive conversations with their children.

RELATED STORY | Study warns about significant mental health risks of giving smartphones to pre-teens

"The vast majority of teens do not try to search for suicide and self-harm content on Instagram, and when they do, our policy is to block these searches, instead directing them to resources and helplines that can offer support," Meta said in a statement. "These alerts are designed to make sure parents are aware if their teen is repeatedly trying to search for this content, and to give them the resources they need to support their teen."

How it will work

Beginning next week, parents and teens enrolled in supervision will be notified about the new alerts. Instagram says searches that would trigger an alert include phrases promoting suicide or self-harm, statements suggesting a teen wants to harm themselves, and terms like suicide or self-harm.

Meta said the alerts will be sent to parents via email, text, or WhatsApp depending on available contact information as well as through in-app notifications. Tapping the alert opens a full-screen message explaining that the teen has repeatedly tried to search for terms associated with suicide or self-harm in a short period of time. Parents can also access expert resources provided by Meta to help guide follow-up conversations.

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The new feature will roll out next week to parents using Instagrams supervision tools in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada, with additional regions to be added later this year. Meta said it also plans to extend similar alerts to certain AI experiences.

"These will notify parents if a teen attempts to engage in certain types of conversations related to suicide or self-harm with our AI," the company said. "This is important work and well have more to share in the coming months."

Walmart Inc. has agreed to pay $100 million to settle allegations from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that the retailer caused its delivery drivers to lose tens of millions of dollars worth of earnings by deceiving them about their pay and tips they could make, the commission said in a statement on Thursday.

Joined by 11 states Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin the FTC alleges that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer showed drivers inflated base pay and tip amounts in its crowdsourced gig driver delivery program called Spark.

RELATED STORY | Amazon to pay $2.5 billion to settle FTC claims it duped customers into enrolling in Prime

The FTC alleges that the retailer deceived customers by falsely claiming that all of its customer tips would actually go to drivers. The commission also alleges that Walmart failed to inform drivers that it would split tips when a customers delivery was split across multiple drivers.

Labor markets cannot function efficiently without truthful and nonmisleading information about earnings and other material terms, said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement.

As part of its settlement with the FTC, Walmart is required to implement an earnings verification program to ensure that drivers are paid the promised earnings and tips, among other orders.

Walmart launched its Spark program in 2018, allowing gig workers to enlist to make deliveries for the retailer.

Walmart has credited its speedy online deliveries for helping to fuel the company's sales growth. Its e-commerce business increased 27% during the fiscal fourth quarter, accounting for 23% of overall sales.

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Walmart said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press that it values "the hard work and dedication of the drivers who deliver great service and products to our customers. It noted that it has issued payments to affected drivers and continues to make additional payments as appropriate.

We are continuously improving procedures to ensure fairness and transparency for drivers, Walmart said.

Being gay in Morocco is illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison. But it was the violence from her family that forced Farah, a 21-year-old gay woman, to flee the country.

After a long journey to the United States and a third-country deportation by the Trump administration, however, Farah said she is now back in Morocco and in hiding.

It is hard to live and work with the fear of being tracked once again by my family, she told The Associated Press, in a rare testimony from a person deported via a third country despite having protection orders from a U.S. immigration judge. But there is nothing I can do. I have to work.

She asked to be identified by her first name only for fear of persecution. The AP saw her protection order and lawyers verified parts of her account.

Farah said that before she fled, she was beaten by her family and the family of her partner when they found out about their relationship. She was kicked out of the family home and fled with her partner to another city. She said her family found her and tried to kill her.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Trump administration completes another third-country deportation to Africa

Through a friend, she and her partner heard about the opportunity to get visas for Brazil and fly there with the aim of reaching the United States, where they had friends. From Brazil, she trekked through six countries for weeks to reach the U.S. border, where they asked for asylum.

You get put in situations that are truly horrible," she recalled. "When we arrived (at the U.S. border), it felt like it was worth the trouble and that we got to our goal."

They arrived in early 2025. But instead of finding the freedom to be herself, Farah said she was detained for almost a year, first in Arizona, then in Louisiana.

It was very cold, she said of detention. And we only had very thin blankets. Medical care was inadequate, she said.

She was denied asylum, but in August she received a protection order from an U.S. immigration judge, who ruled she cannot be deported to Morocco because that would endanger her life. Her partner, denied asylum and a protection order, was deported.

Farah said she was three days from a hearing on her release when she was handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and put on a plane to an African country she had never visited, and one where homosexuality is illegal: Cameroon. She was put in a detention facility.

They asked me if I wanted to stay in Cameroon, and I told them that I cant stay in Cameroon and risk my life in a place where I would still be endangered, she said. She was flown to Morocco.

Most deportees had protection orders

She is one of dozens of people confirmed to be deported from the U.S. by the Trump administration to third countries despite having legal protection from U.S. immigration judges. The real number is unknown.

The administration has used third-country deportations to pressure migrants who are in the U.S. illegally to leave on their own, saying they could end up in any number of third countries."

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | US deportations to African nations escalate amid concerns over due process

The detention facility in Cameroon's capital of Yaounde, where Farah was held, currently has 15 deportees from various African countries who arrived on two flights, and none is Cameroonian, according to lawyer Joseph Awah Fru, who represents them.

Eight of the deportees on the first flight in January, including Farah, had received a judge's protection orders, said Alma David, an immigration lawyer with the U.S.-based Novo Legal Group who has helped deportees and verified Farahs case. The AP spoke to a woman from Ghana and a woman from Congo, who both said they had protection orders, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Another flight on Monday brought eight more people. Three freelance journalists reporting on the deportations to Cameroon for the AP were briefly detained there.

Deporting people to a third country where they could be sent home was effectively a legal loophole, said David.

By deporting them to Cameroon, and giving them no opportunity to contest being sent to a country whose government hoped to quietly send them back to the very countries where they face grave danger, the U.S. not only violated their due process rights but our own immigration laws, our obligations under international treaties and even DHS own procedures," David said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security earlier confirmed there were deportations to Cameroon in January.

We are applying the law as written. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period, it said, and asserted that the third-country agreements ensure due process under the U.S. Constitution.

Asked about the deportations to Cameroon, the U.S. State Department on Friday told the AP it had no comment on the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments." It did not reply to further questions.

Cameroons Foreign Ministry didnt respond to a request for comment.

Impossible choices

Farah was one of two women from the first group of deportees to return to Morocco.

They were given two impossible choices, David said, and asserted that claiming asylum was not clearly presented as one of them. This was before the lawyer had access to them."

She said International Organization for Migration staff in the facility did not give them any indication that there was a viable option other than going back to their home countries.

Fru said he has not been granted access to the deportees. He said the assistant to the country director for the IOM, a U.N.-affiliated organization, told him he must apply to speak to them. Fru plans to do that Monday.

The IOM told the AP it was aware of the removal of migrants from the United States of America to some African countries and added that it works with people facing difficult decisions about whether to return to their country of origin." It said its role is providing accurate information about options and ensuring that "anyone who chooses to return does so voluntarily.

The IOM said the facility in Yaounde was managed by the authorities in Cameroon. It did not respond to further questions.

African nations are paid millions

Cameroon is one of at least seven African nations to receive deported third-country nationals in a deal with the U.S. Others include South Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.

Some have received millions of dollars in return, according to documents released by the State Department. Details of other agreements, including the one with Cameroon, have not been released.

The Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own, according to a report released last week by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

According to internal administration documents reviewed by the AP, 47 third-country agreements are in various stages of negotiation.

In Morocco, Farah said it was hard to hear U.S. officials refer to people like her as a threat.

The USA is built on immigration and by immigrant labor, so were clearly not all threats, she said. What was done to me was unfair. A normal deportation would have been fair, but to go through so much and lose so much, only to be deported in such a way, is cruel.

A man from southern Utah who co-created the "Squatty Potty" toilet stool has been charged in federal court for allegedly obtaining videos and photos depicting the sexual abuse of children.

The United States Attorneys Office announced Monday that 50-year-old Robert "Bobby" Edwards was indicted by a grand jury on charges of "receipt of child pornography."

Edwards, a resident of Ivins, was arrested on Feb. 12 after the indictment, and a federal judge in St. George remanded him to the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service.

Prosecutors say the case began in 2021 when an undercover FBI agent joined a group chat that people use to trade "child sexual abuse material" (CSAM). Someone in the chat shared a link to a Zoom meeting, where a screen was being shared that showed child sexual abuse videos.

Investigators said the participants in the Zoom meeting were visible, including one labeled "B E," which they later determined to be Edwards. They said his camera was sometimes on and showed other men in the room with him, and when it was off, it showed a profile picture of him. They then traced the Zoom account to Edwards.

In May 2025, investigators suspected that Edwards had been purchasing child pornography after PayPal flagged his account for four transactions "possibly related to CSAM." They discovered payments to a man in the United Kingdom who was later convicted of child pornography offenses there.

Police executed a search warrant on Edwards' home and belongings in November. They said they found pornographic videos and images of children on his cell phone and additional electronic devices, which ultimately led to the charges.

This story was originally published by Spencer Burt with the Scripps News Group station in Salt Lake City.

FedEx is suing the U.S. government, requesting a full refund on what it paid for tariffs set by President Donald Trump last year after the Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs are illegal.

FedEx said in a filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade that they have suffered injury from having to pay the tariffs and that the relief they're seeking from the court would redress those injuries.

Other companies have already launched efforts to recoup costs from the illegal tariffs, including large U.S. corporations like Costco and Revlon.

The National Retail Federation said in a statement on Friday that the Supreme Court's ruling provided certainty for U.S. businesses and manufacturers.

RELATED STORY | With Trump's tariffs struck down, what happens to the billions collected?

We urge the lower court to ensure a seamless process to refund the tariffs to U.S. importers, it said. "The refunds will serve as an economic boost and allow companies to reinvest in their operations, their employees and their customers.

The Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trumps far-reaching global tariffs on Friday. Trump said he was absolutely ashamed of some justices who ruled 6-3 against him, calling them disloyal to our Constitution and lapdogs. At one point he even raised the specter of foreign influence without citing any evidence.

The courts ruling found tariffs that Trump imposed under an emergency powers law were unconstitutional, including the sweeping reciprocal tariffs he levied on nearly every other country.

The Treasury had collected more than $133 billion from the import taxes the president has imposed under the emergency powers law as of December, federal data shows. The impact over the next decade has been estimated at some $3 trillion.

RELATED STORY | Trump signs order for new tariffs after Supreme Court blocked earlier plan

Trump has vowed to collect tariffs through other means. He reached for a stopgap option immediately after his defeat Friday at the Supreme Court: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15% for up to 150 days. But any extension beyond 150 days must be approved by a Congress likely to balk at passing a tax increase as Novembers midterm elections loom.

The family of Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing since Feb. 1, is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to her recovery, as authorities continue to ask for the publics help in the case.

In a video message posted Tuesday, her daughter, "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, noted that it's been 24 days since her mother was taken in the dark of night from her bed, describing the weeks since as agonizing for the family.

Every hour and minute and second and every long night has been agony since then of worrying about her and fearing for her and aching for her, Guthrie said. And most of all, just missing her.

RELATED STORY | Moms' volunteer group from Mexico joins search for Nancy Guthrie

She said the family still believes her mother could return home safely.

We still believe in a miracle. We still believe that she can come home. Hope against hope, she said. As my sister says, we are blowing on the embers of hope.

At the same time, Guthrie acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding her mothers fate.

We also know that she may be lost. She may already be gone, she said, adding, But we need to know where she is. We need her to come home.

The family is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information that leads to Nancy Guthries recovery.

RELATED STORY | Officials share more about gloves and DNA found during Nancy Guthrie investigation

Someone out there knows something that can bring her home, Guthrie said. Somebody knows. And we are begging you to please come forward now.

Savannah added that the family is also donating $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "We know there are millions of families that have suffered with this kind of uncertainty," she said. "We are hoping that the attention that has been given to our mom and our family will extend to all the families like ours who are in need. And need prayers and need support."

Authorities have continued to seek assistance from the public. The sheriffs office recently issued a neighborhood alert asking residents to submit any video recorded within a 2-mile radius of Guthries home between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2.

Officials said they are looking for footage showing vehicles, vehicle traffic, pedestrians or anything residents consider unusual or potentially relevant to the investigation.

The gold medal-winning U.S. womens hockey team will not attend President Donald Trumps State of the Union address on Tuesday.

In a statement obtained by multiple media outlets, a USA Hockey spokesperson said the team appreciated the invitation but could not attend due to scheduling conflicts.

"Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate," the statement says. "They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.

RELATED STORY | US beats Canada 2-1 in overtime to win its first mens hockey championship at the Olympics since 1980

In a video posted on social media, President Trump was heard on a phone call with the mens team after it won the gold medal on Sunday. During the call, he invited the team to the State of the Union address and said he would also invite the womens team. He joked that he would be impeached if he did not extend the invitation to the women.

It is unclear whether the mens team will attend the address, though several players sounded excited about the opportunity.

RELATED STORY | US women's hockey wins its third gold medal in overtime game against Canada

The U.S. mens hockey team won gold at the Winter Olympics on Sunday with a 2-1 overtime victory against Canada. It was their first Olympic gold medal since 1980.

The women won gold last Thursday, also defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime. The U.S. women last captured Olympic gold in 2018.

Investigators are continuing to follow up on leads in the neighborhood where Nancy Guthrie was last seen, as volunteer groups also join the search effort three weeks after she went missing.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department placed barricades on Saturday at the request of the Catalina Foothills Estates Neighborhood Association. Officials said the barricades are temporary but were put in place to reduce traffic and congestion in the area surrounding Guthrie's home.

RELATED STORY | Officials share more about gloves and DNA found during Nancy Guthrie investigation

Long lines of cars have filled the streets there. Some of those vehicles belong to members of the media, but others are people who have traveled from as far as Dallas and Phoenix, telling the Scripps News Group station in Tucson they did so just because they love crime. Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher said the barricades are temporary but will remain in place as long as necessary.

Despite the barricades, people continue to pass through the neighborhood including members of a volunteer search group based in Mexico, called Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, which translates to Moms Looking from Sonora. The group is made up of mothers who lost their children and still do not know what happened to them years later.

"We have had experience looking, looking. We're a little familiar with the land, we're a little familiar with the areas where there could be a body, Lupita Tello of Madres Buscadoras de Sonora said. "It's a way of giving visibility so that way people know that we're looking for her and they can call us."

They said being part of the group provides emotional support among mothers and family members who share similar experiences.

"It's a great support because then between ourselves we understand each other. We don't judge each other, Tello said.

Another volunteer group was also searching for Guthrie on Sunday morning. That group reported finding a backpack, which was reviewed by PCSD at a nearby substation. Investigators said the backpack is not a viable lead it appears to have been outside for much longer than 3 weeks and contained a minor's ID.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Former colleague shares memories of working with Nancy Guthrie

PCSD said search work is best left to professionals, but the department does have volunteer opportunities available for those who want to help.

PCSD investigators were also seen on Sunday searching Guthries property and the property of a home neighboring Guthrie's residence.

The department said investigators are continuing to follow up in the neighborhood but would not provide specifics about the investigation because it remains active.

This story was originally published by Andrew Christiansen with

the Scripps News Group in Tucson.

C-SPAN is setting the record straight after receiving a call from a viewer who sounded similar to President Donald Trump.

The person, who identified himself as John Barron, called into the network Friday to criticize a Supreme Court decision invalidating President Trumps authority to implement tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

This is a terrible decision, the caller said, before criticizing Democratic leaders, including Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.

RELATED STORY | Trump signs order for new tariffs after Supreme Court blocked earlier plan

The host abruptly cut off the caller and moved on with the program.

The clip gained attention online, with some speculating that it was President Trump calling into the network.

According to The Washington Post, Trump used the alias John Barron in the 1980s when speaking to reporters.

However, C-SPAN said the president was not the caller.

In a statement, the network said the call came while Trump was participating in live, publicly covered events.

"Because so many of you are talking about Fridays C-SPAN caller who identified himself as John Barron, we want to put this to rest: it was not the president," the network said in a statement on X. "The call came from a central Virginia phone number and came while the president was in a widely covered, in-person White-House meeting with the governors."

Following the killing of one of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpins, a wave of cartel violence has struck fear into U.S. citizens visiting popular tourist destinations in the country.

The Mexican Army on Sunday said it carried out an operation that killed Nemesio Rubn Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. U.S. officials have described the cartel as powerful as the Sinaloa organization and a major trafficker of drugs into the United States.

RELATED STORY | Mexican army kills leader of powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel during operation to capture him

In the aftermath, cartel gunmen torched vehicles to block roads across the country, prompting many residents to shelter indoors. According to The Associated Press, more than 1,000 people were trapped at the Guadalajara Zoo, afraid to risk traveling home. The U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Mexico has also urged American travelers to shelter in place as roadblocks have impacted airline operations and led to flight cancellations in both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta two popular tourist destinations for Americans. United is the only major airline to resume operations at the airports.

Aaron Mason, news director for the Scripps News Group station in Buffalo, New York, was vacationing in Puerto Vallarta when the killing happened. He said he is safe but described tense and unnerving scenes.

"I was walking into the downtown area yesterday morning and you could see smoke pouring from different points of the city," Mason said. "And then I turned one corner to go to the gym, actually, and that's when I saw flames from a car that was just in the middle of the intersection on fire."

"You saw the smoke at one point it was so heavy that it was just pouring over the downtown area in Zona Romantica and right onto the beach," he said. "I mean, it was just such a surreal sight to see because this is such a beautiful, peaceful place."

US citizens in Mexico told to shelter in place after killing of cartel leader

It is believed the operation to target Oseguera Cervantes was done with support from U.S. intelligence. The killing comes as President Donald Trump has urged Mexico to take stronger action against cartels and the flow of drugs into the U.S., threatening tariffs or military intervention if results are not seen.