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Tech titan Elon Musk cast doubt Wednesday on a $500 billion AI project announced by US President Donald Trump, saying the money promised for the investment actually wasn’t there.The comments marked a rare instance of a split between the world’s richest man and Trump, with Musk playing a key role in the newly installed administration after spending $270 million on the election campaign.In his first full day in the White House, Trump on Tuesday announced a major investment to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence led by Japanese giant SoftBank and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.Trump said the venture, called Stargate, “will invest $500 billion, at least, in AI infrastructure in the United States.”But in a post on his social media platform X, Musk said the main investors “don’t actually have the money.””SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority,” Musk added in a subsequent post.- ‘Wrong’ -Musk’s swipe could be particularly targeted at OpenAI, the world’s leading AI startup that Musk helped found before leaving in 2018.The Tesla boss and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, who was present at the White House on Tuesday, have been mired in a serious feud with Musk opening repeated lawsuits against the company behind ChatGPT.”Wrong, as you surely know. Want to come visit the first site already under way?” Altman replied to Musk on X.”This is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put (country) first,” he added.OpenAI is one of the world’s highest valued startups but loses money on the high costs of turning out its expensive technology.According to the Wall Street Journal, cloud giant Oracle, which is also involved, has about $11 billion in cash and securities. SoftBank has roughly $30 billion of cash on hand.”The American people should take President Trump and those CEOs words for it. These investments are coming to our great country and American jobs are coming along with them,” Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.The Stargate project is committed to invest an initial $100 billion in the project, and up to $500 billion over the next four years.Abu Dhabi’s AI-focused state fund MGX and Oracle are also providing funding for the project, while SoftBank-owned Arm, Microsoft and Nvidia will be technology partners.According to the companies, the project is initially building a data center operation in Texas, where construction is already underway.Ahead of taking office, Trump this month unveiled a $20 billion Emirati investment in US data centers, as well as a previous investment pledge from SoftBank.

Elon Musk said Tuesday he was exploring a presidential pardon for “Bitcoin Jesus,” who was arrested last year on fraud and tax evasion charges, after applauding Donald Trump for exonerating the founder of a dark web drug marketplace.In a sign of the tech billionaire’s influence over the new US administration, Musk said he was “honored to be in the Oval Office” when Trump granted a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the man behind the “Silk Road” platform that facilitated the sale of illegal narcotics using cryptocurrency.Ulbricht, operating under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts,” was sentenced to two life terms in prison after being convicted of charges including conspiracy to distribute narcotics, money laundering and computer hacking.The FBI described Silk Road as a “digital bazaar for illegal goods and services” that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, as well as commissions in bitcoin.Prosecutors also alleged that Ulbricht solicited six murders-for-hire.Trump on Tuesday said he called Ulbricht’s mother to inform her that he had granted him an unconditional pardon, honoring a pledge he made during last year’s presidential campaign, while slamming the “scum” who prosecuted him.Musk, a confidant of Trump, hinted that Roger Ver, a former California resident who calls himself “Bitcoin Jesus,” could be next.The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX wrote on his platform X that pardoning him was up to Trump, but he had “asked whether this is possible.”The Bitcoin investor and promoter was arrested in Spain last April based on US criminal charges including fraud and evading capital gains taxes. The Department of Justice’s indictment claimed that Ver — who had renounced his US citizenship and became a citizen of the Caribbean island of St. Kitts — sold tens of thousands of bitcoins on cryptocurrency exchanges for around $240 million in cash in 2017.He did not report his gains, losing the US Treasury $48 million in tax money, the indictment said.The United States has sought Ver’s extradition to stand trial in the country.There was no immediate comment from Trump about Ver.Trump has courted his conservative base that catapulted him to power by pardoning his supporters and targeting opponents in a shock-and-awe start to his second presidency. Hours after being sworn in on Monday, Trump granted pardons to more than 1,500 people who stormed the US Capitol in 2021 including those convicted of assaulting police officers.Musk shares Trump’s hard-right politics and put millions of dollars into supporting his presidential campaign.Trump has tapped Musk to lead an advisory commission aiming to slash federal spending and bureaucracy, which while dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” will not be an official US agency.

A bid to get five elephants released from a US zoo has failed after judges ruled the animals are not people so laws on unlawful imprisonment do not apply.Animal rights campaigners acting on behalf of elderly African elephants Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo wanted a court to free them from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado.The Nonhuman Rights Project (NRP) said the creatures should be moved instead to an elephant sanctuary.But Colorado’s supreme court on Tuesday ruled that only people are covered by the state’s habeas corpus laws.”Colorado’s habeas statute only applies to persons, and not to nonhuman animals, no matter how cognitively, psychologically, or socially sophisticated they may be,” a panel of judges ruled.”It bears noting that the narrow legal question before this court does not turn on our regard for these majestic animals generally or these five elephants specifically.”Instead, the legal question here boils down to whether an elephant is a person… and because an elephant is not a person, the elephants here do not have standing to bring a habeas corpus claim.”NRP has previously failed in legal efforts to get an elephant named Happy freed from a New York zoo, when another court agreed that the animal was not human.Habeas corpus is a fundamental principle in legal systems around the world, which holds that no person can be imprisoned illegally.It has its origins in Magna Carta, a royal charter agreed in 1215 by King John of England, a document widely seen as the first brake on the absolute monarchies dominant in medieval Europe.

US President Donald Trump’s threat to seize the Panama Canal over alleged undue Chinese influence may really be aimed at limiting Beijing’s growing diplomatic and economic presence in Latin America, experts say.Actually using force to take the interoceanic waterway, which carries five percent of world maritime trade and 40 percent of US container traffic, seems an unlikely endeavor, they concur. Here’s what we know:Who owns the canal?Constructed by the United States mainly with Afro-Caribbean labor and opened in 1914, the canal was administered by America until 1977, when treaties were signed under then-US president Jimmy Carter for its handover to Panama.Since the handover in 1999, the canal has been managed by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) — an autonomous entity whose board of directors is appointed by the legislature and president of Panama.The government has granted concessions to private company Hutchinson Ports — a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings — to operate ports on either extreme of the 82-kilometer (51-mile) waterway.According to Rebecca Bill Chavez of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, “Panama has honored the canal treaties by maintaining the canal’s operations efficiently and ensuring its neutrality.”Yet Trump, in his inaugural address Monday, complained that “China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama.””China does not operate or control the Panama Canal,” said Chavez.- Could this change? -In the eye of the storm is Hutchinson Ports, which has operated the Balboa and Cristobal ports since 1997.Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has questioned whether Chinese companies could take control of the ports under orders of Beijing and “shut it down or impede our transit.”Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino has insisted his country operates the canal on a principle of neutrality, as per the treaties.”There are reasonable concerns related to the presence of a Chinese company,” Benjamin Gedan, director of the Washington-based Wilson Center’s Latin America program, told AFP.”The channel is of enormous value to the United States, both commercially and strategically,” Gedan said, adding it is a potential target were China to exert influence over Hutchinson Ports, or even nationalize it.Beijing said Wednesday it has “never interfered” and “does not participate in the management and operation” of the canal, of which the United States is the biggest user, followed by China.Hutchinson Ports said audits a few years ago by the office of the comptroller, which oversees public spending, and the Panama Maritime Authority, found the company was in “full compliance” with its contractual obligations.The comptroller has announced another audit since Trump’s threats.- The art of the deal? -Trump has complained that American ships — including US Navy vessels —  are “severely overcharged” for using the port.But for Euclides Tapia, professor of international relations at the University of  Panama, this appears to be “a false argument” to conceal Trump’s real goal: “for Panama to reduce its relations with China to a minimum.”Panama broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of Beijing in 2017, much to Washington’s dismay.Since then, China’s footprint has expanded greatly in Panama as in the rest of Latin America, mainly through infrastructure projects.The United States remains Panama’s main political and commercial partner, but subsidiaries of Chinese companies have in recent years built a $206-million port at the Pacific entrance to the canal, and are spending some $1.4 billion on a bridge over it.”He (Trump) is definitely trying to frighten Panama,” said University of Essex international relations expert Natasha Lindstaedt.She added that “this is a negotiation tool or a distraction, or both.”- Is force likely? -Under the 1977 treaties, Panama committed to ensuring the canal is open to all countries equally.Nothing “mentions, let alone authorizes, the United States recovering or reclaiming the canal,” said Julio Yao, a former government policy advisor who was part of the Panamanian team that negotiated the treaties.According to Tapia, the international relations professor, Washington introduced amendments to the treaties that allow for unilateral US military force to defend the canal against threat of closure.”Only the fabrication of a false flag operation… could justify the use of military force in Panama” under existing conditions, said Tapia.And that could only happen “to keep the channel open, not to take it and exploit it economically,” the analyst added.The Wilson Center’s Gedan sees a military intervention as “unlikely,” but noted Trump could put pressure on Panama through tariffs, for example.

US President Donald Trump stepped up the pressure on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine Wednesday, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war. Trump’s warning in a Truth Social post came as the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term.”If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump said.Trump said he was “not looking to hurt Russia” and had “always had a very good relationship with President Putin,” a leader for whom he has expressed admiration in the past.”All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE.”He added: “Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better. It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL.'”Russia already faces crushing US sanctions over the war since invading Ukraine in 2022 and trade has slowed to a trickle. Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden’s administration imposed sweeping sanctions against Moscow’s energy sector earlier this month.But Trump — a billionaire tycoon famed for his book “The Art of the Deal” — and his administration reportedly believe there are ways of toughening measures to press Putin.The United States imported $2.9 billion in goods from Russia from January to November 2024 — down sharply from $4.3 billion over the same period in 2023, according to the US Department of Commerce.Top US imports from Russia include fertilizers and precious metals.- ‘Destroying Russia’ -It was Trump’s toughest line on Putin since he returned to the White House this week, and comes despite fears that it was Kyiv rather than Moscow that he would strongarm into making a peace deal.During a White House press conference on Tuesday Trump said only that it “sounds likely” that he would apply additional sanctions if Putin did not come to the table.The US president however declined to say whether he would continue Biden’s policy of sending billions of dollars in weaponry to help Ukraine. “We’re looking at that,” he said at the press conference. “We’re talking to (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky, we’re going to be talking to President Putin very soon.”Trump has also said he expects to meet Putin — with whom he had a summit in his first term in Helsinki — soon.Prior to beginning his new inauguration on Monday, Trump had vowed to end the Ukraine war “within 24 hours” and before even taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Moscow.But his promised breakthrough has proved elusive.In unusually critical remarks of Putin on Monday, Trump said the Russian president was “destroying Russia by not making a deal.”Trump added that Zelensky had told him he wanted a peace agreement to end the war.Putin congratulated Trump on his inauguration for a second term on Monday.The Russian leader added that he was “open to dialogue” on the Ukraine conflict with Trump’s incoming US administration, adding he hoped any settlement would ensure “lasting peace”.Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, whose hyper-masculine style and professed attachment to traditional values has increasingly found favor among some US Christian conservatives.US special counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI both investigated alleged collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign — which Trump in his post on Wednesday dubbed once again the “Russia hoax.”Mueller won convictions of six members of the Trump campaign but said he found no evidence of criminal cooperation with Russia by the Trump campaign.

Tech titan Elon Musk cast doubt Wednesday on a $500 billion AI project announced by US President Donald Trump, saying the money promised for the investment actually wasn’t there.The comments marked a rare instance of a split between the world’s richest man and Trump, with Musk playing a key role in the newly installed administration after spending $270 million on the election campaign.In his first full day in the White House, Trump on Tuesday announced a major investment to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence led by Japanese giant SoftBank and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.Trump said the venture, called Stargate, “will invest $500 billion, at least, in AI infrastructure in the United States.”But in a post on his social media platform X, Musk said the main investors “don’t actually have the money.””SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority,” Musk added in a subsequent post.- ‘Wrong’ -Musk’s sideswipe could be particularly targeted at OpenAI, the world’s leading AI startup that Musk helped found, before leaving in 2018.The Tesla boss and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, who was present at the White House on Tuesday, have been mired in a serious feud, with Musk opening repeated lawsuits against the company behind ChatGPT.”Wrong, as you surely know. Want to come visit the first site already under way?” Altman replied to Musk on X.”This is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put (country) first,” he added.OpenAI is one of the world’s highest valued startups, but loses money on the high costs of turning out its expensive technology.According to the Wall Street Journal, cloud giant Oracle, which is also involved, has about $11 billion in cash and securities. SoftBank has roughly $30 billion of cash on hand.The Stargate project is committed to invest an initial $100 billion in the project, and up to $500 billion over the next four years.Abu Dhabi’s AI-focused state fund MGX and Oracle are also providing funding for the project, while SoftBank-owned Arm, Microsoft and Nvidia will be technology partners.According to the companies, the project is initially building a data center operation in Texas, where construction is already underway.Ahead of taking office, Trump this month unveiled a $20 billion Emirati investment in US data centers as well as a previous investment pledge from SoftBank.

US President Donald Trump stepped up a crackdown on diversity programs and immigration Wednesday, with the Republican preparing to lay out more of his hardline agenda in an Oval Office interview.The White House ordered that all federal employees in programs intended to bolster minority groups should be put on paid leave from Wednesday, Trump’s second full day back in power.The US Justice Department meanwhile threatened to prosecute local and state authorities if they fail to cooperate with Trump’s immigration policies, which include a pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.The 78-year-old is pushing forward with a blitz of executive actions undoing predecessor Joe Biden’s policies on everything from immigration to gender and climate, as he promises a new “golden age” for America.”President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement published by NBC News.Leavitt said billionaire Trump would be “returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin.”Conservatives say diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes pushed by Biden discriminate against white people — men in particular.US government workers in diversity offices must be put on paid leave by 5:00 pm (2200 GMT) Wednesday, Leavitt confirmed.- ‘Madness’ -Trump also issued an executive order late Tuesday ending “radical” affirmative action in awarding federal contracts, revoking an order dating back to Democratic President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s.He further ordered an end to “DEI madness” when hiring employees for the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), overturning yet another directive by Biden.Trump was sitting down Wednesday for an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity in the Oval Office which was due to be broadcast at 9pm. His hardline approach is being followed throughout the new US administration.Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said in a memorandum that federal law “prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands.”Trump declared a national emergency on the Mexican border in one of his first moves on Monday, and has promised raids and the deportation of “millions” of migrants in the country illegally.Marco Rubio, the new secretary of state, said Wednesday he will rid his department of work on climate and “cultural” issues — a sharp turnaround from the Biden era which named the first-ever US special envoy on LGBTQ rights.Trump has also thrown red meat to his base by pardoning more than a thousand supporters, including US Capitol rioters, and targeting opponents in a shock-and-awe start to his second presidency.But there was a rare instance of a split with one key supporter — the world’s richest person Elon Musk, who is set to lead a cost-cutting agency in Trump’s administration.Musk on Wednesday cast doubt on a $500 billion AI project announced by Trump and a group of other tech barons, saying in a post on his social media platform X that they “don’t actually have the money.”- ‘Have mercy’ -The new president has faced defiance from other quarters, including a rare public dressing-down Tuesday from a bishop during the customary inaugural service.Washington National Cathedral Bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde, told Trump from the pulpit that he was sowing fear among America’s immigrants and LGBTQ people.”I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said to Trump, who was seated in the church’s front pew.Trump blasted her on his Truth Social platform early Wednesday, calling her “nasty” and a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater.””She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” said Trump, who demanded an apology.Trump is meanwhile pushing for quick wins on the international front, where his disruptive approach is already causing shockwaves among allies and adversaries alike.He told Russian President Vladimir Putin he would have “no choice” but to impose tariff hikes and more sanctions if Moscow does not make a deal to end the grinding Ukraine war.

Cryptocurrencies launched by Donald and Melania Trump have angered some digital currency advocates and sparked fresh allegations of leveraging the presidency for profit. The new electronic Trump currencies are “meme coins,” digital tokens designed to capitalize on craze surrounding a personality or viral phenomenon.Such cryptocurrency has no economic or transactional utility and is considered a purely speculative asset with buyers essentially betting on its worth.Melania Trump launched an $Melania coin the night before her husband was inaugurated as US president on Monday.Donald Trump launched an $Donald coin a day earlier.Value of the coins has swung heavily since their launch, with the $Trump cryptocurrency valued about $40 each giving the total in circulation an overall valued at about $9 billion.Some 200 million of these “tokens” have been dispensed and there are plans to create 800 million more, all minted by Trump and his associates, with a potential windfall worth billions of dollars.”This memecoin represents the worst of crypto,” said Maxine Waters, Democratic congresswoman and member of the US House Financial Services Committee.”Trump has created a way to circumvent national security and anti-corruption laws, allowing interested parties to anonymously transfer money to him and his inner circle.”Websites for both coins carry disclaimers stating they are not investment opportunities or securities.Critics within the crypto industry say the Trumps’ schemes damage the sector’s reputation as it rebuilds after recent scandals and bankruptcies.”Trump coin is stupid and embarrassing,” crypto entrepreneur Erik Voorhees wrote on X.”Some in the crypto world are reacting with horror,” said crypto skeptic Molly White.”While they hoped Trump’s administration would be crypto-friendly, they didn’t anticipate the Trump family would embrace some of the ecosystem’s worst aspects to enrich themselves.”Kevin Boon, president of Mysten Labs, warned that politically-linked meme coins “are dangerous because they cause polarization; people can lose a lot of money.”However, some industry figures defend celebrity meme coins as harmless entertainment.The buzz “underlines the playful and experimental nature of the crypto universe,” said Mike Cahill, chief of blockchain firm Douro Labs.”We as an industry shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously,” Cahill said.”While some may see this as trivializing the industry, meme coins have become a gateway for broader awareness of digital assets.”

The African Union expressed dismay Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, urging his administration to reconsider.Just hours after taking office on Monday, Trump signed an executive order directing the US to withdraw from the UN agency, which threatens to leave global health initiatives short of funding.African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a statement he was “dismayed to learn of the US government’s announcement to withdraw” from the Geneva-based WHO.Washington is easily the biggest financial contributor to the organisation and the pullout comes as Africa faces a range of health crises, including recent outbreaks of mpox and Marburg viruses.”Now more than ever, the world depends on WHO to carry out its mandate to ensure global public health security as a shared common good,” Moussa Faki said, adding he hopes “the US government will reconsider its decision”.He said Washington was an early supporter of the Africa CDC, the African Union’s health watchdog which works with the WHO to counter present and emerging pandemics.Trump has repeatedly criticised the WHO over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and said prior to his inauguration that “World Health ripped us off.”The United States was in the process of withdrawing from the WHO during Trump’s first term, but the move was reversed under Joe Biden.Tom Frieden, a former US senior health official, wrote on X that the withdrawal “weakens America’s influence, increases the risk of a deadly pandemic, and makes all of us less safe.”It comes as fears grow of the pandemic potential of a bird flu outbreak, which has infected dozens and claimed its first human life in the United States earlier this month.WHO member states have been negotiating the world’s first treaty on handling future pandemics since late 2021 — negotiations now set to proceed without the US.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that US federal employees working in diversity offices must be put on paid leave by Wednesday evening as the new administration of Donald Trump has ordered the programs shut.”Send a notification to all employees of DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility) offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and program,” said a US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) memo posted on social media platform X by a CBS correspondent.The memo from acting OPM director Charles Ezell directed all department and agency heads and acting heads to send workers notice by 5:00 pm Wednesday. “To every reporter asking about this: I can gladly confirm!” said Leavitt on X, resharing the post from the CBS journalist.”President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” Leavitt said in a statement published by NBC News.”This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept.”While campaigning, Trump had vilified diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government and corporate world, saying they discriminated against white people — men in particular.He also demonized any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people — notably transgender women in sports — and gender-affirming care for children.In front of a crowd of supporters in Washington Monday — his first day in office — the Republican wiped out 78 executive orders, actions and presidential memoranda issued by his Democrat predecessor Joe Biden.Several of the overturned decrees promoted diversity and equality in the government, workplaces and healthcare, as well as the rights of LGBTQ Americans.He also issued new ones decreeing only two genders and ending government diversity programs.”The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government,” said one executive order ending such programs.- ‘Shameful discrimination’ -The OPM memo dated Tuesday said DEI programs “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”It ordered all agency heads to cancel DEI trainings, terminate related contractors, and take down websites and social media accounts promoting it by Wednesday evening. Federal department and agency bosses are also required to ask “employees if they know of any efforts to disguise these (DEI) programs by using coded or imprecise language.”The memo includes a template email for bosses to send to employees, which asks them to report to OPM if they are “aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 (Election Day) to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies.”Failure to report the requested information within 10 days “may result in adverse consequences,” the template email states.The memo also ordered bosses to submit by Thursday afternoon a “list of DEIA offices,” employees and related agency contracts as of November 5, as well as agency plans to comply with the related executive orders.Agency heads must submit a written plan for a “reduction-in-force action” regarding employees in DEI offices by 5 pm Friday. Besides government initiatives, Republicans are also fiercely against DEI programs in corporate America, many of which were established in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement and the nation’s attempt to reckon with longstanding racial disparities.In the aftermath of Trump’s election victory in November, US giants, including Facebook parent Meta, retailer Walmart and a string of prestige brands — from Ford, John Deere and Lowe’s to Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s — have scaled back programs aimed at bolstering minority groups.