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A US judge on Thursday authorized work to resume on a New York offshore wind project that had been suspended under an order by President Donald Trump’s administration.US District Judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction to the Norwegian company Equinor for its Empire Wind project, just three days after a different judge ordered the restart of a project by Denmark’s Orsted.Trump’s Interior Department in late December suspended all large offshore wind projects in the United States, affecting five projects.Empire Wind had requested the court’s intervention on an emergency basis, arguing in a January 6 filing that it needed to resume construction by January 16.Without restarting by that time, “the project faces likely termination due to disruption of a tightly choreographed construction schedule dependent on vessels with constrained availability, delay costs, and the existential threat to the project financing,” said the filing.The venture’s legal brief described the suspension order as “arbitrary and capricious.”Nichols granted the motion after a telephone hearing Thursday with the parties. He did not rule on Equinor’s underlying challenge to the Trump administration’s action.The project, expected to be fully operational by the end of 2027, could provide enough energy to power 500,000 homes.Equinor has already invested more than $4 billion in the venture, which is about 60 percent complete, the company said.Empire Wind “will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period,” the company said.”In addition, the project will continue to engage with the US government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.”The underlying lawsuit “will continue to proceed,” it added. The US Department of Interior did not respond to a request for comment.- ‘Ugly monsters’ -The Interior Department on December 22 said it had paused leases for Empire Wind and four other offshore wind projects under construction, citing “national security.”A press release pointed to “radar interference” due to “the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers.”The US Department of Energy says wind turbines “can interfere with radar systems if they are located within the line sight of these systems,” according to its website.”In most cases, however, thoughtful wind farm site selection, planning, and other mitigations have resolved conflicts and allow wind power projects to coexist effectively with radar missions,” the agency adds.Trump has long complained that windmills ruin views and are expensive. During a trip last summer to one of his UK golf courses, the US president urged Britain to stop subsidizing the “ugly monsters.”The order on Empire Wind comes after US District Judge Royce Lamberth on Monday cleared another project, Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island, to resume construction.Orsted has a 50-percent stake in the project alongside a renewables infrastructure developer that is part of the BlackRock investment group.In a one-page order, Lamberth wrote that Revolution Wind was likely to succeed in underlying litigation, faced “irreparable harm” without an injunction, and the venture’s request was “in the public interest.”Other projects affected by the Interior Department December action are Sunrise Wind, also in New York state and the CVOW project in Virginia.  The fifth project, Vineyard Wind, has filed a challenge to the Trump action in federal court in Massachusetts.

Twenty-six people have been charged with fixing US college and Chinese professional basketball games in an alleged transnational criminal conspiracy, federal prosecutors said Thursday.The indictment, filed in Philadelphia, includes bribery charges, and relates to nearly 30 games in which conspirators allegedly placed huge bets on the scores of contests after paying players to underperform.”We allege an extensive international criminal conspiracy of… players, alumni and professional bettors who fixed games across the country and poisoned the American spirit of competition for monetary gain,” said federal prosecutor David Metcalf.”This was a massive scheme. It enveloped the world of college basketball,” he told a press conference.It is the latest scandal to rock the world of US sports, after two sprawling federal investigations resulted in the arrest of an NBA coach and player in October.The indictment unveiled Thursday says an illegal sports gambling network originated in China in or about September 2022.Former NBA Chicago Bulls player Antonio Blakeney — who is named but not charged in the latest indictment — is alleged to have been recruited by conspirators to influence the outcomes of games in the Chinese Basketball Association league, where he was playing for the Jiangsu Dragons.A package containing nearly $200,000 in cash was allegedly left in Blakeney’s storage unit in Florida at the end of the CBA 2022-23 season.”Because it proved profitable, they decided to take their operation Stateside to the world of NCAA Division I men’s basketball,” said Metcalf, referring to the hugely popular US college league.Defendants allegedly then offered more than 39 US college players bribes of up to $30,000 per game, and made wagers totaling millions of dollars.More than a dozen of the defendants have played college basketball within the past three years.Former NBA player Blakeney is “charged elsewhere,” according to the indictment.If convicted on the bribery charges, defendants could face up to five years in prison.Sports wagering in most US states was illegal until 2018, but leagues have since rushed to get in on the multi-billion dollar bonanza of legalized betting.The NBA last year said it is reviewing league policies to ensure players know gambling’s “dire risks”.

Several valuable Pokemon cards were stolen in a gunpoint robbery at a New York store, US police said Thursday, with about $100,000 worth of merchandise reportedly taken. Images shared by the shop show a hooded man dressed in all black pointing what appears to be a pistol at someone sitting with their hands up. US media said some of the individual cards taken were worth as much as $5,500. Pokemon cards bearing “little monsters” attract children as well as adult superfans and collectors, with billions printed and some selling for millions of dollars.Earlier this month, around $300,000 worth of Pokemon cards were stolen in another armed robbery in California. New York police said they received reports late Wednesday that three men had entered The Poke Court shop in Manhattan and “displayed a firearm and made threats to individuals.””They then removed multiple merchandise and cash and a phone,” a spokesman said.No arrests have been made.Courtney Chin, owner of The Poke Court, said in a video posted on Instagram that all customers and staff were safe. She spoke in front of display cases that had been smashed.The store listed several cards as stolen, each stored in protective plastic cases called “slabs” that verify their authenticity. The stolen cards include those of famous Pokemon characters like Pikachu, the large yellow mouse with a lightning bolt-shaped tail. Several people were in the Manhattan store to attend a community event when the robbery unfolded. “This hobby should be a safe and welcoming place and while cardboard can be replaced, no one should ever have to go through this,” the shop wrote on Instagram.Characters from Pokemon games have been spun off into films, animated series and a plethora of merchandise.The franchise racked up $12 billion in licensing revenue in 2024, according to specialist publication License Global — more than toy giant Mattel.

Global outrage persisted Thursday over sexualized deepfakes created by Elon Musk’s AI tool Grok, even after his social media platform X said it was blocking the chatbot from undressing images in certain locations.The Philippines became the third country to ban Grok, following Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia, while Britain and France said they would maintain pressure after the chatbot cranked out a flood of lewd photos of women and children.X announced Wednesday that it would “geoblock the ability” of all Grok and X users to create images of people in “bikinis, underwear, and similar attire” in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal.It was not immediately clear where the tool would be restricted.The announcement came after California’s attorney general launched an investigation into xAI — the developer of Grok — over the sexually explicit material and several countries opened their own probes.Following an initial uproar last week, Grok said it would restrict image generation and editing to paying subscribers, prompting outraged critics to accuse Musk’s company of monetizing the problem rather than solving it.Bowing to global pressure, X on Wednesday said it would restrict “all users,” including paying subscribers, from using the Grok account to edit images of people in “revealing clothes such as bikinis.”But just hours later, the Philippines announced the country’s block could be effective by the end of Thursday.Cybercrime chief Renato Paraiso said that X’s announcement would have no effect on the government’s plans, adding that authorities will monitor whether the platform follows through on its promises.”We need to clean the internet now because much toxic content is appearing, especially with the advent of AI,” said Philippine telecommunications secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda.Meanwhile, Malaysia on Thursday said its regulators found that X’s measures to prevent Grok from generating revealing images were “not done in totality.”If X can successfully deactivate and prevent the generation of such content, Malaysia will lift the temporary restriction on Grok, communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said.- ‘Zero tolerance’ -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — a favourite target of Musk’s political posts — welcomed that X was acting to ensure “full compliance with UK law,” but insisted that it “must happen immediately.””If we need to strengthen existing laws further, we are prepare to do that,” Starmer wrote on X.Pressure has been building on xAI to rein in Grok after its so-called “Spicy Mode” feature allowed users to create sexualized deepfakes using simple text prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”The European Commission, which acts as the EU’s digital watchdog, has said it will “carefully assess” measures taken by X to ensure “they effectively protect citizens.””France and Europe taking action… is producing results,” Paris’s digital minister Anne Le Henanff told AFP on Thursday, warning that “no platform is above the law.”California Governor Gavin Newsom said that xAI’s “vile” decision to allow sexually explicit deepfakes to proliferate prompted him to urge the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, to hold the company accountable.”We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material,” Bonta said on Wednesday.He added that the California investigation would determine whether xAI violated state law after the explicit imagery was “used to harass people across the internet.”Further adding pressure on xAI, a coalition of 28 civil society groups submitted open letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google on Wednesday, urging them to ban Grok and X from their app stores amid the surge in sexualized images.burs-ac/arp

Goldman Sachs’ quarterly profits jumped on robust merger activity as clients seize a “window” of opportunity during the Trump administration, bank officials said Thursday.Fueled by higher revenues from merger advisory services and financial markets trading, Goldman Sachs reported profits of $4.4 billion in the fourth quarter, up 12 percent from the year-ago period.Executives expressed a bullish outlook on continued deal flow in 2026, noting the potential for more initial public offerings and that its backlog of anticipated future deal revenue stands at a four-year high. CEO David Solomon said corporations sense a better climate under Donald Trump after the Biden administration, where leading antitrust officials were viewed as broadly hostile to consolidation.”CEOs definitely believe that the art of the deal and scaled consolidation is possible now,” Solomon said on a conference call with analysts.Overall revenues were $13.5 billion, down three percent from the year-ago period, due largely to ending its credit card business with Apple.However, Goldman’s profits were boosted by a $2.1 billion accounting benefit from dropping the Apple credit card venture.Investment banking fees came in at $2.6 billion in the final three months of 2025, up 25 percent. The New York banking giant also scored double-digit increases in revenues for equities trading and fixed income, currency and commodities.Goldman’s press release did not mention specific transactions, but the company advised Metsera in its buyout of up to $10 billion from Pfizer.In prior quarters, Goldman has pointed to $12 billion deals involving energy company NRG and in Electronic Arts’ $55 billion deal to go private.”I think CEOs, boards are looking and saying ‘Okay, we’ve got a window here a handful of years, to consider big, huge, transformative things,'” said Solomon.”I think the world is set up at the moment to be incredibly constructive in 2026 in M&A and capital markets activity,” Solomon said. “What could change that? Something could go on in the world, sort of an exogenous event, or macro event that changes the sentiment,” he said, adding that this is not the bank’s view of a likely scenario.Goldman’s earnings per share topped analyst estimates while revenues lagged projections.Shares jumped 4.6 percent in early-afternoon trading.

Cuba paid tribute on Thursday to 32 soldiers killed in the US military strike that ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, in a ceremony attended by revolutionary leader Raul Castro.Havana, under pressure from US President Donald Trump, had decreed two days of tribute for the men, some of whom had been assigned to Maduro’s protection team.Twenty-one of the soldiers were from the Cuban interior ministry, which oversees the intelligence services, officials have said. The others were from the military.President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Castro, the 94-year-old retired former Cuban leader, were present in full military uniform to receive the soldiers’ remains early Thursday.Their urns, draped in Cuban flags, were unloaded from a plane at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport, according to footage broadcast on state TV.At the event, Interior Minister General Lazaro Alberto Alvarez expressed the country’s respect and gratitude for the soldiers he said had “fought to the last bullet” during US bombings and a raid by US special forces who seized Maduro and his wife from their Caracas residence on January 3.”We do not receive them with resignation; we do so with profound pride,” the minister added, and said the United States “will never be able to buy the dignity of the Cuban people.”The soldiers’ bodies were then transported in Jeeps to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, with Cubans lining the streets and applauding the procession.Residents of the capital can pay their respects throughout the day, which will close with a gathering outside the US embassy in Havana.- ‘Manipulation’ -The homage serves as an opportunity for Cuba to make a display of national unity at a time it is batting away pressure from US President Donald Trump.Trump on Sunday urged Cuba to “make a deal,” the nature of which he did not divulge, or face the consequences.The Republican president, who says Washington is now effectively running Venezuela, has vowed to cut off all oil and money that Caracas had been providing to ailing Cuba.Cuba, which is struggling through its worst economic crisis in decades, has reacted defiantly to the US threats even as it reels from the loss of a key source of economic support.Havana has dismissed as “political manipulation” a US announcement of humanitarian aid for victims of Hurricane Melissa, which hit last October and killed nearly 60 people across the Caribbean.”The US government is exploiting what might seem like a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic purposes and political manipulation,” Cuba’s foreign ministry said in a statement in response.It added Washington had not been in touch about the delivery, which it would welcome “without conditions.”Jeremy Lewin, the senior US official for foreign assistance, on Thursday cautioned Havana not to “politicize” the help.”We look at this as the first, the beginning of what we hope will be a much broader ability to deliver assistance directly to the Cuban people,” he said.US-Cuba relations have been tense for decades but hit a new low after the US capture of Maduro and his wife.Twenty-three Venezuelan soldiers were also killed in the US strike that saw Maduro and his wife whisked away to stand trial in New York on drug-trafficking charges.

A US appeals court overturned a ruling that led to the release of prominent pro-Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, according to court documents filed Thursday, raising the prospect of his re-arrest.Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, was detained by immigration authorities for three months beginning in March. He faced potential deportation for allegedly posing a threat to US foreign policy interests.A former Columbia University student who was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide pro-Palestinian campus protests, Khalil was released from custody in June, but faced continued threats of deportation from federal authorities.New Jersey federal judge Michael Farbiarz had ruled that Khalil’s detention by immigration authorities was unlawful. But Thursday’s ruling by the Philadelphia-based appeals court said Farbiarz did not have “subject-matter” jurisdiction in the case and that an immigration court should have adjudicated it.”Today’s ruling is deeply disappointing, but it does not break our resolve,” Khalil said in a statement. “The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability.”The ruling, which could be appealed, does not take immediate effect, meaning Khalil will remain free for now.The New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that “Mr Khalil’s legal team has several legal avenues they may pursue.”In September, an immigration judge in Louisiana ordered Khalil be deported to Algeria or Syria after failing to disclose information on his application for US permanent residency. Khalil’s lawyers vowed to appeal that ruling.

President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to invoke the “Insurrection Act” to quell protests over federal immigration raids in the northern US state of Minnesota.Here is a look at what the act entails and its previous use:- Insurrection Act -The Insurrection Act allows for domestic deployment of the US military for civilian law enforcement purposes such as conducting searches and making arrests.Trump has threatened to invoke it in response to protests against his mass deportation drive not only in Minnesota but also in other Democratic-ruled states — California, Illinois and Oregon.Intermittent and sometimes violent protests have occurred in the states when Trump has launched targeted “surges” of federal agents, including from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of ICE, who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” he said in a Truth Social post on Thursday.- Posse Comitatus -Using the US military domestically to conduct law enforcement activities is normally barred by another law, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act.The Insurrection Act lets a president sidestep the Posse Comitatus Act to suppress “armed rebellion” or “domestic violence” and use the armed forces “as he considers necessary” to enforce the law.- Past use -The Insurrection Act has been invoked by US presidents about 30 times previously but rarely in recent history, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.It was enacted in 1792 but the current version dates to 1807.America’s first president, George Washington, used it to put down state rebellions against federal authority and president Abraham Lincoln relied upon it at the start of the 1861-65 Civil War.The Insurrection Act was most recently invoked by president George H.W. Bush at the request of California’s governor to help put down riots in Los Angeles in 1992 that followed the acquittal of police officers involved in the beating of a Black motorist, Rodney King.It was used by president Lyndon Johnson in 1968 to quell riots that broke out in the nation’s capital and other cities following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.- National Guard deployments -Trump separately relied on a seldom-used law known as Title 10 to send National Guard troops to Los Angeles last year against the wishes of California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.Title 10 permits National Guard federalization in times of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against government authority, but does not give the troops the powers to perform domestic law enforcement duties.Trump’s bid to deploy the National Guard to another city, Chicago, suffered a setback last month when the Supreme Court ruled he had “failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.”The Supreme Court rebuff was a rare defeat for Trump at the top court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lashed out Thursday at world leaders who he said were seeking to “put international cooperation on deathwatch” amid brazen violations of international law, but held off naming offending countries.He also reiterated that he was “deeply concerned about the violent repression in Iran,” ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting on the crisis scheduled for later Thursday.Guterres, who will step down at the end of 2026, was giving his last annual speech setting out his priorities for the year ahead and said the world was riven with “self-defeating geopolitical divides (and) brazen violations of international law.”He also slammed “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid” — an apparent reference to deep cuts to the budgets of UN agencies made by the United States under the Trump administration’s “America First” policies. “These forces and more are shaking the foundations of global cooperation and testing the resilience of multilateralism itself,” Guterres told the General Assembly. “At a time when we need international cooperation the most, we seem to be the least inclined to use it and invest in it. Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch.”Guterres said the UN is “totally committed in the cause of peace in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and far beyond and tireless in delivering life-saving aid to those so desperate for support.”Those three deadly, protracted conflicts have come to define Guterres’s time at the helm of the UN, with critics arguing the organization has proved ineffective at conflict prevention.Trump has questioned the UN’s relevance and attacked its priorities. The organization’s top decision-making body, the Security Council, is paralyzed because of tensions between the United States and Russia and China, all three of which are permanent, veto-wielding members.”As we meet today, the snares of conflict have trapped millions of members of the human family in miserable, prolonged cycles of violence, hunger and displacement,” Guterres said.On Gaza, the UN chief called for humanitarian aid to “flow unimpeded” and on Ukraine he said “we must spare no effort” to stop the fighting.He also called for the resumption of talks to bring about a lasting ceasefire in Sudan.Guterres also used his wide-ranging remarks urge action against the abuse of artificial intelligence, to call for efforts to fight inequality.

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whose pro-democracy movement he has sidelined since toppling her country’s leader, and whose Nobel Peace Prize he openly envies.Machado’s White House visit comes a day after Trump used glowing terms to describe his first known call with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, confirming his satisfaction with the allies of Nicolas Maduro remaining in power, for now at least.Trump called Rodriguez a “terrific person” and hailed “terrific progress” made since US special forces seized Maduro and his wife in a deadly raid.Rodriguez said the call was “productive and courteous,” and characterized by “mutual respect.””Many topics were discussed,” Trump said on social media, “including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security.”Notably absent was any mention of a political transition, an issue that Washington has recently downplayed compared to economic concerns, especially access to Venezuelan oil.Machado, who campaigned for years to end Maduro’s rule, will seek Thursday to bring the issue back into the foreground.- Nobel sharing? -Machado, 58, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her activism in pursuit of democracy in Venezuela, despite threats of imprisonment by Maduro’s government.Venezuela’s opposition has argued and presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election from Machado’s party, namely candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia — claims supported by Washington.Venezuela’s electoral authorities, seen as allied with Maduro, never released data from the vote.Hundreds of people were arrested in post-election protests, and while Gonzalez Urrutia fled to Europe for asylum, Machado remained in the country in a hidden location, appearing only intermittently at rallies.She appeared in Oslo, Norway last month to collect her Nobel prize after a daring escape by boat, and has not yet returned to her home country.Trump has openly fumed about not being awarded the prize, calling it a “major embarrassment” for Norway.Machado has offered to share her award with Trump, and the president indicated she might give it to him when they meet.”I understand she wants to do that. That would be a great honor,” Trump said in a recent Fox News interview.The Nobel Institute has stressed that the prize cannot be transferred from one person to another.- Prisoner releases -Under pressure from Washington, Venezuela has released dozens of political prisoners in the past week, though hundreds remain behind bars.Rodriguez claimed a total of 406 political prisoners had been released since December in a process that “has not yet concluded.”The Foro Penal legal rights NGO, which defends many of the detainees, gave a much smaller tally of around 180 freed.AFP’s count, based on data from NGOs and opposition parties, showed 70 people released since the fall of Maduro, who has been taken to the United States to face trial for alleged drug trafficking.To avoid scenes of jubilant opposition activists punching the air as they walk free from prison, the authorities have been releasing them quietly at other locations, far from the TV cameras and relatives waiting outside detention centers.The United States on Wednesday seized another tanker in the Caribbean in its campaign to control oil leaving Venezuela.Marines and sailors apprehended the Tanker Veronica without incident in a pre-dawn raid, the US military command said on social media, with a video showing soldiers rappelling onto a vessel’s deck.”The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” it said. The tanker is the sixth seized in recent weeks.