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US consumer confidence languished at a multi-month low in December as a slowing job market offset better sentiment after the government shutdown ended, according to a survey released Tuesday.The Conference Board’s reading for the month was 89.1, down from the 92.9 figure and the lowest since April. The November figure was revised up from an initial 88.7, reflecting a lift from survey data collected after the government shutdown ended on November 12.  “Despite an upward revision in November related to the end of the shutdown, consumer confidence fell again in December and remained well below this year’s January peak,” said Conference Board Chief Economist Dana Peterson.The report covers part of the crucial end-of-year holiday shopping period, which can account for about one-fifth or more of retailer annual revenues. The board pointed in particular to a drop in perceptions of the labor market, with 26.7 percent in December calling jobs “plentiful” compared with 37.1 percent a year earlier.More now say jobs are “not so plentiful” or “hard to get,” according to the survey.While consumers’ expectations index held steady in December, the present situation index plummeted compared with the prior month.The write-in responses on surveys continued to emphasize affordability concerns such as inflation and tariffs. “The responses continued to skew pessimistic but less so than November, “said Peterson, who pointed to less negative sentiment about politics, as well as a lift from Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.US consumer sentiment data has in recent years often been weak, while actual retail sales have sometimes topped estimates. Analysts have described the US consumer as resilient, although wealthier consumers account for a disproportionate amount of sales.Among different generations, confidence dipped across the spectrum, but consumers under 35 continued to be more confident than consumers 35 and older.

US economic growth in the third quarter came in at 4.3 percent on an annualized basis, easily topping expectations, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday.The report, which also showed an acceleration in inflation, provides reassurance about the world’s largest economy after other recent data showing a weakening labor market. It comes as worries have moderated over President Donald Trump’s tariffs and as large tech companies advance massive investments to build new artificial intelligence infrastructure.The gross domestic product report — delayed for nearly two months due to a government shutdown — reflects increases in consumer spending, exports and government spending, partially offset by a decrease in investment, according to the department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.The reading, an initial estimate expected to be updated in early 2026, marks the highest GDP in two years. Analysts had expected 3.2 percent growth, according to consensus estimates from MarketWatch and Trading Economics.The report also showed the price index for domestic purchases rose 3.4 percent, a much higher inflation reading compared with 2.0 percent in the second quarter.The data suggest faster growth and higher inflation than markets had expected — potentially changing the calculus for upcoming US monetary policy decisions. Trump pointed to the report as evidence that the “Trump Economic Golden Age is FULL steam ahead,” the product of a “genius” policy on tariffs and “NO INFLATION,” disregarding line-item aspects of the data showing otherwise.Other recent data has shown a weakening job market that has prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at the last three meetings, viewing the employment picture as its prime concern even as inflation has lingered above two percent.- ‘Resiliency of US consumers’ -Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote that the report shows the resiliency of US consumers, boding “well for 2026.””If the economy can avoid widespread layoffs, most American consumers can keep spending,” she said.Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US, said the GDP data suggest that while growth has been robust, job creation remains “soft” and this dynamic “is likely to be the major economic narrative looking forward into 2025.”The report also falls into the trend of what economists have described as “K-shaped,” where consumption is driven by the wealthy, Brusuelas wrote.US stocks were little changed following the GDP data, as some saw lower odds that the Fed will again cut next month.”I think the implication is that with the GDP numbers being as strong as they are, that gives the Fed additional reason to be on hold at the January (Fed) meeting,” said CFRA Research’s Sam Stovall.While inflation remains well above the Fed’s two percent target, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other policymakers have described the weakening employment market as the greater concern at the moment.The Fed’s median 2026 GDP forecast is 2.3 percent, up from 1.7 percent projected in 2025, according to a summary of the central bank’s outlook.The data shows “an economy that is growing, but unevenly, one where inflation is still running well above the (Fed’s) target,” said Mike Fratantoni, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, who predicted just one rate cut in 2026.- Ebbing tariff angst -Tuesday’s report reflects a much improved US macroeconomic outlook compared with earlier in 2025, when worries about Trump’s aggressive trade policy changes weighed on sentiment. But by the latter stages of 2025, Trump’s administration had negotiated agreements with China and other major economies that prevented enactment of the most onerous tariffs. Meanwhile, an AI investment boom by Chat GPT-maker OpenAI, Google and other tech giants continued to pick up momentum, keeping the US stock market near record levels.A December 18 outlook piece from S&P Global Ratings said AI investment would likely buoy the economy but could be offset by political uncertainty under Trump.”US trade policy uncertainty has settled down, but not US policy drama overall,” S&P said. “Statutory US tariff rates may not move much in 2026, but uncertainty around laws, norms, investment rules, military actions and geopolitics more generally will remain elevated,” S&P said. “This uncertainty will likely dampen investment and discretionary consumption.”

The newest US document dump on Jeffrey Epstein is sprawling, uneven and heavily redacted — but tucked inside are moments that have sharpened scrutiny on President Donald Trump’s long-acknowledged past association with the notorious sex offender.The files do not rewrite the public record on Trump, although there is material that may prove embarrassing to the president.Trump has long denied any wrongdoing and the Justice Department says some claims in the files are flatly false.However, the documents do illuminate how federal investigators documented his proximity to Epstein — what they flagged, what they questioned, and what they ultimately set aside.The result is a collection of fragments rather than conclusions, ranging from flight records to internal emails and an unsettling piece of correspondence involving another convicted abuser.These are five takeaways from the documents now in public view.- Trump’s travel on Epstein’s jet -The most concrete new detail is an internal email dated January 7, 2020, in which a New York prosecutor said flight records showed Trump took eight trips on Epstein’s private jet between 1993 and 1996 — more than investigators were aware of at the time.The email — marking the most detailed account yet of Trump’s travel alongside Epstein — says Ghislaine Maxwell was aboard at least four of those flights. Maxwell is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for offenses including sex trafficking a minor.It also describes one flight where the only passengers were Epstein, Trump and an unidentified 20-year-old woman, plus two other flights involving women described as possible Maxwell-case witnesses. – Mar-a-Lago subpoena – The newly released documents show that prosecutors issued a 2021 subpoena to Trump’s south Florida beach club Mar-a-Lago, seeking records relevant to the government’s case against Maxwell. The presence of a subpoena does not imply wrongdoing by its recipient, but it does show investigators formally sought information from Trump’s property as they pursued Maxwell.- Chilling letter to Larry Nassar -Among the newly released paperwork is a disturbing handwritten letter, apparently from Epstein to disgraced former US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, referencing shared predatory inclinations and including an explicit comment about Trump. The message appears to have been sent in August 2019, the month Epstein died by suicide.In it, Epstein wrote that Trump “shares our love of young, nubile girls,” a sentence that has no verified context and is not evidence of wrongdoing by Trump but has captured media attention due to its graphic tone. The letter starts, “As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home.” US media have taken this phrase to be a dark euphemism for Epstein’s suicide.- Photo with Trump and Maxwell -One newly disclosed email says someone reviewing data obtained from close Trump ally Steve Bannon’s cellphone found an “image of Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell.” The DOJ released the reference while redacting the photo itself.- Claims the DOJ calls false -In an unusual move, DOJ explicitly warned that certain claims against Trump in documents submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election were “untrue and sensationalist.”The batch of newly released files describes FBI “tips” collected about Trump and Epstein-era parties in the early 2000s, with no clear indication in the documents of follow-up or corroboration.A tip from October 2020 alleges that Epstein hosted a party in 2000 where someone named Ghislaine Villeneuve brought a woman who “wanted to go” but was told “it wasn’t that kind of party — it was for prostitutes.” The tip claims Trump “had invited them all to a party at Mar-a-Lago.” The document doesn’t confirm follow-up and remains unverified.

Thousands of new documents linked to the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made available Tuesday by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), amid mounting criticism over the pace of the publication and heavy redactions.At least 8,000 files were posted online, including hundreds of videos or audio recordings, notably surveillance footage from August 2019, the month Epstein was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.The DOJ posted around 11,000 links to new documents online, but some of them appeared to lead nowhere.The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed nearly unanimously by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, mandated the complete release of the Epstein files by Friday of last week.Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has blamed the delay on the need to redact the identities of Epstein’s more than 1,000 victims from the hundreds of thousands of documents and photos in the government’s possession.EFTA co-sponsors Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Republican, threatened over the weekend to bring contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to comply with the law.Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a resolution on Monday calling for legal action against the Trump administration for failing to release the complete Epstein files.”Instead of transparency, the Trump administration released a tiny fraction of the files and blacked out massive portions of what little they provided,” Schumer said in a statement.”This is a blatant cover-up. Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche are shielding Donald Trump from accountability, and the Senate has a duty to act.”Blanche denied on Sunday that the Justice Department was redacting the files to protect Trump, a one-time close friend of Epstein.”We are not redacting information around President Trump,” Blanche, a former personal lawyer to the president, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Blanche said one picture of Trump was briefly removed over concerns for victims. It was later reposted after the Justice Department determined there was “no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted.”- ‘Need no such protection’ -Trump initially tried to block the disclosure of the files linked to Epstein, a wealthy financier with rich and powerful connections.The president, who cut ties with Epstein years before his arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing, finally bowed to mounting pressure from Congress and signed the law compelling publication of the files.The sweeping blackouts across many of the documents — combined with tight control over the release by officials in Trump’s administration — have stoked skepticism over whether the disclosure will silence conspiracy theories of a high-level cover-up.The tranche of materials released on Friday included photographs of former Democratic president Bill Clinton and other famous names, such as pop stars Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, who were in Epstein’s social circle.Clinton, in a statement released by his spokesman Angel Urena, urged the Justice Department to release any materials in the files related to the former president, saying he had nothing to hide.”Someone or something is being protected. We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection,” Clinton said.”The Department of Justice’s actions to date are not about transparency, but about insinuation using selective releases to imply wrongdoing about individuals who have already been repeatedly cleared by the very same Department of Justice,” he added.Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the former financier.

The leadership of CBS News was facing accusations of political meddling on Monday over a last-minute decision to not air a report on the notorious Salvadoran prison where US President Donald Trump has sent deported migrants.CBS had been due to air the investigation late Sunday about alleged abuses at the CECOT center in El Salvador on its flagship “60 Minutes” program, seen by many as one of the most prestigious and hard-hitting institutions in US journalism.But the broadcaster quietly announced hours before showtime that the segment would “air in a future broadcast,” replacing it with a piece on the sherpas working on Mount Everest.A 13-minute video about CECOT bearing the “60 Minutes” logo was widely circulated on social media platforms X and Reddit late on Monday after the segment was reportedly aired on Canadian station Global TV.The segment being circulated, titled “Inside Cecot” and viewed by AFP, featured Sharyn Alfonsi as correspondent and listed Oriana Zill de Granados as producer.AFP has contacted Global TV’s parent company Corus Entertainment for comment.CBS, which was purchased by the Trump-linked Ellison family earlier this year, said that the prison report needed “additional reporting.”Multiple US media outlets quoted the “60 Minutes” correspondent who oversaw the report as saying it had been pulled for political reasons.”Pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one,” Alfonsi said in a note to CBS staff that was first leaked by The Wall Street Journal.CECOT is a huge, maximum security facility touted by El Salvador’s right-wing President Nayib Bukele as the centerpiece of his attempt to rid the Central American country of narco-gangs.Human rights activists say inmates there are treated brutally.The facility has been at the center of a major US legal case since March, when the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan and other migrants there despite a judge’s order that they be returned to the United States.Several deportees who have since been released have described repeated abuse at the facility. – CBS owners close to Trump -CBS’s decision to shelve a high-profile story on the Trump administration comes as the broadcaster’s parent company, Paramount Skydance, is in a multi-billion-dollar bidding war with Netflix to buy Warner Bros Discovery.Trump has made clear he is taking a keen interest in the merger, which will likely need regulatory approval.Paramount was purchased by the Ellison family earlier this year. Larry Ellison is one of the world’s richest people and a major Trump donor.The Republican president has frequently criticized “60 Minutes” and sued CBS in 2024 over his claim that the news program had edited an interview with Democrat Kamala Harris in order to help her.Paramount chief David Ellison — son of Larry Ellison — brought in Bari Weiss as a new editor in chief this October, leading to expectations that she would steer the renowned broadcaster to be more friendly to Trump.In her note to colleagues, Alfonsi said the CECOT segment had been cleared by corporate lawyers before being “spiked.””If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”Weiss told The New York Times in a statement that she would be “airing this important piece when it’s ready.””Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom.”The executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Tanya Simon, told fellow employees that she had resisted Weiss’s order, but “ultimately had to comply.””We pushed back, we defended our story, but she wanted changes,” Simon was quoted as saying by The Washington Post in a transcript of the producer’s private meeting with colleagues.

The US economy is expected to post another solid economic growth reading Tuesday, but the much-delayed figures likely will not settle debate on the labor market, AI and other variables.Forecasters expect Tuesday’s third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) report to show 3.2 percent growth, according to consensus estimates from MarketWatch and Trading Economics.That represents a bit of a moderation from the 3.8 percent second-quarter gain following a first-quarter with negative growth. Tuesday’s release comes nearly two months after it was originally scheduled due to the US government shutdown.The report reflects a much improved US macroeconomic outlook compared with earlier in 2025, when worries about President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policy changes weighed on sentiment. But by the latter stages of 2025, Trump’s administration had negotiated agreements with China and other major economies that prevented enactment of the most onerous tariffs. Meanwhile, an AI investment boom by Chat GPT-maker OpenAI, Google and other tech giants continued to pick up momentum, keeping the US stock market near record levels.Pantheon Macroeconomics estimates that US growth in the third quarter came in at a “brisk-looking” 3.5 percent that nonetheless “will overstate the economy’s true condition,” the research firm said in a note.A slowing job market and muted retail sales trends are among the factors consistent with “steady but unspectacular GDP growth” looking ahead to 2026, said Pantheon, which predicted the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates further in the new year.”The risks remain skewed towards a faster cadence or larger decline in rates,” said Pantheon, pointing to the Fed’s impending leadership change with the 2026 departure of Chair Jerome Powell.- Consumer caution? -The US central bank on December 10 announced an interest rate cut for the third straight meeting. While inflation remains well above the Fed’s two percent target, Powell and other policymakers have described the weakening employment market as the greater concern at the moment.The Fed’s median 2026 GDP forecast is 2.3 percent, up from 1.7 percent projected in 2025, according to a summary of the central bank’s outlook.White House officials have said Trump could nominate Powell’s successor in January.Polling shows declining support for Trump as consumer prices have stayed at an elevated level.But Kevin Hassett, a White House economic advisor considered the favorite for the Fed post, told Fox News over the weekend that consumers would soon see better times. “I think that the American people are going to see it in their wallets… they’re going to see that President Trump’s policies are making them better,” said Hassett, who mentioned an expected boost from higher tax refunds in 2026.But Pantheon argued the economic benefit from tax refunds may be contained, noting that “the relatively low level of consumer confidence suggests many households will save a high share of the windfall.”A December 18 outlook piece from S&P Global Ratings said AI investment would likely buoy the economy but could be offset by political uncertainty under Trump.”US trade policy uncertainty has settled down, but not US policy drama overall,” S&P said. “Statutory US tariff rates may not move much in 2026, but uncertainty around laws, norms, investment rules, military actions and geopolitics more generally will remain elevated,” S&P said. “This uncertainty will likely dampen investment and discretionary consumption.”

Vince Zampella, the acclaimed co-creator of video gaming juggernaut “Call of Duty,” has died in a car crash, gaming giant Electronic Arts confirmed on Monday. He was 55.The developer and executive died on Sunday while driving his Ferrari on a scenic road north of Los Angeles, according to local broadcaster NBC4. “For unknown reasons, the vehicle veered off the roadway, struck a concrete barrier, and became fully engulfed,” the California Highway Patrol said in a statement, without identifying the two victims in the crash.The CHP added that both the driver and a passenger who was ejected from the vehicle succumbed to their injuries. Witnesses posted video of the mangled cherry-red Ferarri, engulfed in flames, on the mountain road. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.His studios created some of the world’s best-selling video games, and Zampella was considered an innovator in first-person military shooter style games. This year, when his “Battlefield 6” video game set a new sales record for the franchise, Zampella expressed gratitude, saying “we never take moments like this for granted” — despite a long career of success in gaming. The mass-combat game has won over 100 million players in the past two decades, in its various iterations. And yet, that number isn’t a first. To this day, “Call of Duty” boasts more than 100 milion active players, monthly.”You have that dream of the game being popular, but I don’t think you’re ever ready for that level of success,” Zampella told gaming site IGN in a 2016 interview.- Profound, far-reaching -Zampella was best known for co-creating the “Call of Duty” franchise and founding Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind “Titanfall,” “Apex Legends,” and the “Star Wars Jedi” games.After starting out in the 1990s as a designer on shooter games, he co-founded Infinity Ward in 2002 and helped launch “Call of Duty” in 2003. Activision later acquired his studio.He left Activision under contentious circumstances and established Respawn in 2010, which Electronic Arts acquired in 2017.At EA, he eventually took charge of revitalizing the “Battlefield” franchise, cementing his reputation as one of the most influential figures in modern first-person shooter games.”This is an unimaginable loss, and our hearts are with Vince’s family, his loved ones, and all those touched by his work,” Electronic Arts said in a statement.”Vince’s influence on the video game industry was profound and far-reaching,” the company said, adding that “his work helped shape modern interactive entertainment.”A statement by Respawn, posted on the “Battlefield” X account, praised Zampella “for how he showed up every day, trusting his teams, encouraging bold ideas, and believing in Battlefield and the people building it.”Zampella “championed what he believed was right for the people behind those studios and our players because it mattered.””It was a bold, transgressive method of storytelling, of a moment in time that was political, that was violent and that was impactful,” Washington Post video game reporter Gene Park told NBC4.”He really knew how to create stories and create experiences, that really hit at the heart of human experience — whether it was terror, dread, heroism. I think he was really able to kindof encapsulate that through the designs of the video games that he made,” Park said.

US President Donald Trump said Monday it would be “smart” for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down, as US naval forces pressed a blockade on the South American country’s oil wealth.Venezuela’s key ally Moscow, however, expressed its “full support” for Maduro’s government, as Washington has dialed up military operations and threats against Caracas.Asked by reporters at his Florida home if Washington’s threats were designed to force Maduro to leave office after 12 years, Trump said: “That’s up to him, what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that.”But he added: “If he wants to do something — if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”Firing back just hours later, Maduro said that Trump would be “better off” if he focused on domestic problems rather than threatening Caracas.”He would be better off in his own country on economic and social issues, and he would be better off in the world if he took care of his country’s affairs,” Maduro said in a speech broadcast on public television.The pledge from Moscow, which is embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis.In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and the seizure of two oil tankers.A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.”The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.”The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added in a statement. US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.More than 100 people have been killed — some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.The latest strike hit a “low-profile vessel” in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one occupant, the US military said on Monday.Last week, Trump also announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.Trump claims Caracas is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of “international piracy.”Moscow’s statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to “coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN.”Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas’s request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called “the ongoing US aggression.”- Russia’s ‘hands full’ -On Telegram, Venezuela’s Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country.”Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine.”US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.

A self-described foodie, social butterfly and New Yorker for 20 years, Lina Axmacher has long loved exploring the city’s famed restaurant culture.Then she started Ozempic.She lost her appetite — “my desire for cocktails and desserts and anything sweet” — and also more than 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) in less than two months.But “I still wanted to maintain my social lifestyle, and I still wanted to be included in dinners,” the Swedish 41-year-old who works in the tequila industry told AFP.One of her favorite restaurants, Manhattan’s Le Petit Village, made that easier: it’s among the dining establishments in the city offering smaller portions at lower prices, as the prevalence of medications that reduce hunger like Ozempic grows.The West Village restaurant decided to shrink a corner of its brunch menu, including French toast and a smoked salmon tartine, not least to accommodate diners on GLP-1s who want to go out but can’t eat much.Approximately one in eight American adults are currently taking drugs from the class of GLP-1 agonists that are increasingly popular for weight loss, according to a November poll by the non-profit health policy tracker KFF.And one in five say they’ve taken the medications whose brand names include Ozempic and Wegovy — which are also prescribed to manage chronic conditions like diabetes — at some point.On Monday, Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced US authorities had approved Wegovy to be administered in pill form for weight loss, potentially making it even more accessible.Some in the restaurant industry are taking note.”I was going out and seeing people eat a lot less and take one bite of their food and one sip of their drink and that was it,” said Aristotle Hatzigeorgiou, who owns Clinton Hall, which has five locations across New York.And on top of that, much of the dishes his kitchens prepared ended up in the trash — “a mass amount of waste,” he said.So he developed the “teeny-weeny mini meal” — for $8, diners get a bite-sized burger, a small portion of fries and their choice of a 3-oz beer, martini or glass of wine.It’s a stark contrast to some of the beer hall’s other offerings, which include a “doughnut grilled cheese” and a “fondue burger” (they are what they sound like.)But the mini-meal has proven a hit, Hatzigeorgiou said, not only for those dropping weight but for those cutting costs.”I think people are definitely strapped with rents going up and inflation,” said the restaurant owner.Offering “a cheaper option to come out,” he said, has “been working.”- ‘Vast human experiment’ -For now, GLP-1s for weight loss purposes remain too expensive for many Americans.But experts expect that will shift; even US President Donald Trump has promised affordable options.And researchers are starting to examine how wider GLP-1 use is shaking cultural connections to food.”Food is your enemy, instead of your great pleasure in life? I mean, that’s very different,” Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition at New York University, told AFP in an interview. “I think the jury is out on all of it.”Side effects of GLP-1s can include unpleasant gastrointestinal issues, but for some people, Nestle said, the medications have proven “miraculous.”The nutritionist said it’s far too soon to have a grasp on long-term impact, physiologically or socioculturally: “It’s a vast human experiment.”Axmacher told AFP she’s taken Ozempic on and off. When she first decided to take a break, “I was ready to feel like I could enjoy life a little bit more again.””I do enjoy the sense of hunger and satisfaction when I get to eat something I’m in the mood for,” she said, adding that on Ozempic, “I missed that.”But using the medication also helped her develop positive and sustainable habits, she said: Axmacher cut down on alcohol, exercised more, and focused on eating enough protein.Ozempic or not, a trend of smaller restaurant dishes in the wake of America’s 1990s-2000s Super Size Era can only be positive, Nestle said.Le Petit Village management told AFP they’re considering expanding their menu of half-sized portions to dinner service, and Clinton Hall is working on developing a mini-meal featuring chicken.Some customers, Hatzigeorgiou said, have noted that “this is what meals used to look like.””We think it’s something different, but maybe it’s not so different,” he said with a chuckle. “Maybe it’s the right-sized meal.”

US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new class of heavily armed warships that will be named after himself — an honor usually reserved for leaders who have left office.Two of the Trump-class ships will be built initially, but that number could grow substantially, according to the president, who said they will be “some of the most lethal surface warfare ships” and “the largest battleship in the history of our country.”Trump made the announcement at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida alongside Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Navy Secretary John Phelan, with images of the planned high-tech vessels on stands nearby.Asked if the planned warships are a counter to Washington’s rival Beijing, Trump declined to specify, instead saying: “It’s a counter to everybody, it’s not China. We get along great with China.”He said the ships will weigh between 30,000 and 40,000 tons and will be armed with missiles and guns as well as weaponry still in development, such as lasers and hypersonic missiles.They will also be capable of carrying atomic weapons in the form of the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, Trump said.The Trump-class ships will be substantially larger than existing US destroyers and cruisers, but the projected displacement cited by the president is somewhat smaller than the last American battleships — from the Iowa class — which were retired in the 1990s.- ‘Most powerful fleet anywhere’ -Trump — who has complained in the past about the appearance of US ships — said he would be involved in the design along with the Navy “because I’m a very aesthetic person.”Trump’s announcement came just days after the Navy publicized plans for another new class of ships — frigates dubbed the FF(X) that it said will “complement the fleet’s larger, multi-mission warships.”Phelan has said the FF(X) will be based on an existing design from shipbuilder HII that is already in use by the United States Coast Guard, and that the aim is for the first of the new frigates to be in the water by 2028.The new frigate plans were announced after Phelan said in late November that four of six planned ships from the Constellation class of frigates would be canceled, while two that are already under construction are “under review.”Washington has fallen significantly behind Beijing when it comes to the number of ships in its Navy, and a report to Congress earlier this year noted that US military officials and other observers are concerned by the pace of China’s shipbuilding efforts.”We’re going to restore America as a major shipbuilding power,” Trump said on Monday, adding: “We’re going to ensure the USA has the most powerful fleet anywhere in the world, and long into the future, with battleships helping lead the way.”