AFP USA

US President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion aid package for American farmers on Monday, targeting a key support base that has been hit by the fallout from his trade and tariff policies.The Republican said he was taking “very vital action to protect and defend American farmers,” during a roundtable with agricultural producers at the White House.Trump has faced mounting pressure to help farmers, whose support helped win him a second term in office but who have been battered by the impact of his sweeping tariffs.Since Trump’s return in January, many US farmers have been hit by factors including retaliatory measures from trading partners and tariffs on imported goods used in farming.”We love our farmers, and as you know the farmers like me,” Trump said during the roundtable.Trump said the $12 billion in aid for farmers would be funded by a “relatively small portion” of the revenue from tariffs.Most of the bailout involves one-off payments to crop farmers.Washington’s trade row this year with superpower rival Beijing saw soybean exports plunge and Chinese buyers holding off new orders from the US autumn harvest.Amid the lower demand, soybean prices fell as well, hitting the sector hard, although a recent trade truce sought to ensure renewed Chinese purchases of agriculture goods ranging from soybeans to sorghum.Trump said he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would do “even more than he promised to do” on soybeans, following their recent meeting at a summit in South Korea.- ‘Affordability problem’ -The US president repeatedly blamed former president Joe Biden for the problems faced by American farmers.But the situation has echoes of Trump’s first presidency, when retaliatory tariffs caused over $27 billion in US agriculture export losses from 2018 to 2019.The government, in turn, provided $23 billion to assist farmers hit by trade disputes at the time.Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the government was releasing an initial $11 billion for crops and would hold back another $1 billion for where it was needed most.Trump has also recently vowed to support US cattle farmers as beef prices surged in part due to a tighter supply of herds.Costs had risen for various reasons including drought and lower imports from Mexico due to a pest in herds there, adding to cost-of-living pressures that American households are facing.Trump’s farm aid announcement came amid mounting dissatisfaction with his economic policies, particularly over tariffs and the cost of living.The 79-year-old will hit the road in coming months to push his economic agenda, starting with a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.Trump appeared to soften his message a little on Monday, acknowledging an affordability “problem” after repeatedly dismissing it in recent weeks as a “hoax” and a “con job” by rival Democrats.”The Democrats caused the affordability problem and we’re fixing it,” he said.

Paramount on Monday launched an all-cash tender offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant that also owns CNN, in a challenge to Netflix’s own highly contested deal.The hostile offer sets up a bidding war between Paramount — whose CEO is David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, an ally of Donald Trump — and streaming behemoth Netflix.Netflix shocked the industry last week by announcing it had sealed an agreement to buy the Warner Bros. studio, drawing bitter reactions from voices in Hollywood worried about the future of their industry.David Ellison’s father Larry, one of the world’s richest people, has put up the cash to pay for the buyout, with sovereign wealth companies from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi also investors.Another investor is Affinity Partners, the private equity firm founded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is close to the president and acted on his behalf in recent diplomatic missions on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.Trump weighed in on Sunday, saying Netflix’s deal “could be a problem” as it would be left with a huge market share of the film and TV industry.In a break from usual practice, Trump said he would be “involved” in the government’s decision to approve the deal over fair competition concerns, instead of leaving the question solely in the hands of the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission, as is usually the case.”We’re really here to finish what we started,” David Ellison, who is also chairman of Paramount, told CNBC as his company made a sixth offer for Warner Bros. since a bidding war began in September.Unlike Netflix’s offer, Paramount’s latest bid includes the buyout of cable channels such as CNN, TNT, TBS and Discovery — which would be added to its group of TV assets like CBS, MTV and Comedy Central.The offer values the entertainment giant at $108.4 billion and represents a 139 percent premium over Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)’s September stock price of $12.54, when the bidding war began.Paramount in a statement called Netflix’s bid, which values Warner Bros. studios at nearly $83 billion, “inferior and uncertain.””WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer,” Ellison said.Netflix declined a request for comment from AFP.- ‘Far from over’ -“The Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition is far from over,” said Emarketer analyst Ross Benes.”Netflix is in the driver’s seat but there will be twists and turns before the finish line… The battle could become prolonged.”Over the decades, Warner Bros. has produced film classics including “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane,” as well as more recent blockbuster shows including “Friends,” “Game of Thrones” and the “Harry Potter” movies.Paramount argued its deal provides greater regulatory certainty than the Netflix transaction, which it said would give Netflix a 43 percent share of global streaming subscribers and face “protracted regulatory challenges across the world.”The combined company would unite Paramount’s portfolio — including Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon and streaming site Paramount+ — with WBD’s assets including HBO Max and major sports rights.Paramount said the merger would generate over $6 billion in cost savings while maintaining theatrical releases and increasing content spending.Keeping movies in theaters is a very sensitive issue for the creative industry in Hollywood.Netflix is already viewed negatively in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of the industry.Many veterans consider theatrical releases essential to cinema’s appeal and prestige, and also integral to maintaining Hollywood jobs and a vibrant economy.Warner Bros. Discovery’s share price skyrocketed by more than seven percent on Monday while shares in Netflix fell by over three percent.

The US Supreme Court appeared likely on Monday to back a bid by Donald Trump to expand presidential powers and curtail the independence of federal agencies.The case before the top court stems from the Republican president’s firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the regulatory Federal Trade Commission (FTC).Slaughter was dismissed without cause and lower courts upheld her claim that the move violated rules Congress put in place to protect the members of independent government agencies.The Trump Justice Department appealed to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court and a majority of the justices appeared to side with the administration during oral arguments on Monday.Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the administration, urged the justices to overturn a landmark 1935 ruling known as “Humphrey’s Executor” that prevented then president Franklin Roosevelt from dismissing a member of the FTC.Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, referred to “Humphrey’s Executor” as a “dried husk” during two-and-a-half hours of oral arguments and said the FTC today is significantly more powerful than it was in the 1930s.Sauer said the current situation amounts to a “power vacuum” and the president as chief executive should have the authority to remove members of the FTC and the two dozen other similarly structured independent agencies at will.”The real world consequences here are human beings exercising enormous governmental authority with a great deal of control over individuals and businesses… who ultimately do not answer to the president,” Sauer said.”We think the text of the Constitution confers the executive power, all of it, on the president.”- ‘Uncontrolled power’ -The three liberal justices on the nine-member court expressed concerns that a ruling in the president’s favor would vastly increase the powers of the executive and strip independent agencies of protections from political influence.”The result of what you want is that the president is going to have massive, unchecked, uncontrolled power,” Justice Elena Kagan told the solicitor general.”If there’s one thing we know about the founders, it’s that they wanted powers separated,” Kagan said.Justice Sonia Sotomayor, another liberal, questioned the solicitor general along the same lines.”You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that the government is better structured with some agencies that are independent,” Sotomayor said.The FTC’s primary function is to protect the American public against deceptive or unfair business practices and it has taken on Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook parent Meta over how they wield market power.The FTC consists of five commissioners, typically representing both major political parties, with a chair nominated by the president.- ‘Not in the best interests’ -Trump fired Slaughter and the other Democrat on the FTC in March, opening the door for the Republican to appoint loyalists at the agency.Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal, said it would be a mistake for the court to allow this.”Independent agencies exist because Congress has decided that some issues, some matters, some areas, should be handled in this way by non-partisan experts,” Jackson said.”Having a president come in and fire all the scientists and the doctors and the economists and the PhDs and replacing them with loyalists and people who don’t know anything is actually not in the best interests of the United States.”The Supreme Court has overwhelmingly sided with Trump since he returned to office, allowing mass firing of federal workers, the withholding of funds appropriated by Congress and racial profiling in his sweeping immigration crackdown.The court is to hear arguments next month over Trump’s bid to fire another senior official — Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.The justices blocked Trump in October from firing Cook until they could hear her case contesting her dismissal.The Supreme Court is expected to give its decision in the FTC case by the end of June.

US residents will be able to enter its national parks like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite for free on President Donald Trump’s birthday in the latest move by his administration to elevate his profile.But Americans will lose the current privilege of doing the same on two national days commemorating civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr and the end of slavery.The Trump administration says the changes, which take effect January 1, are part of the president’s push to put Americans first. The National Park Service is also increasing entrance fees for non-residents.Critics say changes to the list of what the administration calls “patriotic fee-free days” serve to promote the president while downplaying the US history of slavery and its civil rights struggle.In 2025, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day, which falls on the third Monday of January, and Juneteenth on June 19, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated.A Department of the Interior statement said the eight free days in 2026 will include Trump’s June 14 birthday — he turns 80 next year — which also happens to be Flag Day, which marks the adoption of the US flag in 1777.Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, said that it was an insult to Martin Luther King Jr.”The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” he wrote on X.Trump, who often trumpets how his support grew among Black voters in the 2024 election, has a long history of self-promotion that is gathering steam as he approaches the end of the first year in his second term.Last week, the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace was named after him.The White House has also recently suggested naming a new stadium for the Washington Commanders NFL team after Trump, and some Republican lawmakers even support putting his face on the $100 bill.The United States has 63 national parks, which are congressionally designated protected areas under government control. Last year, more than 330 million people visited.From 2026, the cost of an annual entry pass will be $80 for US residents and $250 for nonresidents. Nonresidents without a pass will have to pay $100 per person to enter 11 of the most visited parks in addition to the standard entrance fee.

Boeing announced Monday that it completed an acquisition of aerospace supplier Spirit AeroSystems, saying the move will allow for more seamless operations and enhance quality control.Closure of the deal, first announced in July 2024, comes at a “pivotal” moment for the aviation giant, said Boeing Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg. The deal is worth $8.3 billion, including Spirit debt assumed by Boeing.”As we welcome our new teammates and bring our two companies together, our focus is on maintaining stability so we can continue delivering high quality airplanes, differentiated services, and advanced defense capabilities for our customers and the industry,” Ortberg said.Wichita, Kansas-based Spirit manufactures fuselages for commercial planes, as well as key parts for defense and space projects.The deal’s closure follows antitrust approvals in the United States and Europe that included the sale to Airbus of all Spirit’s businesses that currently supply the European aerospace group — Boeing’s main competitor.The transaction restores Spirit to Boeing about two decades after Boeing sold the assets in a move executives said would lower procurement costs and enhance Boeing’s focus on “large-scale systems integration,” which Boeing saw at the time as a strategic priority.But Boeing has stumbled badly in recent years, first with pair of fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 caused in part by a flawed flight stabilizing feature, then by a January 2024 incident in which an Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a window on a 737 MAX blew out.Since the Alaska Airlines incident, Boeing has tightened quality control practices under close scrutiny from US air safety officials and replaced key leaders, including the CEO and head of commercial aviation.Boeing Commercial head Stephanie Pope described a gradual integration in a letter to the two companies’ commercial aviation employees that emphasized the need for teamwork to produce some 6,000 planes through the early 2030s.”As we start this next chapter, I encourage you to keep an open mind, support your teammates, and give each other grace,” Pope said. “While our teams did extensive work to prepare for this transition, it is not easy to integrate two companies, multiple sites and more than 15,000 teammates.”While the deal means that Spirit Defense will be part of Boeing for financial reporting purposes, the unit will have independent governance and operations. Such a structure is employed in defense, where suppliers serve multiple clients that are sometimes partners and sometimes competitors.The structure “preserves and protects Spirit Defense’s ability to perform work for any defense or space prime, including Boeing and its competitors, by implementing strict operational boundaries -– or ‘firewalls’ -– that ensures the protection of competitive information and avoids conflicts of interest,” said a Boeing spokesman.Shares of Boeing rose 1.9 percent in mid-morning trading.

President Donald Trump said Monday he will attempt to strip states of the right to regulate the surging AI industry, arguing centralized rulemaking is vital to maintain US dominance.”There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI,” he posted on his Truth Social platform, announcing an executive order that would seek to prevent state-level regulation.Trump has made a major play to position the United States at the head of the global race to build and control AI tools predicted to transform everything from the way the economy works to military technology.However, the White House is running up against deep skepticism in Congress and within his own MAGA movement, where many voices are wary of the technology’s potential economic and social harms.They point to polls that show increasing concern about AI, especially among young people who are nervous about getting or keeping a job.Figures within his own MAGA movement, such as strategy guru Steve Bannon, complain of Trump’s closer ties to Big Tech that put the president out of touch with his political base.The announcement that he will sign an executive order centralizing AI regulation comes after Congress has twice refused to vote for allowing the overriding of state-level laws on AI.”We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS,” Trump wrote in his post.”THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY! I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week.”The order is likely to stir more political opposition and legal challenges even if no details are yet known about what it would say.A draft order seen by The Hill last month would have created a task force dedicated to challenging state AI laws and restricted certain broadband funding for states with AI laws deemed overly burdensome.The idea to stop states going their own way has been advanced by Trump’s AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, a Silicon Valley insider, with the support of AI’s biggest players, including OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.”State by state AI regulation would drag this industry to a halt, and it would create a national security concern as we need to make sure that United States advances AI technology as quickly as possible,” Huang told reporters during a visit to US Congress last week.Industry bosses complain that there are more than 1,000 AI-related bills currently moving through state legislatures.”How do you cope with those varied regulations (and)compete with countries like China, which are moving fast in this technology?” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told “Fox News Sunday.”

Here are the nominees in key categories for the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, which will be handed out on January 11.”One Battle After Another” leads all contenders with nine nods, followed by “Sentimental Value” with eight and “Sinners” with seven.- FILM -Best film, drama”Frankenstein””Hamnet””It Was Just An Accident””The Secret Agent””Sentimental Value””Sinners”Best film, musical or comedy”Blue Moon””Bugonia””Marty Supreme””No Other Choice””Nouvelle Vague””One Battle After Another”Best male actor, dramaJoel Edgerton, “Train Dreams”Oscar Isaac, “Frankenstein”Dwayne Johnson, “The Smashing Machine”Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”Jeremy Allen White, “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”Best female actor, dramaJessie Buckley, “Hamnet”Jennifer Lawrence, “Die, My Love”Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”Julia Roberts, “After the Hunt”Tessa Thompson, “Hedda”Eva Victor, “Sorry, Baby”Best male actor, musical or comedyTimothee Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”George Clooney, “Jay Kelly”Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”Lee Byung-hun, “No Other Choice”Jesse Plemons, “Bugonia”Best female actor, musical or comedyRose Byrne, “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You”Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked: For Good”Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another”Amanda Seyfried, “The Testament of Ann Lee”Emma Stone, “Bugonia”Best supporting actorBenicio Del Toro, “One Battle After Another”Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”Paul Mescal, “Hamnet”Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”Adam Sandler, “Jay Kelly”Stellan Skarsgard, “Sentimental Value”Best supporting actressEmily Blunt, “The Smashing Machine”Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”Ariana Grande, “Wicked: For Good”Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”Amy Madigan, “Weapons”Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”Best directorPaul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”Guillermo Del Toro, “Frankenstein”Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just An Accident”Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”Chloe Zhao, “Hamnet”Best non-English language film”It Was Just An Accident” (France)”No Other Choice” (South Korea)”The Secret Agent” (Brazil)”Sentimental Value” (Norway)”Sirat” (Spain)”The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Tunisia)Best cinematic and box office achievement:”Avatar: Fire and Ash””F1″”KPop Demon Hunters””Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning””Sinners””Weapons””Wicked: For Good””Zootopia 2″Best animated feature”Arco””Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — Infinity Castle””Elio””KPop Demon Hunters””Little Amelie or the Character of Rain””Zootopia 2″- TELEVISION -Best drama series”The Diplomat””The Pitt””Pluribus””Severance””Slow Horses””The White Lotus”Best male actor, dramaSterling K. Brown, “Paradise”Diego Luna, “Andor”Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”Mark Ruffalo, “Task”Adam Scott, “Severance”Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”Best female actor, drama Kathy Bates, “Matlock”Britt Lower, “Severance”Helen Mirren, “Mobland”Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus”Best musical or comedy series”Abbott Elementary””The Bear””Hacks””Nobody Wants This””Only Murders in the Building””The Studio”Best male actor, musical or comedyAdam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”Glen Powell, “Chad Powers”Seth Rogen, “The Studio”Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”Best female actor, musical or comedy Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building”Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday”Jean Smart, “Hacks”Best limited series or TV movie”Adolescence””All Her Fault””The Beast in Me””Black Mirror””Dying for Sex””The Girlfriend”Best male actor, limited series or TV movie Jacob Elordi, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”Paul Giamatti, “Black Mirror”Stephen Graham, “Adolescence”Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”Jude Law, “Black Rabbit”Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me”Best female actor, limited series or TV movie Claire Danes, “The Beast in Me”Rashida Jones, “Black Mirror”Amanda Seyfried, “Long Bright River”Sarah Snook, “All Her Fault”Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”Robin Wright, “The Girlfriend”- FILMS WITH MOST NOMINATIONS -“One Battle After Another” – 9″Sentimental Value” – 8″Sinners” – 7″Hamnet” – 6″Frankenstein” – 5″Wicked: For Good” – 5

Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged “One Battle After Another” leads the nominations for the Golden Globes with nine, organizers announced Monday, as the race to the Oscars kicked into high gear.Norwegian family dramedy “Sentimental Value” was second with eight, followed by period horror movie “Sinners” with seven and Shakespeare family drama “Hamnet” with six.”Wicked: For Good” ended up with five nominations — a disappointing showing for the smash hit musical, which failed to secure a nod for best musical/comedy.The Globes, set for January 11, are widely seen as a bellwether for the Academy Awards.The Golden Globes offer separate awards for dramas and comedies/musicals — widening the field of stars who could walk the red carpet, and fueling the suspense. “One Battle After Another,” which centers on an aging revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his teenage daughter (Chase Infiniti), leads the contenders in the comedy/musical categories.The film is a rollicking ride featuring leftist radical violence, immigration raids and white supremacists.It won a pile of nominations, including best comedy/musical picture, best director and five acting nods: DiCaprio, Infiniti, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Teyana Taylor.”Sentimental Value,” a moving story of a fractured family, won nominations for Swedish legend Stellan Skarsgard and co-star Renate Reinsve. It is one of several foreign language films to gain traction in the main categories, along with Brazil’s “The Secret Agent” and South Korea’s “No Other Choice.””Wicked: For Good” — the blockbuster conclusion of the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical — won nominations for Ariana Grande, as the bubbly pink-clad Glinda, and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo, as the green-skinned Elphaba.It also earned two nods for best original song, but failed to make the best picture short list.Variety chief awards editor Clayton Davis predicted before Monday’s announcement that the best actress categories for the Globes would be a “Murderers’ Row” of worthy candidates — and indeed, they are.The women up for comedy-musical lead acting honors include Oscar winner Emma Stone (“Bugonia”), Erivo, Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You”), Kate Hudson (“Song Sung Blue”), Amanda Seyfried (“The Testament of Ann Lee”) and newcomer Infiniti.On the drama side, past Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence (“Die, My Love”) and Julia Roberts (“After the Hunt”) will do battle with Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”), Reinsve, Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”) and Eva Victor (“Sorry, Baby”).Each main category will have six nominees, not five as in past years. – ‘Sentimental Value,’ ‘Sinners’ lead dramas -On the drama side, beyond the leader “Sentimental Value,” the top contenders all delve into the past. “Sinners,” from “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler, stars Michael B. Jordan as twins in the criminal underworld who encounter a sinister force as they return home to racially segregated Mississippi in the 1930s.The film was a runaway box office success, and both Coogler and Jordan secured nominations. It led the nods for the Critics Choice Awards on Friday with 17.”It has so much going for it — it’s a big moneymaker, it was a culturally significant hit,” explained Davis.”Hamnet,” from Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao, stars Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare, who tries to forge a career as a playwright while his wife Agnes — played by Buckley — contends with the perils of plague and childbirth in Elizabethan England.Both stars earned nominations, along with Zhao.Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of “Frankenstein” earned five nominations including one for Jacob Elordi as the iconic monster.Oscar nominations are due on January 22, so the picks for the Globes will begin to map the road to the Academy Awards. The Globes also honor the best in television, with HBO’s black comedy anthology “The White Lotus,” sci-fi office thriller “Severance” and searing teen murder saga “Adolescence” leading the contenders.Last year’s Globes gala hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser was a hit with audiences, with more than 10 million tuning in.Glaser will return as host of the January 11 gala in Beverly Hills.

Meta will allow European users of Facebook and Instagram to share less data and see fewer personalised ads after it was fined for breaking EU digital rules, Brussels said Monday.The European commission said the US tech giant undertook to make the option available from January to settle a legal dispute over its “pay or consent” system that saw it hit with a 200-million-euro ($233 million) fine.”Meta will give users the effective choice between: consenting to share all their data and seeing fully personalised advertising, and opting to share less personal data for an experience with more limited personalised advertising,” the commission said.It was the “first time” that such a choice was offered on Meta’s social networks, the body that acts as the 27-nation bloc’s digital and antitrust regulator said.The move followed talks with the company, which was found in breach of digital competition rules over its “pay for privacy” system earlier this year. Under the system, which has been vehemently criticised by rights groups, users have to pay to avoid data collection, or agree to share their data with Facebook and Instagram to keep using the platforms for free.A commission probe concluded in April that Meta did not provide users with a less personalised but equivalent version of the platforms.Meta was fined and warned it could face daily penalties under the landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA) unless it complied with the law.The company had started giving European users the possibility of seeing less personalised ads already in November last year. But this did not spare it the fine. A commission spokesman declined to detail how the new offering improved on that but added that while the firm’s undertaking did not automatically close the case against it, it represented a “very good step forward” and “positive news” for EU consumers. Brussels would now monitor its “effective implementation” and “seek feedback and evidence from Meta and other relevant stakeholders on the impact and uptake of this new ad model”.Acknowledging the commission’s statement, Meta said: “Personalized ads are vital for Europe’s economy—last year, Meta’s ads were linked to €213 billion in economic activity and supported 1.44 million jobs across the EU.” 

US President Donald Trump took center stage on Sunday as host of the storied Kennedy Center’s flagship awards program, praising select entertainers and his own forceful overhaul of the storied arts venue.The Kennedy Center Honors highlight prestige in the arts, and this year’s honorees included “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, country singer George Strait, disco legend Gloria Gaynor and rock band KISS.Since returning to office in January, the 79-year-old Republican president has declared war on what he calls “woke” viewpoints and the nation’s cultural institutions, including the Smithsonian, which have made significant efforts to highlight more diverse talents in recent years.”Each of these honorees has a story of success and triumph that would only have happened in the United States,” Trump told the audience, which included Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, US Attorney General Pam Bondi and other top members of his administration.While Trump’s predecessors were content to attend the show and watch musical performances and speeches from the presidential box, the former reality host donned a tuxedo and seized the opportunity to be on stage with the stars.”This is the greatest evening in the history of the Kennedy Center,” Trump said, telling the audience that he had toured the renovations he has initiated. “This place is hot.”The Kennedy Center, a living monument to the late former president and civil rights advocate John F. Kennedy, opened in 1971 and has long enjoyed bipartisan support. The awards started being given in 1978.Trump appointed himself board chairman for the Kennedy Center in February, and has taken to renovating the stately white marble complex overlooking the Potomac River in Washington.The show is scheduled to broadcast on CBS December 23, and Trump told the audience, while the taping was still in progress, “the show is already getting rave reviews.”- No-show to center stage -The president may be attempting to get ahead of criticism that this year’s stars were of a lower wattage than honorees of years past — which have included Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Aretha Franklin, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Placido Domingo and other world-class stars. During Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, the Republican president boycotted these evenings, because artists declared they didn’t wish to meet him based on his policies.This time many of the selected honorees are also Trump supporters or Republicans.Sylvester Stallone, 79, best known for the “Rocky” films, is an outspoken supporter of the president, who in turn named Stallone an “ambassador” to overwhelmingly Democratic Hollywood.MAGA donor and disco singer Gloria Gaynor, 82, was honored for her genre-defining hit and karaoke mainstay “I Will Survive,” among other songs.Country music’s George Strait, 73, and glam rock band KISS were also honored — without guitarist Ace Frehley, who passed away in October aged 74.British actor Michael Crawford, 83, known for his role in the musical “The Phantom of the Opera” was also honored — in a genre Trump has said he is fond of.Past Kennedy Center honorees were outfitted with a rainbow-colored ribbon collar, but that was deemed vulgar by the current White House. This year’s honorees received a redesigned gold medallion from jeweler Tiffany and Co., owned by the French group LVMH, which “hangs from a navy-blue ribbon, a color associated with dignity and tradition,” the Kennedy Center said in a statement. The Trump administration’s new loyalist leadership of the Kennedy Center has also ended drag shows and events celebrating the LGBTQ community.Media reports indicate ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have declined since the president and his associates took over.