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Older buildings, substandard construction and geography left many neighborhoods in Venezuela vulnerable to strong earthquakes like the ones that struck the country this week.

Engineers and other experts said the back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday were among the most intense to hit the country in more than a century, leveling buildings and leaving more than 900 dead with the number expected to rise. Videos and satellite imagery from the disaster zone reviewed by The Associated Press reveal scores of multistory buildings had collapsed.

Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab analyzed satellite imagery of Catia La Mar in La Guaira state, one of the hardest hit cities along the Caribbean coast. Using AI-based damage assessment models, Microsoft determined that about a third of the city’s nearly 30,000 structures were damaged.

Among the factors that left so many structures at risk: Some housing complexes in northern Venezuela were constructed quickly during recent oil booms, and builders may not have adhered to best practices that mitigate the risks of serious seismic activity, according to experts.

Engineers said that older housing erected in the 1950s and 1960s — before modern earthquake standards were adopted — may not have been retrofitted to survive such violent shaking. And many buildings were constructed on geography and soft soils that compound the danger of the earthquakes, the experts said.

David Cocke, a structural engineer in California and former president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, said that a combination of soft soils, tall towers and older concrete structures contributed to the widespread damage, particularly when buildings pancaked, or collapsed floor-by-floor.

“They just don’t have the more modern reinforcing steel connections that we put in those kinds of buildings today,” said Cocke.

Since the 1970s, engineers have known that concrete buildings are particularly susceptible to earthquakes and seek to reinforce new construction with steel. While many rich nations have forced property owners to retrofit or tear down dangerous buildings, many poorer or middle income countries have lagged in enforcing upgrades as they battled more immediate woes.

“Some of the more advanced countries like Japan and New Zealand and the U.S. have made those changes, but some of the other countries have not,” Cocke said. “It’s a very typical kind of construction all over the world.”

Other experts noted that a number of buildings that collapsed also had non-structural walls comprised of heavy bricks, or they had “soft stories” in which their ground floors consisted of garages or similar open spaces. Such construction increases the risk of pancaking, they said.

“Soft stories are a huge problem everywhere in the world,” said Eduardo Miranda, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. “And in Venezuela, they are particularly prevalent, and if you combine softer soils with a soft story, buildings can collapse.”

Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil, said the destruction in Venezuela was compounded by the back-to-back quakes, known as a doublet. A similar incident took place in Turkey and Syria in 2023, killing almost 60,000 people.

“It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too,” Ferreira said. “That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard.”

Venezuelan government officials took steps following a deadly 1967 quake to update building codes. But it is unclear how many buildings were retrofitted to comply with those rules.

In late 1999, former President Hugo Chávez’s first year in office, floods and landslides destroyed housing, including in coastal northern Venezuela. The government went on a building spree to replaced the demolished structures and to house so many displaced people, said Juan Carlos Vielma, a Venezuelan civil engineer who is head of academic affairs of the civil engineering school at Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile.

Some of the newer buildings appear to also have collapsed.

“Something that leaves me perplexed is the fact that, among the collapsed buildings, more than one was recently designed and built in accordance with current standards,” Vielma said. “We need to embark on a process not only of reconstruction, but also of reviewing the applicable standards, since something might have gone wrong within our engineering processes, too.”

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AP writer Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.

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PARIS/CANNES, France, June 27 (Reuters) – Shuttling across the French and Italian Riviera, Orient Express’s first giant yacht aims to attract a new class of billionaire.

Orient Express, now a joint venture between French hotelier Accor and Louis Vuitton owner LVMH, set out to revive the 19th century travel brand. Its recently launched yacht is the first of two that will target the ultra-rich, adding to a portfolio of luxury hotels and a yet-to-launch historic art deco train. 

Accor, the operational leader of Orient Express, expects a new pool of billionaires produced by the AI boom will help the venture accelerate its push into luxury experiences, Accor’s Chief Executive Sebastien Bazin told Reuters. 

“When you are getting rich, very rich, money hasn’t got the same meaning,” Bazin said. “The only thing that has a meaning is recognition. Have you become someone?”  

Spending on high-end experiences is set to grow by 9-11% this year, far outpacing the 1-4% growth forecast for personal luxury goods, a Bain study published on Thursday showed.

The trend is boosted by a tech boom in the United States and elsewhere, leading to a larger number of so-called ultra-high net worth individuals using private jets, yachts and increasingly flocking to mega-events like Formula One racing. 

“When people are very rich and they have seven homes, and 12 cars, and 17 watches… they still have a bucket list of things they promised themselves to do before dying. It’s not to have an 18th watch,” Bazin said in an interview with Reuters this week.

Bazin confirmed Accor and luxury giant LVMH have reciprocal options to buy each other out in the coming years, providing the clearest insight yet into a partnership aimed at capturing the booming market for experiences as the luxury goods industry grapples with weak growth for products like handbags, fashions and watches. 

Neither LVMH nor Accor have so far disclosed the unit’s operating profit or enterprise value. Orient Express’s high-end assets are estimated to be worth about 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion).

GUERLAIN BEAUTY SALON, COGNAC IN THE PENTHOUSE 

Should either side decide to exercise the buyout option, an acquisition by LVMH appears more likely. 

Accor is under pressure from shareholders to ramp up returns as its traditional business with hotel chains like Ibis and Novotel has been flat for years.

For LVMH, a sprawling luxury behemoth with over 10 times Accor’s sales and a huge war chest for acquisitions, the venture could become a key pillar as consumer trends shift.

Orient Express’s first giant yacht has so far been banking on mega-events like the Cannes film festival and Formula One race in Monaco as a playing field for its clients to signal social status. 

“If you’ve been to a Monaco Formula One, if you want to go around, you need badges everywhere. Certain people would have certain badges,” said Estelle Dinh, a professor at Switzerland-based hospitality school Gilon and industry advisor. 

For a four-day cruise, suites on deck start at around €25,000. 

The vessel heavily features LVMH brands, from a Guerlain beauty salon to bottles of Hennessy cognac prominently displayed in its priciest penthouse suites.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s last horse racing track, where Seabiscuit, Man O’ War, Secretariat and other legendary thoroughbreds graced the winner’s circle during the sport’s heyday, is on its final stretch.

After more than 130 years, the once grand Aqueduct track is set to run its last live races this weekend. The final race, appropriately titled, “It Was a Good Run,” is posted for Sunday at 5:44 p.m.

The track, located next to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, will remain open for betting on televised races — known as simulcasting — through Sept. 7.

“There’s a lot of history here. Just so many good horses,” said David Donk, a veteran horse trainer, in between afternoon races at Aqueduct earlier this month. “It’s had its use. But, you know, times change. Everything changes in life.”

The end of the “Big A” comes amid increased competition for gambling dollars. Slot parlors, casinos, state lotteries and, more recently, legalized online and sports betting have all steadily eroded the allure of what once was dubbed the “sport of kings.”

There are roughly 75 thoroughbred tracks nationwide, compared to the more than 300 facilities offering some form of horse racing during the sport’s Gilded Age peak in the late 1800s, according to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, an industry trade group.

Among the other major tracks that have closed in recent years are Arlington Park in Illinois, which was purchased by NFL’s Chicago Bears for a potential new stadium, and Golden Gate Fields in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“For over 100 years, thoroughbred racing was one of very few sports outlets you could legally bet on,” said Tom Rooney, the association’s president. “With the expansion of sports gambling, our sport will naturally condense and coalesce around a more pragmatic number of marquee tracks and locations, similar to other sports.”

Indeed, a large chunk of Aqueduct’s hulking site, where a crowd of 75,000 celebrated Mass with Pope John Paul II in 1995, has for years been home to a Resorts World casino. The gambling hall began offering live table games like blackjack, poker and craps earlier this year after winning a lucrative state license to operate a Las Vegas-style resort, and has plans for a glitzy, multibillion dollar expansion.

Some 9 miles (14 kilometers) east, just over the city line on suburban Long Island, the famed Belmont Park racetrack — home to the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes — is set to reopen in September after a roughly $550 million renovation. State funding for that project was contingent on the New York Racing Association, which operates the tracks, returning Aqueduct’s more than 100 acres (40 hectares) to the state for future redevelopment and consolidating thoroughbred races at Belmont and Saratoga Race Course upstate.

“We couldn’t have gotten the money to rebuild Belmont and continue to race at Aqueduct. You have to make these choices,” said Andy Serling, the track’s longtime television analyst and race handicapper. “I don’t think you’ll find anybody here that’s not gonna tell you they’re gonna miss Aqueduct, but we’re also incredibly excited to be opening this beautiful new building at Belmont.”

Originally opened in 1894, Aqueduct took its name from an old aqueduct running through the property that brought fresh water from Long Island to New York City.

It was a relatively modest operation until a dramatic reinvestment in 1959, which brought a dedicated subway stop, air-conditioned restaurants and lounges along with a roughly 35,000-seat grandstand complete with escalators, elevators and other amenities. The Associated Press, at the time, declared the transformed track “the world’s most modern and luxurious horse plant.”

Legendary Triple Crown winner Secretariat won the first race of his storied career at the track in 1972, then trotted out for a final farewell the following year.

Seattle Slew’s big win at Aqueduct in 1977 served as the final tuneup en route to sweeping the Triple Crown later that year. And in 1994, Cigar launched his historic, 16-race winning streak at Aqueduct.

Taking a break between races on a recent Friday afternoon, Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez recalled how his decorated career began at Aqueduct.

The 54-year-old native of Puerto Rico said it took weeks going up against some of the top horse riders of the time for him to win his first career race. Velazquez has since notched more than 6,700 victories and holds the most purse earnings of any jockey in North America.

“This is where I developed my craft, where I learned everything that I know,” Velazquez said after winning his first race of the day. “The years that I spent here made me the jockey that I am today.”

Inside the cavernous grandstand, longtime gambler Roy Brown reminisced how he tried getting into the business himself after one big win at the track.

The 68-year-old retiree from Queens said he hauled in around $60,000 on a “pick-six” in the late 1980s — a difficult bet in which a gambler has to pick the winning horse for six straight races.

The native of Jamaica, who had no experience in the industry outside of gambling, used some of his profits to buy two horses. But he and the thoroughbreds ended up having brief racing careers.

“It’s best to bet on them, not own them,” Brown said with a laugh. “If you’re really passionate about it, it’s your best two minutes. Nothing’s sweeter than seeing your horse coming down the stretch or coming from behind and at the wire, knowing you got it.”

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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

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NEW YORK (AP) — Saks Global, the parent company of Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, officially emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday with fewer stores, less debt, a more focused strategy to pamper the affluent — and a new name.

The company said Friday that the new entity will be called Exemplar Luxury Group, and with an improved balance sheet, including a nearly 75% debt reduction and $500 million in extra financing. Its CEO, Geoffroy van Raemdonck, said the New York-based company is ready for its next chapter after navigating several tumultuous years.

“Today is really a brand new day for the organization and a new day where these three iconic banners have the right funding, the right equity and a bright future ahead of them,” van Raemdonck told The Associated Press on Friday during a phone interview.

Van Raemdonck said that the new name signifies the company’s focus on having an exemplary shopping experience — the best merchandise, and better personalized service with customers, with help from its sales associates and the treasure trove of data it has on its customers. The company employs more than 1,500 sales associates who have sold more than $1 million of goods each, he said.

Saks Global had filed for bankruptcy protection in January of this year, buffeted by rising competition and the massive debt it took on to buy its rival in the luxury sector, Neiman Marcus, in July 2024.

Before the bankruptcy, there were 33 Saks stores and 36 Neiman Marcus locations, according to the company, as well as its Bergdorf Goodman store on Fifth Avenue and roughly 70 Saks Off 5th discount stores.

Now, there are a total of 49 stores — 15 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 33 Neiman Marcus stores and its Bergdorf Goodman store. The company shuttered most of its Saks Off Fifth discount stores, and it now has 12 outlets, the company said.

Exemplar Luxury Group said it has been teaming up with Pentwater Capital Management and Bracebridge Capital throughout its restructuring process. Both firms will have two representatives on the seven-person board. In addition, van Raemdonck as well as former Ulta Beauty CEO Dave Kimbell and Philippe Schaus, who most recently served as Global CEO of Moët Hennessy, will serve on the board, the company said.

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DALLAS (AP) — Drop thousands of Argentina fans into Texas for the World Cup and the debate is inevitable. It’s not about who has the best team or whether Lionel Messi is the best player at the tournament. It’s about who produces the best, most succulent steaks, and how to prepare the meat.

That’s right: There’s a beef about beef between two of the top cattle-raising areas of the world, where steak is deeply ingrained in diet and culture. Texas ranks No. 1 in the United States in beef production and the U.S. is second only to Brazil globally, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Argentina ranks sixth.

It’s a high-steaks question: Who does do it best?

“Argentine beef is simply unbeatable. The savory texture, the style of the cut — there is no competing with it,” said Carlos Eduardo Barahona, 64, an Argentine chef who’s lived in Texas since 1998.

From the cheapest cuts to the most expensive, Argentina is tops, asserts Barahona, who has worked in restaurants across Argentina, Uruguay, and Texas.

“You can make an (Argentine) asado with the cheapest cut in our country and you will enjoy it. Here, you can use the best meat, like tenderloin, and depending on its source, it can turn out tough, inedible or tender. But our beef has a completely different flavor profile,” Barahona said.

Argentine beef cattle is mostly grass-fed on open pastures, taking longer to reach the point it is ready for market. The result is leaner meat with intense earthy flavors.

Predominantly grain-fed beef in Texas and the U.S. will have more marbling — the streaks of intramuscular fat that act as internal baster and make the meat juicy and tender — and a sweeter flavor.

“There’s no better beef than U.S. beef, particularly Texas beef,” said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

But Argentine beef is very good too, Miller said. Thanks to Texas.

Miller said his agency opened a marketing office more than a decade ago to connect Texas’ cattle raisers with ranchers in South America, notably in Argentina.

“I don’t want to disparage our friends in Argentina, but we have helped them improve,” he said.

“Their genetics were lacking. We do have them up to pretty high quality. We sold them a lot of semen, embryos, and breeding stock,” Miller added.

Miller congratulated Argentine farmers on improving the quality of their cows.

“Their herds have American genetics in them, so they should be good,” Miller said.

Argentine fan Gonzalo Herrera browsed packaged meat at a Walmart in Arlington, Texas, after watching Messi score two goals in a win over Austria. He shrugged at the whose-beef-is-better debate.

“Honestly, I don’t see a massive difference,” Herrera said as he packed four T-bone steaks into his shopping cart.

“The key is knowing exactly which cuts to buy and finding the equivalent of what we eat in Argentina,” he said, shaking his head at the $45 price.

“Prices are higher here,” Herrera said.

The beef banter just as easily boils down to recipes and preferences in style and thickness of cuts. It’s a matter of taste, quite literally, when it comes to seasoning, searing, smoking, butter, pepper, sauces and so forth.

At Corrientes 348 Argentinian Steakhouse in Dallas, steaks are prepared with just salt and mesquite charcoal, said assistant manager Emmanuel Tobon.

“There’s a big difference. Texans use a lot of pepper, they use butter, they use a little barbecue (sauce),” Tobon said. “(Argentines) like to bring all the flavor of the steak by only using salt.”

Argentina still has at least one more match to play in Dallas, on Saturday. Fans of the Albiceleste have been packing the restaurant, seeking a quick taste of home during the World Cup.

“They have been enjoying the Texas culture,” Tobon said. “(But) it has been a great pleasure to have all of them, to make them feel like home.”

Argentines are fiercely proud of their steak culture, recipes that have been passed down for generations, and the “sacred” work of the grill master at large family meals, he said.

For Fernando Garcia Morillo, an Argentine from Buenos Aires who now lives near Miami, the meat from both countries is great. But he longs for the traditions of home whenever he orders steak in the U.S.

“I order just salt, no pepper, just plain,” Morillo said. “Sometimes they use a lot of sauce.”

He dismissed any notion of a beef between the U.S and Argentina.

“Maybe there’s a rivalry as usual against Brazil, our neighbor,” he said. “I love the U.S. meat.”

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Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

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By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund’s chief economist on Friday said Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s plan to reduce forward rate guidance on monetary policy was “entirely appropriate,” although central banks would always need to provide some long-term guidance for markets.

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, who leaves his post to return to academic life next week, said strong forward guidance had gotten “really bad press” because it committed central banks to some future action, regardless of economic developments.

“That is something that is not tenable, of course,” Gourinchas told Reuters in an interview, adding that such rigid guidance had proven to be very costly when U.S. inflation surged in 2021 and 2022 but the Fed did not act quickly because it had earlier promised to keep rates steady.

“So I think moving away from these strong forms of forward guidance is entirely appropriate. Saying there is no forward guidance, I don’t think that is actually the case ever. You do it explicitly, or implicitly, the market is going to form a view,” he said.

Warsh, who took over as Fed chief last month, has launched an ambitious review that could reshape how the central bank makes decisions and communicates with the public. In his first policy meeting as chair, he organized a unanimous consensus around a stripped-down policy statement that jettisoned any forward guidance on what actions the central bank might take in the near term.

Gourinchas’ comments were the first by a senior IMF official on the Fed’s new approach. They followed years of entreaties by the global lender that central banks be transparent about their monetary policy plans to ensure that inflation expectations remained anchored.

Gourinchas said the IMF had seen some other central banks moving in the same direction, although many were still under inflation targeting regimes, which were aimed at managing inflation one or two years into the future.

“You need to provide some amount of guidance, so that the market will form some views about what the long-term rates are going to be, and that actually is what’s going to have an influence on the conditions,” he said.

Even if central bankers were not explicitly stating their expectations, they would respond and correct market expectations if they deviated too much, he said. “If that view somehow is not the one that you want to communicate, central banks will communicate differently, and they will try to guide where they want it to be,” he said.

Gourinchas noted that markets, businesses and banks were always looking for clues to guide their investments, set mortgage rates and plan for the future, a push that went beyond the regular meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee to set interest rates.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday threatened a 100% tax on imports from any country that imposes a tax on digital services from United States companies.

In a post on social media, Trump took aim at European countries that he said are discussing “imminent” implementation of taxes on American companies. The U.S. president has repeatedly sought to use tariffs as way to deter such taxes, but many countries are looking for revenues as their economies increasingly operate in digital realms that are dominated by American companies.

“Please let this statement serve to represent that any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America,” Trump wrote.

He added that the new tax would supersede any previously negotiated trade deals. Trump said the penalty would apply to any country that moves forward with such a tax, but he singled out European nations in his post.

The move could lead to a larger showdown that could increase prices and hinder economic growth, possibly setting off a larger trade war if the 27-member European Union was compelled to retaliate.

“Unilateral measures targeting such legitimate policies are unjustified. If pursued, the EU will respond swiftly and decisively to defend its rights and regulatory autonomy,” said Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Commission on Friday.

He defended taxation on technology companies as “non-discriminatory” and applied equally to “all large companies, regardless of their origin.”

Trump has repeatedly pushed against foreign efforts to tax or regulate American tech giants. Last year, he threatened new tariffs on any country that moved to do so. A post from last August said that digital taxes and regulation “are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology.”

The threat comes ahead of Trump’s July 4 deadline for the European Union and the United States to start implementing a tariff deal that caps tariffs on most EU exports at 15%.

The European Union in May finalized a trade deal with the United States that caps most tariffs on EU exports at 15%. The deal followed months of debate within the EU after European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen tentatively struck the deal last year while visiting Trump’s golf course in Scotland.

Digital taxes were not part of the agreement and have remained a sticking point between the U.S. and the European bloc.

The U.S. government has previously conducted tariff investigations into digital services taxes under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. But it was unclear how Trump would carry out his threat and whether he would apply the tariffs broadly or initially target certain nations.

Britain, which is no longer part of the EU, has since 2020 levied a 2% digital services tax on revenues earned by search engines, social media sites and online marketplaces that “derive value” from U.K. users.

The British government said in a policy document at the time that corporate tax rules for digital businesses had “led to a misalignment between the place where profits are taxed and the place where value is created.”

The U.K. tax includes thresholds, so mainly large international companies will pay it. The tax was designed to “ensure the large multinational businesses in-scope make a fair contribution to supporting vital public services,” the document said.

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AP reporters Sam McNeil in Brussels and Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.

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ChatGPT maker OpenAI said Friday it is restricting the release of its new artificial intelligence model at the request of President Donald Trump’s administration, the latest in an unprecedented government vetting of AI products that could pose cybersecurity risks.

OpenAI said its new AI product, called GPT-5.6 Sol, would only be available for now to a “small group of trusted partners” approved by the Trump administration.

“We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default,” OpenAI said in a statement. The company said it viewed the testing period as a temporary step on the “path to broader availability in the coming weeks.”

OpenAI’s staggered release of a powerful new AI system follows actions the government took earlier this month against OpenAI rival Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot. Anthropic took offline two new AI models, known as Fable 5 and Mythos 5, just days after unveiling them to comply with a Trump directive blocking their use by foreign nationals.

The White House said Friday it continues to collaborate with frontier AI labs on addressing the challenges of scaling the fast-growing technology.

Officials have grown increasingly concerned since Anthropic warned earlier this year that its Mythos model was adept at finding software flaws in a way that could be weaponized by malicious hackers and threaten critical computer networks around the world.

Trump earlier in June signed an executive order on AI oversight that established a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to 30 days before their public release. The order described participation by AI developers as voluntary but the framework has not yet been fully developed.

Some of Trump’s allies have laid blame on San Francisco-based Anthropic and CEO Dario Amodei for the need for heightened government scrutiny.

“Dario came to Washington a few months ago, back in April, and basically said that he had created a cyber weapon called Mythos,” said investor David Sacks, who co-leads Trump’s council of technology and science advisers, on a recent podcast. “And he spiked the cortisol level, got everyone really worried. And there was some truth to it in terms of the sense that this model had advanced cyber capabilities.”

OpenAI, also based in San Francisco, said its new Sol model (pronounced ‘SOHL’ like the Spanish word for sun) “is better at helping people find and fix vulnerabilities” than it is at carrying out cyberattacks and does not cross the company’s own risk threshold. But it acknowledged there could be unforeseen risks especially if its model is combined with other tools.

“That uncertainty, along with the model’s broader step change in capabilities, is why we are pairing the model’s increased capabilities with stronger safeguards and a phased release,” the company said Friday.

OpenAI hasn’t named any of the roughly 20 customers that have been approved to use the new model so far.

U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, a Massachusetts Democrat and co-author of a bipartisan bill that would regulate AI, said in a statement that she is concerned “the Trump administration is deciding company by company who gets access to the newest AI model. No law. No process. No oversight. Just appointees in Washington deciding who’s in and who’s out.”

A broad group of technology experts has also criticized the government’s actions that led Anthropic to shut down Fable, which the company had pitched as a safer version of Mythos. It’s now been unavailable for two weeks.

“I just want to say that pretty much nobody in the cybersecurity industry believes that there’s any factual basis for this action,” Stanford University cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos said on a call with reporters earlier this week.

Stamos, the chief product officer at AI security company Corridor and a former chief security officer at Facebook parent Meta, said he reviewed an analysis of research on Fable by Anthropic’s primary cloud computing backer, Amazon, and didn’t find any risks that aren’t present with other publicly available AI models, including those made in China.

“If the administration is honest about wanting the United States to beat China in this race, then this is about the dumbest thing they could possibly do,” Stamos said.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the model release Wednesday, part of a series of negotiations in recent weeks between AI industry executives and Trump officials.

Anthropic has also been part of those talks but Amodei has had a more contentious relationship with the Trump administration. The Pentagon designated Anthropic as a national security risk for raising ethical and safety concerns about AI usage in war, and Trump himself ordered federal agencies to stop using Claude. Anthropic responded with a lawsuit that is still working its way through federal courts.

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June 26 (Reuters) – Auto giant Volkswagen’s potential plan to shutter four German factories and ramp up job cuts to as many as 100,000 could be the biggest ever overhaul in the industry.

The carmaker faces mounting pressure from Chinese rivals, stiff tariffs on car imports into the United States, as well as dwindling demand in Europe, which the company has said makes its business model unsustainable.

Here are some of the biggest workforce cuts ever announced by global automakers:

General Motors, December 1991

Laid off: 74,000

General Motors unveiled a plan to cut 74,000 jobs and close 21 plants as the auto industry struggled with staggering losses amid weak demand and more competition from Japanese carmakers.

General Motors, 2006-2009

Laid off: 60,500

Between 2006 and 2009, the automaker slashed 60,500 factory jobs, half of its factory work force.

The company also planned to cut 20% of its white-collar workforce, but did not provide absolute figures. Its salaried employees count stood at 110,000 in December 2005.

General Motors, February 2009

Laid off: 47,000

General Motors said it would cut 47,000 jobs over the year as part of a restructuring program in which the automaker also said it would need $30 billion in taxpayer funding to survive.

Ford Motor, January 2002

Laid Off: 35,000

In 2002, Ford said it would cut 35,000 jobs worldwide, close five North American plants and slash its production capacity by 16% as part of a sweeping restructuring plan.

Volkswagen, January 1993

Laid Off: 30,000

Volkswagen said it would cut 30,000 jobs in plants worldwide by the end of 1994, as part of a plan set by its four marques, VW, Audi, SEAT SA and Skoda.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Arpan Varghese and Devika Syamnath)

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By Shariq Khan

NEW YORK, June 26 (Reuters) – The U.S. diesel futures crack spread, a measure of profitability for refiners, hit a three-week high as analysts said supply tightness for the product is set to persist even after a preliminary deal was reached to end the Iran war.

The crack spread, calculated as the difference between the price of U.S. ultra-low sulfur diesel futures and U.S. crude oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures, settled at $62.84 a barrel on Thursday, the highest since June 3, LSEG data showed.

Resilient diesel refining economics reflect a cautious approach to fuel markets by traders wary of being caught offside if tensions flare up again in the Middle East. Diesel markets have been among those hit hardest by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as the waterway is critical to global supplies of both the fuel and Middle Eastern crude grades well suited for its production.

“It is pretty clear at the moment that oil market tightness is concentrated in products rather than crude, so it is probably a safer way to play upside,” said Rory Johnston, founder of the Commodity Context newsletter.

Johnston added that Russian fuel exports are very low due to damage to refineries there from Ukrainian drone attacks, adding to supply tightness in the diesel market.

DIESEL MOST SENSITIVE TO MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT

To be sure, the diesel crack spread, similar to the broader oil market, has dropped sharply in recent weeks due to progress in U.S. negotiations with Iran to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. At its peak in March — the first month of the Iran war — the U.S. diesel futures crack spread was above $90 a barrel, and even higher in physical markets.

However, the decline in diesel prices and crack spreads has been much softer than crude oil. Since the start of this month, WTI futures have slumped about 22%, while ULSD futures have dropped just over 9%.

Meanwhile, even as a number of stranded ships have exited the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, tensions remain heightened after a container ship was hit near Oman on Thursday and the United Nations paused its efforts to shepherd vessels and seafarers through the waterway.

Diesel inventories are the tightest among all refined products, making the fuel most sensitive to developments in the Middle East, brokerage StoneX wrote to clients on Thursday.

U.S. distillate fuel inventories, composed mainly of diesel and small amounts of heating oil, were at 106 million barrels as of June 19, some 12 million barrels below the five-year average, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan in New York; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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