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close video AI’s ability to destroy jobs an ominous sign: Sica

Circle Squared Alternative Investments founder Jeff Sica discusses the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence on “Varney & Co.”

All eyes will be on the May jobs report when it comes out Friday morning as investors look for clues about the labor market's health in the face of higher interest rates, stubborn inflation and recession fears.

The Labor Department's high-stakes May payroll report is projected to show that hiring increased by 190,000 last month and that the unemployment rate inched higher to 3.5%, according to a median estimate by Refinitiv economists.

That would mark a drop from the 253,000 gain in April and the 290,000 monthly average recorded over the previous six months. However, it is slightly above the average pre-pandemic monthly increase.

"In the last few months, the job market has continued to defy gravity, adding a steady clip of jobs and holding unemployment at historically low levels despite a backdrop of rising interest rates, banking turmoil, tech layoffs and debt ceiling negotiations," said Daniel Zhao, senior economist Glassdoor. "After a healthy April jobs report, May is likely to repeat with an equally strong performance."

MAJORITY OF WORKERS REGRET QUITTING DURING ‘GREAT RESIGNATION

The Federal Reserve is closely watching the report for evidence that the labor market is finally softening after months of surprisingly healthy job gains as policymakers try to wrestle inflation under control. Although the Consumer Price Index has cooled from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022, it remains about three times higher than the pre-pandemic average despite 10 consecutive interest-rate hikes.

Policymakers have signaled that they may skip another rate hike at their meeting later in June as they examine how tighter monetary policy is affecting the economy. However, some officials have hinted they are open to raising rates for the 11th straight time.

THE HOUSING RECESSION ISN'T OVER YET

"The May jobs report will take on heightened importance given the Fed’s extreme data-dependent approach and the growing divide among Fed policymakers over whether to pause their rate-hiking campaign in June," said Gregory Daco, EY chief economist. 

Hotter-than-expected job and wage data on Friday could be a worrisome sign for the U.S. central bank.

The Labor Department’s May payroll report is projected to show that hiring increased by 190,000 last month and that the unemployment rate inched higher to 3.5%. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images / Getty Images)

"Overall, the May jobs report should still argue in favor of a Fed pause at the upcoming June FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting," Daco said. "Still, hawkish Fed commentary and excessive data dependence mean that a hotter-than-expected jobs report could push the small majority of policymakers in favor of a ‘hawkish pause’ to join those favoring another rate hike."

The labor market has remained historically tight over the past year, defying economists' expectations for a slowdown.

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A separate report released Wednesday showed that job openings unexpectedly surged to 10.1 million in April, the highest level in three months. Before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, the highest on record was 7.6 million. There are still roughly 1.6 jobs per unemployed American.

The report also pointed to a decline in layoffs and discharges, indicating that employers are holding onto their workers in the competitive labor market.

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Jon Ruben remanded into custody on child cruelty charges after children fell ill at summer camp

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August 2, 2025

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Jon Ruben remanded into custody on child cruelty charges after children fell ill at summer camp

A man has been remanded into custody charged with child cruelty offences after allegedly lacing sweets with sedatives.

Jon Ruben, 76, of Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday after youngsters fell ill at a summer camp in Stathern, Leicestershire.

He has been charged with three counts of wilfully assaulting, ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning or exposing children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to health.

The charges relate to three boys at the camp between 25-29 July.

A general view of the scene in Stathern, Leicestershire, after a 76-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of administering poison at a summ
Image:
The scene in Stathern, Leicestershire. Pic: PA

Ruben spoke only to confirm his name, age and address.

Police received a report of children feeling unwell at a camp being held at Stathern Lodge, near Melton in Leicestershire, last Sunday.

Officers said paramedics attended the scene and eight boys – aged between eight and 11 – were taken to hospital as a precaution, as was an adult. They have since been discharged.

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Police said the “owners and operators of Stathern Lodge are independent from those people who use or hire the lodge and are not connected to the incident”.

Leicestershire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, after officers initially reported the incident as having happened on Monday, only to later amend it to Sunday.

It is still unclear when officers responded and whether that is why the watchdog referral has been made.

Ruben will next appear at Leicester Crown Court on 29 August.

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New Inelastic Dark Matter Model Could Bypass Current Limits of Particle Detection

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August 2, 2025

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New Inelastic Dark Matter Model Could Bypass Current Limits of Particle Detection

A group of physicists at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Physics has proposed a model of the behaviour of dark matter (DM) in the presence of dark energy (DE) that is compatible with current astronomical observations. A model of inelastic DM can be realised from light-weight particles, which are collectively interacting through the massive vector mediator, and the model is an alternative explanation for DM relics in the universe. Importantly, this framework may have the potential to circumvent the experimental hurdles for the detection of DM that have thus far kept it in the dark. The findings are published in the Journal of High Energy Physics, and its authors believe it has the potential to “revolutionise” how particle physics analyses are conducted in the future.

Light Mediator ZQ Offers New Clues to Elusive Dark Matter and Its Cosmic Origins

As per the users’ report, they have developed the following new model: a heavy, stable DM from a light, unstable one. This can be expressed as a heavy stable DM due to a heavy unstable one, which may give rise to the “thermal freeze-out” in the universe. It doesn’t just interact with visible matter but with dark matter as well, and that’s how you get the new observational windows.

To explain why the dark matter has not been observed until now, the model further involves a decay of the unstable dark matter χ2 to some species not disturbing the CBR, and thus also not presenting a visible/observable decay signal. The picture is consistent with current astrophysical and experimental constraints, avoiding simpler `vanilla’ DM scenarios.

ZQ-induced vector mediators are light portals connecting the two sectors and may mediate the direct interactions between the dark sector and the SM particles. The black line indicates the region in the parameter space where dark matter can be hiding unobserved — this is to be addressed in future experiments.

The study suggests the search for dark matter should pivot from the “discovery frontier”, in which exquisitely sensitive instruments scan for signals, to the “intensity frontier”, which seeks ever-finer measurements to tease out anomalies. Future experiments will seek to dig more deeply into these unexplained corners of particle physics with a new online tool.

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Massive 200-Light-Year Cloud May Be Channeling Matter to the Milky Way’s Core

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August 2, 2025

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Massive 200-Light-Year Cloud May Be Channeling Matter to the Milky Way's Core

Astronomers have found a vast, never-before-noticed reservoir of stellar material, hundreds of light-years across, lurking in a cold, dark, starless swath of our galaxy. It’s dubbed the Midpoint Cloud and was identified using the Green Bank Telescope; it appears to channel dense clouds of material into the heart of our galaxy. It harbours active regions filled with dense dust lanes and star formation possibilities. These lanes could be bringing twisted matter into the galaxy’s central bar, shaping how stars form in this extreme environment and offering a rare snapshot of the first stages of a galaxy’s evolution.

Newly Found Midpoint Cloud May Be Key to Star Formation in the Milky Way’s Core

As per the study, researchers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Green Bank Observatory confirmed the size and shape of the GMC based on mass, density, and movement. The gassy chaos in the cloud mirrors the caustic turmoil at the galactic centre, yielding measurements from a faint object that says something about an energetic event 200 light-years distant. That could be a link from the field-like tranquillity of our own Milky Way’s disk to the mayhem of its core.

Perhaps analogously to gas channels, a thick dust lane in the Midpoint cloud could supply the central stellar bar fragment with fresh gas, again supporting an interpretation that star formation is inhibited in this region by the strong gravitational potential. But regions like the Midpoint could collect such thick gas, spurring the birth of new stars.

The team classified Knot E as a compact gas clump whose material has been eroded by both star radiation and a maser, or microwave emission, within a cloud. A shell-like feature suggests earlier supernova explosions, like those the deaths of massive stars in the region might have initiated.

The Midpoint cloud Larry Morgan, of the Green Bank Observatory, discovered is a valuable clue in our knowledge of how galaxies evolve and form stars near their centers. The finding could give scientists a way to learn how matter flows inward across the cosmos, one hidden cloud at a time.

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