META RESTRICTS ACCESS

Meta is halting teens’ access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily, the company said in a blog post Friday.

Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, said that starting in the “coming weeks,” teens will no longer be able to access AI characters “until the updated experience is ready”

This applies to anyone who gave Meta a birthday that makes them a minor, as well as “people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology.”

The move comes the week before Meta — along with TikTok and Google’s YouTube — is scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles over its apps’ harms to children.

Teens will still be able to access Meta’s AI assistant, just not the characters.

U.S. RESUMES BOAT STRIKES

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said Friday that it has carried out a deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first known attack since the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor. It said it notified the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that person.

With the latest military action, there have been 36 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September that killed at least 117 people, according to announcements from the U.S. military and Trump. The majority of those strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea.

BAIL for SWISS FIRE ACCUSED

GENEVA — A court on Friday ordered the release on bail of one of the owners of the Swiss bar where a fire broke out during a New Year’s celebration, killing 40 people and injuring more than 100.

The court of compulsory measures in the southwestern Valais region on Jan. 12 ordered three months of pretrial detention for Jacques Moretti over the fire in the early hours of Jan. 1 at Le Constellation bar in the Alpine resort of Crans-Montana, but said it was inclined to lift the detention if suitable “security measures” were arranged.

On Friday, it lifted the detention order and imposed other measures to counter a “flight risk.” The court set a bail of 200,000 francs (C$350,885), which was paid.

Moretti and his wife, Jessica Moretti, are suspected of negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm and causing a fire by negligence.

Investigators believe sparkling candles ignited the fire when they came too close to the ceiling, which was outfitted with soundproofing material. They are looking into whether the material conformed with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar.

IGLESIAS CHARGES DROPPED

MADRID — Spanish state prosecutors said Friday they were shelving an initial investigation into accusations of sexual assault by Julio Iglesias in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic after concluding that Spain’s National Court lacked jurisdiction to judge the matter.

Earlier this month, Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation studying allegations that the Grammy-winning singer had sexually assaulted two former employees at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Iglesias denied the accusations, writing on social media that: “With deep sorrow, I respond to the accusations made by two people who previously worked at my home. I deny having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman. These accusations are absolutely false and cause me great sadness.”

An email seeking comment sent to a Florida attorney whose website says Iglesias is among his clients was not immediately answered.

Iglesias, 82, has been among the world’s most successful singers in the decades since his 1969 debut album, “Yo Canto.” He has sold more than 300 million records in more than a dozen languages.

He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 and in 1988 won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for his album “Un Hombre Solo.” He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 2019.

» The Associated Press