CK Hutchison begins arbitration against Panama over annulled canal contract


By AFP

February 3, 2026


Balboa port on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal

 - Copyright AFP MARTIN BERNETTI

Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison said in a statement Tuesday it has initiated international arbitration against Panama, after a ruling by the country’s top court annulled a concession allowing it to operate ports at the Panama Canal.

Panama’s Supreme Court last week invalidated Hutchison’s contract following repeated threats from President Donald Trump that the United States would seek to reclaim the waterway he said was effectively being controlled by China.

The court’s ruling declared the contract “unconstitutional” and found it had “a disproportionate bias in favor of the company” without “any justification” and to the “detriment of the State’s treasury.”

The company’s subsidiary Panama Ports Company (PPC) said in a press release it has begun arbitration “after a campaign by the Panamanian state specifically against PPC and its concession contract, throughout a year marked by a series of abrupt actions by the Panamanian state, culminating in serious damages.”

The statement did not specify the amount of money being sought through arbitration.

Since 1997, Hutchison had managed the ports of Cristobal on the interoceanic canal’s Atlantic side and Balboa on the Pacific side.

The concession was extended for 25 years in 2021.

After the ruling, the Panamanian government tapped Danish company Maersk to temporarily take over management of the port terminals until a new concession is awarded.



– ‘Legitimate and lawful’ –



Washington welcomed the court’s decision, but Beijing said it would take measures to “protect the legitimate and lawful rights” of Chinese companies.

The canal, which handles about 40 percent of US container traffic and five percent of world trade, was built by the United States, which operated it for a century before ceding control to Panama in 1999.

The annulment of the PPC contract was requested last year by the office of the comptroller — an autonomous body that examines how government money is spent.

It argued the concession was “unconstitutional” and said Hutchison had failed to pay the Panamanian state $1.2 billion due.

The PPC argues it is the only port operator in which the Panamanian state is a shareholder and says it has paid the government $59 million over the past three years.

Panama has always denied Chinese control over the 50-mile waterway, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and is used mainly by the United States and China.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, who had called the CK Hutchison contract “extortionate,” last week said the canal will continue operating “without disruption.”

The ruling came amid Hutchison’s stalled effort to sell the ports, which it announced in March, to transfer its stake in the Panamanian terminals to a group of companies led by the US firm BlackRock, as part of a package valued at $22.8 billion.

That deal was initially seen as favorable in Washington, but interests cooled after China warned the agreement could harm its global interests and urged parties to proceed with “caution” or face legal consequences.

Finland building icebreakers for US amid Arctic tensions


By  AFP

February 3, 2026


Most of the world's icebreakers are built in Finland - like the Urho, Kontio and Sisu, moored in Helsinki - Copyright AFP Alessandro RAMPAZZO

Anna KORKMAN

Finland is building a new fleet of icebreakers for the US but President Donald Trump’s plans for Greenland, which he covets, and tense US-EU ties have raised concerns over the deal.

Sixty percent of the world’s icebreakers are Finnish-made and 80 percent are designed by Finnish companies, according to Arctia, the state-owned firm which manages the country’s icebreaker fleet.

Jukka Viitanen, Sustainability and Communications Director of Arctia, told AFP that Finland’s expertise was born from necessity.

It is the only country in the world where all ports can freeze in winter, Viitanen said.

“We need to export and import stuff to be able to maintain people living in this country. That is why we need icebreaking,” he said.

Nations such as China, Russia and the United States are scrambling to secure a foothold in the Arctic for strategic reasons and to access huge reserves of natural resources.

Many are now looking to enhance their icebreaker fleet.

In October, Trump and Helsinki announced that the United States coast guard will procure 11 icebreakers.

The US coast guard currently operates three ageing vessels.

Four vessels will be built in Finnish shipyards, and the remaining seven in the United States.

“It is not possible to sail through the Arctic Sea without icebreakers and many big nations have interests in the Arctic right now,” Viitanen said.



– US threats –



The US order — estimated at $6.1 billion according to media reports — is a welcome boost for Finland, where unemployment is at a record high and the economy is in the doldrums.

But Trump’s desire to acquire strategically-located Greenland has now raised “more and more” suspicions about the deal, Sanna Kopra, an Arctic geopolitics and security professor at the University of Lapland, told AFP.

Trump’s long-standing territorial designs on Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, have triggered the most serious crisis in the history of US-led military alliance NATO.

The US president last week backed off threats of using force to seize Greenland and began talks with Copenhagen and Nuuk.

“But if Trump changes his mind about taking control over Greenland and the politics of the United States turns increasingly imperialistic, of course it raises questions about how wise it is to proceed,” Kopra said.

If Trump again starts talking about seizing Greenland, “the question of cancelling these deals could become a very important political issue,” Kopra noted.

Charly Salonius-Pasternak, an expert in geopolitics and the CEO of Finnish think-tank Nordic West Office, meanwhile doubted Trump’s threats would endanger the deal.

“There are voices,” against it, he said, adding: “Are these people influential in the matter? No.”



– ‘Greenland saga not over’ –



But Salonius-Pasternak conceded “the Greenland saga” was not over.

“Trump said at the end of October 2025 that there were no plans to use military force in Venezuela,” he noted — but US forces seized its president in a raid there on January 3.

In December, Finland’s Rauma shipyard confirmed a contract from the US coast guard to build two icebreakers, to be completed in 2028.

The Helsinki shipyard, owned by Canadian company Davie, is also expecting an order.

Managing director Kim Salmi told AFP they expected to sign a contract with the US coast guard for two icebreakers shortly.

“I’m preparing to start building those icebreakers as soon as possible,” Salmi said.

“When the ink drops on the paper, the first US icebreaker will be delivered 26 months from that,” he said with a smile.

Homage or propaganda? Carnival parade stars Brazil’s Lula


By AFP
February 3, 2026


The decision by samba school Academicos de Niteroi to pay homage to veteran leftist President Inacio Lula da Silva at this year's carnival extravaganza has raised eyebrows just eight months before elections - Copyright AFP Pablo PORCIUNCULA

Lucía LACURCIA

The face of the Brazilian president is omnipresent as a samba school rehearses its Carnival parade in front of thousands of spectators chanting the refrain of its theme song: “Ole, ole, ole, ola; Lula, Lula!”

The decision by samba school Academicos de Niteroi to pay homage to veteran leftist President Inacio Lula da Silva at this year’s carnival extravaganza has raised eyebrows just eight months before elections.

Academicos de Niteroi will be the first to parade down Rio de Janeiro’s Sambodrome avenue on February 15, at the start of the three-day competition that is the peak of the city’s annual Carnival festivities.

Twelve samba schools will compete in parades featuring thousands of participants, with colossal, often animated floats, booming drum sections, and dancers draped in little more than beads and glitter.

Each year the schools choose a theme linked to Brazilian culture, history, or popular figures.

While Academicos argues it wants to honor Lula to thank him for his social welfare policies, the opposition has denounced the parade as equivalent to a campaign event months before official campaigning starts in August.

Lula, 80, who is expected to attend the parade as a spectator, is seeking a fourth term in the October elections.

“This is not propaganda, it’s a tribute. Many people in our school were able to get an education thanks to the president’s public policies,” Hamilton Junior, one of the school’s directors, told AFP.



– ‘One of Brazil’s greatest presidents’ –



Junior said it was a story of a man from Brazil’s poor north-east who “faced many hardships, and became one of Brazil’s greatest presidents.”

Hamilton said there had been a long waiting list to take part in the parade.

During technical rehearsals at the Sambodrome — which attract a massive crowd — dancers dressed as steelworkers in reference to Lula’s past occupation.

The lyrics of the song recount Lula’s poor childhood in rural Pernambuco, his move to Sao Paulo, his union activism, and social policies implemented under his different administrations.

There is no mention of the October election, but the song does not shy away from Brazil’s current political scene.

It refers to “tariffs and sanctions” imposed by US President Donald Trump to punish Brazil for putting his ally, former far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for plotting a coup.

Trump has since lifted many of these measures.

The song also includes the phrase “no amnesty,” a nod to efforts by Bolsonaro’s supporters to reduce a 27-year prison sentence he began serving in November.

A large screen mounted on the back of a truck displayed images mocking Bolsonaro — showing him in a prison uniform or with blood-stained hands, a reference to his Covid-skepticism.



– Opposition to sue –



One of the composers of the samba told local media that Lula had cried when Academicos leaders travelled to Brasilia last year to play the song for him.

But the opposition has mobilized against the parade.

“We filed a lawsuit to prevent your money from being used to finance an electoral campaign disguised as a ‘tribute,'” wrote center-right deputy Kim Kataguiri on social media.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from the right-wing Partido Novo asked Brazil’s Federal Court of Auditors to block the transfer of 1 million reais ($180,000) in federal funds to the school.

This contribution is part of a budget that benefits all 12 of the samba schools taking part in the main parade equally.

Watching the rehearsal, Adriano Santos, a 43-year-old social worker from the Rocinha favela, said the samba school was “being brave, innovative.”

“There will be those who like it and those who don’t, but I believe this parade will represent Brazil.”

‘We just need something positive’ – Monks’ peace walk across US draws large crowds


By AFP
February 3, 2026


Led by Bhikkhu Pannakara, Buddhist monks promoting compassion and unity participate in a "Walk for Peace" which has taken them from Texas through eight states to Virginia and on to Washington - Copyright AFP Aaron Mathes

Michael Mathes

Buddhist monks walking from Texas to Washington to promote peace have become a surprise popular hit as they near the US capital — attracting crowds of thousands who line the route or join in for a few miles.

At a time of strife and political tension in the United States, the monks offer a change of tone on their 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) odyssey across eight states through freezing temperatures and along ice-covered roads.

On Tuesday, north of Virginia’s capital Richmond, Louella Glessner stood on a mound of plowed snow, flowers in hand, hoping the robed monks and their mission might somehow begin to heal America’s toxic divisions.

“I am a Christian, but this whole concept, I think it’s great,” Glessner, a 62-year trust administrator, told AFP ahead of the monks’ arrival at a Buddhist temple where people gathered on the roadside and in the pagoda grounds.

“It’s what the country needs. We need to have peace and we need to find commonality between all people,” she said.

Since launching their ambitious trek 101 days ago from a Buddhist center in Fort Worth, Texas, the group of about 20 monks have spread a message of unity, compassion, mindfulness, healing and peace.

It has resonated in unexpectedly dramatic fashion, with thousands of people turning up to share in the experience. Last month, 20,000 well-wishers greeted them in Columbia, South Carolina.

The mission’s Facebook page tops 2.5 million followers and its videos have garnered over 100 million views.

The group’s peace dog Aloka, a former stray from India that has accompanied the monks on the trip, has also become a celebrity in its own right.

The monks, who often stay overnight at churches or university campuses, hail from Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

On Tuesday in Glen Allen, onlookers kneeled and offered fruit, police officers shook the monks’ hands, and the monks presented people with blessing threads and other gifts.

Children shyly offered flowers or waved as the group walked past.

Leading the procession has been Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Vietnamese monk whose saffron sash is adorned with sheriff badges from the many counties that have hosted them and secured the roads.



– ‘In the moment’ –



Despite the bitter cold, and the fractious state of US politics during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, the monks are accomplishing something few others have: bringing people together.

Two weeks ago in North Carolina, 10,000 people packed a baseball stadium to hear Bhikku Pannakara speak.

“It’s been crowded like this for the last couple of states,” he told those in attendance, urging listeners to avoid “chasing materialism” and to abandon thoughts of greed, anger and hatred.

North of Richmond, Sarah Peyton and her two young sons stood quietly contemplating the monks who walked briskly past.

“Right now I think we just need something positive,” the 38-year-old Black woman and Virginia native told AFP moments later in a hushed voice.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, you can come stand here and just witness a peaceful experience.

“There’s nobody dragging anybody out of cars, nobody’s yelling, nobody’s angry. Everybody is just here in the moment.”

The walk has not been without anguish. One monk was struck by a vehicle in a November traffic accident, and his leg had to be amputated. He reportedly reunited with the group in Georgia.

“Our walking itself cannot create peace,” the monks wrote in an early blog post.

“But when someone encounters us… when our message touches something deep within them, when it awakens the peace that has always lived quietly in their own heart — something sacred begins to unfold.”

The monks are expected to arrive in the capital on February 10 and visit the Washington National Cathedral before holding a meditation retreat the following day.

Will the “Walk for Peace” change much? Perhaps it could help Americans to think with more compassion and humility, Glessner suggested.

“If it takes 20 monks walking from Texas to DC,” she’d be thrilled, she said. “People want to try something.”

UBS grilled on Capitol Hill over Nazi-era probe

ByAFP
February 3, 2026


An ombudsman tasked with investigating funds stolen from Holocaust victims says Swiss banking giant UBS is withholding key documents - Copyright AFP/File Fabrice COFFRINI

A Senate panel grilled UBS officials Tuesday over withholding documents sought in a probe of Holocaust-era assets stolen by Nazis and held at Credit Suisse.

Neil Barofsky, an ombudsman tasked with investigating funds stolen from Holocaust victims, told the panel that 150 or more key documents are being withheld by the Swiss banking giant, which acquired Credit Suisse in 2023.

“What we’re talking about are documents that are relevant to the question of whether a Nazi had an account or didn’t have an account at Credit Suisse,” said Barofsky.

The former prosecutor has documented numerous previously unknown Credit Suisse accounts linked to Nazi officials and unearthed the financial trajectory of many Nazis who fled to Argentina.

The clash over documents represents the latest hurdle in the probe after Barofsky was ousted by Credit Suisse in 2022, before being reinstated by UBS in 2023.

Barofsky said the dispute began in November. “Up until that point UBS cooperation has been picture perfect,” he said.

He suspects the contested papers include information listing German clients, info on looted art and valuables, and other matters that are “very very core to the heart of our investigation.”

UBS General Counsel Barbara Levi told the Senate Judiciary Committee the bank was committed to openness over past actions, but said it faced an “active threat” of litigation from the Simon Wiesenthal Center and other NGOs.

“We believe that bringing to light this information is extremely important,” Levi said. “But at the same time, if the same organization threatens us of litigation, we are put in a very difficult situation.”

Both UBS and Credit Suisse were part of a longstanding $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and more than a half-million plaintiffs over looted assets from the Holocaust.

Levi described the accord as providing “final closure to the parties,” covering both known and future claims.

“It cannot be that for every piece of information that comes to light, we get under the threat of litigation,” Levi said.

“Where is the incentive then for any financial institution or any other institution to look into the past and bring this information to light?”

UBS on January 28 asked US District Judge Edward Korman for an order “clarifying the scope of the settlement.”

Korman — who approved the $1.25 billion Swiss bank settlement in 2000 — set a hearing for March 12.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, said the dispute “seems like an unnecessary quarrel that is tainting both Mr. Barofsky’s ability to proceed and the reputation of the bank, which I think wants to be seen as cooperative and in good faith.”

Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who chaired the hearing, called UBS’s conduct an “historic shame that’ll outlive today’s hearing.”

WTO must ‘reform or die’: talks facilitator


By AFP
February 3, 2026


The WTO headquarters is next to Lake Geneva 

- Copyright AFP Fabrice COFFRINI

Agnès PEDRERO

Successfully reforming the WTO is a matter of life and death for the organisation, warns the facilitator of talks on revamping the global trade body.

The World Trade Organization regulates large swathes of global trade but is handicapped by a rule requiring full consensus among members, and a dispute settlement system crippled by the United States.

Reform will be at the heart of the WTO’s ministerial meeting in Cameroon next month.

The Geneva-based organisation faced structural and geopolitical obstacles long before US President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, dramatically ratcheting up global trade tensions.

“We need to reform,” Norway’s ambassador to the WTO Petter Olberg told AFP in a recent interview.

“Reform or die.”

Olberg said he was preparing a “reform work plan, which we will ask (trade ministers) to endorse” in Yaounde during the March 26-29 meeting.

Many of the WTO’s 166 members agree with Olberg on the importance of significantly overhauling the organisation.

“The WTO is at a critical and, in fact, an existential juncture,” he warned at the end of January.

The WTO was created in 1995 but is based on a trading system established shortly after the end of World War II.

The need for a revamp has been discussed for years, and was formally recognised by the organisation’s 2022 ministerial conference.



– ‘Sense of urgency’ –



But the discussions have intensified significantly since Trump returned to power, snubbing agreed trade rules and wielding giant tariffs against foes and friends alike.

“Everyone realises there’s a sense of urgency that wasn’t there before,” Olberg said.

“This time… we have to do it.”

The tariff issue, he stressed, “is not the whole story, but it certainly contributes to this sense of urgency”.

“Many, if not all countries are affected by this, small or big.”

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pointed out that the trade agreements announced by the Trump administration have not been notified to the WTO, as required to ensure they conform with the organisation’s rules.

This has raised concern that the deals could potentially violate the WTO’s so-called “most-favoured nation” (MFN) principle, which aims to extend any trade advantage granted to one trading partner to all others, in a bid to avoid discrimination.

The United States itself indicated to the WTO last December that it considers the principle “unsuitable for this era”, particularly given “some countries’ unwillingness to pursue and uphold fair, market-oriented competition” and “insistence on maintaining economic systems that are fundamentally incompatible with WTO principles”.



– ‘Game-changer’ –



Olberg believes the US position on MFN is “a game-changer”.

“I think the US is fed up, and quite a few others are also quite fed up,” he said.

“We cannot go on like this.”

Olberg stressed that the goal in Yaounde was not to finalise reforms, but to establish a work programme, with objectives and deadlines.

“Right now, I think the prospects that we actually will get this plan are quite good,” he said.

He highlighted that most agreements within the WTO system function well and bring huge benefits to members, including the United States.

Things like customs valuation procedures and intellectual property agreements may not be “super sexy”, he said, but they are “very important to doing business”.

A full 72 percent of global trade still operates under WTO rules. But Olberg acknowledged that the organisation’s effectiveness was increasingly being questioned.

One major issue is the WTO’s requirement for any agreement to have full consensus among members.

“We’re not able to adopt new rules, and we’re not able to change the old rules,” Olberg said.

The consensus rule has, for instance, allowed the United States to block the appointment of new judges, paralysing the WTO dispute mechanism’s appellate body since 2019.

And it has permitted India especially to repeatedly block the adoption of plurilateral trade agreements into the WTO framework.

“There’s a huge frustration building,” Olberg said.

“Now more than ever, people are understanding that we have to change, we have to reform, otherwise we become irrelevant,” he said.

“The alternative is not status quo.”

Banking sector signals a move away from OpenAI and towards alternatives

By Dr. Tim Sandle
SCIENCE EDITOR

DIGITAL JOURNAL
February 2, 2026

OpenAI and Australia's NextDC have agreed to develop an artificial intelligence centre in western Sydney - Copyright AFP Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV

New data tracking AI use cases across 50 of the world’s largest banks shows OpenAI’s share of disclosed deployments has fallen from around half to just one-third over the past 18 months. This means that OpenAI I no longer the primary large language model provider for the banking sector.

With banks often acting as a bellwether for enterprise tech adoption, the shift could signal growing challenges for OpenAI’s position in banking as we head into 2026

These data are based on the Evident Use Case Tracker, which captures all publicly announced AI use cases across the 50 banks tracked in the Evident AI Index, including references to third-party AI vendors.
A different story in 2024

Eighteen months ago, OpenAI provided the underlying technology for roughly half of the banking AI use cases that disclosed vendor information. Evident’s latest analysis shows that by the end of 2025, OpenAI’s share had fallen to just one-third, with banks increasingly developing and deploying use cases built on alternative providers such as Anthropic and Google.

Evident is an intelligence and benchmarking platform for AI adoption in financial services.

“Since the Gen AI boom began three years ago, banks have been the bellwether for enterprise AI adoption,” Alexandra Mousavizadeh, Co-Founder and CEO of Evident has told Digital Journal. “The way they are behaving now could signal mounting challenges for OpenAI’s position in banking in 2026. Our data shows a marked shift away from OpenAI’s LLMs and towards a broader range of providers.”

According to Evident’s analysis, coding is one of the few banking AI use cases where more than half of deployments demonstrate tangible return on investment. While Anthropic is consistently ranked best-in-class for code generation and review (Anthropic’s flagship product line is the “Claude” series of large language models). In addition, Google has leveraged its existing cloud relationships to make enterprise deployment and system integration easier. Last month, BNY demonstrated this approach by integrating Gemini Enterprise with its internal AI platform, Eliza.

“It’s no secret that many leading banks favour model agnosticism, which could account for some of the shift away from OpenAI,” Mousavizadeh adds.

She explains: “However, many of the bankers we’ve spoken to in recent months have told us that they’re impressed by what Anthropic and Google are delivering. OpenAI still boasts successful partnerships with banks like BBVA and Morgan Stanley and retains a strong footprint in banking, so it will be interesting to see how the AI giant evolves its enterprise offering in the coming months.”

Q&A: Advancing robotics for the hospitality and service sectors


By Dr. Tim Sandle
SCIENCE EDITOR

DIGITAL JOURNAL
February 2, 2026


Robots are aiding the hospitality sector. Image by TechForce (with permission).

TechForce Robotics is a provider of AI-driven, collaborative service robots for the hospitality and service sectors, specializing in robot-as-a-service automated solutions that enable business owners to enhance customer experience, achieve more, optimize resources, offset labour shortages, and generate revenue while addressing heavy-duty, repetitive, dirty, and injury-prone tasks.

What does this entail and what are the future prospects for the company? Digital Journal spoke with Ried Floco, President of TechForce Robotics.

Digital Journal: Can you tell us about TechForce Robotics and the solutions your company offers?

Ried Floco: TechForce Robotics focuses on providing autonomous service robots designed intentionally to support operations in hospitality and other service environments. The focus is on behind-the-scenes work that keeps operations running, using robotics to assist with heavy, dirty, routine tasks that are necessary but time-consuming for team members. TechForce operates as a Robotics-as-a-Service Provider through a subscription-based model, delivering not just the technology but the ongoing support needed to keep systems functioning as part of everyday operations.

DJ: Can you discuss the value proposition for your robots and what makes them a worthwhile investment?

Floco: The value comes down to taking the toughest, most physically demanding operational support jobs off humans and so they have time and energy to focus on more important and meaningful tasks. In hospitality and service environments team members spend large portions of time moving heavy materials, hauling waste or handling repetitive tasks that pull them away from guest service and revenue generating tasks.

By shifting the least desirable work to robotics, teams can focus on guest communication and key tasks that shape the customer experience, all while reducing the physical toll that comes with moving heavy loads day after day, which the industry historically has unfortunately had no choice but to accept.

Automation also brings more consistency to daily workflows. Those routine jobs still need to get done even when staffing levels fluctuate, and robotics helps keep those workflows steady. Because TechForce manages the systems as part of its service provider model, operators can adopt automation without taking on the responsibility of owning and maintaining complex equipment themselves. That keeps the focus on running the operation, not managing technology.

DJ: TechForce recently launched a Beverage Robot, BIM-E, at CES. Can you discuss what this robot is capable of achieving in hospitality settings?

Floco: BIM-E, which stands for Beverages in Motion – Everywhere, was developed to support beverage service in high-volume hospitality environments where long lines and slow throughput can affect both the guest experience and overall operations.

In busy venues, events, and large properties, staff often spend a significant amount of time on repetitive drink pouring tasks. BIM-E automates that part of the process by delivering consistent pours across a range of beverages, especially during high demand periods. During its debut at CES, BIM-E served more than 5,000 drinks, showing it can keep up in a busy, real-world event environment.

The system is designed to work alongside staff, handling the repetitive portion of beverage service. BIM-E allows team members to focus more on sales, guest interaction, service flow, and the overall hospitality experience. It can dispense multiple beverage types from a single unit and is built to fit into existing service environments without adding complexity for operators.

Like TechForce’s other solutions, BIM-E is delivered through the company’s Robotics-as-a-Service Provider model, with deployment and ongoing support included so venues do not have to manage the technology on their own. In hospitality settings where speed, consistency, and service quality all matter, BIM-E helps teams manage peak demand more smoothly while keeping the human side of service front and centre.

DJ: What is the process for companies to get your robots installed and operational?

Floco: The process starts with understanding the environment and the specific operational challenges each facility is trying to address. TechForce’s experienced team works with each customer to identify where robotics can support existing workflows, and which tasks are the right fit.

From there, TechForce manages site preparation, system setup, mapping of the environment, and integration into daily operations. Staff are also onboarded, so they understand how the robots fit into their routines and how to interact with them when needed. Because the company provides ongoing service after deployment, TechForce continues monitoring performance and handling maintenance and support so the systems remain a dependable part of the operation.

The goal is to make adoption straightforward and have the robots fit naturally into the workflow without adding complexity for the team.

DJ: Can you tell us about some of your current robot installations and where they’ve been successful?

Floco: TechForce Robotics has active deployments in both hospitality and education environments where robots are supporting day-to-day operational needs.

In hospitality, systems are operating at properties such as the Hilton Garden Inn located in Rancho Mirage California and the Holiday Inn located in Victorville, California. At these hotels, robots handle both trash transport and linen movement throughout the property. These are physically demanding, repetitive tasks that take time away from staff, and automation helps keep those workflows moving consistently while reducing strain on team members.

In education, there is a deployment at St. Mary’s High School located in Phoenix, Arizona, where robots support trash transport across the campus. The system operates around the clock, helping facilities teams manage routine waste movement throughout the day and overnight.

Across these environments, the most consistent feedback is from operation teams. Once teams understand how the robots fit into their workflow, they become support to the staff’s daily routine. Staff spend less time on repetitive internal movement and more time on supervision, service, and other higher-value responsibilities.

TechForce Robotics continues to focus on environments where this kind of behind-the-scenes staff support can make a meaningful difference to the team and how a property operates.

Musk merges xAI into SpaceX in bid to build space data centers


By AFP
February 2, 2026


CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk says he is merging the company with his AI venture to build space data centers - Copyright AFP Fabrice COFFRINI

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has taken over his artificial intelligence company xAI in a merger aimed at deploying space-based data centers, a statement said on Monday.

The acquisition combines SpaceX’s rocket capabilities with xAI’s technology to create what Musk in the statement called “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth.”

The merger comes as funding for the AI buildout embraced by big tech companies begins to show signs of tension.

Musk said SpaceX plans to launch a constellation of satellites that would function as orbital data centers, harnessing solar power in space to meet growing electricity demands for AI computing.

Musk said those needs cannot be met on Earth “without imposing hardship on communities and the environment.”

“By directly harnessing near-constant solar power with little operating or maintenance costs, these satellites will transform our ability to scale compute,” Musk wrote in the announcement.

SpaceX aims to launch one million satellites operating as data centers using its Starship rocket, which the company said will soon achieve launch rates of one flight per hour carrying 200 tons of payload.

The announcement did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition or provide a timeline for initial satellite deployments.

According to Bloomberg, the combined company would have a valuation of $1.25 trillion.

The deal further intertwines Musk’s sprawling business empire, which already includes carmaker Tesla and social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Musk merged X with xAI after acquiring Twitter in late 2022.

xAI, which operates the Grok chatbot, was valued at $230 billion in a January funding round.

The combined company would pool capital, computing resources and talent as Musk pursues his vision of placing data centers in space for AI computing.

SpaceX is reportedly targeting a mid-June initial public offering that could raise as much as $50 billion, according to US media.

The company dominates the space launch market with its reusable rockets and owns the largest satellite constellation through Starlink.

Musk had previously opposed an IPO for SpaceX because he had not enjoyed the required scrutiny of publicly traded Tesla.

He also argued that the market’s desire for financial returns was at odds with his ultimate goal of settling Mars.

But the company’s latest priorities will require significant investment.

These include developing Starship, the largest rocket ever built, for missions to the Moon and Mars.

French summons Musk for ‘voluntary interview’ as authorities raid X offices


By AFP
February 3, 2026


One of the complaints described Elon Musk's 'personal interventions' in the social media platform's management - Copyright AFP/File JIM WATSON

France summoned billionaire Elon Musk to a “voluntary interview” as cybercrime authorities on Tuesday searched the French offices of his social media network X, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said.

The operation, which involves EU police agency Europol, is part of an investigation opened in January 2025 into whether X’s algorithm was used to interfere in French politics.

“Summons for voluntary interviews on April 20, 2026, in Paris have been sent to Mr. Elon Musk and Ms. Linda Yaccarino, in their capacity as de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events,” the prosecutors said in a statement.

Yaccarino resigned as CEO of X in July last year, after two years at the helm of the company.

Paris cybercrime prosecutors called for the police probe in July 2025 to investigate suspected crimes — including manipulating and extracting data from automated systems “as part of a criminal gang” — after receiving two complaints in January 2025.

One of those came from Eric Bothorel, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, who complained of “reduced diversity of voices and options” and Musk’s “personal interventions” in the platform’s management since he took it over in 2022.

The investigation was then broadened after additional reports criticised the AI chatbot Grok’s role in disseminating Holocaust denials and sexual deepfakes on X, the prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.

– ‘Politically motivated’ –

Laurent Buanec, France director of X, pushed back against the investigation in January 2025, saying X had “strict, clear and public rules”, which protected the platform from hate speech and disinformation.

The EU on Monday announced a probe into Elon Musk’s Grok over the generation of sexualised deepfake images – Copyright AFP Nicolas TUCAT

The US also issued a harsh condemnation in July, saying it would defend the free speech of Americans against “acts of foreign censorship”.

The social media platform, which has denied the allegations, also in July called the investigation “politically motivated”.

In late January, the European Union hit X with an investigation over Grok’s generation of sexualised deepfake images of women and minors.

The EU move comes despite repeated US threats of retaliation against enforcement of tech rules that President Donald Trump’s administration says curb free speech and unfairly target US firms.