By Alicia Wallace, CNN

(CNN) — When the April jobs report is released at 8:30 a.m. ET, it is expected to show that the US labor market added 65,000 positions.

If so, that’s roughly one-third of the 178,000 jobs created in March.

While in comparison the April total may seem like a sharp deceleration or a tepid month of employment growth, when viewed in isolation, it could seem solid or resilient — maybe even normal.

There are plenty of logical explanations for the stark shift and the undulating payroll numbers for the first few months of 2026; however, there’s also something much bigger afoot: The job market is in the throes of an evolution.

“The labor market is absolutely transforming, and it’s not going to look the same as our pre-2020 trends,” Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, told CNN in an interview.

There’s not a clear picture yet, she said, of what the new normal is.

The US job market and the broader economy have been subject to a slew of exogenous shocks during the past six years – chief among them being a once-in-a-century global pandemic.

In the backdrop, however, is a series of changes more structural in nature (some of which have even been helped along by those outside shocks):

• The US population is aging. Labor force growth is slowing as members of the large Baby Boomer cohort retire; industries such as health care and social services have greatly expanded as a result.
• There’s been a sharp reduction in net immigration. Trump administration policies of immigration restrictions and mass deportations have shifted the trajectory of what was a decades-long driver of labor supply. This shift also reduces labor demand through a drop in consumer spending.
• Technological innovations, notably artificial intelligence, are reshaping jobs, industries, and the economy. Although still early days, the adoption of AI is contributing to changes in the occupational mix; has been directly cited as a reason (or, perhaps, scapegoat) for layoffs; and has shown potential to influence economy-shaping dynamics such as productivity and wages.

A roller coaster-like effect

Getting a firm read on the labor market in 2026 has been like riding a roller coaster: The economy added an estimated 160,000 jobs in January and lost 133,000 jobs in February before bouncing back to that March total. (These monthly tallies are still subject to revision.)

The volatility can be partly attributed to several factors, including weather, labor strikes, lower-than-typical post-holiday layoffs, and recalibrations to how the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates payroll changes at new and closed businesses (referred to as the birth-death model).

Those fluctuations in the top-line payroll number could very well continue in the months to come, largely because of the birth-death model changes, said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US.

“In fact, we moved away from really placing an emphasis on any given month, and we’re looking at a smooth three-month average now,” he said.

From January through March, the average monthly gain is sitting at 68,333.

The consensus estimates, at 65,000 jobs added, fall right in line with that average.

The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.3%, FactSet estimates show.

Job growth slows as structural changes take hold

April’s projected job growth, however, is likely still running “above trend,” noted Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, which is forecasting a total of 45,000 jobs were added last month.

“The e

By Chelsea Bailey, CNN

(CNN) — It’s been 30 years since Kristin Smart’s family last saw her smile light up a room.

The college freshman vanished from California Polytechnic State University’s San Luis Obispo campus over Memorial Day weekend in 1996, sparking a decades-long investigation that led to the trial and conviction in 2022 of Paul Flores for her murder.

But even after years of searching, authorities have never recovered Smart’s body and she was declared dead in 2002.

Smart’s family said they feel Flores continues “to stand in the way of our daughter being returned to us.”

“We continue to pray for the day when we can finally lay her to rest in the presence of those who love her,” the family said in an open letter on their website.

A new search warrant served Wednesday at the Arroyo Grande, California, home of Flores’ mother is the latest sign investigators remain committed to finding answers, even after securing a conviction for Smart’s murder.

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said his office has been “continually working the case.”

“I said when Paul Flores got convicted that the case wasn’t over, and it’s never going to be over until we return Kristin to her family,” Parkinson said in an interview on the Up + Adam podcast recorded Wednesday.

Parkinson is expected to hold a press conference Friday morning about the latest search, according to the sheriff’s office.

Here’s what we know and how Smart’s case has unfolded over the years.

A new search for answers

Investigators swarmed Flores’ mother’s home on Wednesday and Thursday, scouring the packed garage and examining the deck.

The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office confirmed in a statement the home belonged to Susan Flores. CNN reached out to attorneys who previously represented the family and to Susan Flores but did not immediately hear back. She has not been accused of wrongdoing by prosecutors in the case.

Tim Nelligan, an expert in soil vapor testing, told The Associated Press on Thursday he was on the premises, gathering samples in Susan Flores’ yard as well as a neighbor’s yard.

Nelligan declined to discuss the investigation but said his “team has, in general, ‘come up with a methodology to assess soil vapor’ and its relation to ‘human cadaver decomposition.’”

The search is going to be “extremely thorough” and could take two or three days, Parkinson told podcast host Adam Montiel.

“We’ve proven already that Paul did it. We believe that Kristin, at one time, was on Paul Flores’ father’s property. We know she’s been moved, so where she moved to … we’re hunting that down,” he said.

Flores and his family have been at the center of the search for Smart since the earliest days of the investigation into her disappearance.

Officials have said Flores, who was a 19-year-old freshman at the time, was Read more

Por Helen Regan Masrur Jamaluddin, CNN

Se ha puesto en marcha un operativo de rescate para localizar a 20 excursionistas desaparecidos tras una erupción volcánica mortal en Indonesia, según informaron el viernes las autoridades locales.

Tres ciudadanos singapurenses murieron cuando el monte Dukono, en la isla de Halmahera, en la provincia de Maluku Septentrional, entró en erupción el viernes por la mañana, según informó la agencia nacional de búsqueda y rescate de Indonesia (BASARNAS).

Las fotografías muestran una enorme columna de humo y ceniza elevándose hacia el cielo. En imágenes de la agencia de rescate de Indonesia, también se puede ver a equipos de rescate en la montaña, transportando al menos a una persona herida en una camilla a través del bosque.

Indonesia cuenta con alrededor de 120 volcanes activos y se encuentra a lo largo del “Anillo de Fuego”, una serie de fallas sísmicas en forma de herradura que rodean la cuenca del Pacífico.

Esta noticia está en desarrollo y se actualizará.

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By Helen Regan, Masrur Jamaluddin, CNN

(CNN) — A rescue operation is underway to locate 20 missing hikers after a deadly volcanic eruption in Indonesia, local officials said Friday.

Three Singaporean nationals were killed when Mount Dukono, on the island of Halmahera in North Maluku province, erupted Friday morning, Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency (BASARNAS) said.

Photos show a huge column of smoke and ash rising into the air. Rescue teams can also be seen on the mountain and carrying at least one injured person on a stretcher through the forest, in photos from Indonesia’s rescue agency.

Indonesia has around 120 active volcanoes and sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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By Amarachi Orie, CNN

(CNN) — David Attenborough has now lived on Earth for a century.

In that stretch of time, he’s journeyed through forests and oceans, bonded with a family of gorillas, collected fossils, visited hidden tribes, overseen the first color TV broadcasts in Europe, narrated inspiring documentaries to hundreds of millions of viewers, collected numerous accolades, had dozens of species named after him and sounded the alarm on climate change.

Here are some key highlights from the renowned environmental broadcaster’s busy and extraordinary life, which he has spent with humans, animals and plants alike.

Prince, princess and a parrot

The TV personality developed his hallmark charismatic style of gentle humor, warmth and curiosity in his famous 1954 “Zoo Quest” series, which made him a recognizable figure. In 1958, Attenborough introduced a 3-year-old cockatoo, named Cocky, which he captured during his last “Zoo Quest” expedition, to child members of the British royal family – a young Prince Charles and Anne, Princess Royal.

Recounting the experience in an interview with the BBC ahead of Charles’ coronation in 2023, Attenborough said that the cockatoo was sitting on the prince’s hand and the animal had a “very powerful beak and a very powerful bite. And, although I was fairly confident about Cocky, it could actually have removed Charles’ little finger.”

Attenborough’s career at the BBC only catapulted from there, and he became controller of the BBC’s newly-launched second channel, BBC 2, in 1965. He launched a range of innovative productions, even introducing audiences to the unconventional comedy series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.”

The broadcaster then served as director of television programming from 1968 to 1972, later resigning to make his own television programs.

First contact with Biami tribe

During an expedition in a remote part of New Guinea, aired in 1971, Attenborough and his BBC crew made contact with the previously unknown Biami tribe. Attenborough communicated with the tribe using gestures, looked at their personal ornaments and enquired about the pegs in the ritual punctures in the nose of one of the men.

Reflecting on that moment in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2016, Attenborough said, “It is a remarkable thing. Surprisingly, how eloquent you can be to somebody who doesn’t know a single word of your language, or indeed hasn’t met your kind before.”

Bonding with a ‘special little gorilla’

The personable presenter not only got on with people but managed to befriend a family of gorillas in the forests of Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains. While filming “Life on Earth” in 1978, a 3-year-old Gorilla named Pablo took a liking to Attenborough and playfully laid on him.

The scene captured hearts globally, later leading to “one of the greatest conservation success stories that I’ve witnessed,” Attenborough said in the April 2026 film “A Gorilla Story,” in which he tells the story of the same group of gorillas from the 1970s to the present day. He added that his connection with gorillas is “a connection that has stayed with me my whole life. And it all began with one special little gorilla.”

Chat with baby rhino

The naturalist’s keenness to engage with the animals he observes is also evident in his interaction with a blind baby rhino at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya in episode six of the 2013 B