U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s outgoing Ukraine envoy said a deal to end the Ukraine war was &#8220;really close&#8221; and depended on resolving just two major issues but the Kremlin said there had to be radical changes to some of the U.S. proposals.
Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a &#8220;peacemaker&#8221; president, says that ending Europe&#8217;s deadliest conflict since World War Two has so far been the most elusive foreign policy aim of his presidency.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who is due to step down in January, told the Reagan National Defense Forum that efforts to resolve the conflict were in &#8220;the last 10 meters&#8221; which he said was always the hardest.
The two main outstanding issues, Kellogg said, were on territory &#8211; primarily the future of the Donbas &#8211; and the future of Ukraine&#8217;s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe&#8217;s largest, which is under Russian control.
&#8220;If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,&#8221; Kellogg said on Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. &#8220;We&#8217;re almost there.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re really, really close,&#8221; said Kellogg.
After President Vladimir Putin held four hours of Kremlin talks last week with Trump&#8217;s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump&#8217;s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Putin&#8217;s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said &#8220;territorial problems&#8221; were discussed.
That is Kremlin shorthand for Russian claims to the whole of Donbas, though Ukraine is still in control of at least 5,000 square km (1,900 square miles) of the area. Almost all countries recognize Donbas as part of Ukraine.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that handing over the rest of Donetsk would be illegal without a referendum and would give Russia a platform to launch assaults deeper into Ukraine in the future.
Ushakov was quoted by Russian media on Sunday as saying that the United States would have to &#8220;make serious, I would say, radical changes to their papers&#8221; on Ukraine. He did not clarify what changes Moscow wanted Washington to make.
Zelensky said on Saturday that he had had a long and &#8220;substantive&#8221; phone call with Witkoff and Kushner. The Kremlin has said it expects Kushner to be doing the main work on drafting a possible deal.
Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who served in Vietnam, Panama and Iraq, said the scale of the death and injuries caused by the Ukraine war was &#8220;horrific&#8221; and unprecedented in terms of a regional war.
Kellogg said that, together, Russia and Ukraine have suffered more than 2 million casualties, including dead and wounded since the war began. Neither Russia nor Ukraine disclose credible estimates of their losses.
Russia currently controls 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, all of Luhansk, more than 80% of Donetsk, about 75% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
A leaked set of 28 U.S. draft peace proposals emerged last month, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow&#8217;s main demands on NATO, Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine&#8217;s army.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Donald Trump/Vladimir Putin/Volodymyr Zelensky

U.S. Envoy says Ukraine Peace Deal Is Close, But Moscow Wants Radical Change

Global Politics

Russia

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky

World

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the second phase of a U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza was close, but cautioned several key issues still needed to be resolved, including whether a multinational security force would be deployed.
Netanyahu, speaking to reporters alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Jerusalem, said that he would hold important discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of the month on how to ensure the plan&#8217;s second phase was achieved.
The prime minister&#8217;s office in November said that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House &#8220;in the near future,&#8221; although a date for the visit has not yet been made public.
Netanyahu said that he would discuss with Trump how to bring an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is entering its second month, although both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce agreement.
Netanyahu said that it was important to ensure Hamas not only upholds the ceasefire but also follows through on &#8220;their commitment&#8221; to the plan to disarm and for Gaza to be demilitarized.
Israel retained control of 53% of Gaza under the first phase of Trump&#8217;s plan, which involved the release of hostages held by militants in Gaza and of Palestinians detained by Israel. The final hostage remains to be handed over are those of an Israeli police officer killed on October 7, 2023 fighting Gazan militants who had invaded Israel.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll get him out,&#8221; Netanyahu said.
Since the ceasefire started in October, the militant group has reestablished itself in the rest of Gaza.
According to the plan, Israel is to pull back further in the second phase as a transitional authority is established in Gaza and a multinational security force is deployed, Hamas is disarmed, and reconstruction begins.
A multinational coordination centre has been established in Israel, but there are no deadlines in the plan and officials involved say that efforts to advance it have stalled.
&#8220;What will be the timeline? What are the forces that are coming in? Will we have international forces? If not, what are the alternatives? These are all topics that are being discussed,&#8221; Netanyahu said, describing them as central issues.
Merz said that Germany was willing to help rebuild Gaza but would wait for Netanyahu&#8217;s meeting with Trump, and for clarity on what Washington was prepared to do, before Berlin decides what it would contribute but that phase two &#8220;must come now&#8221;.
Israel has repeatedly carried out air strikes since the ceasefire came into effect that it says are fending off attacks or destroying militant infrastructure. Gaza&#8217;s health ministry says 373 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire started. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants.
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Netanyahu said that he would also discuss with Trump &#8220;opportunities for peace&#8221;, an apparent reference to U.S. efforts for Israel to establish formal ties with Arab and Muslim states.
&#8220;We believe there&#8217;s a path to advance a broader peace with the Arab states, and a path also to establish a workable peace with our Palestinian neighbours,&#8221; Netanyahu said, asserting Israel would always insist on security control of the West Bank.
Trump has said he promised Muslim leaders that Israel would not annex the occupied West Bank, where Netanyahu&#8217;s government is backing the development of Jewish settlements.
The &#8220;question of political annexation&#8221; of the West Bank remains a subject of discussion, Netanyahu said.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Andreas Rinke, additional reporting by Steven Scheer and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Louise Heavens and Philippa Fletcher)

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Meets With Trump At The White House

Phase Two Of Gaza Plan: Trump, Netanyahu Prep For Next Steps

Benjamin Netanyahu

Donald Trump

Gaza

Hamas

Israel

U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s plan to take government equity stakes in strategic industries doesn&#8217;t apply to major defense firms, the head of Boeing&#8217;s defense unit said on Saturday, in contrast to previous comments by a senior government official.
The government wants industry to make investments in facilities, and large contractors are expected be able to do this without government assistance, Steve Parker, Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Defense, Space &amp; Security, said on a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum, an annual industry event in Simi Valley, California.
Speaking about the prospect of the U.S. government investing in exchange for ownership rights, &#8220;it really only applies on the supply chain, particularly for the smaller companies coming through where that might be a way forward for them,&#8221; Parker said.
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&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it really applies to the Primes,&#8221; Parker added, referring to big legacy defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, RTX and Northrop Grumman.
Parker pointed to Boeing&#8217;s recent billions invested in St. Louis, Missouri where the company makes fighter jets.
In August, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump administration was weighing equity stakes in major defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin, a move that sent shares of Lockheed, Boeing and other defense firms higher.
This year, the Trump administration has taken equity stakes in chipmaker Intel and rare earths company MP Materials, in an effort to prioritize national security in critical sectors where China has become increasingly dominant. Trump has said the government will take stakes in more companies.
(Reporting by Mike Stone and Joe Brock; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Deepa Babington)

Boeing

Boeing Says Trump’s Equity Stake Plan Doesn’t Apply To Them

Department of Defense

Economy

National Security

U.S.

A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack damaged power facilities in eight Ukrainian regions, causing blackouts and forcing nuclear power plants to cut power output, officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine&#8217;s energy sector and infrastructure in recent weeks, targeting power stations and railway hubs as winter deepens and the war approaches its fourth anniversary.
There was no breakthrough in U.S.-brokered talks this week aimed at ending the conflict.
Ukraine operates three nuclear power plants which produce more than half of the country&#8217;s electricity and IAEA said the plants cut production due to &#8220;widespread military activities overnight&#8221;.
The Ukrainian military said Russia had launched 653 drones and 51 missiles on Ukraine overnight. Ukrainian forces downed 585 drones and 30 missiles, the military said.
Power and heat generation facilities in Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions were targeted in the attack, Ukraine&#8217;s ministry for development of communities and territories said.
It said on Telegram that 9,500 customers remained without heat and 34,000 without water supply in the southern Odesa region.
&#8220;Port facilities (in Odesa) have also been attacked: part of the infrastructure has been de-energised, and operators have switched to backup power from generators,&#8221; the ministry said.
&#8220;Emergency repair work is already underway where safety conditions permit. Energy companies are doing everything possible to restore power to all customers as quickly as possible,&#8221; the energy ministry said on Telegram.
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Among the sites hit overnight was a railway hub near Kyiv, where the depot and railway carriages were damaged, Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said.
The railway did not report any casualties from the attack, in the town of Fastiv.
&#8220;Russia continues to disregard any peace efforts and instead strikes critical civilian infrastructure, including our energy system and railways,&#8221; Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.
&#8220;This shows that no decisions to strengthen Ukraine and raise pressure on Russia can be delayed. And especially not under the pretext of peace process,&#8221; he added.
Ukrzaliznytsia said on the Telegram messaging app that it was forced to cancel several suburban trains near the capital and the city of Chernihiv in northeastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces launched a &#8220;massive strike&#8221; overnight in response to what it called Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets.
The ministry said the strike used high-precision, long-range air- and ground-based weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and long-range drones.
It targeted Ukraine&#8217;s military-industrial enterprises, energy facilities supporting their operations, and port infrastructure used for military purposes, the ministry added.
Separately, sirens sounded early on Saturday in Lubartow in the Lublin region of eastern Poland, private broadcaster RMF FM reported.
RMF quoted local mayor Krzysztof Pasnik as saying the warning was activated due to the situation in Ukraine.
Poland scrambled jets overnight due to the Russian attacks on Ukraine, but the Operational Command of the Armed Forces said there were no airspace violations.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Editing by William Mallard, Bernadette Baum and Aidan Lewis)

Russian Drones, Missiles Hit Ukraine Power And Transport Sectors, Kyiv Says

Kyiv

SpaceX has informed investors and representatives of financial institutions that it plans to pursue an initial public offering in the second half of next year, the Information reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the discussions.
The rocket-maker, founded by Elon Musk, is considering a public listing of the entire company, including Starlink, its internet satellite service, according to the report.
Musk had said in 2020 that SpaceX planned to list Starlink several years in the future, once its revenue growth became smooth and predictable.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The news of the potential IPO follows a media report that said SpaceX is kicking off a secondary share sale that would value the rocket-maker at $800 billion, pitting it against OpenAI for the title of the most valuable private company.
SpaceX&#8217;s finance chief, Bret Johnsen, told investors about the sale in recent days, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The new potential valuation is double the $400 billion value it fetched in a recent secondary share sale.
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The $800 billion valuation would put SpaceX ahead of ChatGPT-parent OpenAI, which is valued at $500 billion as of October, making it the most valuable privately held company in the world, according to Crunchbase data.
Separately, Bloomberg News on Friday reported that SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares that could include a per-share price of around $300, which would value the company at roughly $560 billion.
Several billionaires and private firms, including SpaceX and Jeff Bezos&#8217; Blue Origin, are fueling a new space race in the U.S., pouring money into rockets, satellites and lunar missions.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

SpaceX And Elon Musk photo illustration

SpaceX Tells Investors It’s Targeting Late 2026 IPO, Report Says

Business

Elon Musk

General

Outer Space

SpaceX

President Donald Trump aims to prevent conflict with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea by building up U.S. and allies&#8217; military power, according to a new U.S. strategy document.
The Trump administration laid out its approach to one of the world&#8217;s most sensitive diplomatic issues in an official National Security Strategy document, released on Friday. It comes as Beijing ratchets up pressure on democratically governed Taiwan and Japan, deploying vessels across East Asian waters this week in its largest maritime show of force to date.
&#8220;Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,&#8221; said the document, a periodically updated vision statement from the administration to Congress and the first since Trump took office in January.
China views Taiwan as its own, and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. China also has vast regional claims, including almost the entire South China Sea, which are disputed by many of its smaller neighbors.
The United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but Washington is the island&#8217;s most important international backer and is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. The issue has been an irritant in U.S.-China relations for years.
The document&#8217;s language on Taiwan is stronger than the national security strategy produced during Trump&#8217;s first term in office. The document in 2017 mentioned Taiwan three times in a single sentence, echoing longstanding diplomatic language.
The updated strategy, however, mentions Taiwan eight times across three paragraphs and concludes that &#8220;there is, rightly, much focus on Taiwan&#8221; because of its strategic location in trade-rich waters and dominance in semiconductor manufacturing.
&#8220;We will build a military capable of denying aggression anywhere,&#8221; in the chain of islands stretching from Japan to Southeast Asia, said the latest document. &#8220;But the American military cannot, and should not have to, do this alone. Our allies must step up and spend &#8211; and more importantly do &#8211; much more for collective defense.&#8221;
That will reinforce &#8220;U.S. and allies&#8217; capacity to deny any attempt to seize Taiwan&#8221; or any other steps that would &#8220;make defending that island impossible,&#8221; the report said.
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Trump, a Republican, has largely avoided directly saying how he would respond to a rise in tensions over the island.
Trump&#8217;s penchant for dealmaking and effort to seek closer ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping have kindled fears in the region of weakening U.S. support for Taiwan and regional allies from Tokyo to Manila. Trump plans to travel to Beijing in April, where the leaders will discuss extending the truce in their trade war.
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi drew Beijing&#8217;s wrath when she told parliament that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan that threatened Japan could justify a military response. Trump privately asked Takaichi not to escalate the dispute with China, Reuters previously reported.
But Trump also signed a new law requiring his administration to regularly review how it interacts with Taipei. It also approved the sale of fighter jet and other aircraft parts to Taiwan for $330 million. Both were seen as signs of support by Taiwan. Trump has also pressed Japan and South Korea, two key regional allies, to hike defense spending.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; editing by Philippa Fletcher, Don Durfee and Diane Craft)

Donald Trump/Xi Jinping

Trump Unveils Strategy To Deter China From Invading Taiwan

Communist China

Taiwan

The House Committee on Homeland Security has asked Google and Apple to detail what steps they are taking to remove mobile applications that allow users to track federal immigration officers.
In letters sent on Friday to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple head Tim Cook, committee leaders singled out ICEBlock, an app previously used to monitor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, saying apps hosted on their app stores risk &#8220;jeopardizing the safety of DHS personnel.&#8221; Lawmakers requested a briefing by December 12.
The letters urged Google and Apple to ensure these apps cannot be used to target officers or obstruct lawful immigration enforcement.
The committee noted that while free speech is protected, it does not extend to advocacy that incites imminent lawless action, referencing a landmark Supreme Court ruling.
Google and Apple did not respond to Reuters&#8217; requests for comment.
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The letters follow concerns that these tools allow users to anonymously report and track the movements of federal agents, including those from ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
In October, Google said that ICEBlock was never available on Google&#8217;s Play Store and added it had removed similar apps due to policy violations.
Apple also removed ICEBlock and other tracking apps from its App Store at the time.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the apps &#8220;put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs,&#8221; while Apple cited violations of its policies against content that could harm individuals or groups. The removals followed a surge in downloads of ICEBlock, which had more than a million users before being pulled.
(Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

Apple Will Add 20,000 US Jobs Amid Threat From Trump Tariffs

Republicans Press Google, Apple To Remove Apps That Track Immigration Agents

Apple

Congress

Google

Illegal Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Some members of Congress on Friday deemed Netflix&#8217;s $82 billion proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery&#8217;s studios and streaming unit an antitrust &#8220;nightmare&#8221; for consumers and creatives, while the company touted the deal as driving value for viewers, workers and shareholders.
Netflix said the deal would create jobs and give its 300 million subscribers &#8220;more bang for their buck&#8221; by adding content at a time when President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration is focused on lowering prices.
Nevertheless, Republicans in Congress have warned of potential antitrust problems with Netflix absorbing HBO Max and Warner Bros&#8217; content rights. Democrats including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren also criticized the transaction.
Warren said the deal &#8220;would create one massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming market — threatening to force Americans into higher subscription prices and fewer choices over what and how they watch, while putting American workers at risk.&#8221;
Both Warren and U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, who co-chairs the House Monopoly Busters Caucus, called the deal a &#8220;nightmare.&#8221;
&#8220;It would mean more price hikes, ads, &amp; cookie cutter content, less creative control for artists, and lower pay for workers,&#8221; she said in a post on social media site X.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said the &#8220;proposed deal, and any other, should be closely scrutinized.&#8221;
While Netflix won the bidding war for Warner Bros studio and streaming assets, it has been the political underdog compared with David Ellison-led Paramount Skydance, which has close ties with the Trump administration.
Paramount is considering making an alternative takeover offer directly to Warner Bros shareholders, who have yet to vote on the Netflix deal, CNBC reported on Friday. Reuters could not verify the report.
As the process played out, Republicans in Congress warned that a Netflix acquisition would reduce choice for consumers and give Netflix an unacceptably high share of the streaming market.
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who leads the antitrust committee, said a Netflix buy of Warner Bros Discovery&#8217;s streaming assets &#8220;should send alarm to antitrust enforcers around the world.&#8221;
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&#8220;Netflix built a great service, but increasing Netflix’s dominance this way would mean the end of the Golden Age of streaming for content creators and consumers,&#8221; Lee wrote in a post on X.
Last month, Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas and Representative Darrell Issa of California also called on U.S. antitrust enforcers to scrutinize any possible Netflix-Warner Bros deal, saying it could lead to fewer movies in theaters.
The deal, given its size alone, is likely to face significant antitrust review by the U.S. Department of Justice, and also because it would eliminate competition between HBO Max, which has 128 million subscribers, and Netflix.
Netflix could counter by pointing to shifting media habits and the fact that Alphabet&#8217;s YouTube has recently been the most popular way for Americans to watch TV.
&#8220;We&#8217;re highly confident in the regulatory process. This deal is pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-worker, it&#8217;s pro-creator, it&#8217;s pro-growth,&#8221; Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said after the deal was announced.
A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on Friday.
George Hay, a law professor at Cornell University, said the review will depend on how much of the content market Netflix would control after the deal, and whether or not it could be addressed by a partial sale of some assets.
&#8220;Warner Bros has a lot of content already in the can. So you can imagine spinning off some of that content to another supplier, maybe a Paramount or something like that as a way of ameliorating or diminishing the market share,&#8221; he said.
The deal will likely trigger intense antitrust scrutiny in the European Union due to the combined companies&#8217; market share. UNIC, the EU trade body representing cinema trade associations and operators covering 39 territories, said it will share its concerns and opposition to the deal with competition authorities.
The DOJ antitrust unit is led by Gail Slater, a former executive at Fox Corp and Roku. She was later an economic advisor to Vice President JD Vance.
Last month, Slater signaled that the &#8220;main thing&#8221; for her office is focusing on the average American&#8217;s biggest expenditures. Housing, transportation, food, healthcare and utilities lead the list, with entertainment in fifth place at 5% of household spending, according to a pie chart Slater posted on X.
But those entertainment costs have been rising. Netflix raised the price of its own standard ad-free plan by $2.50 to $17.99 a month in January. HBO Max followed suit, raising its ad-free service price last month by $1.50 to $18.49.
Trump has a history of getting involved in big media mergers and weighing in on one side. He actively lobbied the DOJ in his first term to stop AT&amp;T&#8217;s $85 billion purchase of Time-Warner, voicing concerns about media concentration and his own displeasure with Time-Warner&#8217;s CNN cable network. AT&amp;T ultimately won in court in 2018 and 2019.
Warren warned on Friday against political favoritism tainting the deal review process.
&#8220;The Justice Department must enforce our nation’s anti-monopoly laws fairly and transparently — not use the Warner Bros. deal review to invite influence-peddling and bribery,&#8221; she said.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York, Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; editing by Chris Sanders, Franklin Paul, Nick Zieminski and Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Netflix

Netflix-Warner Bros Deal Faces Bipartisan Political Pushback

Movies

Warner Bros

(Reuters) — Amazon is planning to end its long-standing tie-up with the U.S. Postal Service as the e-commerce giant prepares to expand its nationwide delivery network, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
The online retailer has long been the top customer for USPS, providing more than $6 billion in annual revenue in 2025, the report said. Losing its business would be a major blow to the independent government agency that has been hit by an 80% decline in first-class mail volume since 1997.
For Amazon, building out its delivery network would bolster its standing in a parcel industry where it is already a major player thanks to its sprawling warehouse network and a largely non-union workforce that has allowed it to control costs.
Last year, Amazon Logistics handled 6.3 billion parcels, just behind the 6.9 billion handled by USPS, according to Pitney Bowes&#8217; parcel shipping index. The company is expected to overtake USPS in parcels by 2028, the data showed, a milestone it could hit sooner if the tie-up ends.
The retailer plans to pull the billions of packages it sends through USPS by the end of 2026, although the plans are not final and could change, the Washington Post report said.
AMAZON&#8217;S DELIVERY NETWORK EXPANSION
The company has already pledged more than $4 billion in April to expand its U.S. rural delivery network by the end of next year.
&#8220;Amazon has been building its distribution capabilities for several years and now has minimal reliance on other logistics companies,&#8221; said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria, adding that the company was in a position to be &#8220;almost entirely self-reliant.&#8221;
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Still, the expansion of the delivery network will require more resources at a time when Amazon is pouring tens of billions of dollars on data centers to stay competitive in the artificial intelligence race.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Amazon said it wants to reach an agreement with USPS, while the agency did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
TOUGH TALKS
The plans to end the tie-up follow talks between Amazon and USPS over &#8220;negotiated service agreements&#8221; — contracts that lock in rates and speed deliveries for the agency&#8217;s biggest customers — which largely ended without a new deal, the report said.
Those agreements have largely favored big companies over individual retailers and small businesses, but Postmaster General David Steiner, appointed earlier this year, has said he wants to democratize them by opening them up to smaller-scale customers, the report added.
He plans to run a reverse auction early next year, offering access to postal facilities to the highest bidder rather than directly to Amazon, a proposal that largely ended the talks that had been under way since February, the report said.
Steiner met virtually with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on November 14, according to the report.
USPS, which posted a $9.5 billion loss last year as electronic communications erode mail volumes and private rivals expand their footprint, has also drawn the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump said in February he was considering merging USPS — which he called &#8220;a tremendous loser for this country&#8221; — with the Commerce Department, a move Democrats said would violate federal law.
&#8220;USPS needs Amazon a lot more than Amazon needs USPS,&#8221; said New York-based ecommerce analyst Juozas Kaziukenas. &#8220;Amazon has all the cards in their hands in this case.&#8221;
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Arnav Mishra, Helen Reid and Ruchika Khanna; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Leroy Leo)

Amazon

Amazon Plans To Cut Ties With U.S. Postal Service As It Builds Its Own Network

United States Postal Service (USPS)

Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook and Instagram after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a class action by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.
In a 2020 research project code-named “Project Mercury,” Meta scientists worked with survey firm Nielsen to gauge the effect of “deactivating” Facebook and Instagram, according to Meta documents obtained via discovery. To the company’s disappointment, “people who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness and social comparison,” internal documents said.
Rather than publishing those findings or pursuing additional research, the filing states, Meta called off further work and internally declared that the negative study findings were tainted by the “existing media narrative” around the company.
Privately, however, staff assured Nick Clegg, Meta’s then-head of global public policy, that the conclusions of the research were valid.
“The Nielsen study does show causal impact on social comparison,” (unhappy face emoji), an unnamed staff researcher allegedly wrote. Another staffer worried that keeping quiet about negative findings would be akin to the tobacco industry “doing research and knowing cigs were bad and then keeping that info to themselves.”
Despite Meta’s own work documenting a causal link between its products and negative mental health effects, the filing alleges, Meta told Congress that it had no ability to quantify whether its products were harmful to teenage girls.
In a statement Saturday, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the study was stopped because its methodology was flawed and that it worked diligently to improve the safety of its products.
“The full record will show that for over a decade, we have listened to parents, researched issues that matter most, and made real changes to protect teens,” he said.
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The allegation of Meta burying evidence of social media harms is just one of many in a late Friday filing by Motley Rice, a law firm suing Meta, Google, TikTok and Snapchat on behalf of school districts around the country. Broadly, the plaintiffs argue the companies have intentionally hidden the internally recognized risks of their products from users, parents and teachers.
TikTok, Google and Snapchat did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Allegations against Meta and its rivals include tacitly encouraging children below the age of 13 to use their platforms, failing to address child sexual abuse content and seeking to expand the use of social media products by teenagers while they were at school. The plaintiffs also allege that the platforms attempted to pay child-focused organizations to defend the safety of their products in public.
In one instance, TikTok sponsored the National PTA and then internally boasted about its ability to influence the child-focused organization. Per the filing, TikTok officials said the PTA would “do whatever we want going forward in the fall… (t)hey’ll announce things publicly(,), (t)heir CEO will do press statements for us.”
By and large, however, the allegations against the other social media platforms are less detailed than those against Meta. The internal documents cited by the plaintiffs allege:
1. Meta intentionally designed its youth safety features to be ineffective and rarely used, and blocked testing of safety features that it feared might be harmful to growth. 2. Meta required users to be caught 17 times attempting to traffic people for sex before it would remove them from its platform, which a document described as “a very, very, very high strike threshold.&#8221; 3. Meta recognized that optimizing its products to increase teen engagement resulted in serving them more harmful content, but did so anyway. 4. Meta stalled internal efforts to prevent child predators from contacting minors for years due to growth concerns, and pressured safety staff to circulate arguments justifying its decision not to act. 5. In a text message in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg said that he wouldn’t say that child safety was his top concern “when I have a number of other areas I’m more focused on like building the metaverse.” Zuckerberg also shot down or ignored requests by Clegg to better fund child safety work.
Meta’s Stone disputed these allegations, saying the company’s teen safety measures are effective and that the company’s current policy is to remove accounts as soon as they are flagged for sex trafficking.
He said the suit misrepresents its efforts to build safety features for teens and parents, and called its safety work “broadly effective.”
&#8220;We strongly disagree with these allegations, which rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions,” Stone said.
The underlying Meta documents cited in the filing are not public, and Meta is opposing their unsealing.
A hearing regarding the filing is set for January 26 in Northern California District Court.
(Reporting by Jeff Horwitz in San Francisco; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Meta Buried ‘Causal’ Evidence Of Social Media Harm, U.S. Court Filings Allege

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Jamaica has declared an outbreak of the bacterial disease leptospirosis, suspected of causing six deaths, following the devastation from Hurricane Melissa in late October.
The Category 5 hurricane slammed into the Caribbean island on October 28, causing catastrophic flooding and landslides with some 30 inches (76 cm) of rain. The resulting stagnant, contaminated water has created a breeding ground for the disease, officials said.
Health Minister Christopher Tufton announced on Friday that nine cases were confirmed between October 30 and November 20, with 28 additional suspected cases.
Leptospirosis is spread through water or soil contaminated by the urine of infected animals, such as rodents. The infection can enter the human body through cuts in the skin or through the eyes, nose and mouth.
While initial symptoms such as fever, headache and muscle aches can be mistaken for the flu, the disease can progress to a severe and potentially fatal form. It can cause kidney failure, liver damage, meningitis and severe internal bleeding.
&#8220;The outbreak follows the passage of the storm which has created conditions that have increased the risk of exposure to contaminated water and soil,&#8221; Tufton said at a press conference.
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He warned that anyone coming into contact with floodwaters could be at risk, including &#8220;farmers, persons engaged in cleanup activities, emergency responders and others navigating flood areas.&#8221;
Hurricane Melissa left an estimated $10 billion in damages, according to Jamaican officials, hobbling the nation&#8217;s key tourism and agriculture sectors and damaging nearly 200,000 buildings.
(Reporting by Zahra Burton; Writing by Iñigo Alexander; Editing by Kylie Madry and Bill Berkrot)

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Tyson Foods will close a major beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska, with about 3,200 employees in January after U.S. cattle supplies dropped to their lowest level in nearly 75 years, the meatpacker said on Friday.
The closure in the heart of cattle-feeding country signaled that supplies will remain tight, forcing meatpackers to pay steep prices for cattle to process into steaks and hamburgers.
Beef prices have set records due to low supplies and strong demand, raising costs for consumers. President Donald Trump said last month that he was working to bring down prices.
Tyson said it will also reduce operations at a beef plant in Amarillo, Texas, to a single, full-capacity shift, affecting about 1,700 workers.
&#8220;Tyson Foods recognizes the impact these decisions have on team members and the communities where we operate,&#8221; the company said in a statement.
Tyson said the changes were expected around January 20 and that it will increase production at other facilities to meet customer demand.
Beef prices soared this year as cattle supplies dwindled and meatpackers increasingly competed for limited supplies of livestock.
Ranchers slashed their herds after a years-long drought burned up pasture lands and hiked feeding costs. Some have slowly started to rebuild their herds, though it takes at least two years to raise full-grown cattle.
Tyson&#8217;s beef business suffered adjusted losses of $426 million in the 12 months ended on September 27 and $291 million over the previous year. The meatpacker projected the unit will lose $400 million to $600 million in the 2026 fiscal year.
&#8220;We all expected a plant to be closed at some point in 2026,&#8221; said Rich Nelson, chief strategist for Allendale. &#8220;I&#8217;m a little surprised they&#8217;re doing it preemptively.&#8221;
Losses in Tyson&#8217;s beef business were a turnaround from the fat profits it and other processors reaped during the COVID-19 pandemic, when meat prices soared as infections among plant workers slowed output.
The Lexington plant can process roughly 5,000 cattle per day, or about 5% of total U.S. slaughtering, but it has already been operating below capacity, said Matt Wiegand, commodity broker for FuturesOne in Nebraska. Its closure will shock the city of about 10,000 residents and hurt local feedyards that fatten cattle, he said.
&#8220;Tyson&#8217;s announcement will have a devastating impact,&#8221; said U.S. Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska. &#8220;It&#8217;s no secret that just a few years ago, packers like Tyson were making windfall profits while the rest of the industry was continuously in the red.&#8221;
In Amarillo, Tyson&#8217;s plant can slaughter roughly 6,000 cattle per day, according to industry estimates.
The White House had no immediate comment.
Trump has sought to boost beef imports from countries such as Argentina to ease prices for U.S. consumers, angering American ranchers. On Thursday, he removed 40% tariffs he had imposed this summer on Brazilian food products that slowed imports of beef used to make hamburger meat.
Trump has also accused meatpacking companies of driving up U.S. beef prices through manipulation and collusion, and ordered the Justice Department to investigate.
(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Nia Williams and Bill Berkrot)

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