business

BREAKINGBREAKING,

The incident marks the second time in recent weeks that the US has seized an oil tanker near Venezuela.

The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, according to officials quoted by international news agencies.

The incident comes just days after US President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

This also marks the second time in recent weeks that the US has seized a tanker near Venezuela and comes amid a large US military build-up in the region as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Three officials, who were speaking to the Reuters news agency on the condition of anonymity, did not say where the operation was taking place but added the Coast Guard was in the lead.

Two officials, speaking to The Associated Press news agency, also confirmed the operations. The action was described as a “consented boarding”, with the tanker stopping voluntarily and allowing US forces to board it, one official said.

Al Jazeera’s Heide Zhou-Castro said that there was no official confirmation from the US authorities on the operation.

“We are still waiting for confirmation from the White House and Pentagon on the details, including which ship, where it was located, and whether or not this ship was beneath the US sanctions,” she said.

More soon…

Dec. 19 (UPI) — A Paris court denied an effort by the French government to suspend the fashion website Shein from operating in the country after it was found to be selling “childlike” sex dolls.

The court called the three-month suspension “disproportionate,” but said the site must implement strong age-verification protocols to sell any “sexual products that could constitute pornographic content.” It said the fine for each breach would be $11,700.

The action was taken after the sex dolls and weapons were discovered by France’s consumer watchdog in November, causing an uproar in France.

Shein, based in Singapore, issued a statement on Nov. 4 saying it had removed the dolls and permanently banned “all seller accounts linked to illegal or non-compliant sex-doll products.”

The court noted that the company removed the items and that the issue was only for a small number of the hundreds of thousands of items on the site.

A Shein spokesperson told Euro News that the platform will not reopen in France right away. It’s doing an internal audit to find weaknesses in its marketplace operations.

Paris senator Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée of the conservative Les Républicains party told Euro News that “the issue with Shein or Temu goes far beyond these specific products. It is an entire business model that violates consumer rights, destroys our companies and jobs, and tramples on human rights, including environmental protection.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office has begun a criminal investigation and assigned it to France’s Office for the Protection of Minors. It includes other online retailers, including AliExpress, Temu, Wish and eBay.

The company opened its first-ever brick-and-mortar store in Paris on Nov. 5, soon after the controversy began. The store opened to chaos, as shoppers lined up to get in and protesters shouted at them, “Shame!”

The European Commission has requested information from Shein but hasn’t launched an investigation. It has begun investigating AliExpress and Temu.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — Mexican low-cost airlines Volaris and Viva Aerobus announced an agreement to create a new holding company through a merger of equals — a deal aimed at expanding low-fare air travel and strengthening Mexico’s air connectivity with the United States and Latin America.

The transaction will combine the parent companies of Volaris and Viva into a single entity, while each airline will continue to operate independently under its own brand, air operator certificate, leadership structure and route network.

Once the deal closes, shareholders of each company will hold 50% of the new group on a fully diluted basis. Viva shareholders will receive newly issued shares of Volaris’ holding company, while Volaris shareholders will retain their existing shares, according to DF SUD.

The boards of both airlines unanimously approved the transaction. The deal is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals and is expected to close in 2026. Shares of the holding company will continue to trade on the Mexican Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

The new group would become Mexico’s largest low-cost airline platform and a regional player with growing relevance for travelers seeking cheaper options across North America and Latin America.

Volaris shares jumped more than 20% after the announcement, driven by expectations of operational efficiencies and cost reductions.

Volaris is a publicly traded company backed by U.S.-based Indigo Partners, which also controls Frontier Airlines in the United States and JetSmart in Chile.

Viva Aerobus is privately held and controlled by Mexican transportation group IAMSA, led by businessman Roberto Alcantara Rojas, who will serve as chairman of the new holding company

Both airlines operate all-Airbus fleets and focus on a low-cost, point-to-point business model. Their main competitor in Mexico’s domestic market is Aeromexico, the country’s flag carrier.

The agreement comes amid a complex period for Mexican aviation and air relations with the United States. In October, the U.S. Department of Transportation rejected more than a dozen routes proposed by Mexican airlines, citing disputes over slot management at Mexico City’s main airport and the relocation of cargo operations to a more distant terminal.

In November, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexican airlines would give up some airport slots to U.S. competitors. U.S. airlines currently account for more than half of international passenger traffic between the two countries, while Mexican carriers represent less than 30%.

Industry analysts say the creation of the new holding could strengthen Mexico’s position in the regional market without, for now, triggering a full operational merger that could face stronger regulatory opposition.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — Sales of previously owned homes rose 0.5% in November from October, reflecting a slowdown, due to high mortgage rates, high prices and less supply.

Home sales were 1% lower than November 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales came in at an annualized rate of 4.13 million units.

The numbers are based on closings, so contracts may have been signed in the preceding months when rates dipped slightly.

Supply fell in November after rising most of the year. The association said there were 1.43 million homes for sale at the end of the month, which is down 5.9% from October, but up 7.5 percent year-over-year.

That’s a 4.2-month supply. A six-month supply is considered balanced between buyer and seller.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate was 6.24%, down from 6.25% in October and 6.81% from a year ago, showing slow change in rates.

The median existing-home price for all housing types was $409,200, up 1.2% from a year ago.

The median time on the market for properties was 36 days, up from 34 days last month and 32 in November 2024.

“Existing-home sales increased for the third straight month due to lower mortgage rates this autumn,” said the Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a statement. “However, inventory growth is beginning to stall. With distressed property sales at historic lows and housing wealth at an all-time high, homeowners are in no rush to list their properties during the winter months.”

Month-over-month sales increased in the Northeast and South, showed no change in the West, and fell in the Midwest. Year-over-year sales showed no change in the Northeast and South, and decreased in the Midwest and West.

“Wage growth is outpacing home price gains, which improves housing affordability. Still, future affordability could be hampered if housing supply fails to keep pace with demand,” Yun said. “As has been the case throughout the year, single-family home sales outperformed condominium sales in November. The typical price of a sold condo was 13.5% lower than the typical price of a single-family home. However, the purchase price does not include the condominium association fees, which are rising and making these purchases more expensive.”

The FTC had accused the grocery delivery giant of charging fees to consumers after promising ‘free delivery’.

Instacart has agreed to pay $60m in refunds to settle allegations brought by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the online grocery delivery platform deceived consumers about its membership programme and free delivery offers.

According to court documents filed in San Francisco on Thursday, Instacart’s offer of “free delivery” for first orders was illusory because shoppers were charged other fees, the FTC alleged.

The agency also accused Instacart of failing to adequately notify shoppers that their free trials of its Instacart+ subscription service would convert to paid memberships and of misleading consumers about its refund policy.

“The FTC is focused on monitoring online delivery services to ensure that competitors are transparently competing on price and delivery terms,” said Christopher Mufarrige, who leads the FTC’s consumer protection work.

An Instacart spokesperson said the company flatly denies any allegations of wrongdoing, but that the settlement allows the company to focus on shoppers and retailers.

“We provide straightforward marketing, transparent pricing and fees, clear terms, easy cancellation, and generous refund policies — all in full compliance with the law and exceeding industry norms,” the spokesperson said.

The shopping platform is currently under scrutiny after a recent study by nonprofit groups found that individual shoppers simultaneously received different prices for the same items at the same stores.

The FTC is investigating the company and has demanded information about Instacart’s Eversight pricing tool, the news agency Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Instacart has said that retailers are responsible for setting prices, and that pricing tests run through Eversight are random and not based on user data.

Lindsay Owens, the executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, an economic think tank, criticised the grocery platform for using artificial intelligence (AI) to tweak its prices.

“At a time when families are being squeezed by the highest grocery costs in a generation, Instacart chose to run AI experiments that are quietly driving prices higher,” Owens said in written remarks provided to Al Jazeera.

She also called on the administration of US President Donald Trump to take action to prevent such price manipulation from continuing into the future.

“While the FTC’s investigation is welcome news, it must be followed with meaningful action that ends these exploitative pricing schemes and protects consumers,” Owens said. “Instacart must face consequences for their algorithmic price gouging, not just a slap on the wrist.”

On Wall Street, Instacart’s stock is taking a hit on the heels of the settlement, finishing out the day down 1.5 percent.

Dec. 18 (UPI) — Peru signed a strategic agreement with South Korean defense firm Hyundai Rotem for the future acquisition of tanks and armored vehicles — a deal that, if finalized, could become South Korea’s largest land-defense export to a Latin American country.

The agreement involves the sale of 54 K2 main battle tanks and 141 K808 armored personnel carriers, with an expected value that exceeds $1.4 billion, RPP Noticias reported. It would mark the first sale of this type of South Korean military equipment in the region.

Peru’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the agreement also includes technological cooperation, financing options and the promotion of industrial projects linked to the defense sector, in line with the country’s plans to modernize and strengthen its military capabilities.

Peruvian lawmaker and former admiral Jorge Montoya told UPI that military cooperation between the two countries began about a decade ago through contacts between Peruvian shipyards and Hyundai.

“For the past 40 years, Peru has acquired weapons from Germany. However, after a series of economic and technological assessments, the decision was made to change suppliers to Hyundai,” Montoya said. “A cooperation agreement has also been signed with them for the development of submarine units.”

Montoya said the goal of the agreement is to ensure a defense capability suited to the country’s realities.

“We are not seeking to compete with any country in the region, because other countries spend twice as much on defense as we do,” he said. “Peru allocates the smallest share of GDP to defense, just 0.8%. All countries are ahead of us, including Bolivia.”

He added that Peru’s extensive borders require modern capabilities for the armed forces.

The framework agreement sets the stage for deliveries beginning in 2026, with the possibility of local assembly starting in 2029. The plan includes joint industrial projects involving Peru’s Army Weapons and Ammunition Factory and Hyundai Rotem.

Maj. Gen. Jorge Arevalo, commander of the Army’s Logistics Command and a board member of the state-owned arms manufacturer, recently confirmed that South Korean partners are planning an initial $270 million investment to build an industrial complex in Peru where K2 tanks and armored vehicles would be assembled, Peru 21 reported.

Peru’s Prime Minister Ernesto Alvarez said the Army is recovering lost capacity to transport troops in armored vehicles, a process that also involves acquiring front-line tanks to replace Soviet-era T-55 models that he said no longer have deterrent capability.

Alvarez also confirmed that Peru this week received a second batch of three UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters donated by the United States under an agreement signed in October last year for a total of nine aircraft.

Two words that largely define the economy right now: Global reordering.

President Donald Trump’s Tariffs have landed as a shock to global trade. This is 2025.

Major economies are rewriting their playbooks, and alliances are being redrawn.

From Africa’s minerals boom to the global AI race, countries are scrambling for influence – even as debt piles up.

They are spending more, borrowing more and making tough choices from defence to climate policy and labour shortages.

And through it all, people are bearing high costs.

Dec. 17 (UPI) — Fears of risks to children’s mental health and development have two U.S. senators sounding an alarm and seeking information on toys that use artificial intelligence.

Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., jointly wrote a letter sent to executives in charge of Mattel, Little Learners Toys, Miko, FoloToy, Curio Interactive and Kayi Robot to obtain information on testing of their respective AI-powered toys, NBC News reported.

“These AI toys — specifically those powered by chatbots embedded in everyday children’s toys like plushies, dolls, and other beloved toys — pose risks to children’s healthy development,” they said in the letter signed on Tuesday.

“While AI has incredible potential to benefit children with learning and accessibility, experts have raised concerns about AI toys and the lack of research that has been conducted to understand the full effect of these products on our kids.”

The senators said many AI toys do not cultivate interactive play and instead expose kids to “inappropriate content, privacy risks and manipulative engagement tactics.”

“These aren’t theoretical worst-case scenarios,” Blackburn and Blumenthal said. “They are documented failures uncovered through real-world testing, and they must be addressed.”

The senators said many of the toys use the same AI systems that are dangerous for older children and teens, but are included in toys that are marketed for children and infants.

Chatbots that simulate human conversations with children are especially problematic, the senators said.

“These chatbots have encouraged children to commit self-harm and suicide, and now your company is pushing them on the youngest children who have the least ability to recognize this danger,” Blumenthal and Blackburn wrote.

By way of an example, they said one teddy bear toy responded to a researcher’s question regarding “kink,” and the toy detailed a variety of sexual situations, including between adults and children.

The same toy also provided instructions on how to light a match when asked, they said.

“It is unconscionable that these products would be marketed to children, and these reports raise serious questions about the lack of child safety research conducted on these toys,” Blackburn and Blumenthal said.

The senators also aired their concerns about the data colleed by AI-powered toys and the potential for using that data to design addictive toys for children.

They likened it to social media addiction among youth and asked the respective toy company executives to explain what, if any, safeguards are used to prevent inappropriate conversations and if independent testing is done by third parties.

Blumenthal and Blackburn also want to know if the toy manufacturers share data collected by AI-powered toys with third parties.

Officials for Curio Interactive said their “top priority” is children’s safety when contacted by The Hill.

“Our guardrails are meticulously designed to protect kids, and our toys can only be used with parent permission,” they responded.

“We encourage parents to monitor conversations, track insights, and choose the controls that work best for their family on the Curio: Interactive Toys app,” they explained.

“We work closely with KidSAFE and maintain strict compliance with COPPA and other child-privacy laws.”

Dec. 17 (UPI) — Chairman Brendan Carr said the Federal Communications Commission isn’t independent from the Trump administration in testimony Wednesday before Congress, during which the word “independent” was removed from the agency’s mission statement online.

Carr’s comment came as members on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee questioned him on who the FCC answers to in the wake of a controversy that led to the brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel‘s late-night talk show on ABC.

The Walt Disney Co. suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! from Sept. 17 through Sept. 22 in response to comments he made about the assassination of right-wing activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

The controversy stemmed from Kimmel suggesting the alleged gunman who killed Kirk was a pro-Trump Republican.

The Make America Great Again “gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” he said in his monologue.

There was some discussion in the early days after the shooting as to the alleged shooter’s political leanings — he came from a largely right-wing family but had made some more left-leaning comments in recent months.

Just before the suspension, Carr described Kimmel’s comments as “truly sick” and threatened action against the network. At the time, Nester Media Group, which owns multiple ABC affiliates, was awaiting approval from the FCC for its planned merger with Tegna, prompting some to view Kimmel’s suspension as political.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said at the time. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Carr denied that Kimmel’s suspension had anything to do with government censorship and instead blamed it on ratings.

Democrats on the committee questioned Wednesday if Carr was truly acting independently or if he was beholden to Trump’s politics, The Hill reported.

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., asked, “Yes or no, is the FCC an independent agency?

“On your website, it just simply says, man, the FCC is independent. This isn’t a trick question.”

“Congress did not include for-cause removal in the Communications Act,” Carr said. “So, formally speaking, the FCC is not independent.”

During testimony, the FCC’s website was updated to change the wording of its mission statement, eliminating the word “independent.” When asked about the removal, an FCC spokesperson cited the change in the administration 11 months ago.

“With the change in administration earlier this year, the FCC’s website and materials required updating. That work continues to ensure that they reflect the positions of the agency’s new leadership,” the spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., accused Carr of being the chairman of the “Federal Censorship Committee,” saying he made “mafia threats” toward station owners in the wake of Kimmel’s comments about Kirk.

“And these broadcasters, they feel that censorship,” Markey said.

Carr said the broadcasters involved issued statements saying they made their decisions to suspend Kimmel independently of what he said about Kimmel.

“If broadcasters understand, perhaps for the first time in years, that they’re going to be held accountable to the public interest, to the broadcast hoax rule, to the news distortion policy, I think that’s a good thing,” Carr said, according to ABC News.

Dec. 16 (UPI) — Tesla shares closed at a record-high $489.88 on Tuesday, days after CEO Elon Musk announced the company had been testing driverless vehicles in Texas.

Shares rose 3.1% for the day and were up 21% for the year, CNBC reported. This came after Tesla’s worst quarter since 2022 when it dropped 36% in the first quarter of this year.

Techstock² reported that in addition to the roboatxi announcement, Tesla saw a boost on the stock market in response to a fresh round of filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.

The filings showed that WT Wealth Management increased its Tesla stake by 178.7%, Carter Financial Group opened a new Tesla position, Orion Portfolion solutions increased its holdings of Tesla by 14.8%, National Wealth Management Group increased its stake by 26.3% and Momentum Wealth Planning purchased a new stake of 9,802 shares worth about $3.11 million.

Tesla also invested $1.2 billion in a battery cell plant in Berlin.

With Tuesday’s bounce, Tesla’s market cap reached $1.63 trillion, making it the seventh-most valuable company in trading behind Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, CNBC reported.

The US economy gains jobs in healthcare and construction as other sectors stagnate, shrink.

The United States economy lost 41,000 jobs in October and November, and the unemployment rate has ticked up to its highest level since 2021 as the labour market cools amid ongoing economic uncertainty driven by tariffs and immigration policies.

In November, the US economy added 64,000 jobs after shedding 105,000 in October, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, up from 4.4 percent in September. Because of the government shutdown in October and November, the US government was unable to gather key data used to gauge the state of the economy, including the unemployment rate for October.

October’s job losses reflected the 162,000 federal workers who lost their posts, a result of deferred buyouts of their contracts,  which expired at the end of September.

In November, there was a loss of another 6,000 government jobs. Gains were seen in the healthcare, social assistance and construction sectors. Healthcare added 46,000 jobs – higher than the 39,000 jobs gained in the sector on average each month over the past 12 months.

Construction added 28,000, consistent with average gains over the past year. The social assistance sector added 18,000 jobs.

Transportation and warehousing lost 18,000. Manufacturing jobs are also on the decline. The sector shed 5,000 jobs in November after cutting 9,000 jobs in October following a 5,000-job loss in September.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters on Tuesday to expect to see more manufacturing jobs in the next six months.

His assessment was driven by growth in construction jobs and manufacturing investments, which signal job growth is on the way.

People working part time for economic reasons also rose to 5.5 million, which is up 909,000 from September.

“Today’s long-awaited jobs report confirms what we already suspected: [President Donald] Trump’s economy is stalling out and American workers are paying the price,” Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at the economic think tank Groundwork Collaborative, said in a statement.

“Far from sparking a manufacturing renaissance, Trump’s reckless trade agenda is bleeding working-class jobs, forcing layoffs, and raising prices for businesses and consumers alike.”

The data was released after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.5-3.75 percent as labour conditions cool.

“The labour market has continued to cool gradually, … a touch more gradually than we thought,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said after the rate cut decision last week.

On Wall Street, markets fell slightly after the jobs report. In midday trading, the Nasdaq was down 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 was down 0.5 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.4 percent below its market open.

Dec. 12 (UPI) — Costa Rica and Israel finalized a free trade agreement this week that eliminates more than 90% of tariffs between the two countries, mainly on agricultural and industrial products. The deal also is expected to improve prospects for trade in services, technology and specialized investment.

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Trade said the pact with Israel — which it described as a leader in innovation, cybersecurity, clean technologies, agrotechnology, digital services and semiconductors — creates a favorable framework for expanding trade, attracting capital and strengthening bilateral production chains.

The agreement must be ratified by Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly, a process expected to be contentious due to criticism from pro-Palestinian groups calling for a freeze on ties with Israel.

Activist groups collected about 12,000 signatures from Costa Ricans and delivered them to the government in November, urging it to halt the agreement on the grounds that Costa Rica would become “complicit” in genocide, local outlet Semanario Universidad reported.

Although current trade between the two countries — estimated at about $60 million — represents only a small share of each nation’s total exports, Costa Rican business groups welcomed the agreement, saying it will allow the country to strengthen specific niches where it has a competitive advantage or needs key inputs.

“In the current context, it is very important to diversify the sources of investment and the destinations of our products, particularly in a high-potential market such as the Middle East,” Ronald Lachner, president of the Association of Free Zone Companies of Costa Rica, told El Observador.

Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Manuel Tovar said the agreement “represents a strategic opportunity to position Costa Rica as a competitive supplier in high-technology sectors, quality agribusiness and specialized services.”

Israeli Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat said Costa Rica is “a natural trading partner for Israel — an advanced OECD country with a deep commitment to free and open trade.”

“The free trade agreement is expected to strengthen the growth trend in Israeli exports, deepen business cooperation and help reduce the cost of living in Israel by lowering import prices,” he said. “The agreement reflects the policy we are pursuing: opening new markets, diversifying trade destinations and strengthening the engines of growth of the Israeli economy.”

With the agreement’s entry into force, Costa Rican exports are expected to reach between $50 million and $60 million in 2026, driven by products such as green coffee, pineapple, honey, kosher and halal meat, medical devices, advanced manufacturing and digital services.

Beyond the exchange of goods, the free trade agreement aligns with Costa Rica’s national strategy to attract investment in high-technology sectors. Israeli investment in Costa Rica has shown a sharp increase, rising from $1 million in 2023 to nearly $20 million in 2024.

The scope of the agreement goes beyond tariff reductions. It includes plans to open a Trade and Innovation Office in Jerusalem in early 2026. The office is intended to facilitate joint projects in semiconductors, medical technologies, advanced agriculture and specialized tourism.

Israel’s ambassador to Costa Rica, Michal Gur-Aryeh, said the two economies are complementary.

“Israeli technology will contribute to Costa Rican productivity, making it more profitable and competitive, while Israel will gain access to Costa Rica’s wide range of products,” she said.

Dec. 13 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Saturday ended U.S. sanctions on potash fertilizers from Belarus in exchange for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko releasing 123 political prisoners.

Lukashenko freed the prisoners, who include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and political opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova, in an effort to improve the Russia-allied nation’s relations with the United States, Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times reported.

“In accordance with President Trump’s instructions, the United States is lifting sanctions on potash,” U.S. Special Envoy John Coale told Belta, Belarus’ official news agency.

“I believe this is a very good step by the United States for Belarus,” Coale said. “We are lifting them now.”

Belarus has been sanctioned by the U.S. and other Western nations since 2021 because of Lukashenko’s authoritarian rule and decades of political repression.

Sanctions have ramped up since 2022 because Lukashenko also allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch his invasion of Ukraine from Belarus.

In 2024, Lukashenko started releasing prisoners in order to appease Western leaders, including Trump, and get sanctions lifted that have crippled the Belarusian potash industry.

Since July 2024, before Saturday’s prisoner release, Belarus has freed more than 430 political prisoners.

According to Coale, the United States is “constantly talking” to Belarus and lifting the U.S. sanctions on potash — European sanctions, which have been called more consequential than the U.S. sanctions, remain in place — is a step toward reaching a point where all sanctions against the country have been removed.

“As relations between the two countries normalize, more sanctions will be lifted,” Coale said.

Dec. 12 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has voiced support for reclassifying cannabis and making it a legally obtainable drug — possibly as soon as next week.

The president might sign an executive order to reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III drug as soon as Monday, accordingto CNBC, but no later than early next year, Axios reported.

Trump has a team examining the matter, but no decision has been made as of Friday morning.

The president also met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., earlier this week to discuss the matter and is considering signing an executive order compelling federal agencies to reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III drug.

The federal government currently has cannabis classified as a Schedule I drug with no known medical uses and a strong potential for abuse and dependency, as defined by the Controlled Substances Act.

Other drugs similarly classified include LSD, heroin and MDMA.

A Schedule III drug is one with recognized medicinal use and a low potential for abuse and dependency. Examples include ketamine, opioids and anabolic steroids, all of which require prescriptions to obtain legally.

Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Agency, with assistance from the Health and Human Services Department, mostly determine how various drugs are scheduled by the federal government.

The push for reclassification of cannabis comes as more U.S. adults are using cannabis, while moving away from alcohol and tobacco products.

Reclassifying cannabis would not make marijuana legal for recreational use, but it would become legal for medicinal purposes and require a prescription.

Reclassification also would make it legal for cannabis producers to transport their products between states and enable federally chartered banks to process financial transactions related to legal cannabis sales.

Cannabis producers and retailers also could benefit from federal tax breaks.

News of a potential change in federal cannabis laws and enforcement boosted related stocks on Friday.

Cannabis stocks surged upward upon the prospect of cannabis becoming a legally obtainable substance at the federal level, in addition to respective states that have enacted recreational or medical marijuana laws, and many times both.

Several cannabis stocks posted respective gains ranging from more than 10% to about 35% during trading on Friday, CNBC reported.

Two dozen states, three U.S. territories and the District ofColumbia have legalized the medicinal and recreational use of cannabis, and a recent Gallup poll showed 64% or respondents support legalization, according to Axios.

At the federal level, the House of Representatives briefly considered decriminalizing cannabis during President Trump’s first term in office but delayed the matter until after the 2020 general election.

Legalization also could lessen the profit potential for drug cartels, which spurred Colombian President GustavoPetro in March to urge the Colombian Congress to legalize cannabis.

He said the nation’s continued prohibition against cannabis “only brings violence” among its drug cartels.

Dec. 12 (UPI) — Russia’s Central Bank has filed suit against the Belgian bank that holds about $217 billion in frozen Russian state assets to stop the European Union from using that money to make a large loan to Ukraine.

Most of Moscow’s frozen cash is held in Belgian bank depository Euroclear. The EU wants to extend a loan to Ukraine, which is running out of money to fight the Russian invasion of the country. But Russia wants to block that loan and accuses the EU of theft.

The Central Bank filed the suit in the Moscow City Arbitration Court as a warning to the EU. It said in a statement that Euroclear was participating in “unlawful activities” and that it filed the suit because the EU’s executive was “considering proposals for direct or indirect use of Bank of Russia assets without authorization.”

“A Moscow court cannot force Euroclear to comply, and any ruling would be unenforceable abroad,” said Alexandra Prokopenko, a former Russian Central Bank official and a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told The New York Times.

“But it is not meaningless: It creates formal documentation of Russia’s legal claims and serves as a political signal ahead of international litigation.”

Prokopenko also said an investment protection agreement exists between Russia, Belgium and Luxembourg that requires any loss to be compensated. That means Moscow could use that in future international arbitration against Belgium. So Belgium is worried about being left responsible in the future.

EU leaders will discuss the potential loan at a meeting Thursday in Brussels of leaders of all 27 member states. Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart de Wever was in London to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday. The frozen assets were on the agenda, British officials have said.

European countries have been pushing Belgium to agree to the plan, but it’s trying to convince other countries to share the risk. Although most of Russia’s cash is at Euroclear, but smaller amounts are held in other European countries.

The loan plan would use the frozen assets to back a $106 billion loan to Ukraine, meted out over the next two years. Ukraine would only have to pay it back if Russia pays reparations.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said about the funds, “It’s only fair that Russia’s frozen assets should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed — and that money then becomes ours.”

The loan plan could also cause a clash with Washington. In the U.S.-created peace plan that is still being negotiated, that frozen money was to be used to help rebuild Ukraine. But EU officials argue that if Ukraine falters financially, it will be in a weakened position in peace negotiations.

Using the frozen funds could “destabilize the international financial system,” Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain said.

“Belgium is a small economy,” Veerle Colaert, professor of financial law at KU Leuven University, told the BBC. “Belgian GDP is about [$661.5 billion] — imagine if it would need to shoulder a [$216.5 billion] bill.” She also said the loan may violate EU banking rules.

“Banks need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements and shouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do just that,” Colaert said.

“Why do we have these bank rules? It’s because we want banks to be stable. And if things go wrong it would fall to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That’s another reason why it’s so important for Belgium to secure water-tight guarantees for Euroclear.”

Dec. 11 (UPI) — Mexico’s congress has approved charging up to 50% tariffs on Chinese imports Wednesday.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed the tariffs in September and said they are a way to boost domestic production. But others, like China, have said it’s a way to align with President Donald Trump, who has been pressuring other countries to distance themselves from China.

Mexico’s congress approved the tariffs Wednesday, and Sheinbaum is expected to sign the bill. The law would create up to 50% tariffs on China and any other country with which Mexico doesn’t have a trade agreement, including Thailand, India and Indonesia. The tariffs would take effect Jan. 1 and will include more than 1,400 products, like cars, metals, appliances and clothing.

After the United States, China is Mexico’s second-largest exporter. The United States sold $334 billion to Mexico last year, and China sold $130 billion in goods, The New York Times reported. China buys little from Mexico, which is another reason for the tariffs, Sheinbaum has said.

The Chinese government has warned Mexico to “think twice” about imposing the levies, saying it would harm China and other countries. It said the move was made “under coercion to constrain China,” alluding to Trump’s pressure.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Thursday that the tariffs would “substantially harm” the country and others. It said for Mexico to “correct its erroneous practices of unilateralism and protectionism as soon as possible,” The Times reported.

Mexico is in talks with Trump, trying to reduce tariffs. The United States imposes 50% tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum. Trump has threatened to add more to the tariffs for several reasons, including synthetic fentanyl and water rights from the Rio Grande.

India is hedging between energy security and strategic partnerships.

Despite pressure from the United States, it has continued buying cheap Russian oil and has recently strengthened economic ties with Russia — from trade to weapons and critical minerals.

But this is a delicate balancing act for Prime Minister Narendra Modi: he wants to cut deals with Moscow, while staying friends with Washington, his biggest trading partner.

For President Vladimir Putin, it shows Russia still has powerful partners and is not completely isolated despite Western sanctions.

And Syria’s economy one year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Plus, the bidding fight over Warner Bros.

The US has rolled back a series of restrictive economic sanctions put in place during the rule of Bashar al-Assad.

The United States House of Representatives has voted forward a bill that would end the restrictive Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, originally imposed during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad.

The bid to repeal the sanctions was passed on Wednesday as part of a larger defence spending package, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.

“With this NDAA, as many know, we are repealing sanctions on Syria that were placed there because of Bashar al-Assad and the torture of his people,” Representative Brian Mast of Florida said. “We’re giving Syria a chance to chart a post-Assad future.”

Mast had previously been opposed to dropping the sanctions. In his statement on the House floor on Wednesday, he warned that, under the bill, the White House could “reimpose sanctions if the president views it necessary”.

The bill now heads to the Senate and is expected to be voted on before the end of the year.

If passed, the NDAA would repeal the 2019 Caesar Act, which sanctioned the Syrian government for war crimes during the country’s 13-year-long civil war.

It would also require the White House to issue frequent reports confirming that Syria’s new government is combating Islamist fighters and upholding the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.

Human rights advocates have welcomed the easing of heavy sanctions that the US and other Western countries imposed on Syria during the war.

They argue that lifting those economic restrictions will aid Syria’s path towards economic recovery after years of devastation.

The Caesar Act was signed into law during President Donald Trump’s first term.

But in December 2024, shortly before Trump returned to office for a second term, rebel forces toppled al-Assad’s government, sending the former leader fleeing to Russia.

Trump has since removed many sanctions on Syria and met with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the push that ousted al-Assad.

But some sanctions can only be removed by Congress, a step that Trump has encouraged lawmakers to take.

This month, Syrians celebrated the one-year anniversary of al-Assad’s overthrow with fireworks, prayer and public displays of pride. But the country continues to face challenges as it recovers from the destruction and damage wrought by the war.

Syrian officials have urged the repeal of remaining sanctions, saying that it is necessary to give the country a fighting chance at economic stability and improvement.

Syrian central bank Governor Abdulkader Husrieh called US sanctions relief a “miracle” in an interview with the news service Reuters last week.

The United Nations Security Council also voted to remove sanctions on al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab, who were previously on a list of individuals linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.

Dec. 9 (UPI) — KISS co-founder Gene Simmons and others testified for and against the proposed American Music Fairness Act during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday in Washington.

Simmons told the Senate Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee that he supports the bill that would force AM/FM radio stations to pay royalties to the copyright holders of respective works played, according to Roll Call.

“It looks like a small issue [when] there are wars going on and everything,” Simmons said. “But our emissaries to the world are Elvis and Frank Sinatra.”

He said artists such as Elvis, Sinatra and Bing Crosby are treated “worse than slaves” by radio broadcasters.

“Slaves get food and water,” Simmons said. “Elvis and Bing Crosby and Sinatra got nothing for their performance.”

Also testifying in support of the proposed act was Michael Huppe, president and chief executive officer of SoundExchange, which helps music creators to collect royalties whenever their music is played internationally.

He said radio corporations made $250 billion in ad revenue over the past 16 years, while recording artists “were paid exactly zero.”

Broadcasters are using “other people’s property” to make money without paying them, and the United States is the only country that does not pay performers when they music is played on radio, Huppe said, adding that “even Russia and China pay.”

He said online streaming services pay recording artists, but not AM/FM stations.

Broadcasters once argued that radio promoted artists and new music, Huppe explained, but that no longer is the case.

He said most people now are exposed to new music online and via social platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube.

“The days of hearing a song on the radio and going out and buying a CD or an album at a store are long gone,” Huppe told the subcommittee.

Because the United States does not require royalty payments when songs are played on AM/FM radio, foreign governments do not pay royalties to U.S.-based artists.

Instead, he said nations like France collect royalties on U.S.-made music from French broadcasters and give them to French musical artists.

All other music delivery platforms pay artists, but AM/FM does not despite making nearly $14 billion in advertising last year from playing music, Huppe explained.

Broadcast radio stations pay DJs, talk show radio hosts and artists when the same programming is paid online, but not when they are played on analog broadcasts and AM/FM radio.

“No legitimate business or policy reason can justify that difference,” he said.

Opposing the proposed American Music Fairness Act, Henry Hinton, president of Inner Banks Media and longtime talk radio host in North Carolina, said the nation’s more than 5,100 free radio stations would suffer harm if it became law.

“I know firsthand the value and collaborative partnership of our stations and what we have with recording artists,” Hinton said, “but make no mistake: I also know firsthand that a new performance royalty imposed on local radio will create harm for stations, listeners and these very same artists.”

He called broadcast radio a “uniquely free service” that serves local communities “in a way that no other media can.”

Examples include hosting radiothons to raise money for local causes and providing “entertainment, inspiration and information,” including during emergencies and natural disasters.

Radio stations inform people of approaching danger and stay on the air, which at times is the only means of communication between emergency services personnel and the general public.

The Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing lasted about 1.5 hours.

Dec. 9 (UPI) — Australian youth under age 16 are losing access to their social media accounts amid a national law that takes effect on Wednesday and is the world’s first such ban.

The nation’s lawmakers in 2024 enacted the social media ban that blocks access to 10 internationally popular social media sites — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Reddit, YouTube, Twitch, Kick, Snapchat and Threads.

Others could be added if they add significantly more users or otherwise are deemed social media instead of gaming or peer-to-peer communication sites, such as Bluesky, Steam, YouTube Kids, WhatsApp and Steam.

The law punishes the respective social media companies with up to $32 million in fines instead of children who might access the sites or their parents, according to the BBC.

The social media companies are required to ensure users are of legal age before accessing the respective sites by subjecting them to facial age assurance tests.

Officials at Elon Musk-owned X discussed with Australian officials the measures they would take to abide by Australia’s new law but have not shared that information with X users, Australian eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant told The Guardian.

The owners and operators of the nine other affected social media sites likewise confirmed they will abide by the new Australian law.

Officials for at least one other, Bluesky, have said they proactively will block access for Australians under age 16 despite it being deemed a “low risk” for children by the country’s eSafety commission due to its total user base of about 50,000 in Australia.

Australia-based k-ID service co-founder Kieran Donovan told The Guardian that the company has conducted hundreds of thousands of age verifications in recent weeks for Snapchat users and others.

The parent of one child suggested the age verification system is flawed and told The Guardian that her 15-year-old daughter is upset because “all of her 14- to 15-year-old friends have been ageverified as 18 by Snapchat,” but she wasn’t.

Another parent said his child will use a virtual private network and other tactics to bypass the age restrictions on social media.

Many free speech advocates say they support the effort to protect children but warned that the law could cause unintended harm.

Such harm might include making it harder to restrict harmful content or behaviors, creating security risks and inhibiting free speech and restricting minors’ access to information while restricting their speech.

Many also accuse the Australian government of saying it is better equipped to determine what is best for children than their parents by making it impossible for parents to choose whether or not to allow their children to access the banned social media sites.

Some Australian teens have filed a legal challenge to the new law.

While the Australian law takes effect on Wednesday, Malaysian officials have enacted a similar ban there that is scheduled to take effect in 2026.

Dec. 9 (UPI) — Job openings inched up slightly in October, despite fears of shrinkage.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its government shutdown-delayed October Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary Tuesday, showing a small uptick in job openings that month.

But the job market isn’t rosy quite yet. Hiring stalled, layoffs increased and employees did not quit their jobs. The voluntary quits rate was at a five-year low.

The report also includes some data from September, which hadn’t been released because of the government shutdown from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12. The October data also was affected by the agency’s inability to collect data during the month.

At the end of October, there were about 7.67 million job openings in the United States, which is a slight raise from 7.66 million in September and 7.23 million in August, the report said.

In October, the number and rate of total separations (quits, layoffs, firings) were little changed at 5.1 million and 3.2%. The number of total separations decreased in health care and social assistance by 111,000 and in the federal government by 34,000.

The quits were at 2.9 million and 1.8%, which was down by 276,000 over the year. A drop in quits can indicate a lack of confidence in the job market.

The Federal Reserve is expected to release its decision on interest rates on Wednesday.

China’s trade surplus – the difference between the value of goods it imports and exports – has hit $1 trillion for the first time, a significant yardstick in the country’s role as “factory of the world”, making everything from socks and curtains to electric cars.

For the first 11 months of this year, China’s exports rose to $3.4 trillion while its imports declined slightly to $2.3 trillion. That brought the country’s trade surplus to about $1 trillion, China’s General Administration of Customs said on Monday.

Shipments overseas from China have boomed despite US President Donald Trump’s global trade war, largely consisting of sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries, which were launched earlier this year in a bid to reduce US trade deficits.

But China, which was initially hit with US tariffs of 145 percent before they were lowered to allow for trade talks, has emerged largely unscathed from the standoff by stepping up shipments to markets outside the US.

Following Trump’s 2024 election win, China began diversifying its export market away from the US in exchange for closer ties with Southeast Asia and the European Union. It also established new production hubs, outside of China, for low-tariff access.

Why does China have such a large trade surplus?

China’s exports returned to growth last month following an unexpected dip in October, rising to 5.9 percent more than one year earlier and far outpacing a 1.9 percent rise in imports, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

China’s goods surplus for the first 11 months of 2025 was up 21.7 percent from the same period last year. Most of the surge was driven by strong growth in high-tech goods, which outpaced the increase in overall exports by 5.4 percent.

Auto exports, especially for electric vehicles, rallied as Chinese firms muscled in on Japanese and German market share. Total car shipments jumped by more than one million to approximately 6.5 million units this year, according to data from China-based consultancy Automobility.

And although China still trails US leaders like Nvidia in advanced chips, it is becoming dominant in the production of semiconductors (used in everything from electric cars to medical devices). Semiconductor exports rose by 24.7 percent over the period.

China’s technological advances have also boosted shipbuilding, where exports rose 26.8 percent compared with the same period in 2024.

So, given the hostile global trade backdrop, how has China achieved this?

Rerouting and diversifying

Though Washington has lowered tariffs on Chinese imports in recent months, they remain high. Average import duties on Chinese goods currently stand at 37 percent. For this reason, Chinese shipments to the US have dropped by 29 percent year-on-year to November.

Some Chinese companies have shifted their production facilities to Southeast Asia, Mexico and Africa, enabling them to bypass Trump’s tariffs on goods arriving directly from China. Despite this, overall trade between the two countries remains down.

In the first eight months of this year, for instance, the US imported roughly $23bn in goods from Indonesia, an increase of nearly one-third on the same period in 2024. It is widely understood that the rise is down to Chinese goods being redirected via Indonesia.

“The role of trade rerouting in offsetting the drag from US tariffs still appears to be increasing,” Zichun Huang, an economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients on Monday. Huang added that “exports to Vietnam, the top [Chinese] rerouting hub, continued to grow rapidly.”

As trade with the US has slackened, China has doubled down on developing ties with other major trading partners. That includes a 15 percent surge in Chinese shipments to the EU, compared with the year before, and an 8.2 percent rise in exports to countries in Southeast Asia.

Weaker currency

Another reason for China’s trading success is that its currency has been cheap, compared with others, in recent years. A lower renminbi makes exports relatively inexpensive to produce, and imports relatively expensive to consume.

China maintains a “managed float” of the renminbi – meaning the central bank intervenes in foreign exchange markets to maintain its value against other currencies – with the aim of keeping the price stable.

For years, many economists have argued that China’s currency is undervalued. In their view, that gives exporters a competitive edge by boosting the appeal of cheap Chinese products at the expense of other countries, leading to large imbalances in trade.

Indeed, taking into account global inflationary dynamics, the real effective exchange rate – a measure of the competitiveness of Chinese goods – is actually at its weakest level since 2012.

How has China got here?

China’s eye-watering $1 trillion trade surplus – never before recorded in economic history – is the culmination of decades of industrial policies that have enabled China to emerge from a low-income agrarian society in the 1970s to become the world’s second-largest economy today.

China established itself as a dependable producer of low-cost manufactured goods, like T-shirts and shoes, in the 1980s. Since then, it has climbed the industrial ladder to higher-value goods, such as electric vehicles and solar panels.

By far its largest sector in terms of exports is electronics. China exported a total of more than $1 trillion-worth of electronic goods around the world in 2024. This follows the pattern of other industrialised countries by starting with simple, labour-intensive goods and then moving into more complex sectors. However, China has done so with unusual scale and speed to cement its dominance across numerous global supply chains.

It also dominates trade in rare-earth metals, which are crucial for the manufacture of a wide range of goods from smartphones to fighter jets.

Twelve of the 17 rare earth metals on the periodic table can be found in China, and it mines between 60 percent and 70 percent of the world’s rare-earth resources. It also carries out 90 percent of the processing of these metals for commercial use.

For historical context, China’s trade surplus in factory goods is larger as a share of its economy than the US ran in the years after World War II, when most other manufacturing nations were emerging from the ruins of war.

How are other countries responding to China’s expanding dominance?

Many are looking for ways to redress the balance.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited China last week, warned the EU may take “strong measures”, including imposing higher tariffs, should Beijing fail to address the imbalance.

The EU already imposes additional tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), which range from 17 percent to 35.3 percent, for example, on top of its existing 10 percent import duty.
Germany’s foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, arrived in China for a two-day trip on Monday this week, becoming the latest senior European official to visit for talks amid the country’s rapidly expanding goods trade with Europe.

Before his trip, Wadephul said he planned to raise the issue of tariffs with his Chinese counterparts, particularly those involving rare earths, in addition to concerns about industrial “overcapacities”, which he said are distorting global prices for industrial goods.

Will China’s exports continue to grow?

Despite efforts by the US and other wealthy countries to diversify away from China, few economists expect the country’s broad-based trade momentum to slow anytime soon.

Economists at Morgan Stanley predict China’s share of global goods exports will reach 16.5 percent by the end of the decade, up from 15 percent now, reflecting China’s ability to adapt quickly to shifting global demand.

More immediately, China’s strong trade performance means the annual growth target – set by Beijing to guide economic policy and to align regional governments – of about 5 percent is likely to be met.