US agencies to submit mass layoff plans

Plus, Putin presses Russia's battlefield advantage ahead of peace talks.

Get full access to Reuters.com for just $1/week. Subscribe now. Daily Briefing Daily Briefing By Edson Caldas Hello. Today US agencies, ranging from the Treasury Department to the Justice Department, are required to submit their cost-cutting proposals to the White House and the government's human resources department. Elsewhere, we cover a debate on Germany's borrowing bonanza. and a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Canada. But first, let's look at where Ukraine ceasefire talks stand.  Today's Top News   Putin orders defeat of last Ukrainian troops in Kursk. Russian Pool/Reuters TV via REUTERS Ukraine-Russia War Russia has presented the US with a list of demands for a deal to end the war and reset relations with Washington, sources said. It is not clear what exactly Moscow included on its list or whether it is willing to engage in peace talks with Kyiv prior to their acceptance. Dressed in military fatigues, President Vladimir Putin ordered the swift defeat of Ukrainian forces in western Russia, a signal to the US that Moscow holds the military initiative as they prepare to discuss a ceasefire. We have a timeline of the fighting in Kursk. United States The potential scale of President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the federal government could become clearer today, the deadline for government agencies to submit plans for a second wave of mass layoffs and to slash their budgets. A US judge extended his order blocking authorities from deporting Mahmoud Khalil, a detained Columbia University student. Khalil's wife says she was naive to believe he was safe from arrest. The case has become a flashpoint of the Trump administration's pledge to deport some pro-Palestinian college activists. In other news G7 foreign ministers will meet in Canada today after seven weeks of rising tensions between US allies and Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs. Germany's outgoing lower house of parliament will hold a special session to debate a 500 billion euro fund for infrastructure and sweeping changes to borrowing rules. This week's episode of Reuters Econ World explores whether a spending bonanza can revive Europe's largest economy. Dozens of people rescued from a train hijacked by separatist militants in southwestern Pakistan arrived in the city of Quetta, hours after security forces killed all 33 attackers to end a day-long standoff. Business & Markets   Gazprom is arguably the Russian business hardest hit by the international sanctions imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. We look at the company's rapid decline, dragged down by the almost total loss of European markets. European stocks and US futures slipped as investors turned their attention back to trade wars, after a mild rally on the back of softer-than-expected US inflation data. US consumer prices increased moderately in February, giving the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates unchanged next week. Trump threatened to escalate his trade war with more tariffs on EU goods, as US trading partners said they would retaliate for barriers already in place. A majority of Americans believe the president is being too "erratic" in his moves to shake up the US economy. Shopping for Made in America clothing? Our reporters look at how limited capacity makes a large-scale shift to US production unlikely, and American-made clothing comes at higher cost because of elevated labor expense and tariffs on materials. And Derek Guy – that's right, the online 'menswear guy' – joins the Reuters World News podcast to talk garment supply chains and JD Vance's socks. Intel named former board member and industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO and signaled the struggling but storied chipmaker was unlikely to split up its chip-design and manufacturing operations. In Pictures   Under COVID lockdown: How we lived five years ago. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio Five years ago our lives changed forever as much of the world locked down to curb the spread of COVID-19. We look back at a selection of photos from those days. See our photo gallery And Finally... Spanish fossils may represent unknown ancient human species. Maria D. Guillen/IPHES-CERCA/Handout via REUTERS Scientists have unearthed in Spain fossilized facial bones roughly 1.1 million to 1.4 million years old that may represent a previously unknown species in the human evolutionary lineage - a discovery that rewrites humankind's early history in Europe. Read more Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. 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