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Amazon will fold Whole Foods’ entire workforce — over 100,000 employees — into its core business by 2026, Business Insider reports, citing internal documents. The move reflects the tech giant’s effort to streamline its grocery strategy under the leadership of Jason Buechel. Earlier this year, Amazon began to absorb Whole Foods’ corporate staff. Next up are its frontline workers. It’s all part of “Project Cremini,” which will see the newly integrated employees using Amazon's internal systems for performance reviews, workplace tools, and pay.
The U.S. jobs report for October will be partially released after all, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser said Thursday. The employment report had been withheld due to the government shutdown that ended Wednesday night. Kevin Hassett said the number of new nonfarm payrolls would be made available as soon as next week, while the unemployment rate will not. The jobs report is among the major economic data that wasn't released amid the 43-day shutdown, the longest in the nation's history.
A few thousand Boeing workers in the St. Louis area ratified a new contract Thursday, bringing an end to a 15-week strike that stifled jet fighter production. The union rejected several earlier proposals before agreeing to the five-year deal. It will see base pay rise to about $109,000 from $75,000 and includes a $6,000 signing bonus for each worker. Employees will begin returning as early as Sunday, with full operations resuming Nov. 17.
In a "stunning reversal," Tesla is working toward support for Apple CarPlay, Bloomberg reports, citing anonymous sources. Tesla was particularly reluctant to integrate the infotainment system when Apple was developing a rival electric car, but the iPhone maker has since abandoned that multibillion-dollar project, and Tesla sales are lagging. In a 2024 McKinsey survey, a third of drivers pointed to a lack of CarPlay, or competitor Android Auto, as a deal-breaker when buying a car.
Verizon plans to eliminate about 15,000 jobs in the next week, marking the biggest round of layoffs in the company’s history, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing anonymous sources. The telecommunications giant had about 100,000 employees as of February, securities filings show, putting the planned layoffs at about 15% of its workforce. Verizon will also convert about 200 stores to franchises, moving those employees off its payroll. Its push to rein in costs comes amid growing competition for wireless and home internet subscribers.
Workers can contribute up to $24,500 in pre-tax income to their 401(k)s or similar accounts next year, a $1,000 increase over the 2025 maximum. The change is part of the Internal Revenue Service's annual cost-of-living adjustment to retirement savings limits.
These caps apply to an employee's own contributions, not including the employer match.
The limit on contributions to individual retirement accounts will rise to $7,500, a $500 increase. And higher catch-up contribution caps remain available for people age 50 and older, a feature of federal law designed to help workers boost their nest eggs as they near retirement age.
More than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers went on strike at 65 U.S. stores on Thursday to protest a lack of progress in labor negotiations with the company.
The strike was intended to disrupt Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, which is typically one of the company’s busiest days of the year. Since 2018, Starbucks has given out free, reusable cups on that day to customers who buy a holiday drink. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing baristas, said Thursday morning that the strike had already closed some stores and was expected to force more to close later in the day.
Starbucks Workers United said stores in 45 cities would be impacted, including New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego, St. Louis, Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, and Starbucks’ home city of Seattle. There is no date set for the strike to end, and more stores are prepared to join if Starbucks doesn’t reach a contract agreement with the union, organizers said.
Starbucks emphasized that the vast majority of its U.S. stores would be open and operating as usual Thursday. The coffee giant has 10,000 company-owned stores in the U.S., as well as 7,000 licensed locations in places like grocery stores and airports.
As of noon Thursday on the East Coast, Starbucks said it was on track to meet or exceed its sales expectations for the day at its company-owned stores.
“The day is off to an incredible start,” the company said in a statement.
Around 550 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores are currently unionized. More have voted to unionize, but Starbucks closed 59 unionized stores in September as part of a larger reorganization campaign.
Here’s what’s behind the strike.
A stalled contract agreement
Striking workers say they’re protesting because Starbucks has yet to reach a contract agreement with the union. Starbucks workers first voted to unionize at a store in Buffalo in 2021. In December 2023, Starbucks vowed to finalize an agreement by the end of 2024. But in August of last year, the company ousted Laxman Narasimhan, the CEO who made that promise. The union said progress has stalled under Brian Niccol, the company’s current chairman and CEO. The two sides haven’t been at the bargaining table since April.
Workers say they’re seeking better hours and improved staffing in stores, where they say long customer wait times are routine. They also want higher pay, pointing out that executives like Niccol are making millions and the company spent $81 million in June on a conference in Las Vegas for 14,000 store managers and regional leaders.
Dochi Spoltore, a barista from Pittsburgh, said in a union conference call Thursday that it’s hard for workers to be assigned more than 19 hours per week, which leaves them short of the 20 hours they would need to be eligible for Starbucks’ benefits. Spoltore said she makes $16 per hour.
“I want Starbucks to succeed. My livelihood depends on it,” Spoltore said. “We’re proud of our work, but we’re tired of being treated like we’re disposable.”
The union also wants the company to resolve hundreds of unfair labor practice charges filed by workers, who say the company has fired baristas in retaliation for unionizing and has failed to bargain over changes in policy that workers must enforce, like its decision earlier this year to limit restroom use to paying customers.
Starbucks says it offers the best wage and benefit package in retail, worth an average of $30 per hour. Among the company’s benefits are up to 18 weeks of paid family leave and 100% tuition coverage for a four-year college degree. In a letter to employees last week, Starbucks’ Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly said the union walked away from the bargaining table in the spring.
Kelly said some of the union’s proposals would significantly alter Starbucks’ operations, such as giving workers the ability to shut down mobile ordering if a store has more than five orders in the queue.
Kelly said Starbucks remained ready to talk and “believes we can move quickly to a reasonable deal.” Kelly also said surveys showed that most employees like working for the company, and its barista turnover rates are half the industry average.
Unionized workers have gone on strike at Starbucks before. In 2022 and 2023, workers walked off the job on Red Cup Day. Last year, a five-day strike ahead of Christmas closed 59 U.S. stores. Each time, Starbucks said the disruption to its operations was minimal. Starbucks Workers United said the new strike is open-ended and could spread to many more unionized locations.
The number of non-union Starbucks locations dwarfs the number of unionized ones. But Todd Vachon, a union expert at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said any strike could be highly visible and educate the public on baristas’ concerns.
Unlike manufacturers, Vachon said, retail industries depend on the connection between their employees and their customers. That makes shaming a potentially powerful weapon in the union’s arsenal, he said.
Starbucks’ same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, rose 1% in the July-September period. It was the first time in nearly two years that the company had posted an increase. In his first year at the company, Niccol set new hospitality standards, redesigned stores to be cozier and more welcoming, and adjusted staffing levels to better handle peak hours.
Starbucks also is trying to prioritize in-store orders over mobile ones. Last week, the company’s holiday drink rollout in the U.S. was so successful that it almost immediately sold out of its glass Bearista cup. Starbucks said demand for the cup exceeded its expectations, but it wouldn’t say if the Bearista will return before the holidays are over.
The U.S. stock market tumbled Thursday to one of its worst days since its springtime sell-off, as Nvidia and other AI superstar stocks kept dropping on worries their prices shot too high. Also hurting the market were questions about whether the coming cuts to interest rates that Wall Street has been banking on will actually happen.
The S&P 500 sank 1.7% and pulled further from its all-time high set late last month. It was the worst day in a month for the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts and the second-worst since April’s plunge after President Donald Trump shocked the world with his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 797 points, or 1.7%, from its record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite lost 2.3%.
Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the market after the chip company fell 3.6%. Other stocks swept up in the artificial-intelligence frenzy also struggled, including drops of 7.4% for Super Micro Computer, 6.5% for Palantir Technologies, and 4.3% for Broadcom.
Questions have been rising about how much higher AI darlings can go following their already spectacular gains. At the start of this month, Palantir was sporting a stunning rise of nearly 174% for the year so far, for example.
Such sensational performances have been one of the top reasons the U.S. market has hit records despite a slowing job market and high inflation. AI stock prices have shot so high, though, that they’re drawing comparisons to the 2000 dot-com bubble, which ultimately burst and dragged the S&P 500 down by nearly half.
In the meantime, stocks outside of AI also fell across Wall Street as traders worried that the Federal Reserve may not deliver another cut to interest rates in December, as many had been expecting.
Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they can goose the economy and prices for investments, even though they can also worsen inflation. A halt in cuts could undercut U.S. stock prices after they already ran to records in part on expectations for more reductions.
Expectations have come down sharply in recent days that the Fed will cut its main interest rate for a third time this year. Traders now see roughly a coin flip’s chance of that, 51.9%, down from nearly 70% a week ago, according to data from CME Group.
Recent comments from Fed officials have helped drive the doubt.
Susan Collins, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said late Wednesday that it’s likely appropriate to leave interest rates steady “for some time.” That was a turnaround from a speech last month, when she supported another cut.
The Fed’s job became more difficult recently because of the U.S. government’s shutdown, which delayed updates on the job market and other signals about the economy. That left it less certain about whether the slowing job market or high inflation is the bigger threat.
The stock market mostly rose through the U.S. government’s shutdown, as it has often done historically, but Wall Street is bracing for potential swings as the government gets back to releasing those updates. The fear is that the data could persuade the Fed to halt its cuts to rates.
The “looming data deluge may spur additional volatility in the coming weeks,” according to Doug Beath, global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
On Wall Street, The Walt Disney Co. helped lead the market lower after falling 7.7%. The entertainment giant reported a profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations, but its revenue fell short.
That helped offset a jump of 4.6% for Cisco Systems after the tech giant delivered profit and revenue that were bigger than analysts estimated.
Another one of the relatively few stocks to rise was Berkshire Hathaway, the company run by famed investor Warren Buffett. He is known for loving bargains and won’t buy stocks when he considers them too expensive. Berkshire Hathaway rose 2.1%.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 113.43 points to 6,737.49. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 797.60 to 47.457.22, and the Nasdaq composite sank 536.10 to 22,870.36.
In the bond market, Treasury yields pushed higher, which put downward pressure on prices for stocks and other investments.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.12% from 4.08% late Wednesday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes sagged in Europe following modest gains in Asia.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4%, even as Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group lost another 3.4%. It’s been struggling since it said earlier this week that it had sold all of its $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia.
Another loser was bitcoin, whose price fell back below $99,000. It had been nearing $125,000 last month.
The October jobs report will omit the month's unemployment rate, the White House said Thursday, leaving a big blank that could make it harder for policymakers and businesses to assess the state of the current labor market.
With the government laboring to reopen, a string of postponed economic data releases is expected in the coming weeks, including the September and October jobs reports. The former is poised to be released quickly since most of the necessary data was already collected.
The October data was originally scheduled for release on Nov. 7. but it didn't occur, since most employees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics were furloughed and unable to carry out their data-collecting work. The omission of jobless data renders decision-making trickier across the U.S. economy, including at the Federal Reserve, which is grappling with a third interest rate cut in December.
"The household survey wasn’t conducted in October, so we’re going to get half the employment report,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said in a Fox News interview. “We’ll get the jobs part, but we won’t get the unemployment rate, and that’ll just be for one month.”
In a separate gaggle with reporters on Thursday morning, Hassett added: "We will never know what the unemployment rate was in October."
The Bureau of Labor Statistics did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It's the agency responsible for producing the monthly jobs and inflation reports.
The monthly jobs report hinges on two components: One survey goes out to employers to gather information about the number of workers on their payrolls. Another is sent to households to collect data on the unemployment rate by surveying people about their employment status.
In prior shutdowns, such as one in 2013, the BLS had to delay a litany of release,s and response rates tended to be lower during the reopening stages. The 2013 shutdown also ended a week after their usual schedule of issuing surveys, so it wasn't difficult for the agency to catch up. This time, it would have to send both surveys to households and businesses nearly a month late.
Experts warn it may take more time for BLS to gather and schedule data releases this time since it has lost 25% of its staff to federal layoffs since the start of the year. In addition, a quarter of its leadership slots are vacant.
Employers have a warning for the Class of 2026: Next spring’s graduate-hiring market is likely to be even worse than this year’s.
Six months out from graduation season, more than half of 183 employers surveyed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers rate the job market for the Class of 2026 as poor or fair. That is the most pessimistic outlook since the first year of the pandemic, according to the survey, which is widely seen as an early signal of graduate hiring each year.
A cooling job market is darkening that outlook. In recent months, employers from Amazon.com to United Parcel Service have revealed plans to cut thousands of jobs. The latest is Verizon Communications, which, according to people familiar with the matter, plans to cut 15,000 jobs over the next week in its largest reduction ever.
Companies say the uncertain economic outlook has pushed them to hire more conservatively, and many are giving priority to recruits with some experience as opposed to fresh-from-college graduates. More executives are also speaking openly about the potential of artificial intelligence to bring deep job cuts and take over more tasks that new graduates are traditionally tapped to do.
Poor
Fair
Good
Very good
13%
52
31
4
2020–21
Excellent
1
2021–22
5
32
49
14
2022–23
10
43
7
40
2
22
52
21
3
2023–24
36
3
47
12
2
2024–25
2025–26
6
45
12
37
2
For college seniors, that means they are also competing against junior workers who have been recently laid off. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates was 4.8% in June, greater than the overall unemployment rate that month and the highest June level for recent graduates in four years, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysis.
Overall, employers say they expect a 1.6% increase in hiring for the Class of 2026, down considerably from their plans for the Class of 2025 last fall, according to the semiannual survey. College recruiting for full-time jobs typically kicks off in the fall or earlier, and by the spring, employers have a clearer sense of where hiring will land. In recent years, employers have revised their spring plans downward from the fall survey.
Annika Swenson, a senior at the University of Iowa, said layoffs at companies like Amazon have made her more anxious about the search. The sheer number of applicants to positions and the fast-moving pace of AI have also increased her stress level.
In a year, it is possible “there just wouldn’t be a person needed to do that job anymore,” she said of some entry-level positions. “That’s just wild to me.”
Swenson, 22, is studying marketing and this week alone has applied to about five to 10 jobs. She kicked off her search over the summer. “I just need to get one,” she said.
The early-career job-search platform Handshake found that in August, full-time job postings had declined more than 16% year-over-year, and there were an average of 26% more applications per job. More than 60% of 2026 graduates said they were pessimistic about their careers.
Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer, said employers are falling into three buckets. Some have paused hiring amid economic uncertainty, some have laid off staff in the name of efficiency, and some are growing modestly. Fields seeing job growth include healthcare, education, and manufacturing, she said.
Meanwhile, students are applying to hundreds and hundreds of jobs. They just shoot off application after application,” she said. This strategy can backfire: Many employers are turned off by generic applications, she said.
Giavanna Vega, a former entry-level recruiter and internship program director at Automation Anywhere, which streamlines business processes, described the hiring environment as at a standstill.
“Because we’re in a state of uncertainty, they don’t know where to invest,” she said of companies’ recruiting strategies amid tariffs and AI developments. That is coming down harder on new graduates: “They don’t have the training.”
Vega, based in San Jose, Calif., said she was laid off from her recruiting role in 2023. After a contract role in tech that ended a year ago, she has worked as an esthetician as she applies for corporate jobs.
It has been a competitive search. “People who have more experience are willing to take entry-level positions because they can’t find anything,” she said. Worn down by a slew of rejections and “ghosted” applications, she has focused on her skin care business more recently.
The U.S. government has hired 50,000 employees since President Donald Trump took office, his top personnel official said, with the new staff largely in national security positions reflecting the administration's policy focus.
The bulk of the new hires, reported first by Reuters, work at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Scott Kupor, the federal government's human resources director, in an interview on Thursday night.
The staff changes are part of Trump's campaign to recast the government while sharply cutting other federal jobs.
"It's about reshaping the workforce to focus on the priorities that we think are most important," Kupor said.
The administration brought on the new employees while freezing hiring and laying off workers in other parts of the government, such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The administration expects to shed about 300,000 workers this year, Kupor said in August.
Trump appointed billionaire Elon Musk in January to launch a project to downsize the 2.4 million-strong federal civilian workforce. Musk, with Trump's backing, said the federal workforce had become too big and too inefficient.
Trump's administration dismissed employees charged with enforcing civil rights laws, collecting tax revenue, and overseeing clean energy projects.
As part of the downsizing, about 154,000 employees accepted a buyout offer from the Trump administration. The buyouts impacted a wide range of government activities, including weather forecasting, food safety, health programs, and space projects, according to former federal employees and unions who spoke to Reuters earlier this year.
It should come as a shock to no one: The 2026 Latin Grammy Awards were all about Bad Bunny. The Puerto Rican superstar won album of the year for his landmark release “Debà Tirar Más Fotos.” After thanking his family and all those who worked on the album, he ended his speech with “Puerto Rico, I love you, thank you.”
Those are powerful words honoring a record that doubles as a love letter for his island.
The artist born Benito Antonio MartÃnez Ocasio was destined to dominate from the jump. He also won the first award of the night, for música urbana album. Halfway through the show, the singer found himself back on stage accepting the música urbana song trophy for “DTmF.” “I never practice my speeches,” he said in Spanish. And then he showed up for a third time: to perform “Weltita” with Chuwi.
He wasn’t the only one with reason to celebrate: Song of the year went to Karol G, Andrés Jael Correa RÃos, and Édgar Barrera for “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido.” And Alejandro Sanz took home record of the year for “¿Y Ahora Qué?”
Live from Sin City, the 26th annual Latin Grammys were both energetic and eclectic. Take Raphael, the 2025 Person of the Year, who launched into an emotive rendition of “Qué Sabe Nadie” and “Mi Gran Noche,” inviting the crowd to sing along.
That was after Santana kicked things off — specifically, Maluma singing Santana’s 1970 hit “Oye Como Va” with the guitar legend himself.
It was just the beginning of a memorable medley, talents of today celebrating Santana — Christian Nodal joining in for “Corazón Espinoza” and Grupo Frontera for their 2025 collaboration with the virtuosic musician, “Me Retiro.”
Performances hit hard and fast: Aitana brought her dreamy electro-pop, Sanz delivered a medley of “El Vino De Tu Boca” and “Las Guapas,” Rauw Alejandro channeled Puerto Rico in Vegas with “Khé?,” the bachata “Silencio,” “Falsedad” and “Carita Linda.” Then, Danny Lux, Kakalo, and Ivan Cornejo brought contemporary Mexicana sounds. Pepe Aguilar followed, with his life-affirming mariachi — “El Cihualteco” into “El Fuereño.”
Elena Rose slowed things down with “Me Lo Merezco.” Karol G and the legendary Mexican singer Marco Antonio SolÃs dueted on the romantic ballad “Coleccionando Heridas.”
Two of the biggest groups in regional Mexican music – Grupo Frontera and Fuerza Regida – launched into their joint hit, “Me Jalo,” before the latter took over for “Marlboro Rojo.” That’s a cut from their record-breaking 2025 album “111xpantia.” CarÃn León’s lovely raspy vocal tone carried throughout “Ahà Estabas Tú”; then he was joined by Kacey Musgraves for “Lost in Translation.” Not long after, León took home the trophy in the competitive contemporary Mexican album category for “Palabra De To’s (Seca).”
Morat brought the pop-rock with “Faltas Tú” and Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso brought a kind of outsider, artistic spirit. Joaquina delivered a full-bodied “Quise Quererte.” Any aspiring artists watching would be wise to take a page out of the Brazilian singer Liniker’s book; “Negona Dos Olhos TerrÃveis” was one of the night’s most joyful. The same, of course, should be said about norteño band Los Tigres del Norte.
The coveted best new artist trophy was handed out to Paloma Morphy.
Traditional tropical album went to Gloria Estefan for “RaÃces.” Not long afterward, she hit the stage for “La Vecina” and “Chirriqui Chirri,” joined by Nathy Peluso for the latter.
Then ranchero/mariachi album went to Christian Nodal for “¿Quién + Como Yo?”
Most of the evening’s awards were handed out during a pre-televised Premiere Ceremony. That included: Bad Bunny’s “Voy A Llevarte Pa Pr” winning for reggaeton performance. Argentinian duo Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso cleaned house then, too: taking home their first Latin Grammys for short and long form music video, alternative song, as well as alternative music album for “Papota,” and pop song for “El dia del amigo.” That’s five wins, making them the most awarded act at the 2025 show.
The three-hour award show aired live from Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. It was hosted by the dynamic duo of Maluma and actor, producer, and musician Roselyn Sánchez.
California plans to revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses given to immigrants after discovering the expiration dates had passed when the drivers were legally allowed to be in the U.S., state officials said Wednesday.
The announcement follows harsh criticism from the Trump administration about California and other states granting licenses to people in the country illegally. The issue was thrust into the public’s consciousness in August, when a tractor-trailer driver not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that California’s action to revoke these licenses is an admission that the state acted improperly, even though it previously defended its licensing standards. California launched its review of the commercial driver’s licenses it issued after Duffy raised concerns.
“After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked,” Duffy said, referring to the state’s governor. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”
Newsom’s office said that every one of the drivers whose license is being revoked had valid work authorizations from the federal government. At first, his office declined to disclose the exact reason for revoking the licenses, saying only they violated state law. Later, his office revealed the state law it was referring to was one that requires the licenses to expire on or before a person’s legal status to be in the United States ends, as reported to the DMV.
“Once again, the Sean ‘Road Rules’ Duffy fails to share the truth — spreading easily disproven falsehoods in a sad and desperate attempt to please his dear leader,” Richards said.
Fatal truck crashes in Texas and Alabama earlier this year also highlight questions about these licenses. A fiery California crash that killed three people last month involved a truck driver in the country illegally, only adding to the concerns.
Duffy previously imposed new restrictions on which immigrants can qualify for commercial driver’s licenses. He said earlier this fall that California and five other states had improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens, but California is the only state Duffy has taken action against because it was the first one where an audit was completed. The reviews in the other states have been delayed by the government shutdown, but the Transportation Department is urging all of them to tighten their standards.
Duffy revoked $40 million in federal funding because he said California isn’t enforcing English language requirements for truckers, and he reiterated Wednesday that he will take another $160 million from the state over these improperly issued licenses if they don’t invalidate every illegal license and address all the concerns. But revoking these licenses is part of the state’s effort to comply.
The new rules for commercial driver’s licenses that Duffy announced in September make getting them extremely hard for immigrants because only three specific classes of visa holders will be eligible. States will also have to verify an applicant’s immigration status in a federal database. The licenses will be valid for up to one year unless the applicant’s visa expires sooner.
Under the new rules, only 10,000 of the 200,000 noncitizens who have commercial licenses would qualify for them, which would only be available to drivers who have an H-2a, H-2b, or E-2 visa. H-2a is for temporary agricultural workers, while H-2b is for temporary nonagricultural workers, and E-2 is for people who make substantial investments in a U.S. business. But the rules won’t be enforced retroactively, so those 190,000 drivers will be allowed to keep their commercial licenses at least until they come up for renewal.
Those new requirements were not in place at the time the 17,000 California licenses were issued. But those drivers were given notices that their licenses will expire in 60 days.
Duffy said in September that investigators found that one quarter of the 145 licenses they reviewed in California shouldn’t have been issued. He cited four California licenses that remained valid after the driver’s work permit expired — sometimes years after.
Newsom’s office said the state followed guidance it received from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about issuing these licenses to noncitizens.
The British Broadcasting Corporation sent a personal apology to US President Donald Trump on November 13, but said there was no legal basis for him to sue the public broadcaster over a documentary his lawyers called defamatory.
The documentary, which aired on the BBC’s “Panorama” news programme just before the US presidential election in 2024, spliced together three parts of Mr Trump’s speech on Jan 6, 2021, when
His supporters stormed the Capitol.
The edit created the impression he had called for violence.
“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree that there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
Lawyers for the US president threatened on Nov 9 to
Sue the BBC for damages of up to US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion)
unless it withdrew the documentary, apologised to the president, and compensated him for “financial and reputational harm”.
By asserting that Mr Trump’s defamation case lacks merit, the BBC effectively signalled that it believes his claim for financial damages is equally untenable.
But the broadcaster did not directly address Mr Trump’s financial demand.
In its statement, the BBC said Chair Samir Shah on Nov 13 “sent a personal letter to the White House making clear that he and the corporation were sorry for the edit”.
Mr Shah earlier in the week apologised to a British parliamentary oversight committee and said the edit was “an error of judgment”.
In the Nov 13 statement, the BBC added that it has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary on any of its platforms.
Earlier on Nov 13, the BBC said it was looking into fresh allegations, published in The Telegraph newspaper, over the editing by another of its programmes, Newsnight, of the same speech.
The BBC has been thrown into its biggest crisis in decades after
Two senior executives resigned
amid allegations of bias, including in the editing of Mr Trump’s speech.
The claims came to light because of a leaked report by a BBC standards official.
Founded in 1922 and funded largely by a licence fee paid by TV-watching Britons, the BBC is without a permanent leader as the government weighs how it should be funded in the future.
It is a vital instrument of Britain’s “soft power” globally, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he believed in a “strong and independent” BBC on Nov 12.