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The federal human resources agency at the heart of billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the federal workforce is poised to roll out software to speed layoffs across the U.S. government, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The software could turbocharge the rapid-fire effort to downsize the government at a time when a number of larger federal agencies are preparing to execute plans for mass layoffs of tens of thousands of workers. Some 260,000 government workers already have accepted buyouts, early retirement or been laid off since Republican President Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January, according to a Reuters tally. The process has been far from smooth. Some workers were mistakenly fired and had to be rehired. The software is an updated version of a decades-old Pentagon program, known as AutoRIF, that had been little used in recent years. Under direction from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), software developers at the U.S. Office Of Personnel Management (OPM) have created a more user-friendly web-based version over the past few months that provides targets for layoffs much more quickly than the current labor-intensive manual process, four sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The program is poised to be rolled out to the agencies by OPM just as Musk steps back from DOGE, which has driven the downsizing effort, to focus more on Tesla and his other companies. AutoRIF’s name comes from “Reduction in Force,” a term used to describe mass layoffs. The revamped version has been given the more benign-sounding name “Workforce Reshaping Tool,” three sources said. With the software revamp now complete, OPM will lead demonstrations, user testing and start adding new users in the coming weeks, one of the sources said. DOGE, OPM, the White House, Pentagon and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. Wired magazine was first to report on the revamp effort. But Reuters is reporting for the first time on the completion of that revamp, the capabilities of the new program, rollout plans and its new name. JOB-CUTTING SCYTHE Trump established DOGE to modernize government software, cut spending and drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, which he complains is bloated and wasteful. DOGE has said it has saved more than $160 billion through cuts to federal contracts and staff, but it has given few details publicly about what it is doing to modernize technology to make the government more efficient. The update of the Pentagon software, which DOGE has not publicly confirmed, is the only known example of that effort bearing fruit. Currently, most federal RIFs are done manuallywith HR employees poring over spreadsheets containing data on employee seniority, veteran status and performance, three sources told Reuters. The new software is being rolled out just as larger agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs are set to move forward with plans to eliminate some 80,000 jobs. The Internal Revenue Service has said it wants to slash its payrolls by 40%, according to media reports. The tool will allow agencies “to remove a massive number of federal employees from their positions,” if it works, said Nick Bednar, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota who has been tracking the government layoffs. “What DOGE has started is going to continue without Elon Musk,” Bednar said. AutoRIF was developed by the Pentagon more than a quarter century ago. It pulled data from its HR system, sifted through firing rules quickly and produced names of employees eligible to be laid off. But it was difficult to migrate it to other agencies, whose workers had to manually input data on potential candidates for dismissal, a cumbersome process that is subject to errors. The program, described as “clunky” by a 2020 Pentagon HR newsletter, also would allow only one employee to work on a RIF, two sources said. The upgrade makes it web-based, easing employee access to the tool while enabling multiple people to work on a mass layoff, three sources said. It also allows for the upload of employee data for analysis, freeing HR workers from having to manually input personal records of possible targets for dismissal. While speed is a clear advantage, the software could pose other challenges, according to Don Moynihan, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. “If you automate bad assumptions into a process, then the scale of the error becomes far greater than an individual could undertake,” Moynihan said. “It won’t necessarily help them to make better decisions and it won’t make those decisions more popular,” Moynihan added. Trump’s drive to downsize and reshape the government already has led to the gutting of entire agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which seeks to protect Americans from financial abuses. The government overhaul has led to numerous lawsuits that seek to block the Trump administration from moving forward with some of the planned dismissals. Alexandra Alper, Reuters
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E-Commerce
The price of Bitcoin is nearing the psychologically important price point of $100,000 this morninga level the cryptocurrency has not seen since early February. As of the time of this writing, one Bitcoin is currently trading at over $99,800. Thats up nearly 3% in the last 24 hours and only $10,000 lower than the all-time high that the token reached earlier this year. Heres what you need to know about Bitcoins most recent approach to six figures. Bitcoin nears $100,000again Bitcoin is currently trading at less than $200 shy of $100,000 per coin as of the time of this writing. The cryptocurrency king hasnt traded at levels this high since early February, and it has not surpassed the $100,000 mark since the first few days of that month. While a $100,000 price point of Bitcoin doesnt have any underlying meaning on a fundamentals level, the passing of the six-figure barrier again will likely signal an important psychological threshold in many investors’ minds. In late January, just a day before President Trump was sworn in for his second term, Bitcoin traded at an all-time high of over $109,114 per coin. The coin had first crossed the $100,000 threshold back in December 2024, shortly after then-president-elect Trump announced the crypto-friendly Paul Atkins as the new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair. Atkinss appointment was seen as signaling a much more friendly regulatory environment with the new administration. In the days leading up to Trumps inauguration, Bitcoin continued to rise. But then came Trumps Liberation Day tariffs in Apriland along with the crash of global stock markets, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies crashed too. Last month, Bitcoin was trading at less than $75,000 per coin. Todays nearly $100,000 price, then, marks a staggering turnaround for Bitcoin from just over 30 days ago. It is up over 30% in the past month and up over 4% in the past five days alone, with the price of the digital asset up nearly 3% in just the last 24 hours. But what is the reason for Bitcoin’s flirtation with the $100,000 mark today? Trade deals. Hopes of trade deals boost Bitcoin Investing.com notes that Bitcoin’s rise to nearly $100,000 in the past 24 hours can be attributed to one main factor: trade deal optimism. Yesterday, President Trump teased on Truth Social that today there would be a big news conference detailing a major trade deal with a big country. It was the president’s first firm sign that one of his many promised trade deals was actually imminent. If the United States actually starts signing trade deals with other nations, investors will likely feel less uncomfortable about the state of the global economy and the economic uncertainty that Trump’s tariffs have unleashed within Americas borders and across the world. Then, early today, Trump took to Truth Social to follow up on his earlier post, announcing that the U.S. has entered into a full and comprehensive agreement with the United Kingdom. While Trump didnt specify that it was a trade agreement, that is the most likely type of agreement he is talking about. The president added, Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow! Details of the U.S.-U.K. agreement are expected to be announced at a press conference at 10 a.m. ET today, reports CNBC. Anticipation of the U.S.-U.K. news further buoyed earlier optimism that, after nearly a month of uncertainty, major countries were closer than ever to working out new economic frameworks with the United States. Other cryptocurrencies are also on the rise Bitcoin isnt the only cryptocurrency to rise on trade deal optimism. As of the time of this writing, other major coins are also up, including: Ethereum: up 6.2% XRP: up 3.1% Solana: up 4.2% Meme coins are also up, including: Dogecoin: up 5.8% Shiba Inu: up 4.7% Of course, it’s worth noting that cryptocurrencies are more volatile than more traditional assets, so theres no guarantee that Bitcoin will indeed cross the $100,000 threshold again. However, todays move closer to that mark will surely please jittery investors who have been forced to watch the crypto king decline by tens of thousands of dollars over the past several months.
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E-Commerce
The United States and Britain are expected to announce a trade deal on Thursday that will lower the burden of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and deliver a political victory for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that a deal due to be announced at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) will be a “full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come.”It’s the first bilateral trade deal announced since Trump began slapping tariffs on U.S. trading partners. He said: “Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!”Starmer’s office said the prime minister would give an “update” about U.S. trade talks later Thursday.“As you know, talks with the U.S. have been ongoing and you’ll hear more from me about that later today.” Starmer said at a defense conference in London.The agreement is likely to fall short of a full free trade deal, but will provide tariff relief to certain sectors.The president has imposed a 10% tax on imports from Britain, as well as 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum on the premise that doing so would foster more factory jobs domestically.A major goal of British negotiators has been to reduce or lift the import tax on U.K. cars and steel. The U.S. is the largest destination for British cars, accounting for more than a quarter of U.K. auto exports in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics.Britain has also sought tariff exemptions for pharmaceuticals, while the U.S. wants greater access to the British market for agriculture products. Starmer’s government has said it won’t lower U.K. food standards to allow in chlorine-rinsed American chicken or hormone-treated beef.The British government will see a deal it as a vindication of Starmer’s emollient approach to Trump, which has avoided direct confrontation or criticism. Unlike the European Union, Britain did not announce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in response to Trump’s import taxes.A trade deal with the United Kingdom would be symbolically important, and a relief for British exporters. But an agreement would do little to address Trump’s core concern about persistent trade deficits that prompted him to impose import taxes on countries around the world.The U.S. ran a $11.9 billion trade surplus in goods with the U.K. last year, according to the Census Bureau. The $68 billion in goods that the U.S. imported from the U.K. last year accounted for just 2% of all goods imported into the country.The U.S. is much more important to the U.K. economy. It was Britain’s biggest trading partner last year, according to government statistics, though the bulk of Britain’s exports to the U.S. are services rather than goods.Trump has shown a desire to strike a trade agreement with the U.K. since it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union. Yet as recently as Tuesday, Trump showed no awareness of the possible terms of the deal when asked about its possibility.“They’re offering us concessions?” Trump told reporters. “I hope so They do want to make a deal very badly.”Trump has previously said that his leverage in talks would be U.S. consumers, but he appeared to suggest that the U.K. would also start buying more American-made goods.“I think that the United Kingdom, like every other country, they want to . . . go shopping in the United States of America,” he said.A trade deal with the U.S. is one of several that Starmer’s government is seeking to strike. On Tuesday, Britain and India announced a trade after three years of negotiations. The U.K. is also trying to lift some of the barriers to trade with the EU imposed when Britain left the bloc in 2020. Jill Lawless reported from London. Josh Boak contributed to this report from Washington. Zeke Miller and Jill Lawless, Associated Press
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