UK’s Starmer uses European forum to press for EU reset, Ukraine support

WASHINGTON: Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against the company after it suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to three people familiar with the matter.
It’s the latest instance of a large corporation settling litigation with the president, who has threatened retribution on his critics and rivals, and comes as Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have joined other large technology companies in trying to ingratiate themselves with the new Trump administration.
The people familiar with the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity Wednesday to discuss the agreement. Two people said that terms of the agreement include $22 million going to the nonprofit that will become Trump’s future presidential library and the balance going to legal fees and other litigants.
Zuckerberg visited Trump in November at his private Florida club as part of a series of technology, business and government officials to make a pilgrimage to Palm Beach to try to mend fences with the incoming president. At the dinner, Trump brought up the litigation and suggested they try to resolve it, kickstarting two months of negotiations between the parties, the people said.
Meta also made a $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural committee and Zuckerberg was among several billionaires granted prime seating during Trump’s swearing-in last week in the Capitol Rotunda, along with Google’s Sundar Pichai, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who now owns the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Meta also announced that it was dropping fact-checking on its platform — a longtime priority of Trump and his allies.
Trump filed the suit months after leaving office, calling the action by the social media companies “illegal, shameful censorship of the American people.”
Twitter, Facebook and Google are all private companies, and users must agree to their terms of service to use their products. Under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, social media platforms are allowed to moderate their services by removing posts that, for instance, are obscene or violate the services’ own standards, so long as they are acting in “good faith.” The law also generally exempts Internet companies from liability for the material that users post.
But Trump and some other politicians have long argued that X, formerly known as Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms, have abused that protection and should lose their immunity — or at least have it curtailed.
The Meta settlement comes after ABC News agreed last month to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
The network also agreed to pay $1 million in legal fees to the law firm of Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito.
The settlement agreement describes ABC’s presidential library payment as a “charitable contribution,” with the money earmarked for a non-profit organization that is being established in connection with the yet-to-be-built library.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the settlement.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s budget office on Wednesday rescinded a memo freezing spending on federal loans and grants, less than two days after it sparked widespread confusion and legal challenges across the country.
The memo, which was issued Monday by the Office of Management and Budget, had frightened states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington.
Administration officials said the pause was necessary to review whether spending aligned with Trump’s executive orders on issues like climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
But on Wednesday, they sent out a two-sentence notice rescinding the original memo. The reversal was the latest sign that even with unified control of Washington, Trump’s plans to dramatically and rapidly reshape the government has limits.
Administration officials insisted that despite the confusion, their actions still had the intended effect by underscoring to federal agencies their obligations to abide by Trump’s executive orders.
“The Executive Orders issued by the President on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, blaming the confusion on the courts and news outlets, not the administration. “This action should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the President’s orders on controlling federal spending.”
The White House’s change in direction caught Congress off guard, particularly Trump’s Republicans allies who had defended him throughout the brief saga.
“This is Donald Trump. He throws hand grenades in the middle of the room, and then cleans it up afterwards,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. “I just think the guy’s a genius.”
Cramer acknowledged the initial memo may have generated too much political heat, with red and blue states raising alarms over the funding freeze. But the senator suggested Trump “maybe didn’t understand the breadth” of what had been proposed.
But Democrats said the White House had overreached beyond what Americans want.
“Most people voted for cheaper eggs,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. “They did not vote for this chaos.”
The funding pause was scheduled to go into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday. It was stayed by a federal judge until at least Monday after an emergency hearing requested by nonprofit groups that receive federal grants. An additional lawsuit by Democratic state attorneys general was also pending.
After the initial memo was distributed, federal agencies were directed to answer a series of yes or no questions about each program by Feb. 7. The questions included “does this program promote gender ideology?” and “does this program promote or support in any way abortion?”
Although Trump had promised to turn Washington upside down if elected to a second term, the effects of his effort to pause funding were being felt far from the nation’s capital. Organizations like Meals on Wheels, which receives federal money to deliver food to the elderly, were worried about getting cut off. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.
On Tuesday, Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans, including Medicare, Social Security, student loans and food stamps, would not be affected.
However, they sometimes struggled to provide a clear picture. Leavitt initially would not say whether Medicaid was exempted from the freeze, but the administration later clarified that it was.
Democratic critics of the order moved swiftly to celebrate the memo’s rescinding.
“This is an important victory for the American people whose voices were heard after massive pressure from every corner of this country,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. She said Trump had “caused real harm and chaos for millions.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that “Americans fought back and Donald Trump backed off.”