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By Aditya Soni (Reuters) – Microsoft has scrapped leases for sizeable data center capacity in the U.S., suggesting a potential oversupply at the tech giant as it builds out artificial intelligence infrastructure to meet a possible surge in demand, TD Cowen said. Skepticism has been growing among investors over the billions of dollars U.S. tech firms have been channeling into AI infrastructure due to slow payoffs and breakthroughs at Chinese startup DeepSeek, which has showcased … Read more…

By AJ Vicens (Reuters) – Data posted to the Department of Government Efficiency’s website detailing headcount and total wages for the National Reconnaissance Office is not classified, but was “not intended for public release,” an agency spokesperson told Reuters on Friday. The NRO, an intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, is working to “remedy” the situation, the spokesperson said. The data was still available on the DOGE website on Friday. Representatives of Elon Musk’s DOGE … Read more…

By Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration released $5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, mostly for security and counternarcotics programs, according to a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters that included only limited humanitarian relief. President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on January 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions … Read more…

By Nate Raymond BOSTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge extended an order on Friday blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from slashing grant funding for scientific research that could devastate the budgets of thousands of universities and research institutions while she considers whether the National Institutes of Health’s new policy is unlawful. Although she did not say how she would ultimately rule, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley at a hearing in Boston told a lawyer for … Read more…

By Nathan Layne (Reuters) – The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has blocked a key aide to tech billionaire Elon Musk from accessing individual taxpayer returns or other personal information as part of a deal signed between the tax-collecting agency and the Trump administration. The agreement would seem to avert what some IRS officials had privately described as a worst-case scenario, in which the aide, 25-year-old software engineer Gavin Kliger, had free reign of the agency’s … Read more…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. existing home sales dropped more than expected in January after three straight monthly increases as high mortgage rates and house prices stifled demand. Home sales decreased 4.9% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.08 million units, the National Association of Realtors said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast home resales slipping to a rate of 4.12 million units. Sales likely reflected contracts signed in November and … Read more…

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the social media platform X owned by billionaire Elon Musk to pay a fine of 8.1 million reais ($1.42 million) for noncompliance with judicial orders, according to a ruling made public on Thursday. The decision stems from a legal process last year in which the court ordered X to take down a profile it determined had spread misinformation as well as provide registration data … Read more…

By Steve Holland NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday defended President Donald Trump’s negotiations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, saying it could help bring about the end of the Ukraine war. “How are you going to end the war unless you’re talking to Russia?” Vance said during remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference. A U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio met in Riyadh with … Read more…