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Amazon to pay $2.5B in FTC Prime membership settlement

Summary:

  • agrees to $2.5B settlement with FTC over Prime practices
  • $1B civil penalty marks largest fine in FTC history
  • $1.5B to be paid back to customers enrolled or blocked from canceling
  • FTC said Amazon misled users and made cancellations difficult

SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon has reached a historic $2.5 billion settlement with the , which said the giant tricked customers into signing up for its Prime memberships and made it difficult for them to cancel after doing so.

The Seattle company will pay $1 billion in civil penalties — the largest fine in the agency’s history — and $1.5 billion will be paid back to consumers who were unintentionally enrolled in Prime, or were deterred from canceling their subscriptions, the agency said Thursday.

The surprise settlement comes just days after the trial began in U.S. District Court in Seattle this week. At the heart of the case is the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, a 2010 law designed to ensure that people know what they’re being charged for online.

FTC officials said Amazon had its back against the wall and the consumer refund amount exceeded even the agency’s expert projections.

“I think it just took a few days for them to see that they were going to lose. And they came to us and they paid out,” said Chris Mufarrige, director of the Bureau of , on the settlement negotiations.

Amazon, however, said it was confident it would win case but that it chose to resolve it quickly instead of going through potentially years of trial and appeals. The company admitted no wrongdoing in the case, which was first filed two years ago.

“Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,” said spokesman Mark Blafkin in a statement. “We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their , and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world.”

Certain Prime customers who are eligible for automatic refunds of up to $51 include those who may have signed up for a membership via the company’s “Single Page Checkout,” among other links, between June 23, 2019, to June 23, 2025. Those customers will be reimbursed within 90 days of the settlement order.

Amazon is also on the hook to set up a claims process for more than 30 million customers who may have been affected by the other issues at the heart of the FTC case, including its cancellation process.

Amazon Prime provides subscribers with perks that include faster shipping, video streaming and discounts at Whole Foods for a fee of $139 annually, or $14.99 a month.

It’s a key and growing part of Amazon’s business, with more than 200 million members. In its latest financial report, the company reported in July that it booked more than $12 billion in net revenue for , a 12% increase from the same period last year. That figure includes annual and monthly fees associated with Prime memberships, as well as other subscription services such as its music and e-books platforms.

The FTC said Amazon deliberately made it difficult for customers to purchase an item without also subscribing to Prime. In some cases, consumers were presented with a button to complete their transactions — which did not clearly state it would also enroll them in Prime, the agency said.

Getting out of a subscription was often too complicated, and Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would have made canceling easier, according to an FTC complaint.

Internally, Amazon called the process “Iliad,” a reference to the ancient Greek poem about the lengthy siege of Troy during the Trojan war. The process requires the customer to affirm on three pages their desire to cancel membership.

The FTC began looking into Amazon’s Prime subscription practices in 2021 during the first , but the lawsuit was filed in 2023 under former FTC Chair Lina Khan, an antitrust expert who had been appointed by Biden.

The agency filed the case months before it submitted an antitrust lawsuit against the retail and technology company, accusing it of having monopolistic control over online markets.

As part of the settlement terms, Amazon is prohibited from misrepresenting the terms of the subscriptions. It must fully disclose the costs to be incurred and obtain the customer’s express consent for the charge. For example, it must have a clear option for customers to accept or decline a Prime subscription being offered during a purchase, avoiding potentially confusing language such as: “No thanks, I don’t want free shipping.”

Automatic renewals for memberships must be clearly marked and the company is also required to use a cancellation process, which “must not be difficult, costly, confusing or time consuming,” according to the settlement.

Amazon said the settlement doesn’t require it to make any additional changes — only to maintain its current sign-up and cancellation process that it had put in place in recent years.

Hegseth calls sudden meeting of U.S. generals, admirals

Summary

  • Hegseth orders meeting of hundreds of at
  • offers no reason for sudden high-level gathering
  • Comes after unexplained firings of senior military leaders
  • Hegseth has also directed deep cuts to top officer ranks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary has summoned the military’s top officers — hundreds of generals and admirals — to a base in northern Virginia for a sudden meeting next week, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The directive did not offer a reason for the gathering Tuesday of senior commanders of the one-star rank or higher and their top advisers at the Marine Corps base in Quantico. The people, who described the move as unusual, were not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive plans and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Pentagon’s top spokesman, Sean Parnell, confirmed that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.”

Across the military, there are 800 generals and admirals of all ranks. Many command thousands of service members and are stationed across the world in more than a dozen countries and time zones.

The meeting, first reported by The Washington Post, comes on the heels of several unusual and unexplained actions that Hegseth has taken involving military leaders.

In May, Hegseth ordered that the military cut 20% of its four-star general officers, directed an additional 10% cut from all general and flag officers across the force, and told the National Guard to shed 20% of its top positions.

In February, Hegseth fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top officer, and Gen. James Slife, the Air Force’s second highest officer, without explanation. He also relieved the military’s top lawyers.

Since then, Hegseth has fired other military leaders without saying why. Most recently it was a general who led a military intelligence agency whose initial assessment of U.S. damage to Iranian nuclear sites in American strikes angered President .

RTX subsidiary lands $578.6M Army contract

Raytheon, a subsidiary of -based aerospace and defense contractor , has been awarded a $578.63 million contract to procure Stinger missiles, ancillary equipment and related support.

The (recently rebranded by the as the ) said that the contract was solicited online, and that one bid was received. The DOD estimates the contract will be completed by Sept. 29, 2031.

In service since 1981, the Stinger is a portable, shoulder-fired guided-missile system that can be rapidly deployed by ground troops for air defense.

RTX has more than 185,000 employees globally and reported more than $80.73 billion in 2024 sales. The contractor is the second highest ranked Virginia-based company on the 2025 Fortune 500.

Virginia housing sales remained flat in August but prices rose

SUMMARY:

    • August sales were flat compared to last year, but down 7.5% from July
    • Listings rose 26%, with inventory above 2020 levels
    • Virginia’s median sales price reached $430,000, up 3.6% from last year

Virginia’s housing market sales in August slightly dipped from the previous month. Still, reports that sales remain essentially unchanged from last year’s August numbers, even as prices continued to rise and inventory expanded.

According to an August statewide sales data report released by the trade association, the state had 24,606 active listings last month, representing a 26.2% surge from last year. There were also nearly 13,000 properties added to the market during the month. The state’s inventory is now back above 2020 levels.

“Inventory growth has been one of the big stories of 2025,” said Virginia Realtors Chief Economist Ryan Price in a statement. “With listings up more than 26% from last year, buyers across the commonwealth are seeing more options than they’ve had in a long time. While supply is improving, demand continues to be tempered by economic uncertainty.”

In terms of , there were 9,423 homes sold statewide last month, just 15 more than in August 2024 (a 0.2% increase), but down 7.5% from July’s 10,182.

Change in Virginia’s August home sales from 2024 to 2025, based on data accessed Sept. 15 .Courtesy Virginia Realtors.

“While there are more options for buyers now with listings increasing each month, climbing prices, stubbornly high mortgage rates for much of the year and lingering job uncertainty in some of Virginia’s larger housing markets have kept sales muted,” the report reads.

The report said some of the sharpest declines in August sales were in the region, the area and the market. However, sales activity outpaced August 2024  by double-digit rates in the region, the and the .

Pending sales saw a modest 3.4% year-over-year increase, with 8,611 in August. However, pending sales were down 6.3% from July, which the association says is “a typical season dip.”

The statewide median sales price in August was $430,000, a 3.6% increase from the same time last year. The report stated that while prices continue to rise, the pace of the growth is slowing, ranging from 2% to 3.6% over the last five months.

The Greater Piedmont region, the Virginia Peninsula area and the Lynchburg region saw “robust” median price growth. In contrast, the median prices declined in Lexington, the New River Valley and the Charlottesville area.

The association states that despite flat sales, higher prices resulted in the state’s sold dollar volume reaching $5.1 billion, a 4.4% year-over-year increase.

Virginia Realtors notes that homes are taking longer to sell, with the median days on market in August reaching 17 days — five days longer than last August and the slowest August pace since 2019.

However, the association sees some signs for optimism, as the state’s average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped to 6.26% in mid-September, the lowest in nearly a year.

“The recent drop in mortgage rates is a positive sign for both buyers and sellers,” said Virginia Realtors President Lorraine Arora in a statement. “If that trend continues, we could see stronger sales to close out what has been a muted year so far.”

Based in , Virginia Realtors represents about 35,000 Realtors and is the state’s largest trade association.

Regional jet overshoots landing at Virginia airport

No injuries were reported after a commercial regional jet overshot the designated touchdown zone at a Roanoke airport amid heavy rain Wednesday night, but was stopped in a safety area at the end of the runway, officials said. Delays continued at the airport Thursday morning.

ERJ145 flight 4339, operating as United Express, “landed long” as it arrived at around 10 p.m., according to a Federal Aviation Administration statement. It was safely stopped by an engineered materials arresting system bed at the end of the runway.

The safety area made of cellular cement blocks meant to slow and stop an aircraft that overruns the runway was upgraded last year and performed as intended, airport spokesperson Alexa Briehl said in an email. There was heavy rain in the area at the time of the incident, Briehl said.

There were 50 passengers and three crew members on board the flight operating as United Express from Washington Dulles International Airport when it overran the runway while landing at Roanoke, CommuteAir executive vice president and chief financial officer Sean Frick said in an email. The captain reported no injuries, Frick said.

Based in Ohio, CommuteAir is a regional airline that operates flights on behalf of .

Passengers aboard the Embraer 145 were bused to the terminal and law enforcement released them to go home a little before midnight, officials said.

All runways at the airport were closed for a time. One runway reopened after midnight to arriving and departing traffic, but the runway where the overrun occurred remained closed, the airport said.

The FAA said it will investigate.

Airport officials urged travelers to check with their airlines on Thursday morning since multiple flights were delayed.

Baldaccis pledge $13M to VCU, Library of Virginia

Best-selling Virginia novelist David Baldacci and his wife, Michelle, have pledged $13 million to and the to launch a nonpartisan initiative that will encompass experiential learning, a tailored curriculum, events and programming spaces, according to a Thursday announcement.

The gift is the largest joint contribution ever received by VCU and the Library of Virginia.

Designed to “promote constructive dialogue in a polarized world,” the effort, called the Civil Discourse and Collaboration Initiative, will build on work already underway at VCU’s College of Humanities and Sciences and the Library of Virginia and is designed to bring together universities, colleges and organizations across Virginia.

A lifelong resident of the commonwealth, earned a degree in political science from VCU. He and his wife have been active with the Library of Virginia for many years. About a year ago, the Baldaccis began conversations with Catherine Ingrassia, dean of VCU’s College of Humanities and Sciences, and state librarian Dennis Clark about the need for constructive dialogue in a divided world, according to a news release.

“I have long felt that we need to draw people together in a civil manner and learn to have frank and respectful dialogue with those with whom we have differences,” David Baldacci said in a statement. “As constructive interaction has continued to decrease, it is more important than ever to champion this type of initiative, which has, as its chief goal, the bringing together of people to solve complex problems and move the country forward.”

“This program is an important step in helping to prepare our students as leaders who bridge divides and build consensus through dialogue and understanding,” VCU President Michael Rao said in a statement.

A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law who practiced in Washington, D.C., Baldacci has published more than 50 novels. His thriller “A Calamity of Souls” was released in March. In January, Baldacci was named the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion, awarded for literary advocacy.

In 2002, the Baldaccis established the nonprofit Wish You Well Foundation, which funds adult literacy and education efforts.

White House budget office tells agencies to draft mass firing plans ahead of potential shutdown

Summary

  • memo orders agencies to prepare
  • Shutdown layoffs would permanently cut federal positions
  • Democrats reject Trump’s short-term funding bill demands
  • Schumer, Jeffries vow legal and political pushback

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is telling agencies to prepare large-scale firings of federal workers if the government shuts down next week.

In a memo released Wednesday night, the Office of Management and Budget said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week, is not otherwise funded and is “not consistent with the President’s priorities.” That would be a much more aggressive step than in previous shutdowns, when federal workers not deemed essential were furloughed but returned to their jobs once Congress approved government spending.

A reduction in force would not only lay off employees but eliminate their positions, which would trigger yet another massive upheaval in a federal workforce that has already faced major rounds of cuts this year due to efforts from the Department of Government Efficiency and elsewhere in the .

Once any potential ends, agencies are asked to revise their reduction in force plans “as needed to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions,” according to the memo, which was first reported by Politico.

This move from OMB significantly increases the consequences of a potential government shutdown next week and escalates pressure on Senate Minority Leader and House Minority Leader . The two leaders have kept nearly all of their Democratic lawmakers united against a clean funding bill pushed by President and congressional Republicans that would keep the federal government operating for seven more weeks, demanding immediate improvements to health care in exchange for their votes.

In statements issued shortly after the memo was released, the two Democrats showed no signs of budging.

“We will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings,” Jeffries wrote in a post on X. “Get lost.”

Jeffries called Russ Vought, the head of OMB, a “malignant political hack.”

Schumer said in a statement that the OMB memo is an “attempt at intimidation” and predicted the “unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back.”

OMB noted that it held its first planning call with other federal agencies earlier this week to plan for a shutdown. The budget office plays point in managing federal government shutdowns, particularly planning for them ahead of time. Past budget offices have also posted shutdown contingency plans — which would outline which agency workers would stay on the job during a government shutdown and which would be furloughed — on its website, but this one has not.

The memo noted that congressional Democrats are refusing to support a clean government funding bill “due to their partisan demands,” which include an extension of enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, plus a reversal of Medicaid cuts that were included in Republicans’ big tax and spending cuts law.

“As such, it has never been more important for the Administration to be prepared for a shutdown if the Democrats choose to pursue one,” the memo reads, which also notes that the GOP’s signature law, a major tax and border spending package, gives “ample resources to ensure that many core Trump Administration priorities will continue uninterrupted.”

OMB noted that it had asked all agencies to submit their plans in case of a government shutdown by Aug. 1.

“OMB has received many, but not all, of your submissions,” it added. “Please send us your updated lapse plans ASAP.”

Starbucks to close stores, cut more jobs as CEO deepens restructuring

Summary

(Reuters) –Starbucks said on Thursday it would shutter underperforming stores in North America and cut 900 jobs in a $1 billion restructuring effort, as CEO Brian Niccol presses ahead with his plan to revive the company’s fortunes.

In his first year on the job, Niccol has zeroed in on investing in Starbucks‘ stores to reduce service times and restore a coffee house environment, while also trimming management layers.

The company has posted six straight quarters of sales decline in the U.S. as demand for its pricey lattes took a hit from consumers turning picky and competition ramping up.

“During the review, we identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed,” Niccol said in a letter to employees.

The company expects a majority of the to be completed by the end of this fiscal year, taking its company-operated store count in North America down by about 1%.

The CEO said the company would end the fiscal year with nearly 18,300 total Starbucks locations – company operated and licensed – across the U.S. and Canada. This compares to the 18,734 locations disclosed in a July regulatory filing.

Niccol has enjoyed the confidence of investors since taking over after his leadership at Chipotle Mexican Grill where he is credited with leading a turnaround at the burrito chain.

Starbucks said on Thursday the would be in its support teams and added the company would also close many open positions.

The company employed about 10,000 people in non-coffee house roles in the U.S., as of September 29, 2024.

“This is a more significant action that we understand will impact partners and customers,” Niccol said.

At the same time, Starbucks is investing to improve staffing and incorporate technology to more efficiently sequence orders at its coffee shops to enhance customer experience.

The company said earlier this year it would eliminate 1,100 corporate roles. In August, it also announced a modest 2% hike to all salaried employees in North America this year.

(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Sriraj Kalluvila)

Trump’s workforce purge batters DC’s job market and leads to rise in homes for sale, report finds

Summary

  • DC region rate highest in U.S. at 6%
  • Federal under slash thousands of positions
  • 13,231 federal contracts terminated, saving $59 billion
  • Housing supply in DMV up 64% since June 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Government Efficiency’s remaking of the federal workforce has battered the Washington job market and put more households in the metropolitan area in financial distress, according to a report released Wednesday.

The number of homes for sale in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia region, also known as the DMV, is up by 64% since June 2024, and the region’s unemployment rate is the highest in the nation, according to the DMV Monitor, a real-time data interactive created by the with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

Washington has had the nation’s highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for four straight months. The unemployment rate was 5.3% in January and ticked up to 6% in August, compared with the 4.3% national average, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

From the start of President ‘s second term in January, DOGE, led by his then-adviser Elon Musk, instigated purges of federal agencies with the expressed mission of rooting out fraud, waste and abuse. DOGE led to tens of thousands of job cuts, including layoffs and people who accepted financial incentives to quit. Some people were rehired, a reflection of the haphazard process. Although losses were felt around the country, the Washington area was particularly hard hit.

Scott Kupor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, said last month that there will be 300,000 fewer federal workers on the payroll nationwide by the end of the year. The government has about 2.5 million workers, including military members.

Contractors have been affected, too. DOGE’s website states that 13,231 federal government contracts have been terminated, totaling $59 billion in savings. In fiscal year 2024, more than 100,000 companies received contracts, totaling roughly $774 billion.

Besides the mass layoffs, the Republican president’s other actions to remake the image of the nation’s capital — including deploying National Guard troops and federalizing the city’s local Metropolitan Police Department — “could shape consumer spending and investment in the local economy,” the report says.

The report also says private-sector job growth is stagnating, “with many new jobs not aligned with the skills and experiences of most laid-off federal workers.”

“As a result,” it says, “job postings were not as robust as they were in peer regions, which is concerning when unemployment has soared, especially in the suburbs.”

Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said D.C. “has often had the highest unemployment rate in the nation, even during Joe Biden’s federal hiring frenzy.” D.C.’s unemployment rate hit 11.3% at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and fell to 5.3% at the end of Biden’s presidency. “This longstanding problem is due to an overreliance on federal bloat and sky-high crime, two problems that President Trump is quickly and successfully fixing by cracking down on crime in the Nation’s capital and implementing supply-side reforms that have already created over half a million private-sector jobs for American-born workers,” Rogers said.

The DMV region is home to the second highest share of college graduates of any major U.S. metropolitan area, and one-fifth of federal workers are concentrated in the area.

In July, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump’s Republican administration to downsize the federal workforce further, despite warnings that critical government services would be lost. The ruling does not apply to every agency, and other legal challenges to federal worker firings continue.

Additionally, hundreds of federal employees who lost their jobs in Musk’s cost-cutting blitz are being asked to return to work.

“The DMV region’s economy has grown even weaker than the nation in many categories due to the ‘s seismic actions to shrink the federal government,” the report reads.

And given proposed additional cuts in the future, the DC Fiscal Policy Institute predicts it’s likely more Washington residents and others from around the region who work in Washington will lose their federal jobs over the coming months and years.

The latest Washington Office of Revenue Analysis figures show that initial unemployment insurance claims have jumped by 33.7% compared with this time last year.

US implements EU trade deal, 15% autos tariffs retroactive to Aug 1

Summary

  • finalizes U.S.-EU trade agreement
  • Auto and auto parts tariffs cut from 25% to 15% retroactive to Aug. 1
  • Exemptions include aircraft, generic drugs, and raw materials
  • German automakers’ shares rose after tariff confirmation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President ‘s administration said on Wednesday it was formally implementing the U.S. trade agreement with the European Union, confirming that a 15% duty rate for EU autos and auto parts began on August 1 and listing tariff exemptions for generic pharmaceuticals, aircraft and aircraft parts.

In a Federal Register notice, the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said they have amended the tariff schedule to implement the framework agreement reached with the EU in July that lowers the Republican president’s tariffs to 15% on most imports from the EU, including autos.

The deal was subsequently modified to make the duty rate retroactive to August 1, but European automakers have been waiting for weeks for the formal U.S. notice.

The U.S. notice also specifies hundreds of products from the EU that are exempt from Trump’s new tariffs, including natural resources such as cork lacking in the United States, all aircraft and aircraft parts, and generic pharmaceuticals and their ingredients and chemical precursors.

The notice is in line with a previous Trump executive order that offered certain exemptions from his “reciprocal” tariffs and so-called Section 232 national security duties to countries that negotiate trade deals with the United States.

Among items that would be exempted for EU exporters are graphite, nickel, rare earths, magnesium and certain other metals, as well as hundreds of electronic and mechanical components that are used in aircraft production.

For EU autos and auto parts, the tariff rate dropped to 15% from 25% effective August 1, easing anxiety in an industry that had been waiting for the long-delayed confirmation in order to make sourcing decisions.

Shares in German automakers rose following the confirmation, reflecting relief over the formal implementation of a move announced almost two months ago.

Oliver Blume, CEO of , Europe’s largest carmaker, had said last week that the actual lowering of U.S. auto import tariffs from August was still subject to talks between the United States and EU, and could take several weeks.

Shares in luxury sportscar maker Porsche , which has no production sites outside Europe, were up about 2.2%, while and rose 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively.

(Reporting by David Lawder, additional reporting by Christoph Steitz and David ShepardsonEditing by Marguerita Choy and Will Dunham)