Ceasefire ultimatum, Musk and OpenAI and US consumer watchdog
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Today, Trump says he'll let hell break out if all Hamas hostages are not released by Saturday. Musk sets his sights on OpenAI's non-profit. And workers protest after the U.S. consumer watchdog's boss tells staff to stop work.

It's Tuesday, February 11th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Jonah Green in New York. And I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. Every day, thousands of Comcast engineers and technologists like Kunle put people at the heart of everything they create. In the average household, there are dozens of connected devices. Here in the Comcast family, we're building an integrated in-home Wi-Fi solution for millions of families like my own.

It brings people together in meaningful ways. Kuhnle and his team are building a Wi-Fi experience that connects one billion devices every year. Learn more about how Comcast is redefining the future of connectivity at comcastcorporation.com slash Wi-Fi. I'd say they ought to be returned by 12 o'clock on Saturday. And if they're not returned, all of them, not in drips and drabs. A deadline. And after that, I would say all hell is going to break out. And an ultimatum.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants Hamas to release all hostages in Gaza by midday on Saturday. His comments coming on the heels of Hamas's announcement that it would stop releasing hostages, citing Israeli violations of the truce. Our Middle East editor Ed Blair joins us with more.

Trump's comments obviously raise the stakes in what is already appearing to be a very fragile ceasefire. It doesn't mean that the ceasefire collapses, but certainly sources have been telling us that there have been concerns about how the ceasefire talks will progress. Trump has really upped the ante here.

Well, I think if we look at the way Trump has operated in the past and his transactional style, it would fit the idea that you move in with a very demanding position, go high and then come down from there because everything else looks more reasonable. It is worth noting that he did say that it was still in the hands of Israel and

I think that from Israel's point of view, they are obviously keen to get the hostages out. So there may be plenty of reasons why that keeps the ceasefire deal continuing and to a degree on track. And Trump is meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah later today. What can we expect?

King Abdullah has been very clear that he, alongside other Arabs, opposes any displacement of Palestinians. But he is finding himself in a difficult position. Jordan is heavily reliant on US aid and support. It does consider itself a regional security ally of the United States. So

He will need to tread carefully and diplomatically in trying to balance the competing demands of taking in Palestinians, but also retaining the support and aid of the United States.

Russia is playing hardball on Ukraine peace discussions. Moscow's point man for U.S. relations has said that all of President Vladimir Putin's conditions must be met in full before the war can end. Trump says he's making progress in talks with Russia and that he's spoken to Putin. The Kremlin has refused to either confirm or deny contact. A judge has kept the block on Trump's federal buyout plan in place for now.

It's a temporary victory for the labor unions who have sued to scrap it completely. The U.S. has lifted a pause on food donations. That's according to the UN World Food Programme. That move allows more than half a million metric tons of food currently at sea or ready for shipping to head to its destinations under existing USAID agreements.

The U.S. Justice Department has directed federal prosecutors in New York to drop corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams. That's according to a memo from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emile Bove. He pleaded not guilty. Investor focus will be squarely on Capitol Hill today, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is testifying before lawmakers. Carmel Crimmins has the details.

This is Powell's first appearance on the Hill since Trump took office, and he's sure to be questioned about Trump's tariffs and the threat of rising inflation from those import taxes. Markets have already scaled back expectations about rate cuts this year. And in fact, a majority of economists think the central bank will wait until next quarter before cutting again. That's according to the latest Reuters poll.

We get into trade and what Trump wants from those tariffs in the latest episode of Reuters Econ World. You can catch it on the Reuters app or wherever you listen to your podcasts. A group led by Elon Musk says it has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls open AI. It's the latest move in the billionaire's fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm.

In response, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X, "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Tech reporter Anna Tong is in San Francisco. Anna, is this a real offer? I mean, what is Musk up to here?

Yeah, it's kind of the latest move in this grudge match that's going on between Elon Musk and Sam Altman. So Elon Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI and he provided the then non-profit with its initial funding. And then subsequently he ended up leaving because he got in a disagreement. And then OpenAI decided to create a for-profit entity in order to raise more money to develop artificial intelligence models. Yeah.

And at some point, Elon Musk got really mad about this, and he has now made it one of his life's goals to stop OpenAI from converting to a for-profit entity. How does this bid complicate that effort? The nonprofit is going to, once the company is converted, is going to basically own a small portion of the end company.

So what they were thinking about was actually something in the realm of $30 billion. And so now Elon Musk has really upped the ante because he's basically said like, hey, I think that this is worth almost $100 billion. So then now the nonprofit's board of directors, if they want to sell the stake to another entity, they now need to make a case for why it should be worth less than what Elon Musk is bidding on it.

The Trump administration is setting its government-slashing sights on another agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency's acting chief, Russell Vaught, temporarily closed its headquarters over the weekend and says he plans to, quote, zero out the agency's funding. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the CFPB offices yesterday, demanding to be allowed to work. The bus has got to go, hey!

The financial industry and Republican lawmakers have said the CFPB is too powerful and lacks accountability. Our U.S. financial reporter Douglas Gillison is looking into the impact of the latest agency to be shuttered by this administration. So this is an agency that has put forth regulations governing credit card fees, medical debt, reporting by credit bureaus, helps you or protects you.

when you are applying for a mortgage, taking out a student loan, receiving pay from your employer, dealing with the pawn shop, buying a car, doing all of these things that constitute daily life for everybody. It was created following the financial crisis of 2008. It was Elizabeth Warren who first proposed the agency to be created and helped get it off the ground before she was a senator. She's now the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, where

She is sounding the alarm and trying to say that this is an attempt to kill the agency for political and financial gain on the part of allies of President Donald Trump. The CFPB is the cop on the beat.

And that cop is the one that caught the crooks. Now, Vaught is the one in front of this trying to shut down the CFPB. But I think a lot of people are watching Elon Musk's involvement here for possible conflicts of interest.

Axis has suffered a great decline in revenue from advertisers since his takeover. And one of the new business ventures that it has begun to move into is payments. They announced a deal with Visa to offer direct-to-consumer payment services. And that would make the CFPB one of Elon Musk's regulators. And our reporting indicates that the Department of Government Efficiency team

has been granted full administrative access to all IT systems in the building. They can see all of the examinations and notes for potential competitors for X in the payment space, for Apple Pay, Cash App, all of the other organizations that would offer similar services, and they can then control their own regulator. So the potential conflict of an interest there is probably without precedent. Doge and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Today's recommended read is more of a must-see, a photo collection, the highlights on the catwalk and backstage at New York Fashion Week. There's a link in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.