The visit comes as the U.S. is assisting Australia in acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarines.

Rafael Fiziev has agreed to step in to face Justin Gaethje in a rematch on less than two weeks' notice at UFC 313 on March 8.

The two-time Oscar winner and his wife Betsy Arakawa, a former classical pianist, were found dead Wednesday, along with their dog.

After calling for the fight following his win at UFC Seattle, Jean Silva will now face Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314 on April 12 in Miami.

Bangladesh and Pakistan will meet in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy on Thursday at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Earlier this month there were reports that the Trump administration was pressuring Romania to lift Andrew and Tristan Tate's travel restrictions.

The Pentagon is moving to disqualify transgender service members from the military within 30 days, per a policy memorandum included in a Wednesday court filing.

The big picture: The memo that builds on existing Trump administration restrictions that target transgender troops states the military will consider granting waivers on a "case-by-case basis," but only if there's "a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities."

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Driving the news: The Trump administration was responding on Wednesday to a lawsuit filed in D.C. on behalf of six transgender service members who are challenging the legality of President Trump's January executive order targeting transgender troops.

• The suit contends the order that states that the federal government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and which calls on the Pentagon to formulate a policy that would target transgender service members is unconstitutional.

Zoom in: "Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service," states the policy, which echoes language similar to that used in Trump's order.

• Service members who seek to obtain a waiver must show they never tried to transition, according to the Pentagon.
• They must also demonstrate "36 consecutive months of stability in the Service member's sex without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."

Between the lines: Gender dysphoria is defined as distress related to gender incongruence.

• The number of transgender people serving on active duty in the military was estimated to be up to 8,000, per a 2020 study published by the NIH that notes the actual number may be greater due to factors including fear of disclosure.

Flashback: Trump rescinded on his first day in office a policy allowing trans people to serve, implemented by his predecessor, former President Biden.

Go deeper: Senate sets up vote to restrict trans women from women's sports

• Renault's former partner in Russia said the French carmaker may need to pay $1.3 billion to re-enter the market.
• Renault exited Russia in 2022, selling its assets for one ruble amid Western sanctions.
• Foreign firms face challenges returning to Russia, with potential compensation demands looming.

Renault exited the Russian market in 2022, selling its assets for a single ruble.

Now, the French carmaker may need to pay 112.5 billion rubles — about $1.3 billion — if it seeks to return after the war, its former Russian partner Avtovaz said. The stipulation is a sign that foreign firms looking to return to the market could face high compensation demands.

In the case of Renault, Maxim Sokolo, the CEO of Avtovaz, said the company and the Russian state have invested 112.5 billion rubles in the business since its exit through 2025.

"It is clear that these investments will have to be reimbursed somehow upon return," Sokolov said, according to TASS state news agency.

American President Donald Trump has signaled a willingness for the US to reconcile with Moscow, spurring recent discussions about a potential return of Western businesses — such as Renault — to the market.

In 2022, Renault sold its 67.6% stake in Avtovaz to the Russian state with the option to buy back its assets within six years. The automaker took a 2.2 billion euro writedown from the exit from the market that was its second largest, after France.

A spokesperson for Renault told Business Insider said the company doesn't "foresee any change for the short term" when it comes to a return to business in Russia. The company did not comment on Sokolov's statements.

David Szakonyi, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, told Business Insider that Sokolov's about compensation should be taken seriously, even if Russian officials are also posturing.

The exit of foreign businesses created winners at home in Russia, some of whom picked up assets at fire sale prices.

"Freely allowing foreign companies back in is going to diminish their profit streams and make life a lot more competitive, so if that is going to happen, Russia wants some kind of compensation for liberalizing its market," said Szakonyi, who is a specialist in Russia's political economy.

'Even more confident, even more emboldened'

Sokolov's comments echo others in Russia recently signaling tough negotiations for departed companies that wish to return.

Anton Alikhanov, the Russian industry and trade minister, told reporters on Thursday that Russia is "not waiting for anyone with open arms" and that there will be "a price to pay for past decisions."

Russia is likely to continue with such "cocky rhetoric" amid its rapprochement with the US, Szakonyi said.

"It feels that it survived just about the worst the West could throw at it and persevered through that adversity and now comes out even more confident, even more emboldened, to make demands on the West and dictate the terms of both political and economic dealmaking going forward," he added.

Three years into the war in Ukraine, 475 foreign companies have left the Russian market completely, per the Leave Russia database from the Kyiv School of Economics.

Fast food giant McDonald's and coffee chain Starbucks were two high-profile brands that left the market, with their assets bought by Russian businesses. McDonald's rebranded to "Tasty and that's it" and Starbucks became Stars Coffee.

Western companies are not clamoring to go back to Russia

Even though Russia is a large market, analysts have said recently that businesses are likely to be cautious about returning to the country, even if sanctions are lifted.

Russia's wartime economy is facing problems including high inflation, currency volatility, and sky-high interest rates. President Vladimir Putin's ironclad reign presents concerns about the rule of law and safety.

"While Russia says it's open to doing business again, it didn't actually signal any change of tone or policy," said Szakonyi, who added that much of Moscow's rhetoric is likely aimed at the Trump administration's appetite for dealmaking.

Investors are also likely to remain wary after a wave of corporate nationalization and asset seizures in the last few years that redistributed international company wealth to the Russian state and oligarchs.

Szakonyi said Russia has proven that business property rights protections, investor guarantees, and a hospitable business climate are things of the distant past.

"Without them in place, I see no reason why Western companies would risk again with Russia as such a volatile, unpredictable regime," he said. "It has proven that it doesn't care about property rights and that it talks out of both sides of its mouth and is not trustworthy."

• Meta apologized for graphic and violent content recommended on Instagram Reels on Wednesday.
• Meta replaced US fact-checkers with a community notes model in January.
• Meta's content moderation has faced criticism and controversy for years.

Meta apologized for an "error" after Instagram users reported a flood of graphic and disturbing content recommended on their feeds.

"We have fixed an error that caused some users to see content in their Instagram Reels feed that should not have been recommended," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider on Wednesday.

Instagram users worldwide reported seeing a flood of short-form videos showing gore and violence, including killings and cartel violence, on Wednesday. These videos were marked with the "sensitive content" label but were being recommended to users back-to-back.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, says it removes "particularly violent or graphic" content and adds warning levels to others. It also restricts users under 18 from viewing such content.

In the first week of January, Meta replaced third-party fact-checkers on its US platforms with a community notes flagging model.

The company also planned to "simplify" its content policies, said Joel Kaplan, the chief global-affairs officer, at the time. Meta would "get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse."

In January, Business Insider reported that the tech giant would officially end its US fact-checking partnerships in March.

Meta has faced a string of controversies since 2016 over lapses in content moderation. It has faced criticism for, among other issues, its role in illicit drug sales. Last year, founder Mark Zuckerberg joined other tech CEOs for a Congressional grilling about safety measures for children online.

Internationally, Meta's lack of content moderation and reliance on third-party civil society groups to report misinformation have been found to play a role in proliferating violence in Myanmar, Iraq, and Ethiopia.

Zuckerberg's content moderation changes resemble those made by Elon Musk on the social media platform X, which he bought in 2022.

• McDonald's is selling $1 Egg McMuffins on its app on Sunday.
• The promotion comes as the Egg McMuffin celebrates 50 years on the market and as egg prices soar.
• Egg prices hit a record high in the US in January, with a dozen large Grade A eggs costing an average of $4.95.

As the food industry grapples with the skyrocketing price of eggs in the US, McDonald's is going the other way and selling $1 Egg McMuffins for one day.

On Tuesday, McDonald's announced it will be selling Egg McMuffins and Sausage McMuffins with Egg for $1 on Sunday, March 2. The deal is only valid for purchases made through the app in the US.

The promotion is being held to celebrate the Egg McMuffin's 50th birthday. The product was introduced in the US in 1975.

McDonald's menu prices vary depending on location. In downtown Manhattan, an Egg McMuffin currently costs $5.99.

The company's North America impact officer, Michael Gonda, wrote a LinkedIn post on Tuesday about the deal. Referencing egg prices, Gonda said customers "definitely WON'T see McDonald's USA issuing surcharges on eggs."

Value strategy

Dipanjan Chatterjee, a vice president at Forrester, a New York-based market research company, told BI the deal fits right into McDonald's value strategy, which includes $5 meal deals and $1 items.

Chatterjee said that with egg prices hitting all-time highs, marketing a "$1 value item" that uses eggs "may seem like an odd choice."

But it's more of an opportunity — because McDonald's now has a chance to position itself as a company that "prioritizes its customers over profit," Chatterjee said.

The move is "likely to pay off handsomely for McDonald's," said Mário Braz de Matos, the cofounder of the Singapore-based branding consultancy agency Flying Fish Lab.

"McDonald's doesn't just stand for fast food, it also stands for value," he said. "In good times, it matters, but in harder economic climates, it makes this particular aspect of the brand more attractive to consumers."

Alexandra Leung, the founder of Monogic, a food-and-beverage marketing and PR agency in Singapore and Hong Kong, told BI that while the deal will be attractive to attract cost-conscious consumers, its real value isn't in the sales bump, but in "digital customer acquisition."

"I think that the measure of success for this promotion might be better evaluated through metrics like app downloads and digital engagement rather than sustained McMuffin sales post-promotion," she said.

Soaring egg prices

McDonald's $1 deal comes as egg prices in the US have soared, partly due to supply chain issues stemming from an H5N1 bird flu outbreak in the US.

The average price of a dozen large Grade A eggs in the country hit an all-time high of $4.95 in January.

Given the short supply of eggs, supermarket chains have seen egg cartons sell out minutes after store openings. Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Costco have imposed limits on the number of cartons each customer can purchase.

Restaurant chain Waffle House announced earlier this month that it would start including a $0.50 surcharge on each egg it sold.

Shake Shack's CEO, Rob Lynch, said on Thursday that restaurant chains with big breakfast businesses might dial back on eggs and offer more beef and chicken products instead.

Representatives for McDonald's did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

• Elon Musk said he wants to "send another email" to federal workers to get them to account for what they do.
• The White House said it received over a million responses, less than half of the entire government.
• President Donald Trump said that sending another email is a "good idea."

Elon Musk said on Wednesday that the Department of Government Efficiency will "send another email" to federal workers asking them to summarize their accomplishments.

"You know, we got a partial response. We are going to send another email," Musk told reporters while attending President Donald Trump's first cabinet meeting.

On Saturday, the Office of Personnel Management emailed federal employees, asking them to submit a list of what they've achieved by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday.

Musk said on Saturday that failure to respond by the deadline "will be taken as a resignation."

Later, on Monday, Musk said that employees who have yet to respond will be given "another chance," but "failure to respond a second time will result in termination."

Musk's email request sparked confusion across the government. At least eight agencies, including the Department of Defense and State Department, told their workers not to respond to OPM's email.

The White House said on Tuesday that more than one million workers responded to the email, less than half of the entire federal workforce.

"I wouldn't say that we are thrilled about it," Trump said of the remaining federal workers who did not respond during Tuesday's press conference.

"Maybe they are going to be gone. Maybe they are not around, maybe they have other jobs," Trump added.

Trump also said at the same press conference that he thinks Musk's plan to send a follow-up email is a "good idea."

"You got a lot of people that have not responded, so we are trying to figure out, do they exist? Who are they? And it's possible that a lot of those people will be actually fired," Trump said.

Trimming the federal workforce has become one of Trump's priorities in his second term.

Last month, the Trump administration gave federal employees from January 28 to February 6 to accept a buyout offer if they did not want to work in his administration. A spokesperson for the OPM told Business Insider on February 6 that over 40,000 workers took the buyout.

Then, on February 11, Trump signed an executive order to limit federal hiring. The order said that each federal agency can only hire one new employee if four employees leave. The restriction does not apply to jobs related to public safety, immigration enforcement, or law enforcement.

"There are too many federal employees. Excluding active-duty military and Postal Service employees, the federal workforce exceeds 2.4 million," the White House said in a fact sheet about the order.

Representatives for the White House and DOGE did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

• The Supreme Court halted a lower court's order for Trump to release USAID funds.
• Chief Justice John Roberts granted the stay but provided no reason for the decision in the ruling.
• This stay gives the Supreme Court time to evaluate the case and decide whether the Trump administration must release funds.

The Supreme Court issued a ruling on Wednesday night that halted a lower court's order for President Donald Trump to release funding for the US Agency for International Development.

In its February 26 ruling, the SCOTUS blocked a court order from District Judge Amir Ali related to two cases brought against the Trump administration by aid organizations including the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council.

Ali's ruling on the cases would have compelled the Trump administration to release foreign aid dollars to grant recipients and USAID contractors by midnight on Wednesday.

But the SCOTUS halted Ali's decision after attorneys for the Trump administration on Wednesday said in a court filing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already "made a final decision" on what organizations to award funds to.

Sarah Harris, the acting solicitor general, appealed to the SCOTUS on Wednesday to vacate the lower court's order. In her filing, Harris said that the "district court's imminent and arbitrary deadline makes full compliance impossible."

Harris added that the lower court's order required the administration to disburse "nearly $2 billion by 11:59 p.m."

"These payments cannot be accomplished in the time allotted by the Court and would instead take multiple weeks," Harris wrote.

Chief Justice John Roberts granted the administrative stay but provided no reason for the decision in the ruling. Roberts has given the plaintiffs who sued the administration until Friday to respond.

The SCOTUS' stay now gives the court time to evaluate and rule on the Trump administration's request.

USAID was one of the first targets of the Department of Government Efficiency.

The cuts to USAID come after Trump, in a January 20 executive order, called for a 90-day freeze on foreign aid. That executive order and other actions have affected thousands of US workers.

Judges other than Ali have made rulings that slowed the Trump team's attempts to dismantle USAID.

On February 7, Judge Carl Nichols issued a temporary restraining order that paused the administration's USAID staff reductions. But USAID suffered a major court loss on February 21 when Nichols allowed headcount cuts to go ahead, reversing his previous order.

In 2024, USAID distributed close to $32.5 billion in aid, primarily to causes in Africa and the Middle East.

Newsweek has compiled the hints and tips that you may need to crack today's edition of the word puzzle.

Need some help with today's "Connections" game? Newsweek has all the clues and tips, as well as answers.

Transgender troops must be identified within 30 days, the memo said, then separation actions must be taken.

Johnson insisted that Republicans would only "cut the fraud, waste and abuse out of Medicaid."

The Trump administration is axing 92% in foreign assistance-related grants to save nearly $60 billion as part of a budget cuts drive across all federal agencies, the State Department confirmed on Wednesday night.

The big picture: It plans to terminate nearly 10,000 contracts and grants given out by the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), per a Wednesday court filing from administration attorneys.

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• It's the administration's latest effort to cap U.S. spending abroad, after a federal judge this month ordered the administration to resume $1.9 billion in foreign aid payments it had frozen — which the Supreme Court temporarily paused on Wednesday night.
• The impacts of the freeze on aid have been felt by organizations across the globe, as has the firings at USAID, despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing waivers for "life-saving humanitarian assistance programs."

Driving the news: Nearly 5,800 USAID awards and another 4,100 from the State Department will be cut, the filing states.

• Some 500 USAID awards and about 2,700 State Department ones will remain.
• "USAID evaluated 6,200 multi-year awards with $58.2 billion in value remaining," a State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Zoom in: The State Department conducted a 90-day review of foreign assistance at the State Department and USAID that saw it examine 9,100 grants valued at $15.9 billion, the Washington Free Beacon first reported.

• "At the conclusion of a process led by USAID leadership, including tranches personally reviewed" by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the spokesperson said "nearly 5,800 awards with $54 billion in value remaining were identified for elimination as part of the America First agenda."

What we're watching: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts granted a stay and requested aid groups that sued the administration respond by 12 noon Friday ET.

• Meanwhile, the State Department and USAID is set to undergo a process in consultation with Congress to reform the way the U.S. delivers foreign assistance.

Go deeper: Trump admin has to pay foreign aid invoices, judge in USAID case says

The Supreme Court seemed receptive to a woman's argument Wednesday she was discriminated against at work because she is heterosexual.

Why it matters: A ruling that allows the woman, Marlean Ames, to pursue the claim would open the door for men, white people, and heterosexual people to sue for job discrimination in the future.

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• The court's receptivity to Ames' case comes as the Trump administration has purged DEI across the government, triggering legal fears for corporations, schools, and local governments across the country.
• Ames' case also comes in the shadow of the court's 2023 ruling that overturned the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

What they're saying: The court's conservative supermajority and at least a few of the liberal justices seemed open to hearing the case.

• "We are in radical agreement," Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said about the court's consensus that the same legal test should apply to all discrimination claims — including ones from straight, white, and male workers.

Zoom in: Ames was an employee at the Ohio Department of Youth Services who filed a job discrimination lawsuit in 2020 claiming that she was discriminated against in favor of gay co-workers.

• In one instance, she claims that she was removed from her job as an administrator in favor of a younger gay man.
• In another, she said she was unfairly passed over for a promotion in favor of a gay woman who was less qualified.

Context: Almost half of US appeals courts require that members of majority groups (heterosexual, in this case) claiming discrimination meet an additional burden of proof that their employer is an "unusual" case of discrimination against majorities in what's known as the "background circumstances standard."

• Before Ames' suit went to trial, lower courts ruled against her, finding that she was unable to meet that standard. Ames argues that the standard is unconstitutional.
• Conservative legal groups, the Biden administration, and the Trump administration have all supported Ames' argument.
• Ashley Robertson, a lawyer for the Trump administration, said on Wednesday that the underlying appeals court's ruling was essentially, "Tell me your race, and I will tell you how much evidence you need to produce."

The other side: The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund argued in a friend-of-the-court brief in the case that different standards were appropriate for majority and minority groups because minorities are historically the target of discrimination.

The White House still plans to implement 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico next week, at least for now — despite comments from President Trump on Wednesday that raised hopes of another delay.

Why it matters: The Trump administration has announced a slew of tariffs that could take effect on their respective deadline, or ultimately be pushed off — a prime backdrop for confusion.

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The intrigue: That confusion was on full display in the immediate whipsaw in financial markets.

• The prospect of another delay for the 25% tariffs outlined in a White House executive order earlier this month — which had already been paused for 30 days — sent the U.S. dollar sharply lower against the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso, before recovering.

Catch up quick: Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the 25% tariff on imports from North American allies would take effect on April 2.

• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick quickly added that the "big transaction" would be April 2, but the "fentanyl-related" tariffs would be re-evaluated at the end of the 30-day pause on March 4.

Context: April 2 is the deadline for reciprocal tariffs that Trump previously announced, a senior White House official clarified to Axios.

• That official added that the 25% tariffs specific to Canada and Mexico were still on pause until next week, as originally thought. The administration has not made a decision whether to extend that pause or not.
• Lutnick told reporters that the Canadian and Mexican officials had to "prove to the president" that they had made progress on tighter border controls.

What to watch: The Commerce Department was previously ordered to draw up plans to impose tariffs on nations that the administration decides has unfair trading practices, a report due on April 1.

• That would allow Trump to put any tariffs in place the following day. Canada and Mexico could get hit in this order, too.

That is separate from another order that raises tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%, set to take effect on March 12.

• Trump said Tuesday that the Commerce Department would investigate whether to slap tariffs on copper imports.
• Trump on Wednesday told reporters that the administration was also looking into tariffs on European imports, particularly autos — though it was unclear if that was a new announcement or would come with the pending Commerce study.
• He's also hinted at future tariffs on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, cars and lumber, but without setting any dates.

The bottom line: So far the Trump administration has implemented, not just announced, tariffs of 10% on all imports from China.

• If the administration makes good on some or all of its other tariff threats, keeping up with Trump trade policy might get that much harder.

• In a Wednesday memo, Trump administration officials advanced a plan for federal staff reductions.
• The memo said departments across agencies should prepare to cut staff and reorganize by March 13.
• Federal workers told BI they're frustrated, but not surprised, by the planned restructuring.

President Donald Trump's administration officially announced its plan for federal staff reductions in a Wednesday memo, telling agencies to prepare to cut staff and reorganize their departments by March 13.

Federal workers who spoke to Business Insider after the memo was announced said the move was "crazy and illogical." Still, some were determined to continue working until they were removed from office.

The memo, sent by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, did not identify specific targets for cutbacks, which they described as advancing the White House DOGE office efficiency initiatives. However, during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump suggested as an example that as much as 65% of staff at the Environmental Protection Agency could be cut.

Representatives for the White House, OPM, and OMB did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI.

"I think what is going on is unfair to us. I have been told my job is exempt, but I truly don't believe it," an employee from the Department of Veterans Affairs said. "I know that we are shorthanded but also don't trust the government or my supervisors here. I have seen nothing in writing. That scares me also."

The memo outlines a timeline for most agencies — with exemptions for federal law enforcement, military, border security, and US Postal Service employees — to prepare and execute a layoff and reorganization strategy. Agencies must submit their restructuring plans by March 13 and "outline a positive vision for more productive, efficient agency operations" by April 14, with an implementation deadline in September.

It also requires field office operations to be consolidated or closed, which one employee of the Social Security Administration said would impact frontline offices that handle claims and issue Social Security cards, as well as disability hearing offices that handle appeals of unfavorable decisions in disability cases.

"So, the people who complain about long wait times and nobody answering the phone are talking about those entities, maybe there are a lot of layers of bureaucracy above us, but those exist to provide support for us frontline people," the Social Security Administration employee told BI. "This is crazy and illogical, motivated by a blind, stupid hatred of the Public Sector as a whole."

An Internal Revenue Service employee told BI that "it will take years, if not decades, to fully recover" from the federal government cuts.

"Americans are going to feel this very deeply," they said. "Services are going to be nonexistent."

An employee from the Department of Housing and Urban Development said they're prepared to be moved to a different department after a meeting with their supervisor about the memo.

"There's so much confusion — respond to the productivity email, don't respond, and now being told to get ready to move departments — I see how this Elon tactic can mentally drain you because this week was so hard to log in and be productive," the HUD worker told BI.

The restructuring memo comes just days after the White House DOGE office sent a weekend email asking all federal employees to list what work tasks they had accomplished last week, prompting confusing among some employees about how and whether to reply outside their chain of command.

While the confusion created by the emails and subsequent conflicting guidance from department heads has caused some federal workers who previously spoke to BI to reconsider their work in the government, others say they're resolved to stick it out.

"I've never seen morale so low in my 18 years of service," an employee from the Bureau of Reclamation told BI, adding that they "believe we are witnessing the final days" of their agency.

Still, they said they see their department's work protecting water resources as essential for the country and have no plans of stopping unless they're forced out of public service.

"They'll have to fire me," they said.