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USPS chief DeJoy steps down

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who led efforts to restructure the money-losing U.S. Postal Service for nearly five years, has resigned effective immediately, the agency said on Monday.

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DeJoy, a former logistics executive and major Republican political donor who took over in 2020, had clashed with lawmakers over reforms at the agency that has lost more than $100 billion since 2007.

Republican President Donald Trump, who in February called the agency a “tremendous loser for this country,” said he was considering merging the Postal Service with the Commerce Department, a move Democrats said would violate federal law.

DeJoy said earlier this month that he had asked the government efficiency team led by Elon Musk for assistance with a number of issues and signed an agreement on reform assistance.

DeJoy in February said he had asked the Postal Service governing board to identify his successor but had given no indication that he planned to step down abruptly. Musk said this month he thought USPS should be privatized.

“Much work remains that is necessary to sustain our positive trajectory,” DeJoy said in a statement, adding that Monday was his last day on the job and that Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino will head the agency until the postal board names a permanent successor. They have hired a search firm, he added.

Democratic lawmakers for years called for DeJoy to be fired but agreed to give USPS $50 billion in financial relief in 2022.

In May, DeJoy agreed to pause planned further consolidation of the USPS processing network after senators raised concerns about the impact on mail deliveries.

DeJoy has led an effort to dramatically restructure USPS over the last five years, including cutting forecast cumulative losses over a decade to $80 billion from $160 billion even as mail volumes fell to the lowest level since 1968.

23andMe, DNA testing company, files for bankruptcy

(New York Daily News) — 23andMe, the DNA testing company once valued at $6 billion, filed for bankruptcy Monday, while its founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki resigned her position.

More than 15 million people submitted DNA information to 23andMe during its 18 years in business, and Monday’s announcement threw into question what would happen to their sensitive personal data.

On Friday, three days before the filing, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a warning to 23andMe users to delete their data and provided a step-by-step guide. Bonta noted the company, which is based in California, had been struggling for months.

“Given 23andMe’s reported financial distress, I remind Californians to consider invoking their rights and directing 23andMe to delete their data and destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company,” Bonta said in his own press release.

US lifts millions in bounties on senior Taliban officials

(NYT) — The United States has lifted multimillion-dollar bounties on three senior Taliban officials, according to Afghan authorities and a senior U.S. official. The move is a significant shift by the Trump administration toward militants who were behind some of the deadliest attacks during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan but have refashioned themselves as a more moderate voice within the Taliban.

The bounties were removed days after a U.S. hostage envoy, Adam Boehler, made the first visit by a high-ranking American diplomat to Kabul, the Afghan capital, since the Taliban seized power in 2021. His talks with Taliban representatives led to the release of a U.S. citizen who had been detained in Afghanistan for more than two years.

Many Taliban officials saw the meeting in Kabul and the subsequent lifting of the bounties as a major victory for a government that was almost completely shut out by the United States during the Biden administration. The steps also put fresh momentum behind a Taliban faction that has pushed for the government to pull back on its hard-line policies to gain wider acceptance on the world stage.

The United States had offered $20 million in bounties for information about three leaders of the Haqqani network, the only wing of the Taliban to be classified by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. Among the three leaders is Sirajuddin Haqqani, who heads up the network and is the acting Taliban interior minister.

UN to pull aid workers from Gaza amid Israeli strikes

(NYT) — The United Nations announced Monday that it would reduce its presence in the Gaza Strip by withdrawing about one-third of its international workers there, following repeated strikes of its facilities by Israel.

Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that the decision to reduce the organization’s footprint in Gaza was “difficult” at a time when humanitarian needs were soaring and as a resumption of Israeli attacks were killing hundreds of Palestinians, including women and children.

The drawdown announced Monday would be the first time since the start of the Israeli-Hamas war in 2023 that the U.N. has reduced its workforce in Gaza, but it will retain a presence there.

“The U.N. is not leaving Gaza. The organization remains committed to continuing to provide aid that civilians depend on for their survival and protection,” Guterres said in the statement.