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No Ukraine peace deal after lengthy five-hour Putin-Witkoff-Kushner meeting
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A marathon five-hour meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner failed to yield any major breakthroughs in efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow Tuesday for talks with the Kremlin leader following a Sunday meeting with key members of the Ukrainian delegation on a revised peace plan.
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who also attended the Witkoff-Kushner meeting alongside Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told reporters after that the conversations were «extremely useful, constructive and substantive,» according to a readout released by the Kremlin.
«We specifically discussed territorial issues, without which the crisis cannot be settled, as we see it. Of course, we also talked about the broad prospects for future economic interaction between our countries,» said Ushakov.
TRUMP ENVOY STEVE WITKOFF HEADS TO MOSCOW AS UKRAINE PEACE TALKS GAIN MOMENTUM
Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev arrive for talks with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin’s Senate Palace in Moscow on Dec. 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
He added that the Russian side received four documents from Witkoff and Kushner during the meeting, including one that consisted of 27 points, but declined to go into detail of what they contained.
The original leaked 28-point plan was criticized by European leaders as too favorable to Moscow and later whittled down.
The issue of territory was a key part of the discussion, according to Ushakov, who said no compromise had yet been found.
UKRAINE PEACE TALKS PRODUCTIVE AS EX-GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL SAYS COUNTRY RETHINKING ‘UNCOMPROMISING’ STANCE
«However, some of the American proposals appear more or less acceptable. They do, nevertheless, require further discussion. Certain wording we have been offered is not suitable for us. In other words, the work will continue,» said the senior Russian diplomat.
President Vladimir Putin engages in talks with Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev at the Kremlin’s Senate Palace in Moscow on December 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
A key sticking point in negotiations has been territorial demands from Russia, who wants Ukraine to relinquish the entire Donbas, including parts its military does not currently control.
The Institute for the Study of War, a nonpartisan public policy research organization that tracks the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war, said Russian forces have advanced in Sumy Oblast and near Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk and Huliaipole.
PUTIN WARNS RUSSIA ‘READY’ IF EUROPE ‘SUDDENLY WANTS TO WAGE WAR WITH US’ AMID UKRAINE TALKS
Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force reported on Telegram that its forces still control most of the city of Kupiansk, though Russian forces maintain isolated groups in the northern parts.
An evacuation van drives through the largely destroyed frontline city of Kupiansk, Ukraine, on Jan. 6, 2025. (Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, was preparing for a meeting in Brussels with national security advisors to European leaders to brief their colleagues on the Witkoff-Kushner meeting with Putin.
«After Brussels, Rustem Umerov and Andrii Hnatov will begin preparations for a meeting with envoys of President Trump in the United States,» said Zelenskyy. «As always, Ukraine will work constructively in pursuit of a real peace. I expect a new report following the results of today’s meetings in Europe.»
russia,ukraine,vladimir putin
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Panamá cerró 2025 con más de 271 mil funcionarios y una planilla que supera $5,200 millones
Panamá cerró diciembre de 2025 con 271,346 funcionarios públicos, lo que representó un aumento de 4,869 empleados frente a diciembre de 2024 y un alza de 348 funcionarios respecto a noviembre de 2025, según el más reciente informe de la Contraloría General de la República.
En paralelo, el sueldo bruto mensual de la planilla estatal llegó a $458.4 millones, con un incremento de $10.5 millones en un solo mes. El dato retrata con crudeza el tamaño que ha alcanzado el aparato público: más personal, más gasto permanente y menos margen para maniobrar cuando la caja aprieta.
Pero el dato que realmente pesa no es solo el cierre de diciembre, sino el costo total del año. La planilla pública acumuló en 2025 un gasto de $5,245.2 millones, por encima de los $5,177.0 millones de 2024.
Dicho de otra forma: solo en salarios públicos, Panamá desembolsó en un año $2,280.2 millones más que lo que aportó el Canal de Panamá al Tesoro Nacional en el año fiscal 2025, que fue de $2,965 millones.
Incluso supera en $2,051.4 millones la transferencia histórica que el Canal proyecta para la vigencia fiscal 2026, estimada en $3,193.8 millones, y rebasa en $764.2 millones el costo total estimado de la Línea 3 del Metro, calculado en más de $4,481 millones.
El crecimiento tampoco empezó ayer. Los informes anuales de la Contraloría muestran que el gasto acumulado en planilla pasó de $4,441.1 millones en 2020 a $4,738.8 millones en 2021, $4,880.3 millones en 2022, $5,014.8 millones en 2023, $5,177.0 millones en 2024 y $5,245.2 millones en 2025.
En conjunto, entre 2020 y 2025, el Estado panameño desembolsó alrededor de $29,497.1 millones en salarios públicos. Ese monto equivale a casi 10 veces el aporte canalero de 2025 y a más de 6.5 veces el costo estimado de la Línea 3.
Buena parte de ese ensanchamiento ocurrió en el quinquenio anterior. De acuerdo con la información que ya había divulgado la Contraloría y que el propio comportamiento mensual confirma en sus series, entre julio de 2019 y junio de 2024 el empleo público aumentó en 24,082 personas, al pasar de 238,248 a 262,330 funcionarios.
El resultado fue una estructura estatal más pesada, con mayor gasto recurrente, más compromisos salariales y menos flexibilidad presupuestaria. En 2025 esa inercia no desapareció: cambió de velocidad, pero no de dirección.
Las entidades que más sumaron personal en 2025 ayudan a entender hacia dónde se movió la expansión. El Ministerio de Educación cerró 2025 con 68,405 funcionarios y añadió 1,017 plazas frente a diciembre de 2024. La Asamblea Nacional terminó con 5,718 empleados y sumó 935.
El Ministerio de Seguridad Pública cerró con 33,473 funcionarios y agregó 660. El Ministerio de Obras Públicas llegó a 2,330 empleados, con un aumento de 523. El Órgano Judicial alcanzó 7,318 funcionarios y sumó 513.
En el bloque descentralizado también hubo movimientos relevantes. La Caja de Seguro Social cerró 2025 con 35,325 funcionarios y registró un incremento combinado de al menos 620 plazas entre personal permanente y eventual. Transporte Masivo de Pasajeros, S. A. terminó con 4,103 empleados y aumentó 279 funcionarios permanentes.
Ese peso del gasto de funcionamiento ha sido una de las alertas repetidas por organismos y calificadoras. Moody’s ha advertido sobre la rigidez de ciertas leyes y la dificultad del Estado panameño para recortar gasto público, mientras Fitch y el Fondo Monetario Internacional han insistido en que la consolidación fiscal sigue limitada por la presión del gasto corriente y la trayectoria de la deuda.
El ministro de Economía y Finanzas, Felipe Chapman, y el presidente José Raúl Mulino han reconocido que reducir el gasto en salarios es particularmente complejo, en parte por la existencia de leyes especiales que establecen incrementos obligatorios para educadores, estamentos de seguridad, médicos y otros profesionales del sector público.
Esa rigidez, han señalado, dificulta ajustes rápidos del gasto corriente y obliga a que cualquier estrategia de contención se apoye en reformas de mayor alcance, mejoras de eficiencia y revisiones de estructuras salariales y de contratación.
manos,dólares,pago,impuestos,transacción,billetes,recibo,economía,finanzas,dinero
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EXCLUSIVE: Trump rejects shielding Biden records from Senate probes in executive privilege showdown
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EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump rejected former President Joe Biden’s assertion of executive privilege over a tranche of documents requested by the Senate as part of various probes into the 46th president, determining it is «not in the best interests of the United States.»
White House counsel David Warrington wrote Monday in a letter addressed to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and obtained by Fox News Digital that Trump «does not uphold the former President’s assertion of privilege» over records sought in four congressional probes. The letter directs NARA to provide the materials to Congress.
The dispute centers on documents related to investigations into Biden’s health, alleged politically motivated probes into Trump and his allies, and the Biden family’s financial dealings, which Republicans argue go to the heart of Congress’ constitutional authority to conduct oversight.
The letter came as a response to communication from NARA on Dec. 10 informing the White House that the former president had asserted executive privilege over the requested materials.
President Joe Biden speaks during an event in Washington, D.C., on May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Warrington said the assertion «is not justified» as to documents identified in two letters Biden sent to NARA on Oct. 22 and Dec. 3.
The first category of documents involved a request from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for records related to what the letter described as the «coverup of former President Biden’s health and cognitive decline.»
«The abuse of the autopen that took place during the Biden Presidency, and the extraordinary efforts to shield President Biden’s diminished faculties from the public, must be subject to a full accounting to ensure nothing similar ever happens again,» Warrington wrote, quoting a prior letter.
TRUMP TO VOID ALL DOCUMENTS ALLEGEDLY SIGNED BY BIDEN VIA AUTOPEN, THREATENS PERJURY CHARGE
Biden also asserted privilege over two Senate Judiciary Committee requests concerning «coordinated efforts by the Biden administration against President Trump and his staff through politically motivated investigations.»
The White House argued that «the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield from Congress evidence of a President’s efforts to imprison his opponent.»
A third set of documents related to the «Biden family’s financial dealings and potential conflicts of interest,» the letter noted, referencing Biden’s use of private email accounts and his work on Ukraine as vice president while his son Hunter Biden held a lucrative position on the board of an energy company there.
CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLAR USES BIDEN AUTOPEN TO FLIP DEMS’ ‘DEMOCRACY’ SCRIPT AGAINST THEM: ‘SCANDAL’
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, talks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, Dec. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Warrington acknowledged that the Supreme Court has recognized executive privilege as protecting presidential decision-making and deliberations but said he was «unaware of a Supreme Court ruling or constitutional text that extends those protections to former President Biden’s efforts to assist his son’s shady business deals,» underscoring a fight about how expansive the scope of executive privilege is in the face of Congress’ oversight demands.
«President Trump instructs you to provide to these congressional committees the pages identified as privileged by the former President,» Warrington wrote.
Warrington previously denied Biden’s privilege request over documents related to the Biden administration’s use of the autopen, Fox News Digital exclusively reported in December. Biden has denied accusations that official presidential documents were signed by the autopen without his knowledge, brushing them off as «ridiculous.»
President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with President Joe Biden at Trump’s inauguration in the Capitol Rotunda Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
«Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations,» Biden said in a statement in June as Trump and Republicans sounded off about what they alleged was a scandal. «Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.»
Concerns over Biden’s mental acuity had simmered for years before reaching a boiling point in June 2024.
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Republicans sounded the alarm that it appeared Biden’s mental edge was slipping before even the 2020 election cycle. The media and Biden’s longtime Democratic allies joined conservatives in their alarm following Biden’s failed debate against Trump in early summer of 2024.
Biden dropped out of the race, but investigations and concerns over an alleged Biden administration coverup continue into the second Trump administration.
Fox News Digital reached out to a Biden representative and NARA for comment on Monday morning.
white house,joe biden,donald trump,congress
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