FCC approves Verizon purchase of U.S. Cellular spectrum

May 15, 2026

Summary

FCC approved Verizon’s $1 billion purchase of U.S. Cellular spectrum assets to expand network capacity and coverage.

Why this matters

The approval shifts more wireless spectrum to major carriers as demand for mobile service grows. It also reflects the FCC’s broader push to clear transactions and prepare new spectrum auctions.

Federal Communications Commission approved Verizon’s 2024 deal to buy some spectrum assets from U.S. Cellular for $1 billion, saying the purchase will expand network capacity and coverage.

The agency said the transaction will enhance Verizon Wireless’ “network coverage, capacity and performance, resulting in a stronger ability to meet increasing customer demand and provide a better customer experience.”

Kathy Grillo, Verizon’s senior vice president for public policy and government affairs, said, “the additional spectrum will allow us to better serve our customers as we continue to bolster our already-robust network.”

Last year, after T-Mobile acquired most of U.S. Cellular’s wireless operations and 30% of its wireless spectrum in a $4.4 billion deal, the remainder of the company changed its name to Array Digital Infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the FCC approved EchoStar’s $40 billion sale of wireless spectrum to SpaceX and AT&T.

SpaceX is gaining access to exclusive-use spectrum for a Starlink device-to-device service and other offerings. The FCC said AT&T’s low-band spectrum will expand coverage across the United States, especially in rural and underserved areas.

More top news

Europe

Russia launches largest two-day air attack on Ukraine

Ukrainian officials said at least 27 civilians were killed over the two days.

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Russia launched its largest aerial attack over a two-day period since the start of its war in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said Thursday, striking Kyiv and other cities with drones and missiles.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had launched 1,567 drones since Wednesday morning.

Ukraine said Russia launched more than 670 attack drones and 56 missiles overnight. Zelenskiy said Kyiv was the main target. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said at least 21 people, including three children, were killed in the capital, and Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared Friday a day of mourning.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on Thursday’s attacks. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the war was “coming to an end.”

In Kharkiv, 28 people, including three children, were wounded, and civilian infrastructure was hit, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said power supplies were disrupted in 11 regions. Officials also reported strikes on port infrastructure in the Odesa region and on railways.

Zelenskiy said 180 sites were damaged across Ukraine, including more than 50 residential buildings. He also said a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs vehicle came under drone fire during a humanitarian mission in Kherson.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attack, during President Donald Trump’s visit to China, showed Russia wanted to continue the war despite Washington’s peace push.
Latin America

UN: Haiti gang clashes kill 78 in capital suburbs

The same two communes in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area saw violence in March and April that displaced nearly 8,000 people, according to the United Nations.

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Clashes between gangs in suburbs of Haiti’s capital left at least 78 people dead, including 10 bystanders, between May 9 and Thursday, according to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).

The violence displaced about 5,300 people, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, citing local humanitarian organizations. Several families remained trapped in affected neighborhoods, it said.

A hospital and a Doctors Without Borders facility suspended operations and evacuated staff. Before evacuating, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), said the hospital treated 40 gunshot victims in less than 12 hours.

Between March 5 and May 11, at least 305 people were killed and 277 wounded in Cite Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets. Of those killed, 63 were residents, including 17 women and 13 children, while the others were gang members.

Haiti has faced worsening gang violence over the past two years.

A new multinational anti-gang force was being deployed to Haiti to replace the Multinational Mission to Support the Haitian Police. So far, only a contingent of 400 Chadian soldiers had arrived in Port-au-Prince.

The force announced Thursday that its commander, Mongolian Gen. Erdenebat Batsuuri, had arrived.
US

Neo-Nazi group leader sentenced in U.S. hate-crime case

According to prosecutors, Chkhikvishvili traveled to Brooklyn in 2022 and repeatedly encouraged others to commit hate crimes and other violence.

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Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old from Georgia, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in November to soliciting hate crimes and distributing information about making bombs and ricin.

Prosecutors said Chkhikvishvili, who used the nickname “Commander Butcher,” led the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group they said promoted neo-Nazi ideology and violence through Telegram channels and a document called the “Hater’s Handbook.”

In 2023, prosecutors said, Chkhikvishvili solicited an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation employee to carry out bombings and arsons targeting racial minorities, Jewish people, and others.

In 2024, prosecutors said, he directed the undercover employee “to target the Jewish community, Jewish schools, and Jewish children in Brooklyn with poison” and sent manuals on making and mixing lethal poisons and gases, including ricin. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said Chkhikvishvili also tried to recruit a supposed associate to dress as Santa Claus and distribute poisoned candy to minority children.

Prosecutors said the group’s solicitations and the “Hater’s Handbook” appeared to have inspired multiple killings, including a 2024 school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, that killed a 16-year-old student.

In a letter to the judge last month, Chkhikvishvili wrote: “I acknowledge that my actions have brought harm by spreading hatred and violence and I’m truly sorry for that.” He also wrote, “I’m very ashamed authoring Haters Handbook, hoping one day it will disappear, I wish I never wrote it.”

His lawyer, Zachary Taylor, had asked for a five-year sentence, citing Chkhikvishvili’s mental health struggles since his teenage years, his exposure to extremist content on social media, and what Taylor described in a letter to the judge as harsh conditions during Chkhikvishvili’s nearly yearlong confinement in Moldova after his 2024 arrest on an international warrant.
World

Iran threat reduced, not ended, CENTCOM chief says

Admiral Cooper said U.S. forces had destroyed about 90% of Iran’s inventory of more than 8,000 naval mines and had “met every military objective” under Operation Epic Fury, including destroying 90% of Iran’s defense industrial base.

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America’s 38-day bombing campaign against Iran reduced the country’s ability to threaten regional and global security, but did not eliminate it, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

“It’s a very large country,” Cooper testified. He said Iran still had “a very moderate, if not small, capability” to conduct strikes on neighboring countries.

“The Iranian capability to stop commerce has been dramatically degraded through the straits,” Cooper said. “But their voice is very loud, and those threats are clearly heard by the merchant industry and the insurance industry.”

Recent media reports have questioned broader administration claims about the extent of the damage. The New York Times reported Tuesday that U.S. intelligence agencies believed Iran retained about 70% of its prewar missiles and a similar share of its mobile launchers.

Cooper declined to discuss specific intelligence assessments, but said figures he had seen in “open source are not accurate.”

He added: “It’s more than just the numbers. It’s the command and control that’s been shattered. It’s the significant degradation and capability. And it’s the lack of any ability to then produce any missiles or drones on the backend.”

Cooper also said Iran no longer threatened regional partners or the United States as it had before the campaign. He said Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis had been cut off from Iranian weapons and support. In the 30 months before Operation Epic Fury began, Cooper said those groups carried out more than 350 attacks on U.S. service members and diplomats in the region.
Business

Honda posts first annual loss in decades, drops EV goals

Honda faced total EV-related losses of $9 billion for the fiscal year ending in March and said it expected an additional $3 million in costs in the current fiscal year.

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Honda Motor reported its first annual loss in nearly 70 years as a listed company on Tuesday after booking more than $9 billion in costs tied to restructuring its electric-vehicle business, and it withdrew long-term EV sales targets.

The automaker said operating loss totaled $2.63 billion for the year ended in March.

Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe said Honda dropped its target for EVs to account for 20% of new car sales by 2030, as well as its goal of fully shifting to electric or fuel-cell vehicle sales by 2040.

Mibe also said Honda would indefinitely suspend its Canada EV project, an 11 billion-dollar plan to produce EVs and batteries that would have been the company’s largest investment in Canada.

Honda said it expected to return to profitability this year,313 supported by cost cuts and its motorcycle business.

Honda said higher material prices, including effects related to the Middle East conflict, were expected to reduce operating profit by $1 billion in the current fiscal year.
Finance & Markets

Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures flat before Xi talks end

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq 100 were mostly flat.

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U.S. stock futures were little changed Friday after gains on Wall Street, as investors looked ahead to the final day of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

During Thursday’s session, the Dow returned to the 50,000 level, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached new highs. Investor confidence in artificial intelligence-related stocks supported the gains. Trump’s summit with Xi and the market debut of chipmaker Cerebras also added to sentiment.

Trump was set to conclude his visit with Xi in Beijing on Friday before returning to Washington. The visit so far had taken a business-focused tone, with 16 senior U.S. executives accompanying him and, as of Thursday, new deals involving companies including Boeing and Nvidia. Issues involving Taiwan and Iran remained unresolved.
Science

Thailand dig identifies new giant dinosaur species

Scientists identified a new species of dinosaur in Thailand that researchers said was the largest known dinosaur from Southeast Asia. The species, Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, was described Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. It belonged to the sauropods, a group known for long necks and tails, small heads, and four columnar legs. Researchers estimated the herbivore…

Full story +

Scientists identified a new species of dinosaur in Thailand that researchers said was the largest known dinosaur from Southeast Asia.

The species, Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, was described Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. It belonged to the sauropods, a group known for long necks and tails, small heads, and four columnar legs.

Researchers estimated the herbivore measured about 27 meters, or 89 feet, and weighed about 27 tonnes, roughly as much as nine adult elephants. They said it likely lived in what is now Thailand between 100 million and 120 million years ago.

Its head and teeth were not among the fossils recovered, but researchers inferred its diet from other sauropods.

“Nagatitan was probably a bulk browser that focused on consuming high volumes of vegetation that required little to no chewing such as conifers and possibly seed ferns,” said Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a University College London Ph.D. student in paleontology and lead author of the research.

Sethapanichsakul said the newly identified sauropod was “the last titan” because it was unearthed in one of the youngest rock formations in Thailand known to contain dinosaur fossils. He said the name also fit because Southeast Asia became a shallow sea during the Cretaceous period, after which no more sauropods lived there.

Researchers said Nagatitans belonged to a subgroup of sauropods that originated about 140 million years ago. By about 90 million years ago, that group was the only sauropods left worldwide and survived until the age of dinosaurs ended 66 million years ago with an asteroid impact.

Locals in northeast Thailand first unearthed remains of the animal about a decade ago, but excavation was not completed until 2024, according to the study. Researchers said the fossils partly resembled previously discovered sauropods but had enough distinct features to classify the animal as a new species.

The name Nagatitan refers to Naga, a serpent-like being in some Asian religious traditions that is prominently depicted in Thai temples. Thailand has 14 named dinosaur species. A life-size reconstruction of Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis is on display at Bangkok’s Thainosaur Museum.
Tech & Artificial Intelligence

FCC approves Verizon purchase of U.S. Cellular spectrum

The FCC has been approving a number of spectrum transactions as it prepares to auction additional wireless spectrum to address rising demand from U.S. consumers and businesses.

Full story +

Federal Communications Commission approved Verizon’s 2024 deal to buy some spectrum assets from U.S. Cellular for $1 billion, saying the purchase will expand network capacity and coverage.

The agency said the transaction will enhance Verizon Wireless’ “network coverage, capacity and performance, resulting in a stronger ability to meet increasing customer demand and provide a better customer experience.”

Kathy Grillo, Verizon’s senior vice president for public policy and government affairs, said, “the additional spectrum will allow us to better serve our customers as we continue to bolster our already-robust network.”

Last year, after T-Mobile acquired most of U.S. Cellular’s wireless operations and 30% of its wireless spectrum in a $4.4 billion deal, the remainder of the company changed its name to Array Digital Infrastructure.

On Tuesday, the FCC approved EchoStar’s $40 billion sale of wireless spectrum to SpaceX and AT&T.

SpaceX is gaining access to exclusive-use spectrum for a Starlink device-to-device service and other offerings. The FCC said AT&T’s low-band spectrum will expand coverage across the United States, especially in rural and underserved areas.
Health

Supreme Court preserves mailed abortion pill access

Separate lawsuits by Texas and Florida, and by Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho, also seek to restrict access to the drug.

Full story +

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed abortion pill prescriptions by telemedicine and delivery by mail to continue for now, restoring a 2023 Food and Drug Administration rule challenged by Louisiana.

In an unsigned order, the justices granted requests from mifepristone manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro to lift a lower court block on the rule while the case proceeds. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 1 had reinstated an earlier federal rule requiring an in-person clinician visit to receive mifepristone. The Supreme Court had temporarily paused that order on May 4 and May 11.

Mifepristone received FDA approval in 2000. Medication abortion, typically using mifepristone followed by misoprostol, accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. abortions and is used in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Louisiana sued the FDA in 2025, arguing the 2023 rule eliminating the in-person dispensing requirement was unlawful and increased medication abortions despite the state’s near-total abortion ban. The state said the FDA ignored risks, including sepsis and hemorrhaging.

The Trump administration opposed Louisiana’s challenge, citing an ongoing FDA review of mifepristone safety regulations and arguing that Louisiana lacked legal standing.

The case returned abortion to the Supreme Court after its 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, 13 states have enacted near-total abortion bans, and anti-abortion groups have increasingly challenged Mifepristone access.

In dissent, Alito wrote that mailing abortion pills from out-of-state providers had undermined enforcement efforts in states such as Louisiana. Thomas wrote that the federal Comstock Act bars mailing drugs intended for abortion.

“Louisiana’s efforts have been thwarted by certain medical providers, private organizations and states that abhor laws like Louisiana’s and seek to undermine their enforcement,” Alito wrote.

Thomas wrote that the drugmakers “are not entitled to a stay of an adverse court order based on lost profits from their criminal enterprise. They cannot, in any legally relevant sense, be irreparably harmed by a court order that makes it more difficult for them to commit crimes.”

The FDA has said mifepristone was approved based on scientific evidence and remains safe and effective when used as directed. The Supreme Court in 2024 unanimously rejected a separate challenge by anti-abortion groups and doctors, ruling those plaintiffs lacked standing.
Tech & Artificial Intelligence

Jury weighs claims, deadlines in Musk-OpenAI case

A verdict for Musk could force changes to OpenAI’s for-profit structure, though the outcome remains unclear. The judge is scheduled to hold hearings next week on what remedies might follow a plaintiff victory.

Full story +

Nine California jurors are deliberating in Elon Musk’s case against OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, as well as Microsoft.

Jurors are weighing three claims: breach of charitable trust, unjust enrichment, and aiding and abetting breach of charitable trust. The case centers on whether Musk’s donations to OpenAI were subject to specific conditions requiring charitable use, and whether those donations were later used to benefit OpenAI’s for-profit arm and its investors.

Microsoft’s role is narrower. Jurors must decide whether the company knew Musk had specific conditions on his donations and whether it played a significant role in causing him harm.

They also will consider OpenAI’s defenses: that Musk sued after the statute of limitations expired, that he unreasonably delayed filing until 2024, and that his conduct bars his claims under the legal doctrine of unclean hands. OpenAI argued that any harm would have had to occur before Aug. 5, 2021, on the first count, Aug. 5, 2022, on the second, and Nov. 14, 2021, on another count for those claims to be time-barred.

Musk’s lawyers argued that he backed OpenAI to support a nonprofit intended to broadly share the benefits of artificial intelligence and avoid concentration of control. They said Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI’s for-profit affiliate in 2023 showed a shift away from that mission and toward commercial gain.

OpenAI’s lawyers responded that no witness identified specific restrictions on Musk’s donations, including Jared Birchall, Sam Teller, and Shivon Zilis. They said private fundraising was always understood to be necessary, and noted that Musk had proposed for-profit structures involving OpenAI, including one tied to Tesla.

OpenAI also cited testimony from a forensic accountant who said Musk’s donations were spent before Aug. 5, 2021. Its lawyers argued that Musk could have known years earlier about OpenAI’s structure through fundraising documents, public statements, and his own public criticism, and that Zilis voted to approve transactions at issue.

Microsoft witnesses testified that the company found no evidence of donation restrictions and never used any veto rights over OpenAI decisions.

OpenAI argued that Musk’s role ended in 2018, his last donations were made in 2020, and his lawsuit followed OpenAI’s rise after ChatGPT.