WASHINGTON: Trump administration changes have upended the US agency charged with providing humanitarian aid to countries overseas, with dozens of senior officials put on leave, thousands of contractors laid off, and a sweeping freeze imposed on billions of dollars in foreign assistance.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the pause on foreign assistance Thursday, saying “the US government is not a charity.”
Aid organizations say the funding freeze — and deep confusion over what US-funded programs must stop work as a result — has left them agonizing over whether they could continue operating programs such as those providing round-the-clock nutritional support to extremely malnourished infants and children, knowing that closing the doors means that many of those children would die.
Current and former officials at the State Department and the US Agency for International Development say staffers were invited to submit requests to exempt certain programs from the foreign aid freeze, which President Donald Trump imposed Jan. 20 and the State Department detailed how to execute on Jan. 24.
Three days later, at least 56 senior career USAID staffers were abruptly placed on administrative leave.
Three officials said many of those put on leave were lawyers involved in determining what programs might qualify for waivers, helping write proposals and submitting those waiver requests as they believed they had been invited to do.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. A Trump administration directive that aid organizations interpret as a gag order has left them unwilling to speak publicly for fear of permanently losing US funding.
In an internal memo Monday about the staffing changes, new acting USAID administrator Jason Gray said the agency had identified “several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the President’s Executive Orders and the mandate from the American people.”
“As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions,” Gray wrote.
A former senior USAID official said those put on leave had been helping aid organizations navigate the “confusing process” to seek waivers from the aid pause for specific life-saving projects, such as continuing clean water supplies for displaced people in war zones.
Others were identified as having been involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programming, which the administration has banned.
On Thursday, a USAID human resources official who tried to reverse the action, saying there was no justification for it, was himself placed on leave, according to two of the officials who had viewed internal emails and verified them as authentic. Reporters from ProPublica and Vox first reported the emails on X.
The State Department and White House didn’t respond to messages seeking comment about the staffing changes.
The new leaders at USAID also abruptly laid off contractors who made up about half the workforce in the agency’s humanitarian bureau Tuesday, knocking them out of systems so that some vanished in the middle of videoconferences, the former senior official said. The targeted institutional service contractors do everything from administrative and travel support to grant processing and data analytics.
The staffing changes came three days after the State Department issued guidelines last Friday for implementing Trump’s executive order freezing foreign assistance for 90 days. The department says it’s reviewing the money the United States is spending to ensure it adheres to administration policy.
The guidelines initially exempted only military aid to Israel and Egypt and emergency food programs but also said program administrators and implementors could apply for waivers for programs that they believe would meet administration standards.
On Tuesday, Rubio issued a broader waiver for programs that provide other “life-saving” assistance, including medicine, medical services, food and shelter, and again pointed to the possibility of waivers. Rubio pointed to the broadened exemptions in an interview Thursday with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly.
“We don’t want to see people die and the like,” he said.
Rubio said there would be a program-by-program review of which projects make “America safer, stronger or more prosperous.”
The step of shutting down US-funded programs during the 90-day review meant the US was “getting a lot more cooperation” from recipients of humanitarian, development and security assistance, Rubio said. “Because otherwise you don’t get your money.”
The State Department said that since the aid freeze went into effect, it has approved dozens of waivers, although many were returned because they did not include enough detail. It said waiver requests for programs costing “billions of dollars” have been received and are being reviewed.
The department did not specify how many waiver requests had been denied but said thus far its actions had stopped more than $1 billion from being spent on programs and projects that are “not aligned with an America First agenda.”
Even with the broadening of exemptions for life-saving care, uncertainty surrounds what US-funded programs legally can continue. Hundreds of thousands of people globally are going without access to medicine and humanitarian supplies and clinics are not getting medicine in time because of the funding freeze, aid organizations warn.
US aid agency is in upheaval during foreign assistance freeze and staff departures
https://arab.news/c5ghn
US aid agency is in upheaval during foreign assistance freeze and staff departures
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- Current and former officials say they were invited to submit requests to exempt certain programs from the freeze
Malaysia yet to finalise MH370 search contract, as ship heads to new zone
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KUALA LUMPUR: A ship that will hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has deployed to its Indian Ocean search zone, according to Malaysia's transport minister and ship tracking data, raising hopes of solving one of aviation's greatest mysteries.
In December, Malaysia agreed to resume the search for the Boeing 777 that was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
Malaysia has not yet signed off on the contract to search the seabed for wreckage, however, casting uncertainty over whether a search has begun.
Contacted by Reuters, U.S. exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018, said it had no information to provide at this stage.
Malaysia had not yet signed the contract with Ocean Infinity, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Tuesday, but he welcomed the company's "proactiveness" to deploy its ships to that area to begin the search.
"Since Ocean Infinity already started to mobilise their ships, of course we welcome it because we have given the principle approval for the search to resume and just need to finalise the contract," Loke told a press conference.
The search would not be open-ended, however, he warned.
"It is not indefinite; there is a certain timeframe given for the contract. These are the details that we need to finalise before we sign," Loke added.
Refinitiv ship tracking data shows one of Ocean Infinity's ships, Armada 78 06, began tracking on Sunday a part of the Southern Indian Ocean, about 2,000 km (1,200 miles) off Australia's west coast.
Ocean Infinity's proposal to resume the search will see it expand the previous search area by 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles) in an effort lasting 18 months, with the period from January to April offering the best window, Malaysia said in December.
No precise location of the new search area was given at the time.
Ocean Infinity was "very confident that the current search area is more credible ... This is the area that they have missed in the past," Loke added.
DECADE-LONG HUNT
Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity in 2018 to search in the southern Indian Ocean, but two attempts failed.
They followed an underwater search by Australia, China and Malaysia over an area of 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq mile) of the southern Indian Ocean, based on records of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the aircraft.
MH370's last transmission was about 40 minutes after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese capital. The pilots signed off as the plane entered Vietnamese air space over the Gulf of Thailand and soon after its transponder was turned off.
Military radar showed the plane left its flight path to fly back over northern Malaysia and then out into the Andaman Sea before turning south, when all contact was lost.
Debris, some confirmed and some believed to be from the aircraft, has since washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.
Victims' relatives have demanded compensation from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and the Allianz insurance group, among others.
A 495-page report into the disappearance in 2018 said the Boeing 777's controls were probably deliberately manipulated to go off course, but investigators could not determine who was responsible and stopped short of offering a conclusion on what happened, saying that depended on finding the wreckage.
Investigators have said there was nothing suspicious in the background, financial affairs, training and mental health of both the captain and co-pilot.
Russia, US diplomats to meet in Istanbul on Thursday
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- US President Donald Trump has upended US foreign policy since coming to office last month
- Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on February 18 in the Saudi capital Riyadh
DOHA: Russian and US diplomats will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss resolving issues related to their embassies, Russia’s foreign minister said, amid easing relations between the two countries.
US President Donald Trump has upended US foreign policy since coming to office last month, reaching out to President Vladimir Putin and initiating high-level talks with Moscow for the first time in over three years.
The latest meeting will focus on resolving diplomatic issues, after both countries expelled embassy staff from the other during former US President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Such a meeting will take place tomorrow in Istanbul. I think that its results will show how quickly and effectively we can move forward,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday on a visit to Qatar.
Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on February 18 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, where they agreed to kickstart talks on the Ukraine war without Kyiv.
Both sides have since moved closer while sidelining Ukraine.
Last Wednesday, Trump branded his Ukrainian counterpart a “dictator” and called for him to “move fast” to end the war.
The United States sided with Russia twice Monday in votes at the United Nations, as it sought to avoid condemnation of Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor three years ago.
Russia and US to hold talks in Istanbul on embassy operations
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MOSCOW: Russian and US delegations will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss how to restore their respective diplomatic missions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Moscow has had no ambassador in Washington since the previous envoy, Anatoly Antonov, left his post last October.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said high-level teams would work to restoring the countries’ diplomatic missions in Washington and Moscow as part of negotiations toward ending the conflict in Ukraine.
French police say killed man holding knives in Paris region
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PARIS: French police said officers killed a man holding knives in each hand after he “threw himself” at them in the northeastern Paris suburbs on Wednesday.
At around 7:00 am (0600 GMT) police approached “a man sitting at a bus stop with a knife in each hand” in the town of Dugny, Paris police told AFP.
The man “threw himself at them, without saying a word,” they said.
One of the officers used an “electroshock weapon” without effect, they said.
Another officer then “used their weapon,” wounding the man in the chest.
“CPR was administered until the firemen arrived. Despite the care provided, the man died,” the police said.
Local police and the inspectorate responsible for investigating police misconduct, called the IGPN, have both opened a probe.
In 2023, 36 people died as a result of police action, the IGPN says.
Taiwan sends forces in response to China ‘live-fire’ drills off island
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TAIPEI: Taiwan sent forces on Wednesday in response to China’s “live-fire” drills off the self-ruled island, Taipei’s defense ministry said, condemning the exercises as dangerous.
China deployed 32 aircraft near Taiwan as part of a joint combat drill with Chinese warships and announced “live-fire exercises” in an area about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometers) off the island’s south, the ministry said in a statement.
Taiwan’s military responded by sending sea, air and land forces to “monitor, alert and respond appropriately,” the statement said.
China’s People’s Liberation Army “has blatantly violated international norms by unilaterally designating a drill zone 40 NM off the coast of Kaohsiung and Pingtung, claiming to conduct live-fire exercises without prior warning,” the ministry said.
“This move not only caused a high degree of danger to the safety of international flights and vessels at sea, but is also a blatant provocation to regional security and stability.”
Taiwan has naval and air bases in Kaohsiung and Pingtung.
China has ramped up the deployment of fighter jets and warships around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty over the island, which Taipei rejects.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said China’s move “is completely contrary to its repeated claims of ‘peaceful coexistence’ principles” and vowed to “continue our efforts in force buildup and readiness.”
Beijing’s foreign ministry declined to comment on Taiwan saying China has set up a drill zone for “shooting training.”
“This is not a question on foreign affairs,” spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.
China’s defense ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment from AFP.
Taipei’s defense ministry said China’s actions in the region, including live-fire drills off Australia and Vietnam, “prove that China is the only and biggest threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region.”
The drills also come after Taiwan seized a Chinese-crewed cargo ship on Tuesday suspected of severing a subsea telecoms cable serving Taiwan’s Penghu island group.
There is growing concern in Taiwan over the security of its cables after a Chinese-owned cargo ship was suspected of cutting one northeast of the island this year.
China’s Communist Party has never ruled democratic Taiwan but Beijing has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.
Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt to seize the island or to blockade it.
Taiwan is also a potential flashpoint for a war between China and the United States, which is the island’s most important backer and biggest arms supplier.
While the United States is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan, Washington has long maintained “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend it from a Chinese attack.
Despite strong bipartisan support in the US Congress for Taiwan, there are fears that President Donald Trump might not consider the island worth defending if China attacked.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te has already vowed to boost investment in the United States to reduce the trade imbalance and spend more on the island’s military, while his government is also considering increasing US natural gas imports.
Beijing regards Lai as a “separatist” and has staged several rounds of major military exercises since he came to power last May.
The dispute between Beijing and Taipei dates back to the civil war between Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces, which fled to Taiwan in 1949 following their defeat.