Page 8 - Us Government

20 states sue FEMA over cancelled disaster resilience grant programme

Twenty Democratic-led states have filed suit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging the elimination of a long-running grant programme that helps communities guard against damage from natural disasters. The lawsuit contends President Donald Trump's administration acted illegally when it announced in April that it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities programme. FEMA cancelled some projects already in the works and refused to approve new ones despite funding from Congress. "In the wake of devastating flooding in Texas and other states, it's clear just how critical federal resources are in helping states prepare for and respond to natural disasters," said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell of Massachusetts, where the federal lawsuit was filed on Wednesday. "By abruptly and unlawfully shutting down the BRIC programme, this administration is abandoning states and local communities that rely on federal funding to protect their residents .

Republican governors push DOGE programmes, embrace cost-cutting brand

The brash and chaotic first days of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, once led by the world's richest man Elon Musk, spawned state-level DOGE mimicry as Republican governors and lawmakers aim to show they are in step with their party's leader. Governors have always made political hay out of slashing waste or taming bureaucracy, but DOGE has, in some ways, raised the stakes for them to show that they are zealously committed to cutting costs. Many drive home the point that they have always been focused on cutting government, even if they're not conducting mass layoffs. I like to say we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in announcing her own task force in January. Critics agree that some of these initiatives are nothing new and suggest they are wasteful, essentially duplicating built-in processes that are normally the domain of legislative committees or independent state auditors. At the same time, some governors are using

US State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump admin's plan

The US State Department fired more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration that critics say will damage America's global leadership and efforts to counter threats abroad. The department sent layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with assignments in the United States, according to a senior department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Notices said positions were being abolished and the employees would lose access to State Department headquarters in Washington and their email and shared drives by 5 p.m., according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press. As employees packed their belongings, dozens of former colleagues, ambassadors, members of Congress and others spent a warm, humid day protesting outside. Holding signs saying, Thank you to America's diplomats and We all deserve better, they mourned the institutional loss from the cuts and .

Google to offer heavy discount for cloud computing services to US govt

In April, Google agreed to offer a 71% discount till September 30 to US federal agencies for its business apps package that could generate up to $2 billion in savings if there is govt-wide adoption

US issues sanctions against UN investigator probing abuses in Gaza

The Trump administration announced it is issuing sanctions Wednesday against an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel's 21-month war in Gaza. The State Department's decision to sanction Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, comes after a recent US pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post failed. Albanese, a human rights lawyer, has been vocal about what she has described as the genocide that Israel is waging against Palestinians in Gaza. Both Israel and the US, which provides military support, have strongly denied that accusation. In recent weeks, Albanese has issued a series of letters, urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The Italian national has also been a strong supporter of the International Crimina

At least 27 dead in Texas floods, over 20 children missing from summer camp

Months worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours on Texas Hill Country, killing at least 13 people and leaving more than 20 girls attending a summer camp unaccounted for Friday as search teams conducted boat and helicopter rescues in the fast-moving flood water. Desperate pleas peppered social media as loved ones sought any information available about people caught in the flood zone. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said somewhere between 6 and 10 bodies had been found so far in the frantic search for victims. Meanwhile, during a news conference conducted at the same time as Patrick's update, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha reported that there were 13 deaths from the flooding. At least 10 inches of rain poured down overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River and leading to desperate pleas for information about the missing. Some are adults, some are children, Patrick said during a news conference. Again, we don't know where those bodies came from. Teams

Gross oversimplification to make India-US relations about China: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that it is a very gross oversimplification and even misleading at times to make the India-US relationship about China. Jaishankar was responding to a question on how much of the India-US relationship is defined by its stance on China. "I think it's a very gross oversimplification to make India-US about China. In fact, it's not just an oversimplification. I think it's even misleading at times, Jaishankar said on Monday during a conversation with Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad at the publication's headquarters at One World Trade Centre near the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan. He said that the India-US relationship is about so many other things, noting the large Indian community, which contributes significantly to the US. I think it's been a game-changer. It has got nothing to do with China, he said. He stressed that Washington and Delhi have a very strong economic connect. Look at our trade numbers and look at the relevance of that trade to our

Nations meet in Spain to seek trillions to combat poverty, US to skip event

Many of the world's nations are gathering starting Monday in Spain for a high-level conference to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor nations and try to drum up trillions of dollars needed to close it. The United States, previously a major contributor, pulled its participation, so finding funding will be tough. The four-day Financing for Development meeting in the southern city of Seville is taking place as many countries face escalating debt burdens, declining investments, decreasing international aid and increasing trade barriers. The United Nations and Spain, the conference co-hosts, believe it is an opportunity to reverse the downward spiral, close the staggering USD 4 trillion annual financing gap to promote development, bring millions of people out of poverty and help achieve the UN's wide-ranging and badly lagging Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said Wednesday that despite the headwinds and high geopolitical tension

'Your cuts will kill 8 mn more children': Bill Gates warns US government

Bill Gates said US global health aid cuts are already delaying medicines, weakening disease prevention, and could undo decades of progress in child mortality reduction

US signs agreements with Guatemala, Honduras to take asylum seekers

Guatemala and Honduras have signed agreements with the United States to potentially offer refuge to people from other countries who otherwise would seek asylum in the United States, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday at the conclusion of her Central America trip. The agreements expand the Trump administration's efforts to provide the US government flexibility in returning migrants not only to their own countries, but also to third countries as it attempts to ramp up deportations. Noem described it as a way to offer asylum-seekers options other than coming to the United States. She said the agreements had been in the works for months. with the US government applying pressure on Honduras and Guatemala to get them done. "Honduras and now Guatemala after today will be countries that will take those individuals and give them refugee status as well," Noem said. "We've never believed that the United States should be the only option, that the guarantee for a refugee is

Lawsuit challenges billions of dollars in Trump admin's funding cuts

Attorneys general from more than 20 states and Washington, DC, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging billions of dollars in funding cuts made by the Trump administration that would fund everything from crime prevention to food security to scientific research. The lawsuit filed in Boston is asking a judge to limit the Trump administration from relying on an obscure clause in the federal regulation to cut grants that don't align with its priorities. Since January, the lawsuit argues that the administration has used that clause to cancel entire programmes and thousands of grants that had been previously awarded to states and grantees. Defendants' decision to invoke the Clause to terminate grants based on changed agency priorities is unlawful several times over, the plaintiffs argued. The rulemaking history of the Clause makes plain that the (Office of Management and Budget) intended for the Clause to permit terminations in only limited circumstances and provides no support for a

From Hawaii to Iran: Trump's remark spotlights US history of regime change

Trump's 'Make Iran Great Again' remark reignites debate over the US' long, covert history of regime change, from royal overthrows to Cold War coups and modern-day military interventions

Trump plans to phase out FEMA after hurricane season, alarming experts

President Donald Trump's plan to begin "phasing out" the federal agency that responds to disasters after the 2025 hurricane season is likely to put more responsibilities on states to provide services following increasingly frequent and expensive climate disasters, experts said. "We want to wean off of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and we want to bring it down to the state level," Trump said on Tuesday in an Oval Office appearance with administration officials about preparations for summer wildfires. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly signalled their desire to overhaul, if not completely eliminate, the 46-year-old Federal Emergency Management Agency. While there has been bipartisan support for reforming the agency, experts say dismantling it completely would leave gaps in crucial services and funding. "It just causes more concern on how states should be planning for the future if the federal government's not going to be there for them," sai

US arrests Chinese scientist over illegal transfer of biological material

A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at the Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. "The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars," said John Nowak, who leads field operations at US Customs and Border Protection. The scientist was interviewed and arrested on Sunday after arriving on a flight from China, where she is pursuing an advanced degree at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan. She planned to spend a year completing a project at the University of Michigan. Her shipments, including a

Explosion at US air base in southern Japan injures 4 Japanese soldiers

An explosion at a storage site for unexploded wartime ordinances at a US military base on Japan's southern island of Okinawa injured four Japanese soldiers, though the injuries are not life threatening, officials said on Monday. The four soldiers had injuries to their fingers while working at a facility that belongs to Okinawa prefecture to store unexploded ordnance found on the island, where one of the harshest battles of World War II was fought, local officials said. Prefectural officials said the injuries were not life threatening, but no other details were immediately known. The Self Defence Force's joint staff said they were looking into reports of an explosion at Kadena Air Base that occurred while a team of Japanese soldiers that specialises in handling unexploded ordnance was working near or at the base. The SDF said they are trying to confirm the cause of the accident and where it occurred. Hundreds of tons of unexploded wartime bombs, many of them dropped by the US milit

Trump's new travel ban set to take effect amid immigration enforcement row

President Donald Trump's new ban on travel to the US by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries is set to take effect Monday amid escalating tension over the president's unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement. The new proclamation, which Trump signed on Wednesday, applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the US and don't hold a valid visa. The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday to all US diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Haitian-American Elvanise Louis-Juste, who was at the airport Sunday in Newark, N

Trump banned citizens of 12 countries from entering US; here's what to know

President Donald Trump has banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States and restricted access for those from seven others, citing national security concerns in resurrecting and expanding a hallmark policy from his first term that will mostly affect people from Africa and the Middle East. The ban announced on Wednesday applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The heightened restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the US and do not hold a valid visa. The policy takes effect at 12.01 am on Monday and does not have an end date. Here's what to know about the new rules: How Trump justified the ban Since returning to the White House, Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying

US ends Temporary Protected Status for Nepal, grants 60-day transition

The US has terminated the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) provided to Nepal in the wake of the 2015 earthquake, a media report said. A US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notice on Saturday said TPS would not be extended for Nepal after its expiration on June 24 this year. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the beneficiaries would be granted a 60-day transition period through August 5, The Himalayan Times reported. TPS allows immigrants from designated countries without another legal status to stay in the US for up to 18 months and get legal work authorisation when social circumstances prevent a safe return. Nepal was initially designated for TPS on June 24, 2015, for a period of 18 months, in the wake of the devastating earthquake that resulted in a substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions. The DHS had extended the designation on October 26, 2016, for an additional 18-month period and multiple occasions thereafter. "After reviewing country conditions and ...

US Supreme Court gives DOGE access to sensitive social security data

The decision allows DOGE, once led by Elon Musk, full access to personal data in the Social Security database while the case moves forward on appeal

5 Proud Boys sue US govt, alleging rights violated in Jan 6 prosecutions

Five members of the Proud Boys, a far-right militant group, claim their constitutional rights were violated when they were prosecuted for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a lawsuit filed Friday. The lawsuit was filed in Orlando federal court by former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola. It seeks unspecified compensatory damages plus 6% interest and $100 million plus interest in punitive damages. The lawsuit claims the men were arrested with insufficient probable cause and that government agents later found fake incriminating evidence. They also claim they were held for years in pretrial detention, often in solitary confinement. The Plaintiffs themselves did not obstruct the proceedings at the Capitol, destroy government property, resist arrest, conspire to impede the police, or participate in civil disorder, nor did they plan for or order anyone else to do so," the lawsuit