Trump goes to work on federal workers

Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. Hamas released four Israeli hostages in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners. Pete Hegseth won Senate confirmation to become President Trump's next defense secretary after Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie. The U.S. issued a broad freeze on foreign aid, Trump restored U.S. participation in two international anti-abortion pacts and fired 17 inspectors general at federal agencies. Mexico refused a U.S. military flight deporting migrants. We have plenty more to share below.

Donald Trump takes a wrecking ball to the federal workforce

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

A blunt Sharpie: The president is acting with stunning speed to remove or sideline hundreds of government workers while giving himself the power to fire thousands more whom he perceives as disloyal or ideological enemies. He is working hard to destroy diversity initiatives wherever he finds them, including an executive order by President Lyndon Johnson from 1965. The administration urged federal workers to inform on their colleagues if they are trying to hide DEI programs with "coded or imprecise language." A memo warned of consequences for failing to snitch. Trump also would like companies to abandon their DEI efforts, a move that threatens legal consequences. Target complied. Federal employees also must return to their offices for the entire work week.
A long shortlist: If we made a list of everything Trump touched this week, we'd have a book, not a newsletter. Here are some highlights: A judge blocked the administration's bid to curtail birthright citizenship, Trump said he knows more about interest rates than the Fed governors, he pardoned nearly 1,600 of the Jan. 6 rioters and freed hundreds from prison, he backed off immediately slapping other nations with tariffs, and he withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement, which put him into rare discord with his friends in Big Oil. He floated a trial balloon to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But... could this be as good as it gets for Team Trump?

Hamas remains in charge in Gaza

Entrenched: The group's officials, gunmen and police are supervising rubble clearance and delivery as well as providing police patrols. This hold on power represents a challenge to making the ceasefire with Israel permanent. Our World News podcast takes a closer look at Hamas' hold on the strip. The deal also puts Benjamin Netanyahu in a squeeze between his far-right allies and Trump. Israel's military raided the West Bank in an offensive against militants, providing another threat to the Gaza deal.
And in Ukraine: Trump's attempts to use tariff threats to force Russia into ending its war with Ukraine struck some Russian politicians and nationalists as disrespectful, insulting and ill-informed. Vladimir Putin is concerned about the economy, and some in the Russian elite harbor the view that labor shortages, high interest rates and record military spending make a negotiated settlement desirable.

Local billionaire helps clean up

I'll always have Paris: Michael Bloomberg's philanthropy arm said it will provide money to help cover the U.S. contribution to the U.N. climate body's budget after Trump said he would end climate funding. And in the U.S. Southwest, projections for a hotter and drier climate means we're going to get more "fast fires."
Storms and smog: Record-high winds from Storm Eowyn battered Ireland and Northern Ireland. Scientists say the link between climate change and storm frequency and intensity remains unclear. The EU plans to ban "forever chemicals" in consumer products. Pollution in western Balkan nations is making people sick and threatening their prospects of joining the EU.

Before I forget…

- A British teenager who killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Southport was sentenced to at least 52 years in prison.
- Police rescued the co-founder of a French crypto firm after he and his wife were kidnapped and held for ransom. The kidnappers freed the wife, whom they kept at a different location. They mutilated the husband's hand.
- King Charles, Emmanuel Macron and others will attend a ceremony at Auschwitz on Monday, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of prisoners at the Nazi death camp. Two survivors shared their stories with us.
- Afghan girls should return to school, the Taliban's acting foreign minister said. The comments were among the strongest public criticism in recent years by a Taliban official of the school closings.
- Fentanyl deaths are down in the U.S., but not on the Alamo Navajo reservation in southern New Mexico. I strongly recommend reading this story. If you've never been to this part of the country, I assure you, it's really something else.
- A woman whom French courts blamed for her divorce because she no longer had sex with her husband won an appeal in Europe's top human-rights court.
- I think they're going to remember this. Elephants cannot sue to get out of the zoo, Colorado's top court ruled.
- Our correspondent in Prague offers us multiple reasons to visit the Czech capital.

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