Trump administration reinstating 24,500 fired workers after court order

Trump administration reinstating 24,500 fired workers after court order
The Trump administration in court filings has for the first time acknowledged that it fired nearly 25,000 recently hired workers, and said agencies were working to bring all of them back after a judge ruled that their terminations were likely illegal. (AP/File)
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Updated 18 March 2025
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Trump administration reinstating 24,500 fired workers after court order

Trump administration reinstating 24,500 fired workers after court order
  • The mass firings, part of President Donald Trump’s broader purge of the federal workforce, were widely reported
  • The court filings are the first full accounting of the terminations by the administration

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration in court filings has for the first time acknowledged that it fired nearly 25,000 recently hired workers, and said agencies were working to bring all of them back after a judge ruled that their terminations were likely illegal.
The filings made in Baltimore, Maryland, federal court late Monday include statements from officials at 18 agencies, all of whom said the reinstated probationary workers were being placed on administrative leave at least temporarily.
The mass firings, part of President Donald Trump’s broader purge of the federal workforce, were widely reported, but the court filings are the first full accounting of the terminations by the administration.
Most of the agencies said they had fired a few hundred workers. The Treasury Department terminated about 7,600 people, the Department of Agriculture about 5,700 and the Department of Health and Human Services more than 3,200, according to the filings.
US District Judge James Bredar on March 13 said the mass firings of probationary workers that began last month violated regulations governing the mass layoffs of federal employees, and ordered them to be reinstated pending further litigation.
Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees.
Bredar’s ruling came in a lawsuit by 19 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., who said the mass firings would trigger a spike in unemployment claims and greater demand for social services provided by states.
The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, which is spearheading the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has appealed Bredar’s decision and on Monday asked a Richmond, Virginia-based appeals court to pause the ruling pending the outcome of the case.
Hours before Bredar issued his ruling, a federal judge in San Francisco had ordered that probationary workers be reinstated at six agencies, including five also covered by Bredar’s order and the US Department of Defense. The administration has also appealed that decision.
In the filings late Monday, agency officials said they had either reinstated all of the fired employees or were working to do so, but warned that bringing back large numbers of workers had imposed significant burdens and caused confusion and turmoil.
The officials also noted that an appeals court ruling reversing Bredar’s order would allow agencies to again fire the workers, subjecting them to multiple changes in their employment status in a matter of weeks.
“The tremendous uncertainty associated with this confusion and these administrative burdens impede supervisors from appropriately managing their workforce,” Mark Green, deputy assistant secretary at the US Department of the Interior, wrote in one of the filings. “Work schedules and assignments are effectively being tied to hearing and briefing schedules set by the courts.”
Bredar has scheduled a hearing for March 26 on whether to keep his ruling in place pending the outcome of the lawsuit, which could take months or longer to resolve.


Millionaire donor of Lebanese heritage defects from Conservatives to Reform UK

Millionaire donor of Lebanese heritage defects from Conservatives to Reform UK
Updated 27 April 2025
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Millionaire donor of Lebanese heritage defects from Conservatives to Reform UK

Millionaire donor of Lebanese heritage defects from Conservatives to Reform UK
  • Tech mogul Bassim Haidar announces intention to give £1m, making him party’s biggest donor
  • He plans to leave Britain over tax changes but believes party leader Nigel Farage can return country ‘to its glory’

LONDON: A major donor to the Conservative Party has switched allegiances to Reform UK.

Bassim Haidar, born in Nigeria to Lebanese parents, has pledged £1 million ($1.33 million) to Nigel Farage’s party, having previously donated more than £700,000 to the Conservatives.

The Conservative Party has “lost its way,” Haidar told the Telegraph on Sunday, adding that he believes Farage could become prime minister and “bring this country back to its glory.”

The move makes Haidar Reform’s biggest donor, with £200,000 already delivered to aid the party at upcoming local elections.

The tech mogul, who moved to the UK in 2010 and made his fortune modernizing communications networks in Nigeria, became disillusioned with the former Conservative government after it changed Britain’s tax laws for non-domiciled individuals. 

He now plans to move his family, including three school-aged children, out of the UK following the election last year of the Labour government, whose non-dom and inheritance tax policies he disagrees with.

“I’ve always been pro-business and I always supported parties that supported businesses,” he told the Telegraph. “The Conservative Party stopped listening and, for me, I had to go with the party that I believe can actually reset and change the status quo in the UK.

“Nigel and Reform are the only ones that can do this and that’s why I’m supporting them. If we want a better future, we have to stop funding the past.”

Labour’s economic strategy “defies all logic” and will make the country poorer, he said. Farage, though, is “listening to the people, he is addressing their concerns, he is talking about immigration in a way that no one has actually spoken about, he is willing to do things that I think the other parties aren’t willing to do.”

Haidar, whose business empire includes a vast property portfolio worth over £100 million, a Caribbean hotel and a loans company, added: “I believe he would reform tax, he would encourage investment, maybe come up with a new non-dom tax regime, so hopefully once he becomes prime minister we’re going to see the UK becoming great again.”

On the subject of Farage potentially becoming prime minister, Haidar said he is “very convinced” of his chances.

“Nigel has all it takes, and if funding is an issue, I don’t think he will have that issue going forward,” he added.

“They (Reform) have a lot of momentum behind them. Yeah, they are a small party, but what does that actually mean? It means nothing. All of us were small once.

“It’s the same thing I said to people who thought I would never make it in life, when I was in my 20s and I was starting out in business and I had something to prove, and look where I am today.”

Reform UK is expected to perform well at local elections across the UK next week, and currently leads the Conservatives by a considerable margin in a number of opinion polls.

Haidar believes that success over Labour and the Conservatives could lead to even more financial support for Reform from wealthy donors.

“I have a few friends that are seriously, seriously considering (donating to Reform),” he said. “Some of the statements that Nigel made recently have resonated with them and I have got calls and they have told me they really believe that he is on the right track and they have become very encouraged.

“I know it will come. Like everything else you have to be a pioneer, you have to lead and once you lead people will follow. Nigel has done it from a politics point of view, I want to do it from a support point of view.”

He added: “There is absolutely nothing in it for me besides me believing that Nigel can turn it around and bring this country back to its glory.”

Farage told the Telegraph: “Reform has achieved a huge amount on a small budget so far. With a donation like this, we can rapidly build out our team and professionalise further as we head towards the next general election. This is especially true if others follow Bassim’s lead.”


Pakistani troops kill 54 militants attempting to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan

Pakistani troops kill 54 militants attempting to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan
Updated 58 min 24 sec ago
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Pakistani troops kill 54 militants attempting to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan

Pakistani troops kill 54 militants attempting to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan
  • Pakistani intelligence reports indicated that the killed militants were 'Khwarij,' a phrase the government uses for the Pakistani Taliban
  • The insurgents were spotted and killed near the former stronghold of Pakistan Taliban near North Waziristan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces overnight killed 54 militants who attempted to cross into the country from Afghanistan, the military said Sunday, marking one of the deadliest such killings in recent years.
The military said in a statement that intelligence reports indicated that the killed militants were “Khwarij” — a phrase the government uses for the Pakistani Taliban.
Without directly blaming anyone, the military said that the slain insurgents had been sent by their “foreign masters” to carry out high-profile attacks inside Pakistan.
The insurgents were spotted and killed near the former stronghold of Pakistan Taliban near North Waziristan, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the Afghan border.
“This is the first time during the ongoing operations against terrorists that Pakistani forces killed terrorists in such a high number in a single day,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters. He praised security forces for carrying out a successful operation against militants and foiling possible attacks by them in the country.
“We had this information that the foreign masters of these terrorists are asking them to enter Pakistan as soon as possible” to carry out attacks. He stopped short of saying that India had urged the militants to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have congratulated security forces for eliminating the insurgents.
The military also said in the statement that the infiltration attempt came “at a time when India is leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan” following a recent deadly assault on tourists in India-controlled Kashmir.
In recent months, Pakistan has witnessed a surge in violence, mostly blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. It’s a separate group, but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since then.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tatar on Sunday told foreign media that New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the tourist attack to distract Pakistan’s security forces from their focus on the war on its western borders.
He said that New Delhi, without presenting any evidence, blamed Pakistan for the assault on tourists in Kashmir “to divert Pakistan’s attention from the western region.” He said that Pakistan had “undeniable evidence” about India’s backing for the Pakistan Taliban and Baloch Liberation Army, which is behind multiple attacks in Balochistan, including one on a train in which more than 30 hostages were killed in March.
Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency with the separatists seeking independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence has persisted.


No place for racism, hate in France, says Macron after Muslim killed in mosque

People march in La Grand-Combe, southern France, on April 27, 2025, to pay tribute to Aboubakar.
People march in La Grand-Combe, southern France, on April 27, 2025, to pay tribute to Aboubakar.
Updated 27 April 2025
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No place for racism, hate in France, says Macron after Muslim killed in mosque

People march in La Grand-Combe, southern France, on April 27, 2025, to pay tribute to Aboubakar.
  • “Racism and hatred based on religion can have no place in France. Freedom of worship cannot be violated,” Macron wrote on X in his first comments on Friday’s killing

PARIS: There can never be a place for racism and hate in France, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday after the brutal stabbing to death of a Muslim in a mosque in the south of the country.
“Racism and hatred based on religion can have no place in France. Freedom of worship cannot be violated,” Macron wrote on X in his first comments on Friday’s killing, extending his support to “our fellow Muslim citizens.”
The attacker, who is on the run, stabbed the worshipper dozens of times and then filmed him with a mobile phone while shouting insults at Islam in Friday’s attack in the village of La Grand-Combe in the Gard region.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou had already denounced what he described an “Islamophobic atrocity.”
The alleged perpetrator sent the video he had filmed with his phone — showing the victim writhing in agony — to another person, who then shared it on a social media platform before deleting it.
A source close to the case, who asked not to be named, said the suspected perpetrator, while not apprehended, has been identified as a French citizen of Bosnian origin who is not a Muslim.
The victim, a young Malian man in his 20s, and the attacker were alone inside the mosque at the time of the incident.
After initially praying alongside the man, the attacker then stabbed the victim up to 50 times before fleeing the scene.
The body of the victim was only discovered later in the morning when other worshippers arrived at the mosque for Friday prayers.
A protest “against Islamophobia” was due to take place Sunday evening in Paris in the wake of the killing.
The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) said it was “horrified” by the “anti-Muslim terrorist attack” and urged Muslims in France to be “extremely vigilant.”
“The murder of a worshipper in a mosque is a despicable crime that must revolt the hearts of all French people,” added the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF).
The attacker — who has been named only as Olivier, born in France in 2004 and unemployed without a criminal record — is “potentially extremely dangerous” and it is “essential” to arrest him before he claims more victims, according to regional prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini.


Indonesia joins BRICS foreign ministers meeting as member

ndonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono attends the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia on Oct. 24, 2024. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono attends the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia on Oct. 24, 2024. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Updated 27 April 2025
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Indonesia joins BRICS foreign ministers meeting as member

ndonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono attends the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia on Oct. 24, 2024. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
  • BRICS accounts for about 48% of world’s population, over 37% of global economy
  • Ministerial meeting comes amid Trump’s trade tariffs on nearly all goods imported to US

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono will attend a meeting with his counterparts of the BRICS bloc of emerging economies in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, the country’s first ministerial participation since becoming a full member of the geopolitical forum earlier this year.

Initially comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the group has expanded with the accession of Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and the UAE last year, and Indonesia in January.

Morphing into the most powerful geopolitical forum outside the Western world, BRICS now accounts for about 48 percent of the world’s population and more than 37 percent of the global economy.

“The Indonesian foreign minister will encourage BRICS to play a more constructive role in maintaining peace and upholding global norms that have been mutually agreed upon,” Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“(He) will also emphasize the importance of reforming various multilateral institutions to be more inclusive, transparent, and responsive in facing various challenges in the world.” 

Brazil holds the BRICS presidency this year under the theme “Enhancing Global South Cooperation for a More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance.” 

The two-day meeting of the group’s foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro will also cover preparations for the upcoming annual leaders’ summit, which Brazil will host in July.

The ministerial-level meeting comes amid the US’ 90-day pause on sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs, while it has raised tariffs on Chinese imports to an effective rate of 145 percent. Beijing has responded with retaliatory hikes on US exports.

The Trump administration has imposed a 47 percent tariff on Indonesian imports, raising concerns about its billions of dollars-worth exports to the US.

The intensifying trade war with the US and the impacts of Washington’s tariffs around the world will be high on the agenda of the BRICS meeting, said Dinna Prapto Raharja, founder of Jakarta-based think-tank Synergy Policies.

“It will be a big part of the agenda, how BRICS countries will respond to the US tariffs,” Raharja told Arab News on Sunday. 

Alternative payment methods in international trade and the role of the New Development Bank — a multilateral bank developed by BRICS member nations — are also likely to be discussed. 

She noted that the BRICS meeting is taking place as China urges a unified response in Southeast Asia, following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s tour to the region earlier this month.

“Indonesia must be able to choose and talk about extremely strategic matters in these negotiation processes,” Raharja said. 

Jakarta must decide on which aspects it is willing to work with the US and in which areas it is open to create alternatives with BRICS countries.

She added: “This must be decided, so that in the case of China coming into the forums with offers or even a little push for BRICS member countries to choose a certain path, Indonesia is ready.”


South Korea’s main opposition party taps former party chief as presidential candidate

South Korea’s main opposition party taps former party chief as presidential candidate
Updated 27 April 2025
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South Korea’s main opposition party taps former party chief as presidential candidate

South Korea’s main opposition party taps former party chief as presidential candidate
  • Lee, 60, lost the 2022 election to Yoon in the narrowest margin recorded in the country’s presidential elections

SEOUL: South Korea’s main liberal opposition party tapped Sunday its former leader Lee Jae-myung as presidential candidate in the upcoming June 3 vote.
The Democratic Party said Lee has won nearly 90 percent of the votes cast during the party’s primary that ended Sunday, defeating two competitors.
Lee, a liberal who wants greater economic parity in South Korea and warmer ties with North Korea, has solidified his position as front-runner to succeed recently ousted conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Lee had led the opposition-controlled parliament’s impeachment of Yoon over his imposition of martial law before the Constitutional Court formally dismissed him in early April. Yoon’s ouster prompted a snap election set for June 3 to find a new president, who’ll be given a full, single five-year term.
Lee, 60, lost the 2022 election to Yoon in the narrowest margin recorded in the country’s presidential elections.
He is the clear favorite to win the election.
In a Gallup Korea poll released Friday, 38 percent of respondents chose Lee as their preferred new president, while all other aspirants obtained single-digit support ratings. The main conservative People Power Party is to nominate its candidate next weekend, and its four presidential hopefuls competing to win the party ticket won combined 23 percent of support ratings in the Gallup survey.
Lee, who served as the governor of South Korea’s most populous Gyeonggi province and a mayor of Seongnam city, has long established an image as an anti-establishment figure who can eliminate deep-rooted unfairness, inequality and corruption in South Korea. But his critics view him as a populist who relies on stoking divisions and demonizing opponents and worry his rule would likely end up intensifying a domestic division.