Суспільство

Bogota, Colombia — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was ordering tariffs, visa restrictions and other retaliatory measures to be taken against Colombia after its government rejected two flights carrying migrants.

Trump said the measures were necessary, because the decision of Colombian President Gustavo Petro “jeopardized” national security in the United States.

“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States.”

Earlier Sunday, Petro said that his government won’t accept flights carrying migrants deported from the U.S. until the Trump administration creates a protocol that treats them with “dignity.” Petro made the announcement in two X posts, one of which included a news video of migrants reportedly deported to Brazil walking on a tarmac with restraints on their hands and feet.

“A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves,” Petro said. “That is why I returned the U.S. military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants.”

Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the United States from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, according to Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data. It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.

Last year, Colombia and other countries began accepting U.S.-funded deportation flights from Panama.

The U.S. government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press regarding aircraft and protocols used in deportations to Colombia.

Petro, a former leftist guerrilla, added that his country would receive Colombians in “civilian airplanes” and “without treatment like criminals.”

As part of a flurry of actions to make good on U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign promises to crack down on illegal immigration, his government is using active-duty military to help secure the border and carry out deportations.

Two Air Force C-17 cargo planes carrying migrants removed from the U.S. touched down early Friday in Guatemala. That same day, Honduras received two deportation flights carrying a total of 193 people.

In announcing what he called “urgent and decisive retaliatory measures,” Trump explained that he ordered “25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States,” which would be raised to 50% in one week. He said he also ordered “A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations” on Colombian government officials, allies and supporters.

“All Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government,” Trump wrote will be subject to “Visa Sanctions.” He didn’t say to which party he was referring to or provide any additional details on the visa and travel restrictions.

Trump added that all Colombians will face enhanced customs inspections.
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President Donald Trump’s border czar said Sunday that the administration’s current priority is to deport undocumented immigrants who are deemed to pose security threats to the U.S. But he stressed that illegal immigration in general won’t be tolerated. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.
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New York — Critics lambasted it and audiences didn’t grade it much better. But despite the turbulence, Mel Gibson’s “Flight Risk” managed to open No. 1 at the box office with a modest $12 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. 

On a quiet weekend, even for the typically frigid movie-going month of January, the top spot went to the Lionsgate thriller starring Mark Wahlberg as a pilot flying an Air Marshal (Michelle Dockery) and fugitive (Topher Grace) across Alaska. But it wasn’t a particularly triumphant result for Gibson’s directorial follow-up to 2016’s “Hacksaw Ridge.” Reviews (21% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores (a “C” CinemaScore) were terrible. 

President Donald Trump recently named Gibson a “special ambassador” to Hollywood, along with Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone. 

Going into the weekend, Hollywood’s attention was more focused on the Sundance Film Festival and on Thursday’s Oscar nominations, which were twice postponed by the wildfires in the Los Angeles region. 

The weekend was also a small test as to whether the once more common Oscar “bump” that can sometimes follow nominations still exists. Most contenders have by now completed the bulk of their theatrical runs and are more likely to see an uptick on VOD or streaming. 

But the weekend’s most daring gambit was A24 pushing Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” a three–and-a-half-hour epic nominated for 10 Academy Awards, into wide release. Though some executives initially greeted “The Brutalist,” which is running with an intermission, as “un-distributable,” Corbet has said, A24 acquired the film out of the Venice Film Festival and it’s managed solid business, collecting $6 million in limited release. 

In wide release, it earned $2.9 million — a far from blockbuster sum but the best weekend yet for “The Brutalist.” 

The audience was downright miniscule for another best-picture nominee: RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys.” Innovatively shot almost entirely in first-person POV, the Amazon MGM Studios release gathered just $340,171 in 540 locations after expanding by 300 theaters. 

Coming off one of the lowest Martin Luther King Jr. weekends in years, no new releases made a major impact. 

Steven Soderbergh’s “Presence,” a well-reviewed horror film shot from the perspective of a ghost inside a suburban home, debuted with $3.4 million in 1,750 locations. The film, released by Neon and acquired out of last year’s Sundance, was made for just $2 million. 

The top spots otherwise went to holdovers. The Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” in its sixth weekend of release, scored $8.7 million to hold second place. After starting slowly, the Barry Jenkins-directed film has amassed $626.7 million globally. 

“One of Them Days,” the Keke Palmer and SZA-led comedy from Sony Pictures, held well in its second weekend, dropping just 32% with $8 million in ticket sales. In recent years, few comedies have found success on the big screen, but “One of Them Days” has proven an exception. 

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 

1. “Flight Risk,” $12 million. 

2. “Mufasa: The Lion King,” $8.7 million. 

3. “One of Them Days,” $8 million. 

4. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” $5.5 million. 

5. “Moana 2,” $4.3 million. 

6. “Presence,” $3.4 million. 

7. “Wolf Man,” $3.4 million. 

8. “A Complete Unknown,” $3.1 million. 

9. “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” $3 million. 

10. “The Brutalist,” $2.9 million. 
    …

U.S. authorities are now arresting hundreds of undocumented migrants per day and sending them back to their home countries, carrying out President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign pledge to deport masses of migrants who have illegally entered the United States. 

“We’re going to enforce immigration laws,” Vice President JD Vance told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. 

More than 1,000 migrants were arrested with hundreds repatriated to other countries, including Guatemala last week, during the first days of the new Trump administration, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the White House.  

“It’s going very well. We’re getting the bad, hard criminals out,” Trump told reporters Friday during a trip to North Carolina to view the flood recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene. 

Without evidence, he said, “These are murderers. These are people that have been as bad as you get. As bad as anybody you’ve seen. We’re taking them out first.” 

The White House released photos of shackled migrants boarding a C-17 military transport aircraft for flights out of the United States. 

Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, told ABC’s “This Week” show Sunday, “There will be more arrests nationwide.” 

Trump authorized sending 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, and Homan said, “You’ll see the numbers increase. They’re down there to create a secure border.” 

He said the U.S. is deporting “as many as we can” arrest, with the focus first on those convicted of U.S. crimes and then moving on to detain and deport those whose asylum requests have been rejected by U.S. officials. 

“We’re in the beginning stages,” Homan said. 

“It’s not OK to violate the laws of this country,” Homan said. He urged undocumented migrants, even those who have not been ordered out of the U.S., to return to their home countries voluntarily. 

About 11 million undocumented migrants are believed to be living in the U.S., a staggering number that most officials believe will be impossible to deport. 

“We’re going to do what we can with the money we have,” Homan said. 

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, urged his Republican colleagues in Congress to authorize more spending for the deportation effort.  

“We haven’t given the Trump team the resources,” Graham said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” show. He said Homan “needs to substantially hire more [immigration] agents. He needs to finish the [border] wall [with Mexico] and technology. He needs to go from 41,000 detention beds to 150,000 detention beds to make this work.” 

“So, to my Republican colleagues, particularly in the House [of Representatives], as we fiddle, our immigration plans are hitting walls. We’re not building walls, we’re hitting walls. We need to give Tom Homan the money now to execute the plan that he’s come up with. And without congressional funding this is going to hit a wall,” Graham declared. 

The Trump administration has stopped taking appointments for migrants waiting in Mexico to request asylum through a mobile app, but Trump’s anti-immigration edicts are facing legal challenges. One judge has already temporarily blocked Trump from declaring that he no longer recognizes constitutionally guaranteed citizenship for children of undocumented migrants born in the United States. 
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Cairo — Tens of thousands of Palestinians waited, blocked on the road, to return to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday, voicing frustration after Israel accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire agreement and refused to open crossing points. 

A day after a second exchange of Israeli hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the holdup underlined the risks hanging over the truce between the militant group and Israel, longtime adversaries in a series of Gaza wars. 

In central areas of Gaza, columns of people were waiting along the main roads leading north, some in vehicles and some on foot, witnesses said. 

“A sea of people is waiting for a signal to move back to Gaza City and the north, people are fed up and they want to go home,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a displaced person from Gaza City. “This is the deal that was signed, isn’t it?” 

“Many of those people have no idea whether their houses back home are still standing. But they want to go regardless, they want to put up the tents next to the rubble of their houses, they want to feel home,” he told Reuters via a chat app. 

On Sunday, witnesses said many people had slept overnight on the Salahuddin Road, the main thoroughfare running north to south and on the coastal road leading north, waiting to go past the Israeli military positions in the Netzarim corridor running across the center of the Gaza Strip. 

Vehicles, trucks and rickshaws were overloaded with mattresses, food, and with the tents that used to shelter them for over a year in the central and southern areas of the enclave, and volunteers were distributing water and food. 

Under the agreement worked out with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the United States, Israel was meant to allow Palestinians displaced from the homes in the north to return to their homes. 

But Israel said that Hamas’ failure to hand over a list detailing which of the hostages scheduled for release is alive or to hand over Arbel Yehud, an Israeli woman taken hostage during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 meant it had violated the agreement. 

As a result, checkpoints in the central Gaza Strip would not be opened to allow crossings into the northern Gaza Strip, it said in a statement. Hamas issued a statement accusing Israel of stalling and holding it responsible for the delay. 

‘Demolition site’ 

On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump instructed the U.S. military to release 2,000-pound bombs that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had ordered to be withheld from delivery to Israel over concern about their impact on the civilian population of Gaza. 

He also called on Egypt and Jordan to take on more Palestinians from Gaza either temporarily or permanently, saying “we should just clear out the whole thing.” 

“It’s literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there,” he told reporters after a call with Jordan’s King Abdullah. 

An official of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, reacted with suspicion to the remarks, echoing longstanding Palestinian fears about being driven permanently from their homes. 

Palestinians “will not accept any offers or solutions, even if [such offers] appear to have good intentions under the guise of reconstruction, as announced in the proposals of U.S. President Trump,” Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told Reuters. 

Al-Awda Hospital officials said four people were wounded by Israeli fire, from soldiers apparently trying to prevent people coming too close. 

The Israeli military issued warnings to Palestinians not to approach its positions in Gaza and said soldiers had fired warning shots on several occasions but said “as of now, we are unaware of any harm caused to the suspects as a result of the shooting.” 

 
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ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was in talks with multiple people over buying TikTok and would likely have a decision on the popular app’s future in the next 30 days.

“I have spoken to many people about TikTok and there is great interest in TikTok,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One during a flight to Florida.

Earlier in the day, Reuters reported two people with knowledge of the discussions said Trump’s administration is working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app’s operations.

Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a stake in the company, but data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s Web infrastructure, one of the sources told Reuters.

However, in his comments to reporters on the flight, Trump said he had not spoken to Oracle’s Larry Ellison about buying the app.

Asked if he was putting together a deal with Oracle and other investors to save TikTok, Trump said: “No, not with Oracle. Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days. Congress has given 90 days. If we can save TikTok, I think it would be a good thing.”

The sources did say the terms of any potential deal with Oracle were fluid and likely to change. One source said the full scope of the discussions was not yet set and could include the U.S. operations as well as other regions.

National Public Radio on Saturday reported the deal talks for TikTok’s global operations, citing two people with knowledge of the negotiations. Oracle had no immediate comment.

The deal being negotiated anticipates participation from ByteDance’s current U.S. investors, according to the sources. Jeff Yass’s Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Sequoia Capital are among ByteDance’s U.S. backers.

Representatives for TikTok, ByteDance investors General Atlantic, KKR, Sequoia and Susquehanna could not immediately be reached for comment.

Others vying to acquire TikTok, including the investor group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and another involving Jimmy Donaldson, better known as the YouTube star Mr. Beast, are not part of the Oracle negotiation, one of the sources said.

Oracle responsible

Under the terms of the deal, Oracle would be responsible for addressing national security issues. TikTok initially struck a deal with Oracle in 2022 to store U.S. users’ information to alleviate Washington’s worries about Chinese government interference.

TikTok’s management would remain in place, to operate the short video app, according to one of the sources.

The app, which is used by 170 million Americans, was taken offline temporarily for users shortly before a law that said it must be sold by ByteDance on national security grounds, or be banned, took effect on Jan. 19.

Trump, after taking office a day later, signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law that was put in place after U.S. officials warned that under ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.

Officials from Oracle and the White House held a meeting on Friday about a potential deal, and another meeting has been scheduled for next week, NPR reported.

Oracle was interested in a TikTok stake “in the tens of billions,” but the rest of the deal is in flux, the NPR report cited the source as saying.

Trump has said he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” in TikTok.

NPR cited another source as saying that appeasing Congress is seen as a key hurdle by the White House.

Free speech advocates have opposed TikTok’s ban under a law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden.

The company has said U.S. officials have misstated its ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the U.S. 
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday threatened bounties on the heads of Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders, sharply escalating the tone as he said more Americans may be detained in the country than previously thought.

The threat comes days after the Afghan Taliban government and the United States swapped prisoners in one of the final acts of former U.S. President Joe Biden.

The new top U.S. diplomat issued the harsh warning via social media, in a rhetorical style strikingly similar to his boss, President Donald Trump.

“Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported,” Rubio wrote on X.

“If this is true, we will have to immediately place a VERY BIG bounty on their top leaders, maybe even bigger than the one we had on bin Laden,” he said, referring to the al-Qaida leader killed by U.S. forces in 2011.

Rubio did not describe who the other Americans may be, but there have long been accounts of missing Americans whose cases were not formally taken up by the U.S. government as wrongful detentions.

In the deal with the Biden administration, the Taliban freed the best-known American detained in Afghanistan, Ryan Corbett, who had been living with his family in the country and was seized in August 2022.

Also freed was William McKenty, an American about whom little information has been released.

The United States in turn freed Khan Mohammed, who was serving a life sentence in a California prison.

Mohammed was convicted of trafficking heroin and opium into the United States and was accused of seeking rockets to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The United States offered a bounty of $25 million for information leading to the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden shortly after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, with Congress later authorizing the secretary of state to offer up to $50 million.

No one is believed to have collected the bounty for bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.

Harder line on Taliban?

Trump is known for brandishing threats in his speeches and on social media. But he is also a critic of U.S. military interventions overseas and in his second inaugural address Monday said he aspired to be a “peacemaker.”

In his first term, the Trump administration broke a then-taboo and negotiated directly with the Taliban — with Trump even proposing a summit with the then-insurgents at the Camp David presidential retreat — as he brokered a deal to pull U.S. troops and end America’s longest war.

Biden carried out the agreement, with the Western-backed government swiftly collapsing and the Taliban retaking power in August 2021 just after U.S. troops left.

The scenes of chaos in Kabul brought strong criticism of Biden, especially when 13 American troops and scores of Afghans died in a suicide bombing at the city’s airport.

The Biden administration had low-level contacts with Taliban government representatives but made little headway.

Some members of Trump’s Republican Party criticized even the limited U.S. engagements with the Taliban government and especially the humanitarian assistance authorized by the Biden administration, which insisted the money was for urgent needs in the impoverished country and never routed through the Taliban.

Rubio on Friday froze nearly all U.S. aid around the world.

No country has officially recognized the Taliban government, which has imposed severe restrictions on women and girls under its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor on Thursday said he was seeking arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders over the persecution of women. 
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«Проєкт містить структурні прогалини, юридичну невизначеність, а також положення, які можуть послаблювати права працівників»
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LOS ANGELES — Rain began falling in parched Southern California on Saturday in a boon for firefighters who were mopping up multiple wildfires. But heavy downpours on charred hillsides could bring the threat of new troubles like toxic ash runoff. 

Los Angeles County crews spent much of the week removing vegetation, shoring up slopes and reinforcing roads in devastated areas of the Palisades and Eaton fires. The two fires reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble and ash after breaking out during powerful winds on January 7. 

Most of the region was expected to get about 2.5 centimeters of precipitation over several days, but “the threat is high enough to prepare for the worst-case scenario” of localized cloudbursts causing mud and debris to flow down hills, the National Weather Service said on social media. 

“So the problem would be if one of those showers happens to park itself over a burn area,” weather service meteorologist Carol Smith said. “That could be enough to create debris flows.” 

The rain started along the Central Coast before moving into Ventura and LA counties in the evening. It was forecast to increase throughout the weekend and possibly last into early Tuesday, Smith said. Flood watches were issued for some burn areas, and snow was likely in the mountains. 

Leaders take steps to speed cleanup

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order this week to expedite cleanup efforts and mitigate the environmental impacts of fire-related pollutants. Los Angeles County supervisors also approved an emergency motion to install flood-control infrastructure and expedite and remove sediment in fire-impacted areas. 

Fire crews filled sandbags for communities while county workers installed barriers and cleared drainage pipes and basins. 

Officials cautioned that ash in recent burn zones was a toxic mix of incinerated cars, electronics, batteries, building materials, paints, furniture and other household items. It contains pesticides, asbestos, plastics and lead. Residents were urged to wear protective gear while cleaning up. 

Concerns about post-fire debris flows have been especially high since 2018, when the town of Montecito up the coast from LA was ravaged by mudslides after a downpour hit mountain slopes burned bare by a huge blaze. Twenty-three people died, and hundreds of homes were damaged. 

Several fires continue burning

While the impending wet weather ended weeks of dangerous gusts and dry conditions, several wildfires were still burning across Southern California. Those included the Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed at least 28 people and destroyed more than 14,000 structures. Containment of the Palisades Fire reached 81%, and the Eaton Fire was at 95% containment. 

In northern Los Angeles County, firefighters made significant progress against the Hughes Fire, which prompted evacuations for tens of thousands of people when it erupted Wednesday in mountains near Lake Castaic. 

And in San Diego County, there was still little containment of the Border 2 Fire churning through a remote area of the Otay Mountain Wilderness near the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The rain was expected to snap a near-record streak of dry weather for Southern California. Much of the region has received less than 5% of the average rainfall for this point in the water year, which began October 1, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

Most of Southern California is now either in “extreme drought” or “severe drought,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. 
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WASHINGTON — The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.

The finding is not the result of any new intelligence, and the report was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA Director William Burns. It was declassified and released Saturday on the orders of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in Thursday as director.

The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin. But the agency’s assessment assigns a low degree of confidence to this conclusion, suggesting the evidence is deficient, inconclusive or contradictory.

Earlier reports on the origins of COVID-19 have split over whether the coronavirus emerged from a Chinese lab, potentially by mistake, or whether it arose naturally. The new assessment is not likely to settle the debate. In fact, intelligence officials say it may never be resolved, due to a lack of cooperation from Chinese authorities.

The CIA “continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible,” the agency wrote in a statement about its new assessment.

Instead of new evidence, the conclusion was based on fresh analyses of intelligence about the spread of the virus, its scientific properties and the work and conditions of China’s virology labs.

Lawmakers have pressured America’s spy agencies for more information about the origins of the virus, which led to lockdowns, economic upheaval and millions of deaths. It’s a question with significant domestic and geopolitical implications as the world continues to grapple with the pandemic’s legacy.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Saturday he was “pleased the CIA concluded in the final days of the Biden administration that the lab-leak theory is the most plausible explanation,” and he commended Ratcliffe for declassifying the assessment.

“Now, the most important thing is to make China pay for unleashing a plague on the world,” Cotton said in a statement.

China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Chinese authorities have in the past dismissed speculation about COVID’s origins as unhelpful and motivated by politics.

While the origin of the virus remains unknown, scientists think the most likely hypothesis is that it circulated in bats, like many coronaviruses, before infecting another species, probably racoon dogs, civet cats or bamboo rats. In turn, the infection spread to humans handling or butchering those animals at a market in Wuhan, where the first human cases appeared in late November 2019.

Some official investigations, however, have raised the question of whether the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan. Two years ago, a report by the Energy Department concluded a lab leak was the most likely origin, though that report also expressed low confidence in the finding.

The same year then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency believed the virus “most likely” spread after escaping from a lab.

Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, has said he favors the lab leak scenario, too.

“The lab leak is the only theory supported by science, intelligence, and common sense,” Ratcliffe said in 2023.

The CIA said it will continue to evaluate any new information that could change its assessment.
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Троє моряків зустрілися з сім’ями в будівлі Одеської обласної військової адміністрації, повідомили ГУР і голова області
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На Краматорському напрямку Сили оборони, за зведенням, відбивали 32 російських спроби просунутися вперед
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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has fired about 17 independent inspectors general at U.S. government agencies, a sweeping action to remove oversight of his new administration that some members of Congress are suggesting violates federal oversight laws. 

The dismissals began Friday night and were effective immediately, according to two people familiar with the action. They spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public. Neither confirmed the exact number of firings, but an email sent by one of the fired inspectors general said “roughly 17” inspectors general had been removed. 

Congress was not given 30-day notices about the removals — something that even a top Republican is decrying. 

“There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so,” Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.

“I’d like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the 30-day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress,” said Grassley, a Republican.

The role of the modern-day inspector general dates to post-Watergate Washington, when Congress installed offices inside agencies as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of power. Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, some serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be nonpartisan. 

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham acknowledged that the firings violated statutes but shrugged it off: “Just tell them you need to follow the law next time,” he said. 

Democrats and watchdog groups, however, used the dismissals to raise alarm that Trump was making it easier to take advantage of the government. 

“Inspectors General are the cops on the beat preventing bad things from happening,” Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, said in a statement. “Their work saves the taxpayer tens of billions of dollars every year.” 

The White House did not comment Saturday. Trump was in Las Vegas for a speech focused on his campaign promise to end federal taxation on tips. 

But the moves were consistent with Trump’s first week back in the White House, which has featured a series of steps to remake the federal government. He has used executive orders to impose hiring freezes, cracked down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and suggested he wants to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency and leave disaster recovery up to individual states affected by major emergencies. 

“Yesterday, in the dark of night, President Trump fired at least 12 independent inspector generals at important federal agencies across the administration,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Saturday on the chamber’s floor. “This is a chilling purge and it’s a preview of the lawless approach Donald Trump and his administration are taking far too often as he’s becoming president.” 

The Washington Post, which first reported the firings, said that many were appointees from Trump’s first term. Among those inspectors general reportedly removed included those for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense and Education. 

Spared in this round of dismissals, however, was Michael Horowitz, the longtime Justice Department inspector general who has issued reports on assorted politically explosive criminal investigations over the past decade. 

In December 2019, for instance, Horowitz released a report faulting the FBI for surveillance warrant applications in the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. But the report also found that the investigation had been opened for a legitimate purpose and did not find evidence that partisan bias had guided investigative decisions. 

Horowitz’s status aside, the move against the watchdogs drew criticism from congressional Democrats. 

Still, Trump has aggressively challenged the authority of independent agency watchdog groups in the past. 

In 2020, he replaced multiple key inspectors general, including those leading the Defense Department and intelligence community, as well as the inspector general tapped to chair a special oversight board for the $2.2 trillion economic relief package on the coronavirus. 

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called Trump’s actions “a purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night.” 

“Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse, and preventing misconduct,” Warren posted on X. 
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The Trump administration has begun mass deportations with raids in cities such as Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Buffalo and Newark, among others. The administration announced that it would expand expedited deportations without appearances before a judge. The first flight with deportees has already arrived in Guatemala.

Click here for the full report in Spanish.
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На Покровському напрямку російські війська 32 рази атакували позиції Сил оборони, 9 боєзіткнень тривають на момент зведення
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LOS ANGELES — U.S. President Donald Trump surveyed disaster zones in California and North Carolina on Friday and said he was considering “getting rid of” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, offering the latest sign of how he is weighing sweeping changes to the nation’s central organization for responding to disasters.

In fire-ravaged California, the state’s Democratic leaders pressed Trump for federal assistance that he’s threatened to hold up, some setting aside their past differences to shower him with praise. Trump, in turn, pressured local officials to waive permitting requirements so people can immediately rebuild, pledging that federal permits would be granted promptly.

Instead of having federal financial assistance flow through FEMA, the Republican president said Washington could provide money directly to the states. He made the comments while visiting North Carolina, which is still recovering months after Hurricane Helene, on the first trip of his second term.

“FEMA has been a very big disappointment,” the Republican president said. “It’s very bureaucratic. And it’s very slow.”

Trump was greeted in California by Governor Gavin Newsom, a Trump critic whom the president frequently disparages. The duo chatted amiably and gestured toward cooperation despite their history.

“We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help,” Newsom told Trump. “You were there for us during COVID. I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations we’ll be able to work together to get a speedy recovery.”

Newsom has praised Trump before when looking for help from the federal government. In the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, he called Trump “thoughtful” and “collaborative.”

Trump flew over several devastated neighborhoods in Marine One, the presidential helicopter, before landing in Pacific Palisades, a hard-hit community that’s home to some of Southern California’s rich and famous. Accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, he walked a street where all the houses have burned, chatting with residents and police officers.

It takes seeing the damage firsthand to grasp its enormity, Trump said after. The fires, which continue to burn, could end up being the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

“It is devastation. It really is an incineration,” Trump said.

Trump’s brief but friendly interaction with Newsom belied the confrontational stance he signaled toward California earlier in the day. Even on the plane en route to Los Angeles, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was using Trump’s disparaging nickname for the governor, “Newscum,” and telling reporters, “He has wronged the people of his state” and saying Trump was visiting to pressure Newsom and other officials “to do right by their citizens.”

Trump said Los Angeles residents who lost their homes should be able to get back onto their properties immediately to clear them, adding several told him it will be months before they can rebuild.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said residents should be able to return home within the week, but keeping people safe from hazardous materials is a top priority. She said the city was easing the process to get permits, but she was repeatedly interrupted by Trump as she tried to explain the city’s efforts. He downplayed the concerns about toxins, saying: “What’s hazardous waste? We’re going to have to define that.”

Trump has a long history of minimizing the risks of asbestos. In his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback, Trump called asbestos “the greatest fireproofing material ever used” and “100% safe, once applied,” and claimed the movement against the insulator was led by the mob, “because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal.”

Before flying to California, Trump reiterated that he wants to extract concessions from the Democratic-led state in return for disaster assistance, including changes to water policies and requirements that voters need to show identification when casting ballots.

Beyond Trump’s criticism of FEMA, he’s suggested limiting the federal government’s role in responding to disasters, echoing comments from conservative allies who have proposed reducing funding and responsibility.

“I’d like to see the states take care of disasters,” he said in North Carolina. “Let the state take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happen.”

Trump said Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native and chair of the Republican National Committee, would help coordinate recovery efforts in the state, where frustrations over the federal response have lingered. Although Whatley does not hold an official government position, Trump said he would be “very much in charge.”

FEMA helps respond to disasters when local leaders request a presidential emergency declaration, a signal that the damage is beyond the state’s ability to handle on its own. FEMA can reimburse governments for recovery efforts such as debris removal, and it gives stopgap financial assistance to individual residents.

Trump has criticized former President Joe Biden for his administration’s response to Helene in North Carolina. As he left the White House on Friday morning, he told reporters that “it’s been a horrible thing the way that’s been allowed to fester” since the storm hit in September, and “we’re going to get it fixed up.

In a small town in western North Carolina, residents told Trump about wading through waist-deep water to escape from their homes while fearing for their lives. Some have battled with insurance companies to get their losses covered.

“We’ve come to North Carolina with a simple message,” Trump said. “You are not forgotten any longer. You were treated very badly by the previous administration.”

FEMA has distributed $319 million in financial assistance to residents, but that hasn’t alleviated the feeling of abandonment among residents who are struggling to rebuild their lives.

Michael A. Coen Jr., who served as chief of staff at FEMA during the Biden administration, said Trump was “misinformed” about an agency that provides critical help to states when they are overwhelmed by catastrophe.

In addition, Coen criticized the idea of attaching strings to assistance. “I think the American people expect the federal government will be there for them on their worst day, no matter where they live,” he said.

Trump tapped Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL with limited experience managing natural disasters, as FEMA’s acting director.
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WASHINGTON — As U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term gets underway, the contours of his administration’s South Asia policy are taking shape: India stands front and center, while other regional countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan prepare to be sidelined.

“With the exception of India, which is a large but special case, the other countries in South Asia, I think, are positioning themselves for somewhat less attention from Washington, somewhat less predictability, and somewhat more bilateral engagement operating through multilateral organizations or multilateral channels,” said Joshua White, a former director for South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council who is now a professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS.

India

While the Biden administration worked closely with India on a range of issues, including defense and technology, Indian officials see Trump’s return to office as an opportunity for expanded cooperation. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warm relationship, forged during Trump’s first term, promises a deeper relationship, officials and experts say.

In October, Trump called Modi “a great friend” and “the nicest human being.” Modi reciprocated in his congratulatory message, calling Trump a “dear friend” and pledging to work “closely together once again.”

Beyond the rapport the two leaders share, India, South Asia’s largest country, is a strategic U.S. ally and a counterweight to China’s expanding influence in Asia.  The U.S. is also India’s second-largest trading partner, after China.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz, both China hawks and staunch India proponents, are expected to push for deeper bilateral engagement with New Delhi.

Underlying India’s importance, Rubio had his first bilateral meeting with S. Jaishankar, India’s minister of external affairs.

“There was a very visible appetite to get this relationship moving, to do more, to raise the bar, to set bigger goals,” Jaishankar said.

An early focus in the U.S.-India relationship is mass deportation of undocumented Indian immigrants.

India has identified 18,000 undocumented Indian migrants for repatriation to India, Bloomberg news reported this week, showing support for a Trump administration priority.

There are nearly 800,000 undocumented Indians living in the U.S., including tens of thousands who illegally entered the country under the Biden administration.

Jaishankar said India is opposed to illegal migration and open to the return of migrants in the U.S. illegally.

Yet challenges remain in the relationship. Visa delays experienced by Indian citizens “constrain the people-to-people interactions,” he said.

Moreover, the Trump administration’s pivot to other geopolitical issues, from the war in Ukraine to the relationship with China, could overshadow relations with India, experts say.

“If they have anything significant to be anxious about, apart from the immigration questions, it will be that this administration will not be as attentive to South Asia as the last administration was,” White said.

Pakistan

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used an optimistic tone on Trump’s inauguration day, pledging to work with the new president to strengthen the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

“Over the years, our two great countries have worked together closely to pursue peace and prosperity in the region and beyond for our peoples & we shall continue to do so in the future. My best wishes to President Trump for a successful second term in office,” Sharif wrote on X Monday.

To engage with the new administration, Islamabad dispatched Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to Washington to meet with members of Trump’s foreign policy team as well as congressional leaders, Dawn, a leading Pakistani newspaper, reported Friday.

Yet U.S.-Pakistan ties remain strained. Early in his first term, Trump suspended most security aid to Pakistan, accusing it of harboring terrorism, before gradually resuming cooperation as his administration began to negotiate an agreement with Afghanistan’s Taliban.

Complicating the prospects for improved ties between Washington and Islamabad, former Prime Minister Imran Khan remains in prison, with many members of Congress and some Trump advisers calling for his release.

Alluding to those calls, a Pakistani foreign office spokesperson cautioned Thursday against interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs, even as he reiterated hopes for expanded bilateral ties.

“This is part of the principles on which interstate relations are shaped,” the spokesperson, Shafqat Ali Khan, said, according to Dawn.

Zamir Akram, a former Pakistan ambassador, noted that Washington tends to view Islamabad through its strategic alliance with China and tensions with India.

“So, this is a difficult environment that we’ll face,” Akram said on a podcast hosted by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh presents another complex case in the Trump administration’s South Asia policy formulation.

Following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster last August, the interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, received a wide range of support from the Biden administration.

That support is now on the chopping block. Yunus, who has been critical of Trump in the past, nonetheless voiced cautious optimism about bilateral cooperation with the new U.S. administration.

In his congratulatory message to Trump, Yunus “expressed firm belief that both nations would work together to explore new avenues of cooperation,” according to the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry.

The country’s two leading parties — the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League — urged continued U.S. support for Bangladeshi democracy and development.

“As a democratic country, I expect America and other democratic nations to support and cooperate in favor of democracy,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told VOA. “I believe the United States will assist in fostering democracy and development in our country.”

But Mohammad A. Arafat, a member of the Awami League’s central executive committee and a former state minister, criticized the Biden administration’s policy and urged a change in course.

“Unlike the Biden administration, which showed unwavering support for individuals like Dr. Yunus despite allegations of corruption, the Trump administration adopts a noninterventionist approach, refraining from interfering in other countries’ internal affairs,” Arafat told VOA.

VOA’s Bangla Service contributed to this report.
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