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Trump directs Pentagon to ‘use all available funds’ to pay troops during shutdown
Donald Trump is directing US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to pay military personnel despite the federal government shutdown.
The president said on Saturday that Hegseth must make sure troops do not miss out on their regular paycheque, scheduled for Wednesday. The directive comes as other government employees have already had some pay withheld and others are being laid off.
“I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
The Republican and Democratic parties blame each other for failing to agree on a spending plan to reopen the government.
Trump’s message asks Hegseth to “use all available funds to get our Troops PAID” on 15 October, when military personnel would see their pay withheld for the first time since the shutdown began on 1 October.
Many US military employees are considered “essential”, meaning they must still show up for duty without pay. Some 750,000 other federal employees – about 40% – have been furloughed, or sent home, also without pay.
Furloughed employees are legally supposed to receive back-pay after a shutdown ends and they return to work, but the Trump administration has insinuated this might not happen.
“The Radical Left Democrats should OPEN THE GOVERNMENT, and then we can work together to address Healthcare, and many other things that they want to destroy,” Trump posted on Saturday.
Democrats have refused to vote for a Republican spending plan that would reopen the government after nearly 12 days shut down, saying any resolution must preserve expiring tax credits that reduce health insurance costs for millions of Americans and reverse Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, the healthcare program for elderly and low-income people.
Republicans accuse Democrats of unnecessarily bringing the government to a halt, and blame them for the knock-on effects caused by the federal work stoppage.
Finding a way to pay for military salaries could help reduce some of the political risk for congressional leaders if the shutdown drags on.
In an effort to pressure Democrats, the Trump administration has also begun laying off thousands of government workers, an unprecedented move during a shutdown.
“The RIFs have begun,” White House Office of Management Director Russell Vought announced in a post on X on Friday morning, referring to an acronym for “reductions in force”.
The administration disclosed later on Friday that seven agencies had started firing more than 4,000 people, making good on the president’s repeated threats to use the shutdown to further his long-held goal of reducing the federal workforce.
The reductions included dozens of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the BBC’s US partner CBS news, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The agency’s entire Washington DC office was laid off, the sources told CBS, adding that among the laid-off employees were those working on the CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, the agency’s Ebola response and immunisations. There were also reductions in the human resources department, they said.
Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, told CBS that the let-go workers were not essential, and that “HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda”.
Employees at the Treasury Department and in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the Department of Homeland Security were also among those laid off on Friday, those agencies confirmed.
The American Federation of Government Employees and AFL-CIO, two major unions representing federal workers, have filed a lawsuit in northern California, asking a judge to temporarily block the layoff orders.
“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country,” AFGE president Everett Kelley said.
A spokesman from the White House budget office told the BBC on Saturday that the layoffs were just the beginning.
“These RIF numbers from the court filing are just a snapshot in time,” he said. “More RIFs are coming.”
In a court filing opposing the unions’ request for a temporary restraining order, the justice department revealed that agencies such as the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency could also see staff cuts.
The government lawyers said the labour unions had failed to establish that their members would be irreparably harmed by the layoffs, which is needed for the judge to grant the restraining order. But they said a restraining order would “irreparably harm the government”.
[BBC]
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to further jail terms following a fraud case involving state gifts.
They were convicted of breaking Pakistan’s rules on gifts after Bibi was given a luxury jewellery set by Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman during a 2021 state visit.
The pair are already serving time in prison for earlier convictions, and the new sentences – 10 years for criminal breach of trust and seven years for criminal misconduct, and a fine – will reportedly run concurrently to their earlier terms.
Khan has described the charges as politically motivated and his lawyer told BBC News his team plan to challenge the verdict.
Speaking to the BBC after the hearing, the former prime minister’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, said Khan’s legal team had only been informed about the sentencing late on Friday night, after normal court hours.
They planned to mount a challenge to the verdict in the high court, Mr Safdar said.
This case is the latest in a series of charges laid against the cricket star-turned-politician, who has been detained since August 2023. In January he was sentenced to 14 years in prison over a separate corruption case. He has faced charges in more than 100 cases, ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts. The BBC has been unable to confirm the exact number brought against him.
The jewellery case, referred to as Toshakhana 2 in Pakistan, concerns a Bulgari jewellery set given to Bushra Bibi by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a state visit in 2021, according to court documents.
Under Pakistan’s rules on state gifts, these items go to Pakistan’s Toshakana department (state treasury), but politicians are able to purchase the items back.
Khan is alleged to have asked a private firm to undervalue the jewellery set, before purchasing it back at a significantly reduced price.
In addition to their jail terms, the pair were handed a fine of over 16 million Pakistani rupees (£42,600).
Khan was also convicted in an earlier, different Toshakhana case – but he challenged that conviction, meaning his sentence is suspended until the outcome of his appeal.
He also has other cases outstanding against him.
These include terrorism charges relating to violent protests that took place on 9 May 2023, when he was previously arrested.
Khan was Pakistan’s prime minister until April 2022 when he was ousted in a vote of no confidence.
Although he has not been seen in public, his social media accounts have continued to operate with messages attributed to him on X often appearing after jail visits.
These have been highly critical of Pakistan’s current government and its politically powerful army Chief Field Marshall Asim Munir, including posts calling him a tyrannical dictator.
In November, he was denied any visitors for nearly a month.
After campaigning by his family and party, his sister was allowed to visit in early December; a few hours after she saw him, his account posted a comment credited to Khan calling the Field Marshall Asim Munir a “mentally unstable person”.
Khan, 73, has not been allowed any family visits since.
The judgement states the judge was lenient in sentencing because of Khan’s “old age”.
[BBC]
The US has seized an oil tanker that had recently departed from Venezuela, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
It is the second time this month that an oil-carrying ship has been seized off the country’s coast.
The move comes after President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was ordering a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
Venezuela has described the latest US move as “theft and kidnapping”. It has previously accused the Trump administration of trying to steal its resources.
“These acts will not go unpunished,” a statement from the Venezuelan government said, adding that it intended to file a complaint with the UN Security Council and “other multilateral agencies and the governments of the world”.
The operation was led by the US Coast Guard, similar to the operation earlier this month. The ship was boarded by a specialised tactical team, and was in international waters when it was taken.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees the Coast Guard, shared a seven-minute video of the operation on X.
It shows US helicopters landing on the deck of a ship with the name Centuries written on the side.
It is a Panamanian-flagged ship, but in the past five years it has also sailed under the flags of Greece and Liberia, according to records seen by BBC Verify.
It is not on the US Treasury’s list of sanctioned vessels, but in the hours after the announcement, the White House clarified that its cargo was sanctioned.
“The tanker contained sanctioned PDVSA oil,” said a post from Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary, referring to Venezuela’s state-run oil company .
The post said the tanker was “operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil and fund the narcoterrorist Maduro regime.”
In recent weeks, the US has been building up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea and has carried out deadly strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling boats, killing around 100 people.
It has provided no public evidence that these vessels were carrying drugs, and the military has come under increasing scrutiny from Congress over the strikes.
The Trump administration has accused Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro of leading a designated-terrorist organisation called Cartel de los Soles, which he denies.
Trump has accused Maduro’s government of using “stolen” oil to “finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping”.
Following the seizure of the second ship, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the US would continue to “unflinchingly conduct maritime interdiction operations… to dismantle illicit criminal networks.”
“Violence, drugs, and chaos will not control the Western Hemisphere.”
Venezuela – which is home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves – is highly dependent on revenues from its oil exports to finance its government spending.
Trump’s announcement of a blockade came less than a week after the US seized an oil tanker believed to be part of the “ghost fleet” off the coast of Venezuela, which allegedly used various strategies to conceal its work.
Venezuela’s government decried the move, with Maduro saying the US ” kidnapped crew” and “stole” the ship.
[BBC]
There was a little bit of rustiness as India returned to action 50 days after becoming ODI world champions, but not so much to prevent them from registering a dominant win in the first T20I against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam.
Despite dew being a constant presence on a cool evening, India’s spinners rallied to keep Sri Lanka’s top order in check – even if they did not pick up wickets in a heap – thus restricting them to 121 for 6. It was a below-par total given that the dew was only going to increase as the temperatures reduced – something Harmanpreet Kaur had alluded to while choosing to chase at the toss. India made easy work of it to get home with eight wickets and 32 balls to spare, starting their road to the T20 World Cup 2026 in June on the right note.
Jemimah Rodrigues, batting for the 100th time in T20Is, struck a 14th half-century in the format to help the hosts canter. There was a mild intrigue around India’s No. 3, with Harleen Deol batting at that spot for two games in England, and Harmanpreet signaling her intent to be India’s one drop at the last T20 World Cup. But Rodrigues’ 69 not out from 44 balls should dispel any doubts India would have had.
This was India’s sixth win in ten games since being knocked out in the league stage of the 2024 iteration.
Brief scores:
India Women 122 for 2 in 14.4 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 69*, Smriti Mandhana 25, Harmanpreet Kaur 15*; Kawya Kavindi 1-20, Inoka Ranaweera 1-17) beat Sri Lanka Women 121 for 6 in 20 overs (Vishmi Gunaratne 39, Chamari Athapaththu 15, Hasini Perera 20, Harshita Samarawickrama 21; Deepti Sharma 1-20, Kranti Gaud 1-23, Shree Charani 1-30) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
Financial contributions received for ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund
UNICEF representatives and PM discuss rebuilding schools affected by the Disaster
A few showers may occur in the Uva province and in Ampara, Batticaloa, Matale, Nuwara-Eliya, and Hambantota districts
NMRA laboratory lacks SLAB accreditation
Air quality deteriorating in Sri Lanka
Cardinal urges govt. not to weaken key socio-cultural institutions
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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