2023-12-11
Foreign News
US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

The US government is trying to bring back nuclear safety employees it fired on Thursday, but is struggling to let them know they should return to work, NBC News has reported.
The National Nuclear Security Administration workers were among hundreds of employees in the energy department who received termination letters.
An email obtained by NBC said the letters for some NNSA employees “are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel”.
The terminations are part of massive effort by President Donald Trump to slash the ranks of the federal workforce, a project he began on his first day in office, less than a month ago.
Last week, nearly 10,000 federal workers were let go, according to multiple US outlets.
That figure was in addition to the estimated 75,000 workers who have accepted an offer from the White House to leave voluntarily in the autumn.
The nuclear security officials who were laid off on Thursday helped oversee the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. That included staff who are stationed at facilities where the weapons are built, according to CNN.
Attempting to reach the workers, the email, which was sent to current employees, said: “Please work with your supervisors to send this information (once you get it) to people’s personal contact emails.”
Trump is working to slash spending across the board, abroad and at home, and going so far as to call for eliminating the education department. He is getting help from the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who, through an effort called Doge for Department of Government Efficiency, has sent workers to comb through data at federal agencies and helped implement the “buyout” offer.
Last week, the Trump administration ordered agencies to fire nearly all probationary employees, those who had generally been in their positions for less than a year and not yet earned job protection. That included the NNSA staff members.
Altogether, the move could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of people.
Several of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the government’s size and spending have been met with legal challenges.
More than 60 lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration since the president was inaugurated on 20 January.
[BBC]
Foreign News
Teen dead and five injured in Austria knife attack

A 14-year-old boy has been killed and five people wounded in a knife attack in southern Austria.
Police said the suspect is a 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who was detained at the scene in Villach, a town near the border with Italy and Slovenia.
Police are yet to establish a motive but have involved extremism specialists in the investigation, a spokesman told BBC News.
The incident took place around 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) near the town’s main square. Two of the five people injured were in a serious condition as of Saturday evening.
A delivery worker who had driven his vehicle at the attacker helped prevent more injuries, police said.
The driver – also a Syrian man – said he witnessed the attack as he was driving by and deliberately rammed the knifeman.
The suspect was arrested shortly after by two female police officers. As of Saturday evening, he was still being interrogated, police said.
Some witness reports initially indicated a potential second attacker, leading to police shutting down train travel in the attack’s immediate aftermath.
However, local police told BBC News they were confident only one knifeman was involved.
Austrian law means the attacker’s identity has not been released but police confirmed he is a 23-year-old Syrian man who lived locally.
He had a temporary residence permit and was waiting for a decision on his asylum application.
Police initially said four people were wounded but a fifth person later came forward with minor injuries.
The identity of the teenager who was killed has also not yet been disclosed.
The attack comes amid national debates over asylum laws and a political crisis following an election last year which saw the far-right Freedom Party come out on top for the first time.
However it had failed to form a coalition government, leaving Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen weighing up whether to call a snap election, form a minority government, or invite other parties or a group of experts to try and form an administration.
Herbet Kickl, the head of the Freedom Party, seized on the Villach attack, saying in a statement that Austria needs a “rigorous crackdown on asylum”.
Peter Kaiser of the centre-left Social Democratic Party – who is the governor of Carinthia, the region where Villach is located – described the attack as an “unimaginable atrocity”.
He said the stabbings should not lead to “hateful” reactions while urging the government and European Union to tighten asylum policy.
[BBC]
Latest News
At least 15 killed in New Delhi station crush

A crush at New Delhi Railway Station has left at least 15 people dead and a further 10 injured.
Dr Ritu Saxena, deputy medical superintendent of Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi, confirmed the numbers to BBC Hindi after thousands of people reportedly crammed into the railway station on Saturday evening.
The Reuters news agency reported that three of the dead were children, while 10 were women.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his thoughts were “with all those who have lost their loved ones” in a post on X.
Eyewitnesses told BBC Hindi a “huge crowd” had gathered at the station, through which many people were travelling to and from the Hindu religious festival, the Kumbh Mela.
Ruby Devi said the crowd at the Indian capital’s main railway station had been so big she was unable to get inside.
Another person said police were doing their job “but the crowd became too much”.
Inside the station, according to officials, two trains had been delayed, while a third – heading to Prayagraj, where the Kumbh Mela is held – was waiting to depart.
“There were far more people than I have ever seen at this station,” Dharmendra Singh, who was hoping to travel to Prayagraj, told India’s PTI news agency.
“In front of me, six or seven women were taken away on stretchers.”
KPS Malhotra, deputy commissioner of police, said the situation had been “out of control for a brief spell of 10 to 15 minutes due to overcrowding”.
Indian Railways had initially dismissed talk of a stampede as a “rumour”, according to Reuters, but confirmed that an undisclosed number of people had been injured and taken to hospital.
The incident comes weeks after dozens were killed in a pre-dawn crush at the Kumbh Mela festival in northern India, where tens of millions of Hindus had gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on one of the holy days of a six-week festival.
[BBC]
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