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US issues broad freeze on foreign aid after Trump orders review

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The U.S. State Department issued a “stop-work” order on Friday for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, Reuters reported citing a cable, after President Donald Trump ordered a pause to review if aid allocation was aligned with his foreign policy.

The cable, drafted by the Department’s foreign assistance office and approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said waivers have been issued for military financing for Israel and Egypt. No other countries were mentioned in the cable.

The move risks cutting off billions of dollars of life-saving assistance. The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally – in fiscal year 2023, it disbursed $72 billion in assistance.

Just hours after taking office on Monday, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy but the scope of the order was not immediately known.

The State Department cable said effective immediately, senior officials “shall ensure that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, no new obligations shall be made for foreign assistance” until Rubio has made a decision after a review.

It says that for existing foreign assistance awards stop-work orders shall be issued immediately until reviewed by Rubio.

“This is lunacy,” Jeremy Konyndyk, a former USAID official who is now president of Refugees International, said. “This will kill people. I mean, if implemented as written in that cable … a lot of people will die.”

“There’s no way to consider this as a good-faith attempt to sincerely review the effectiveness of foreign assistance programming. This is just simply a wrecking ball to break as much stuff as possible,” Konyndyk said.

Trump’s order is unlawful, argued a source familiar discussions in Congress on the move.

“Freezing these international investments will lead our international partners to seek other funding partners – likely U.S. competitors and adversaries – to fill this hole and displace the United States’ influence the longer this unlawful impoundment continues,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

WAIVERS

A USAID official, who requested anonymity, said officers responsible for projects in Ukraine have been told to stop all work. Among the projects that have been frozen are support to schools and health assistance like emergency maternal care and childhood vaccinations, the official said.

Across the board, “decisions whether to continue, modify, or terminate programs will be made” by Rubio following a review over the next 85 days. Until then Rubio can approve waivers.

Rubio has issued a waiver for emergency food assistance, according to the cable. This comes amid a surge of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas began on Sunday and several other hunger crises around the world, including Sudan.

But Konyndyk said emergency food assistance was just a minority of all humanitarian assistance, adding that nutrition, health and vaccination programs will have to stop, as would relief aid to Gaza and Syria as well as services to refugee camps in Sudan.

“It’s manufactured chaos,” said a former senior official with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Organizations will have to stop all activities, so all lifesaving health services, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, maternal and child health, all agriculture work, all support of civil society organizations, education,” said the official.

The State Department cable also said waivers have so far been approved by Rubio for “foreign military financing for Israel and Egypt and administrative expenses, including salaries, necessary to administer foreign military financing.”

Israel receives about $3.3 billion in foreign military financing annually, while Egypt receives about $1.3 billion

Other states identified for such financing in 2025 include Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Djibouti, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Israel, Egypt and Jordan, according to a request to Congress from former President Joe Biden’s administration.

That request also said foreign military financing would “also seek to bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces’ ability to mitigate instability and counter malign Iranian influence.”

The Lebanese military is currently trying to deploy into the south of the country as Israeli troops withdraw under a ceasefire deal that requires Iran-backed Hezbollah weapons and fighters to also be removed from the area.

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Trump took secret flight out of Turkey due to Iran threat, the Washington Post reports

The trip to NATO was the first international travel for the new plane, whose speedy upgrades triggered questions over its cost and security, and took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkey.

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U.S. President Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey last month when the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One, an extraordinary move prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, the Washington ​Post reported Monday.

Trump had taken the newly renovated Qatari-donated jet to Ankara for the NATO summit but he unexpectedly used ‌an older Air Force One when departing the country, a move that prompted questions about the newer plane’s security, Reuters reported.

The trip to NATO was the first international travel for the new plane, whose speedy upgrades triggered questions over its cost and security, and took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Turkey.

Before departing Ankara, Trump said on Truth ​Social that he would use an older baby blue Air Force One plane “for old time’s sake” to RAF Mildenhall in Britain while ​the new plane stopped at the same base so U.S. service members stationed there could tour the aircraft.

After Trump ⁠boarded the old Air Force One in front of cameras in Ankara, he was secretly shuttled by an airport catering truck to a smaller plane, ​an Air Force C-32A, the Post reported citing a U.S. official familiar with the operation and corroborating material it reviewed.

The deception operation was triggered by ​a credible threat to Trump, the Post reported. A similar operation had taken place in 2000, when President Bill Clinton used an unmarked executive jet to fly into Pakistan while sending his formal Air Force One as decoy.

On this occasion, the journalists who thought they were traveling with Trump on the older Air Force One, which was effectively ​used as a decoy, reported being advised to keep their window shades in the press cabin closed. The Post said aside from reporters, some ​White House staff also believed that the president was on board.

When asked later by reporters why they had to keep their shades shut during the flight, Trump said ‌it was ⁠because they were “probably on a dangerous flight.” He went onto say: “But if I go, you go. Right?”

The C-32A carrying Trump flew to Britain and arrived at around 10:20 p.m. while the older Air Force One and media, arriving minutes later, the Post reported. It was not clear, the paper said, how Trump was moved from the C-32A back to the older Air Force One.

Trump’s traveling press pool reported he climbed down the stairs of the ​older Air Force One at 10:56 p.m. ​UK local time.

He gave press ⁠a peace sign but didn’t walk over to talk to them. He then spent some time greeting service members before walking to the new, Qatar-donated plane.

When asked for comment on the revelation of a secret flight on a ​third plane, the White House provided a statement from Communications Director Steve Cheung saying the Qatari-donated jet ​has been fitted with ⁠high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff.

“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats,” Cheung said. It was the same statement provided to the Post.

The ⁠Pentagon did ​not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new plane, with red, white, dark blue ​and gold livery chosen by Trump, is a Boeing 747 gifted to the United States by Qatar last year and refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies. It was intended to serve ​as a temporary placement while Boeing (BA.N) struggled to deliver long-delayed next-generation Air Force One planes.

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More than 100 killed after strongest quake this century hits western Colombia

The U.S. Geological Survey said the ⁠7.4-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 107 km (66 miles). Colombia’s Geological Service said it was the strongest earthquake recorded in the country in the 21st century.

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More than 100 people were killed after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, toppling buildings, damaging hospitals and infrastructure and trapping people beneath the rubble in the country’s strongest earthquake this century.

The quake struck just ​days after Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in as president, thrusting the new administration into its first major crisis, with memories still fresh of devastating twin earthquakes in neighboring Venezuela in June, Reuters reported.

“The ‌national government has all of its capabilities deployed to protect lives, assist affected communities and deliver aid wherever it is needed,” he said in a national address around 1 p.m. local time, upon declaring a national state of emergency and giving a death toll of 111. “The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble.”

De La Espriella visited Quibdo, the capital of coastal Choco province, where he promised rent subsidies for those who have lost homes, and then traveled to Cali, western Colombia’s largest city.

Though he had ​been expected to give an updated national death toll on Monday evening, De La Espriella offered only figures for Valle del Cauca province, where Cali is located, saying 35 people had died there, while ​700 had been injured. Some local media have cited a national total of 132 deaths, though the origin of the figure is unclear.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the ⁠7.4-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 107 km (66 miles). Colombia’s Geological Service said it was the strongest earthquake recorded in the country in the 21st century.

As night fell, rescue workers and volunteers with headlamps hurried to ​find people still trapped under rubble.

Authorities in Cali, Armenia and Manizales announced curfews, with Cali’s mayor saying threats of looting had forced him to deploy police and military personnel to the streets. De La Espriella promised 1,000 additional ​security personnel for the city.

Cali authorities said the Petronio Alvarez festival, an annual celebration of Pacific music which was due to start on Wednesday, has been postponed.

Video broadcast by Caracol Television showed a group of people pulling a small baby covered in dust from under a pile of rubble. Caracol reported the six-month-old girl and her mother were rescued from under a five-story building in Cali.

Video from Cali also showed rescue workers rappelling people out from the windows of a local hospital.

BUILDINGS CRUMBLE, AIRPORTS CLOSED

In the hard-hit ​city of Pereira, rescue workers told local television they were in contact with a young boy trapped under a bakery, and crane operators were working to remove badly damaged parts of buildings.

A four-story building crumbled in Pereira during ​the quake, according to Reuters-verified video, while footage from Manizales showed one of the side towers of the city’s landmark neo-Gothic cathedral collapsing and scattering debris onto nearby streets.

Reuters video showed rescue workers, police and volunteers shoveling debris by hand and ‌loading rubble into ⁠trucks as they searched for survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings. Other footage showed damage to residential towers and emergency-service facilities, with debris crashing onto ambulances parked below.

Mauricio Andrade, a firefighter in Cali, said his team had rescued two adult women and two children from a collapsed building. As he spoke to Reuters, his team was preparing to rescue more people from the rubble.

“They are alive,” he said. “We are making space so we can free them and get them out.”

Carmen Yasmin Garcia, 43, a Cali resident and rescue volunteer, said her group had helped seven people out of a fallen building but there were still four people and a dog trapped underneath.

“A moment ago there was scratching ​but now we can’t hear anything, we still have ​faith that the dog is alive and we ⁠can get these people out,” she said. “The more people lending a hand the better.”

Saul Paz, 69, a resident of a Cali residential complex that partially collapsed, told Reuters he had been in the dining room with his son and wife when the shaking began.

“I think if it had lasted five seconds more there would be nothing left,” ​he said. “There are people who went to bed last night with a house and a car and today they won’t have anything.”

Colombia’s civil aviation authority suspended operations ​at several airports in the ⁠region, including Pereira, Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago and Buenaventura, while engineers carried out structural inspections.

RING OF FIRE

Colombia sits along the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire and records thousands of mostly minor earthquakes each month.

Northwestern University seismologist Suzan van der Lee said the quake’s powerful magnitude, inland location and strike-slip motion may have amplified damage in populated valleys despite its considerable depth.

“This one was far below the crust, and in theory it shouldn’t cause as much shaking. At this magnitude, it did ⁠actually cause a ​lot of shaking,” she said, adding Colombia is particularly difficult for seismologists to analyze due to the interaction of several major tectonic plates.

The ​Colombian Geological Service said it had recorded 21 aftershocks by late Monday and warned that additional tremors were likely.

Colombia’s coffee region was devastated by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in 1999 that killed more than 1,000 people, particularly around Armenia and Pereira.

 

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Fire at Saudi factory kills 16 Bangladeshi migrant workers

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A major fire at a sofa manufacturing factory ​in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, ‌killed 16 Bangladeshi migrant workers, officials in Dhaka said on Monday.

The ​fire broke out on ​Sunday in the Musa Sanaiya industrial ⁠area, Reuters reported.

Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign ​Affairs is monitoring the situation, ​while officials from the Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh are working with Saudi authorities ​to complete the repatriation formalities.

​Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful ‌Haque ⁠Choudhury has instructed officials to bring back the bodies as soon as possible and ensure ​necessary government ​assistance and ⁠compensation for the bereaved families.

With around 3.5 ​million Bangladeshis living in ​Saudi ⁠Arabia, the country remains the largest destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers, ⁠who ​sent home more ​than $2.7 billion in remittances last year.

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