HIV/AIDS relief is exempt from foreign aid cuts
The US State Department has started to withdraw all USAID personnel stationed overseas by this weekend, WIRED reported citing sources. Many of the employees of the US Agency for International Development have been put on leave, restricted access to their workspace and ordered to stop all work, the report added. President Donald Trump announced that he was shutting down USAID.
Workers are reeling from chaos in federal agencies
US President Donald Trump’s White House has banned employees from referring to each other by their personal pronouns. The ban applies to all federal agencies, the White House said in a statement. “Use of personal pronouns sends the wrong message about what it means to be an employee of the federal government,” it added.
Tech workers are forced to defend their work
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE), which was appointed by US President Donald Trump, wants to use White House security credentials to gain unusual access to GSA technology and other things, WIRED reported. “Granting DOGE staff…un unfettered access to internal government systems and sensitive data poses a huge security risk to the federal government and to the American public,” a Biden official said.
Trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit
Meta has agreed to pay a $25 million settlement to US President Donald Trump over a lawsuit over the suspension of his accounts after the US Capitol insurrection. Trump had sued Meta and Facebook CEO Mark Zuck for suspending him for violating policy against inciting violence and not due to statements made by a member of Congress, as his legal team claimed.
Trans people are already terrified after seeing a lot more hate
Following US President Donald Trump’s executive order on transgender identity, the US Department of Homeland Security said that it “has no plans to take any action” regarding online gender identity services such as Grindr. However, it added that it is “deeply concerned” and “concerned” about the order. It further said that there is “no question that trans individuals have a legal right to self-identify”.
The EV Mandate is what Trump says he ended
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that seeks to roll back the electric vehicle (EV) mandate. The order seeks to take a look at rules related to EVs and determine whether they’re “unduly burdensome” and interfere with consumer choice. The order has also ordered agencies to determine if the regulations are “unduly burdensome” and interfere with consumer choice.
This is what to know about the meme coins
US President Donald Trump’s supporters have launched a meme coin, ‘Trump coin’, worth $7 (over 56) on Sunday. CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight own 80% of the Trump coin, which is currently worth about $60 (over 5,400). Trump’s supporters said the coin is intended to be a tool to share Trump’s “positive energy” with the American people.
Trump provides immunity to tech firms when he signs an executive order pausing the TikTok ban
US FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said, “TikTok’s threat to national security”. Carr also wrote about protecting US from security threats emanating from China, including by addressing “TikTok’s threat to national security”. On his first day in office, US President Donald Trump ordered the Attorney General to not enforce a law on American companies doing business with other countries for 75 days.
TikTok is unavailable in the US and not available from the app stores
The US President Joe Biden has suggested TikTok to raise its concerns with President-elect Donald Trump about a new law which requires apps to remove TikTok content from their platforms. Biden said that he’d like to know how TikTok plans on complying with the law. TikTok has asked Apple and Google not to remove the app from their app stores.
The Supreme Court upheld a ban on TikTok
Following the US Supreme Court’s ruling in the TikTok case, US President Donald Trump said, “My decision on TikTok will be made in not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation.” Trump had earlier said he had a “very good” call with China’s President Xi Jinping, including discussions about the app.