US President Donald Trump is signing another raft of executive orders, including one to sanction the International Criminal Court.
Follow our blog for live updates.
Key Events
-
Trump administration sued by government workers over slashing of USAID
-
US Senate confirms Project 2025 co-author as budget director
-
NCAA bans transgender women from sports
What is the International Criminal Court?
Founded in 2002 — in the wake of the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide — the ICC was formed to investigate alleged atrocities.
This includes crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.
The ICC's founding Rome statute oblige all 124 ICC signatory states to arrest and hand over any individual subject to an ICC arrest warrant if they set foot on their territory.
(Reuters)
However, it's difficult to enforce and relies on the cooperation of state parties, says professor of international law at the London School of Economics, Gerry Simpson.
"There is a legal question here and a political question. The political question really aligns around the relationship between diplomacy and law," Mr Simpson said.
The issuance of an ICC arrest warrant doesn't curb an individual's freedom to travel. However, once an arrest warrant has been issued, they risk arrest if they travel to an ICC signatory state.
The ICC has 125 member states.
The United States, China and Russia are not members. They are therefore not obliged to detain or surrender accused individuals.
Reporting with Reuters
Not the first time Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC
Imposing sanctions on the ICC isn't new to the president.
In June 2020, when Mr Trump was three years into his first term as president, he placed sanctions on senior ICC officials as the court investigated whether the US committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
The sanctions were imposed on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides.
Under the order, the US could block assets of ICC employees and prevent them from entering the country — a move the court said was an attack on justice and the rule of law.
Netanyahu and Mike Johnson reschedule their meeting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson tomorrow after Johnson's White House meeting conflicted with today's planned get-together.
Mike Johnson (Reuters: Leah Millis)
They will meet at 10am, local time, and deliver remarks to the press afterward, according to Johnson's office.
Trump administration sued by government workers over slashing of USAID
The largest US government worker union and an association of foreign service workers have sued the Trump administration on Thursday in an effort to reverse its aggressive dismantling of USAID.
The lawsuit was filed in Washington DC federal court by the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association.
It seeks an order blocking what it says are "unconstitutional and illegal actions" that have created a "global humanitarian crisis".
The suit against Mr Trump, as well as his Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and their agencies, argues that the president is exceeding his authority in violation of the Constitution and federal law.
"Not a single one of defendants' actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorisation," the lawsuit said.
"And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency."
(Reuters: Kent Nishimura)
The Trump administration, spearheaded by Elon Musk, have targeted the independent agency ever since inauguration day.
Musk alleges USAID funding has been used to launch deadly programs and called it a "criminal organisation".
On his first day of office, Mr Trump implemented a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance.
Since then, dozens of senior officials have been put on leave and thousands of contractors laid off.
And a little over an hour ago we found out the Trump administration is expected to keep fewer than 300 people on the job.
US Senate confirms Project 2025 co-author as budget director
The Republican-led US Senate has just confirmed Trump's nominee Russell Vought as the White House budget chief.
This places the reins of government funding in the hands of a hardline conservative who co-authored Project 2025 and has advocated for reducing Congress's power over taxpayer dollars.
Russel Vought. (Reutrs: Elizabeth Frantz/file)
The Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Vought after a marathon overnight session during which Democrats denounced him as dangerous far-right ideologue and blasted Republicans for rubber-stamping Trump's nomination.
Vought, who also headed the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's first presidential term, raised concerns among members of both parties by criticizing a 1974 law preventing presidents from unilaterally blocking congressionally approved funding, a practice known as "impoundment".
In his two confirmation hearings, Vought repeatedly said he believed a 1974 law was unconstitutional, a position that even the Republican committee chairmen said they did not fully support.
The Republican-led Senate voted 53-47. (Reuters: Kaylee Greenlee Beal)
Democrats sought to link Vought's role in the hard-right Project 2025 policy initiative to a range of administration actions, including the Trump administration's unilateral actions to essentially shutter the US Agency for International Development and fire prosecutors at the Justice Department.
"Whether it's with federal workers, whether it's at USAID, whether it's hurting Justice Department prosecutors, all of that is Russell Vought at work," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on a floor speech.
"He's working to hurt you, Mr and Mrs America."
Republicans championed Vought's experience as budget director and the role they expect him to play in cutting wasteful government spending.
NCAA bans transgender women from sports
The NCAA, the governing body for collegiate sports in the US, banned transgender women from competing in women's sports effective immediately, aligning itself with Donald Trump.
The new NCAA policy says:
"A student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women's team."
The NCAA previously allowed transgender women to compete as long as they met testosterone limits on a sport-by-sport basis.
In a post on X, Mr Trump said it was a "great day for women and girls across our Country".
He said "men should have NEVER been allowed to compete against women in the first place".
The change is said to only affect a small number of athletes.
NCAA president Charlie Baker told a Senate panel in December he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes among the 530,000 competing at 1,100 member schools.
However, critics say the ban infringes on rights.
Election commissioner says Trump removed her from office
Ellen Weintraub. (AP: Carolyn Kaster)
US Federal Election Commission commissioner and chair Ellen Weintraub has just posted on X, saying she received a letter from President Donald Trump removing her from office.
Trump's brief letter reads: "You are hereby removed as a member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately."
In her tweet, Weintraub wrote: "There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn't it.
"I've been lucky to serve the American people and stir up some good trouble along the way.
"That's not changing anytime soon."
Trump pledges to eradicate 'anti-Christian bias'
President Trump spoke at a "prayer breakfast" in Washington DC on Thursday morning, local time, in which he promised to eradicate "anti-Christian bias".
The National Prayer Breakfast is held yearly and is designed to allow religious groups and members of the government to mix.
"The mission of this task force will be to immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the FBI and other agencies," Trump said.
Trump administration to keep less than 300 USAID staff out of thousands, sources say
Hi everyone, I'm Jessica Riga and I'll be joining the blog this morning.
Here's the latest on the US Agency for International Development (USAID) overhaul, which is set to upend the lives of thousands of staff.
Multiple sources have told Reuters news agency that Trump's administration plans to keep fewer than 300 USAID staff out of the agency's worldwide total of more than 10,000.
Protests were held at the start of the week. (Reuters: Kent Nishimura)
Washington's primary humanitarian aid agency has been a target of a government reorganisation program spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Four sources familiar with the plan said only 294 staff at the agency would be allowed to keep their jobs, including only 12 in the Africa bureau and eight in the Asia bureau.
J Brian Atwood, who served as USAID head for more than six years, called the move "outrageous".
He said the mass termination of personnel would effectively kill an agency that has helped keep tens of millions of people around the world from dying.
"A lot of people will not survive," Atwood said.
The US Department of State did not respond to a request for comment.
Reporting with Reuters
Senate Democrats hold all-night protest
I promised to catch you up on this, and I am a man of my word.
So, there's a lot of confirmation hearings going on at the moment. They're essentially checks and balances, where an incomming president's nominees for key government roles (Secretary of State, Secretary of Defence etc) get grilled by lawmakers.
The Republicans (that's the party Donald Trump represents) has the majority in the Senate, so theoretically these should be quite straightforward, so long as everyone in the party supports President Trump's nominations. That doesn't always happen though and some are facing some hurdles to get appointed (like RFK Junior in the health portfolio.
Anyway, I'm waffling.
The Democrats are still pushing back where they can, though. And there was a classic example of this on Wednesday night, local time, when they ensured debate went all night.
They were allowed to speak for 30 hours and as you can imagine, most debates don't go their full allotted time, but the Democrats ensured this one did.
Russell Vought. (Reuters: Kaylee Greenlee Bea)
The nominee was for Russell Vought, who President Trump wants to lead the White House budget office.
Mr Vought is the co-author of something called Project 2025. It's an ultraconservative policy platform released last year by Washington-based right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation.
Amongst other things, Project 2025 outlined a plan to put independent institutions like the Department of Justice and FBI under direct control of the President.
Vought served in President Trump's first administration, and is expected to be confirmed to lead the White House budget office, which is responsible for administring the $US 6.75 trillion ($10.75 trillion) federal budget.
Democrats have no hope of stopping the appointment, but the party's leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said they would speak for the full 30 hours anyway.
"We want Americans, every hour, whether it's 8pm or 3am, to hear how bad Russell Vought is and the danger he poses to them in their daily lives," he said.
Destruction in Gaza 'beyond my worst fears', UN staff member says
During a visit to Gaza, the United Nations chief of humanitarian affairs Tom Fletcher said the scale of devastation was "beyond my worst fears".
"But since Gaza Ceasefire took hold, humanitarians are mobilising massive lifesaving aid — food, water, tents, medicine — for the survivors. We must be supported to continue," he posted on X.
Rubio says Palestinians in Gaza must relocate in 'interim'
During a visit to the Dominican Republic, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about Donald Trump's proposal for Gaza.
He said Palestinians would need to relocate from the territory in the "interim" while Gaza is rebuilt. Have a watch:
Trump executive order warns of 'significant' sanctions against ICC
Donald Trump has signed an executive order sanctioning the ICC saying that the US would "impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC's transgressions" that threaten the national security of the US and Israel.
The order includes financial and visa sanctions on individuals and their families who assist in ICC investigations of American citizens or allies.
For context, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant last November.
The court accused them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
It claimed Netanyahu and Gallant used "starvation as a method of warfare".
You can read more on that here:
Judge delays federal worker 'buyout'
Right let's move away from Gaza and the ICC for a moment: there was another deadline today in Washington that was quite significant.
Trump campaigned on cuts to the public service. Since he came to office, more than 2 million federal employees had been offered "buyouts" (this term isn't really used in Australia, but in the US it's used to describe a deal for you to leave your job).
The deadline had been 12am Friday, local time (4pm AEDT), but that's no longer a thing.
As of Thursday afternoon, Bloomberg reported about 50,000 people had accepted the offer. That represents about 2.5 per cent of the federal workforce. The White House had reportedly hoped for a much higher figure (between 5 and 10 per cent).
A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday ensured the deadline was delayed anyway.
Judge George O'Toole Jr said the plan had to be halted until Monday, when he'd hold a hearing on a lawsuit filed by several unions.
This program has become pretty infamous. The email that landed in federal employees inboxes had the subject line: Fork in the road.
The email claimed that, in most cases, employees could stop working now but actually keep getting paid until September.
It comes back to the Trump administration's desire to cut the public service and see federal employees return to the office full-time (rather than work from home).
Some unions believe the buyout offers are illegal, hence why they're challenging them in court.
Breaking: Trump signs ICC sanctions order
According to a White House official, US President Donald Trump has now signed the executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court.
(Reuters: Elizabeth Frantz)
'We make Australia's foreign policy'
Here's Housing Minister Clare O'Neil on ABC News Breakfast this morning, speaking about this week's developments in Washington DC:
Question: Is Trump trying to shut down the ICC?
Someone called Crispin has asked:
If Trump sanctions the ICC are we to assume that he is trying to shut it down? American banks will stop funds. But other countries that support the ICC will then be in jeopardy through that same sanction. So they buckle to Trump’s will. Is this the end of the ICC?
I'm going to answer this in two parts. First (and I'm not being a pedant here) you're making two assumptions there that I'm not prepared to:
- 1.That President Trump is trying to shut the ICC down. We know he's been scathing of many global bodies (the UN, for instance) but he's never actually said explicitly that he wants to shut the ICC down. I'm not saying he doesn't want to shut it down, I just don't know if he does.
- 2.That other countries that support the ICC will buckle to Mr Trump's will. There's no doubt Mr Trump is incredibly powerful, but I think we've seen world leaders disagree with him respectfully before. Most of America's allies are signatories.
So now, to answer the rest of your question: Is this the end of the ICC?
The word sanctions gets bandied about a lot. This is what it actually means. Let's say the ICC have a licence agreement with the US-based company Microsoft to use their software (things even you may use every day, like Windows, the email program Outlook, and then admin tools like Excel and Word, blahdy blah the list goes on). Well, that would have to stop as part of the sanctions. And that's just ONE example. Sanctions would affect most, if not all, aspects of how the ICC operates.
It would certainly make life very difficult for the ICC.
Israel's offer to Gazans
My colleague, Middle East correspondent Eric Tlozek, can talk you through it:
Netanyahu's present to Trump
Benjamin Netanyahu's office has revealed the Israeli PM gave US President Donald Trump a gift earlier this week, when the pair met in Washington DC.
It was a golden pager. Sorry, what?
The golden pager. (Supplied: Israeli PMO)
You'll need to cast your minds back to September, when thousands of hand-held pagers being used by the militant group Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon and Syria.
While Israel didn't claim responsibility for it at the time, it's since been revealed the attack (codenamed Operation Grim Beeper) was a years-long Mossad plan that involved setting up shell companies, gaining Hezbollah's trust, and then placing undetectable explosives that could be detonated remotely in the devices.
In a statement, Mr Netanyahu's office said:
The pager symbolizes the Prime Minister's decision that led to a turnaround in the war and the starting point for breaking the spirit of the terrorist organization Hezbollah.
This strategic operation expresses the power, technological superiority and cunning of the State of Israel against its enemies.
Trump doubles down on Gaza proposal
My colleague, North America correspondent Kamin Gock, has just been speaking about this, so I'll let him explain:
