Headline
USAID Staff To Work From Home As Musk Pushes To Shut Down Agency

USAID headquarters in Washington will be closed on Monday, with employees normally assigned to the office now to work remotely.
In an internal email obtained by ABC News the message stated that employees normally assigned to the office will work remotely, except for those with essential on-site duties.
“Further guidance will be forthcoming,” the email said.
The closure follows comments from Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who said he was “in the process” of “shutting down” USAID.
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Musk claimed President Trump supported his efforts.
Tensions are rising at the agency, with DOGE staff reportedly taking over offices and senior officials locked out of internal systems.
Employees are being placed on administrative leave, and USAID’s chief of staff resigned. Musk’s agency is asserting control over USAID, which manages foreign aid and international development programs.
On Friday night, a group identifying as State Department employees and DOGE representatives demanded access to USAID offices, even threatening to involve U.S. Marshals when initially denied. Security later allowed their entry.
READ ALSO: Musk Brands USAID As ‘Criminal Organization’ Amid Row
Musk has been vocal about his stance on USAID, calling it “a criminal organization” on social media. This move has unsettled USAID staff, with one official telling ABC News,
“The warp-speed of this mafia-like takeover has shaken USAID staff to the core.”
Posters and flags were removed from the Ronald Reagan Building, and employees placed on leave had their ID badges and work computers seized.
DOGE spokeswoman Katie Miller denied any unauthorized access to classified material but confirmed the group gained control of several critical USAID systems, including financial management software Phoenix, which led to disruptions in payments for contractors.
Headline
UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.
In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.
Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.
Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.
“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.
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“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.
Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.
Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.
“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.
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“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.
“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”
The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.
She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.
Headline
Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.
The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.
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A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.
“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.
AFP
Headline
Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.
As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.
Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.
“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.
READ ALSO:Antitrust Trial: US Asks Court To Break Up Google’s Ad Business
The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.
The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.
However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.
“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.
READ ALSO:Trump Slams Harvard With New Restrictions On Funds
According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.
Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”
Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.
READ ALSO:Judge Throws Out Trump’s $15bn ‘Rage’ Lawsuit Against New York Times
Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.
He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.
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