US court suspends funding cuts to global media agency

In Washington, Federal Judge Royce Lambert has temporarily halted the plan of the administration of US President Donald Trump to fire more than 500 employees of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), most of whom work at the Voice of America. This was reported by Politico.

In late August, the agency's acting director general, Kari Lake , announced that the cuts would take effect on September 30. However, the court ruling preserves the status quo until Judge Lambert issues a final decision on the lawsuit to overturn the cuts.

Judge Lambert said the agency's "disturbing disrespect" for court orders under longtime Trump ally Kari Lake justifies contempt proceedings.

He noted that the agency appeared to have misled him about its layoff plan, despite his repeated fears that management was downsizing to the point that the agency was not meeting legal requirements to broadcast to places where it needs to circumvent censorship by authoritarian regimes, such as North Korea, and parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

• on September 14, Trump signed an executive order to cut seven independent federal agencies. Subsequently, it became known that more than 600 Voice of America employees had received layoff notices.