As the Trump’s administration’s 90-day freeze on nearly all US foreign aid continues into a third week, thousands of USAID personnel were expected to be placed on administrative leave or fired, with plans to only retain several hundred personnel deemed “essential,” effectively gutting the agency. However, a federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plans to put 2,200 direct hire USAID employees on leave and halted the accelerated removal of staffers from countries around the world.

“The goal of our endeavor has always been to identify programs that work and continue them and to identify programs that are not aligned with our national interest and identify those and address them,” Rubio said Thursday during a visit to the Dominican Republic.

Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, reiterated earlier this week that he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs.

“If it’s providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you’re not included in the freeze. I don’t know how much more clear we can be than that,” Rubio said, questioning the competency of organizations that haven’t applied for a waiver.

Almost all USAID humanitarian assistance programs remain stopped in their tracks, they said.

“Our payment systems have been taken over. We no longer can pay. We don’t have staff,” the USAID employee said, adding that has caused even supposedly exempt work to stop, in dire places like Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Ethiopia.

The power to process payments has “been taken away from USAID,” the agency employee said.

But even those limited activities have been disrupted because NGOs don’t have money to pay the salaries of aid workers and, in some cases, USAID stop-work orders are still in place.

Meanwhile, food procurement in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has been halted, according to a coalition of humanitarian NGOs in the country. And nutrition services for malnourished children and adults have also been suspended, despite Rubio’s waiver for lifesaving food assistance.

In Syrian refugee camps, the US funded coordination costs and services to protect aid workers. That money is now frozen, meaning even organizations with other funding have suspended operations, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Food kitchens funded by the US in Sudan are already shutting down, according to Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International and a former USAID official.

“A lot of displaced people and a lot of people who are caught in famine and other crises could be harmed, if not gravely harmed, if not killed by this pullback of aid,” Konyndyk said, warning of the wide-reaching impact on refugees in Sudan, Syria and Gaza.

Konyndyk also noted that USAID employees can’t act on the waivers if they are locked out of their government systems or placed on administrative leave.

Waiver ‘100% meaningless,’ aid worker says

Many USAID projects are carried out by federal contractors, which typically cover costs up front and then submit invoices for reimbursement – but USAID isn’t currently processing those payments, a USAID official said Friday.

Federal contractors at two US companies said their invoices have not been paid since Inauguration Day.

“The work we do on behalf of the US government provides critical health commodities to address HIV/AIDS and malaria around the world, supports efforts to curb migration from Central America, engages the US agriculture partners and know how to support Ukrainian food production, and supports democracies throughout the world,” a spokesperson for Chemonics said in a statement. “As a result of the stop-work order, we have been unable to withdraw funds from the letter of credit to pay vendors and for expenses incurred prior to the stop-work order.”

According to the Professional Services Council, the trade association for many federal contractors, the US government owes its member companies about $500 million in unpaid invoices since the foreign aid freeze went into effect.

“These payments would be for completed work required by existing contracts and for which contractors had already spent the money,” the council said in a statement, calling on the government to “pay its bills.”

Some aid efforts are also being stopped because groups implementing the projects have not been given clarity on what activities are allowed to continue.

“If a partner proceeds without clarity on what they are allowed to do under their award and under this executive order, then they are taking an enormous risk,” one USAID employee said. If they do something – even if it’s lifesaving – that is later deemed to go against the order, “they will get slammed down and maybe shut down.”

A traffic accident involving a bus in southern Mexico, which took place in the early hours of Saturday morning, killed 41 people, the government of Tabasco state said in a statement, adding that recovery work was still ongoing.

The bus, which was carrying 48 people, collided with a truck, resulting in the deaths of 38 passengers and two of the drivers, the local authorities said, adding that the driver of the truck also died.

Reuters images show the bus completely burned out after it was engulfed by flames following the collision, with just the skeletal remains of the metal frame left standing.

“So far, only 18 skulls have been confirmed, but much more is missing,” sources for the security of Tabasco said on condition of anonymity, adding that recovery work continued.

Bus operator Tours Acosta said it was “profoundly sorry about what happened,” in a post on Facebook, adding that it was working with authorities to find out what happened and if the bus had been traveling within the speed limit.

For the Israeli hostages freed Saturday, the suffering did not end when Hamas militants paraded their frail and gaunt figures on a stage in Gaza ahead of their release to the Red Cross.

Only later, after the freed men arrived back on home soil, would two of them discover that some of the loved ones they had hoped to see again were already dead.

During their stage-managed appearance at the hands of Hamas, one of the Israeli hostages, Eli Sharabi, told the crowd – clearly speaking under duress – that he hoped to see his wife Lianne and daughters Noiya and Yahel.

All three were killed in Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 – but it was only on his return to Israel that Sharabi learnt their fate, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Sharabi did appear to know, however, that his brother Yossi – who was also taken hostage by Hamas – had subsequently died in Gaza, where according to the Israeli military his body remains.

Both men and their families had lived at the kibbutz, where more than 100 people were killed during the October 7 attacks. Sharabi’s niece has previously spoken of how close the two families were.

‘He did not know’

Another of the hostages released Saturday, Or Levy, had suspected that his wife Einav had died but had not known for sure as he had no access to media during his time in captivity, his mother Geula Levy said.

Levy, 34, was attending the Nova music festival on October 7 when he was kidnapped. His wife Einav was killed in the attack.

Levy’s mother said he had asked about his wife while in Sheba Hospital following his release.

“He did not know. He assumed, and asked, and we told him,” she told Israel’s public broadcaster Kann 11 News.

While in the hospital, Levy reunited with his son, who was only 2 years old when his father was taken hostage.

The father and son came together “as if nothing had happened,” Geula Levy said.

Levy’s family issued a statement following his release, celebrating his return while also mourning the death of Einav.

“Her loss has left an enormous void in all our hearts,” they said.

‘Let’s get it done’

The treatment of Sharabi, Levy and Ohad Ben Ami while they were in captivity, and the realization they did not know of their loved ones’ fate, has already galvanized one hostage family to use the moment to call for more action now.

On Saturday, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American murdered by Hamas militants in Gaza in August, urged US President Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to push for the release of all hostages held in Gaza “this week,” dismissing the multi-staged approach to the ceasefire deal agreed by Israel and Hamas.

“Our plea to you (Trump and Witkoff) right now is, now that you’ve done the hard part of getting movement, getting a deal started, let’s not think about phase one and phase two and phase three and many months,” Jon Goldberg-Polin said in video. “Let’s think bigger and faster.”

“All 76 hostages out this week. End of war. Who benefits from dragging it out for so long? Not the people of this region. Let’s get it done right now,” he said.

A total of 33 Israeli hostages are expected to be released as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which went into force on January 19 and is supposed to last six weeks. Following the release of the three hostages on Saturday, Hamas and its allies still hold a total of 73 people taken from Israel on October 7, 2023, and an additional three held since before then. Negotiations on the second and third phases are not yet believed to have begun in earnest.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped at the same time as Levy. Both had tried to hide in a bomb shelter before they were caught and taken to Gaza in the back of a pickup truck.

The Goldberg-Polins said their appeal was driven by seeing the condition of the three hostages released Saturday, and “hearing that Or (Levy) had no idea what happened to Hersh, hearing that Eli (Sharabi) was unaware his daughters and wife had been murdered.”

They said they remained close with Levy’s family and that following his release one of Levy’s first questions was how Hersh was doing, completely unaware that he’d been killed.

“He assumed that he had been released long ago,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said.

Ecuadorian voters are preparing to cast their ballots for a new president for the second time in 18 months amid an unprecedented security crisis in the country.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, the son of a banana tycoon, was elected in 2023 to finish the term of his predecessor Guillermo Lasso, who had resigned, dissolved congress and triggered new elections to avoid impeachment.

On Sunday, voters will decide whether to stick with Noboa’s course against the country’s crime epidemic or seek an alternative voice in his political rival Luisa González.

Here’s what you need to know:

Who is Daniel Noboa?

Noboa, a 37-year-old businessman, was the dark horse candidate of the 2023 election, beating González in that year’s second round vote. He sought to distinguish himself as “center left” during the 2023 campaign but has adopted a hardline approach to fighting crime during his short first term.

Noboa has presided over a series of crises in his term. He has declared numerous states of emergency, deployed military units to tackle gang activity in the country’s streets, and began construction on a new maximum-security prison after an infamous criminal leader escaped from custody last year.

Last year, he shocked Latin American leaders when he broke diplomatic norms and ordered an unprecedented operation to arrest Jorge Glas, a former Ecuadorean vice president, from the Mexican embassy in Quito. Glas, who is twice convicted for corruption, had been seeking asylum from Mexico when the raid took place.

Noboa, who was born in the US, continued the close relations with the United States that were cultivated under Lasso. The president has ratified two military cooperation agreements with the US military during his first term. He has also advocated for the US to re-establish a military base in Ecuador to help fight the drug trade.

He even attended US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January and later followed Trump’s lead by declaring tariffs on Mexican goods.

The incumbent president has also called for further investment in public infrastructure, and has aimed to eliminate what he calls Ecuador’s “uncontrollable deficit” through an increase in Value-Added Tax.

Who is his competition?

Noboa will face off against leftist politician González and 14 other candidates on Sunday. Unless one candidate pulls through with more than 50% of the vote, or the margin between the two most popular candidates is more than 10% wide, the election will proceed to a second round in April.

Noboa’s main rival González is a close confidante of former leftist President Rafael Correa, still a dominant figure in Ecuador’s politics. During the 2023 campaign, Correa supported González’ run from exile in Belgium. In 2020, the former president was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for aggravated bribery, a charge he has repeatedly denied.

Running to “Revive Ecuador,” González has pledged to tackle the drug trade just as vigorously as Noboa. She’s argued that the government should eliminate SNAI, which manages the country’s prisons, and invest in facial recognition technology to curb lawbreaking. She also wants to reestablish the Ministry of Justice, which Ecuador shuttered in 2018 to reduce public spending.

Noboa’s first term has seen widespread blackouts in Ecuador, and both candidates have pledged to increase the supply of alternative energy sources.

Gonzalez’ plan calls for increased private sector investment in wind and solar power, while Noboa’s administration recently passed a law through Congress deregulating private use of both kinds of energy. González insists that the government ought to directly manage its drought-crippled hydroelectric plants, which supply almost 80% of Ecuador’s electricity.

“I’m the president of my party,” González said, “I’m the one leading my campaign – it’s my government plan, and my plans for the public. So who will rule? It’ll be Luisa (González).”

Why has violence spiked in the country?

Ecuador has become a cocaine trafficking hub, according to security experts and a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report. Though Ecuador has historically avoided the cocaine trade, it’s located between the two largest narcotics production hotspots in the world, Peru and Colombia. Ecuador’s ports are now a major exit point for South American cocaine headed to North America and Europe, the UN says.

This newfound position in the international drug trade has sparked a protracted security crisis. Between 2021 and 2023, according to Human Rights Watch, the Ecuadorian homicide rate more than tripled, though the government has said that murders have dropped 16.5% in 2024.

Criminal organizations and local gangs have engaged in corruption and extortion, overrun prisons, and murdered numerous politicians.

During the last election, presidential candidate and anti-corruption activist Fernando Villavicencio was gunned down just days before the first votes were cast. Five people were later imprisoned for his murder, with prosecutors accusing two of them of being members of the notorious Los Lobos gang.

What are the other issues?

Alongside crime, drought from the El Niño weather phenomenon has crippled Ecuador’s hydroelectric plants and thrown the country into an energy crisis. To conserve electricity, the government has orchestrated several power cuts, some extending as long as 14 hours. Though the cuts ended in December, there is still an energy deficit.

Ecuador would typically buy electricity from its neighbor Colombia, but a prolonged regional drought has weakened electrical grids throughout the region.

The blackouts have come alongside a dire economic situation in the country. A World Bank study from October 2024 further noted that a little over half of the country’s jobs are informal and unregulated by the government, leaving a significant amount of potential tax revenue out of Ecuador’s coffers.

According to an editorial written by Isabel Chiriboga, a Latin America expert at the non-partisan think tank Atlantic Council, the next president will have the unenviable job of stewarding an economy “teetering on the brink of collapse.”

Five Thai workers released after being held hostage for over a year in Gaza arrived in Bangkok on Sunday.

Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, were freed on January 30 as part of an exchange arrangement.

They were embraced by family members, some of whom cried, in the arrivals hall at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa and the Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Orna Sagiv were both at the airport to welcome home the freed hostages.

“We are all very grateful and very happy that we get to return to our homeland. We all would really like to thank you. I don’t know what else to say,” Pongsak told a news conference at the airport.

Maris said the Thai government “never gave up hope and here is the result today. The tears of joy are our encouragement.” He added that Bangkok would continue working to secure the release of the remaining Thai hostage.

The group quickly left the news conference to return to their hometowns in Thailand’s northern and northeastern regions.

They were the second batch of Thai hostages released since the war broke out. During an earlier ceasefire in November 2023, 23 Thai nationals were released in a deal negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with assistance from Qatar and Iran.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party won elections in the sprawling megacity of Delhi for the first time in 27 years on Saturday, defeating one of his most prominent critics in a much-needed boost after losing its national majority last year.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 48 seats in the capital territory’s 70-member assembly, according to figures posted online by the Indian Election Commission.

“Development wins, good governance triumphs,” said Modi in a post on X. “I bow to my dear sisters and brothers of Delhi for this resounding and historic mandate.”

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of Arvind Kejriwal, one of Modi’s most prominent opponents and former chief minister of the capital, won just 22 seats.

“We accept the mandate of the people with great humility. I congratulate the BJP for this victory, and I hope they will fulfil all the promises for which people have voted them,” Kejriwal said in a video statement.

Delhi, a sprawling city of some 20 million people, faces huge issues like access to housing and high levels of air pollution that blanket the city in toxic smog for months each year.

The capital has long been a stumbling block for the BJP electoral juggernaut, which has rolled across much of India over the past decade, with the party last holding power there in 1998.

The AAP, which grew out of a popular anti-corruption movement, has governed the capital – home to India’s parliament and government buildings – since 2015.

Just before general elections in April last year, Kejriwal was arrested on graft charges that he and his party said were ordered by the BJP, something Modi’s government has long denied.

The US State Department later angered Modi’s government by calling on authorities to ensure a fair legal process for Kejriwal.

Modi won a third term at last year’s mammoth general elections, becoming the first leader since India’s founding prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to secure such a feat. But voters delivered a shock result that reduced the BJP’s majority in the national parliament, and the party now governs the country of 1.4 billion people as part of a coalition.

Pacific allies don’t usually air their dirty laundry in public.

But a rare on-the-record dispute between New Zealand and Kiribati has renewed focus on the poor and isolated island nation, highlighting the existential threat it faces from the climate crisis – against the backdrop of a tussle between the world’s biggest powers for regional dominance.

When New Zealand’s right-wing government unexpectedly announced an aid review for its Pacific neighbor last week – ostensibly over an alleged snub to a top official – it “caused serious anxiety” for the approximately 120,000 people who live in Kiribati, according to one i-Kiribati minister.

Foreign aid accounted for 18% of Kiribati’s national income in 2022, according to the Lowy Institute – with New Zealand among its largest donors.

The Micronesian nation of 33 coral islands is scattered over a remote area of the central Pacific that spans 3.5 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) – an area larger than India.

Though among the least populated countries, Kiribati has one of the world’s largest exclusive economic zones. Its relative proximity to Hawaii and United States military bases in Guam also gives it strategic importance as great powers compete for influence in the vast waterways between Asia and the Americas.

The diplomatic fallout has put fresh attention on the battle for influence in the Pacific between China and Western nations, mainly the United States.

It also comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration threatens to disrupt American relations in the region, with concerns from Pacific leaders over how US withdrawals from the Paris climate agreement and World Health Organization, as well as a 90-day aid freeze, will impact vulnerable communities.

Diplomatic spat

The dispute erupted last week with a sudden move from New Zealand’s deputy prime minister.

Peters had planned to lead a delegation to Kiribati last month, which included the handover of a New Zealand-funded $14 million hospital upgrade.

But a week before they were set to arrive, Kiribati told the delegation that Maamau, who is also the country’s foreign minister, “was no longer available” to receive them, Peters’ spokesperson said.

“The lack of political-level contact makes it very difficult for us to agree joint priorities for our development program, and to ensure that it is well targeted and delivers good value for money,” Peters’ office added.

Between 2021 and 2024, New Zealand’s aid commitments to Kiribati totaled $57 million, with investments in health, education, fisheries, economic development, and climate resilience.

An analyst said New Zealand’s surprising move to review the entire assistance package was born out of “deep frustration” from Peters “that a number of diplomatic efforts to engage with the Kiribati government have been rebuffed.”

“New Zealand has struggled to get access with the Kiribati government, including across those key areas in which New Zealand is supporting health, climate and education, for instance,” said Anna Powles, associate professor at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University in New Zealand.

Kiribati framed the situation as a misunderstanding, however.

In a statement, the Kiribati President’s Office said it was “surprised to learn” there were media reports on Peters’ visit, “which was still under active negotiations based on the understanding that alternative dates were to be explored.”

What’s really going on?

The dispute may reflect concern shared among Western countries that their interests in the Pacific are being weakened by China’s diplomatic and economic outreach, experts say.

Maamau had embarked on a visit to two of Kiribati’s nearest neighbors when the dispute became public.

“Kiribati has clearly indicated who its preferred partners are in the region: Fiji, Nauru and then, of course, China,” Powles said.

“Both New Zealand, as we’ve just seen, and Australia have had challenges in terms of engaging with Kiribati and getting the type of access that they would hope to get. Whereas China has not had those same challenges at all.”

Many Pacific nations have forged closer ties with Beijing in recent years. In 2019, pro-China President Maamau oversaw Kiribati’s switch in diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China, one of several Pacific countries to do so.

Under Maamau, who was re-elected to a third term in October last year, Kiribati has taken an authoritarian and isolationist turn, critics say. A prominent opposition leader last year raised concerns over a lack of transparency about 10 agreements signed between Kiribati and China in 2022.

Tensions rose that year when Maamau also pulled out of the Pacific Islands Forum, threatening the unity of the 18-member grouping at a time when the region faced increased geopolitical pressure. It rejoined in 2023, though some suspected Beijing’s hand in the decision to leave, a claim China’s Foreign Ministry rejected as “completely groundless.”

Pacific security partners Australia, New Zealand and the US have also expressed concern about the presence of uniformed Chinese officers on Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

New Zealand going public with the spat was “not smart diplomacy,” said Jon Fraenkel, professor in comparative politics at Victoria University of Wellington. But it was unlikely that Wellington would ultimately cut the aid package, he added.

And though Beijing is a significant partner, “the level of Chinese assistance to Kiribati has not been extraordinarily large,” Fraenkel said. “A lot of it is just grant assistance, which may or may not have some kind of developmental impact.”

Concerns over Beijing’s influence in the region were reinforced on Wednesday when the Cook Islands’ Prime Minister Mark Brown announced a state visit to China next week to discuss a strategic partnership agreement. The Cook Islands is in free association with New Zealand, which means its people hold New Zealand citizenship.

The ministry said it expects the Cook Islands government to fully consult Wellington on “any major international agreements” that have “major strategic and security implications.”

US concerns

Under former President Joe Biden, the US ramped up rhetoric, as well as defense and security assistance to the Pacific to counter China’s growing regional influence.

It signed security agreements with Papua New Guinea and Fiji, renewed the Compacts of Free Association with Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, and opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands.

But US aid to the Pacific only accounted for 7% of oversees funding to the region in 2022, according to the Lowy Insitute’s Pacific Aid Map.

“There is a sense of concern that the US was not able to make as many inroads into the region as many partners in the Pacific had hoped,” Powles said.

The Biden administration unsuccessfully attempted to reopen an embassy in Kiribati and the US has “very little leverage on the ground,” she added.

And with Trump back in power, there is more concern that cuts to USAID, and Washington’s impending withdrawals from the Paris climate agreement and WHO “will further undermine the US’ reputation in the region,” Powles said.

The climate crisis is one of the region’s biggest security concerns. The Pacific Islands are among the most climate vulnerable places and are disproportionately affected by a warming world despite contributing the least to global emissions.

Rising and warming seas, the loss of coral reefs, acidic oceans, dwindling supplies of fresh water and fish, as well as disaster recovery support from more powerful cyclones are among the most pressing concerns.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape said last month that the US withdrawing from the climate agreement was “totally irresponsible.”

As well as setting the US back on its own climate commitments, the withdrawal would impact funds for climate resiliency, disaster relief, and health.

“Trump’s strategy in the Pacific will be both deeply transactional but also prioritizing security over other forms of assistance and cooperation,” Powles said.

Among the tranche of executive actions Trump signed on his first day in office was an order to increase US Coast Guard presence around the world, including in the Pacific.

With Trump’s transactional nature, there are concerns Pacific Islands would be forced to choose between China and US assistance, Powles added.

But the island countries “are not fools,” said Fraenkel, of Victoria University of Wellington.

“Certainly, anything that isolates Kiribati from New Zealand or Australia makes it more likely that they’ll look elsewhere,” he added. But the impression that the island states are “just simply being seduced by the baubles of Beijing, is a slightly crude characterization.”