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While the Trump administration isn’t backing away from its pledges to shutter Fema, it has lessened its focus on the topic since the July 4 disaster

The US state department is firing more than 1,300 employees in line with the Trump administration’s reorganization plan initiated earlier this year.

The department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the US, a senior state department official told the Associated Press.

Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by the AP. For most affected civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said.

“In connection with the departmental reorganization … the department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” the notice says. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found from centralization or consolidation of functions and responsibilities.”

The cuts have been criticized by current and former diplomats who say it will weaken US influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.

The Trump administration has killed nearly $15m in research into Pfas contamination of US farmland, bringing to a close studies that public health advocates say are essential for understanding a worrying source of widespread food contamination. Continue reading...