Lift USAID freeze in 5 days, judge orders

A federal judge has ordered Trump's administration to temporarily lift a funding freeze that has shut down US humanitarian aid and development work around the world, and has set a five-day deadline for the administration to prove it's complying. The ruling late Thursday cited the financial devastation the near-overnight cutoff of payments has caused suppliers and nonprofits that carry out US aid overseas.
Officials "have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid ... was a rational precursor to reviewing programmes," judge Amir H Ali said.
In a separate ruling in another lawsuit Thursday, a judge said his temporary block on an order that would pull all but a fraction of USAID staffers off the job worldwide would stay in place at least another week.