News Wrap: State Department lays off more than 1,300 in latest cuts to federal workforce

Amna Nawaz:

We start the day's other headlines with mass firings at the State Department.

The agency is laying off at least 1,300 employees today as part of a broader Trump administration effort to scale back the federal work force. Notices went out to more than 1,100 civil servants and hundreds of Foreign Service officers based in the U.S.

Enrique Roig, Former State Department Official:

All of you here today pushed out have advanced American interests around the world under Democratic and Republican presidents alike. You are patriots, in effect.

(Cheering)

Amna Nawaz:

Outside the State Department this afternoon, former officials rallied in support of outgoing staff.

And the American Foreign Service Association criticized the cuts, writing in a statement — quote — "As allies look to the U.S. for reassurance and rivals test for weakness, the administration has chosen to sideline the very professionals best equipped to navigate this moment."

And appeals court in Washington, D.C., threw out a plea deal today for the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks. The agreement would have allowed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and serving life in prison instead. Today's decision validates a move by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had blocked the deal last year, arguing a decision on the death penalty should be up to the secretary of defense.

It also throws into question the future of the case, which has already been plagued by more than 20 years of legal wrangling.

Officials in Baltimore are investigating a suspected mass overdose event that saw more than two dozen people sent to the hospital. The city's fire department first responded to an overdose incident yesterday morning in West Baltimore. Community members then directed emergency crews to more unconscious people in the area. More than a dozen medical units were deployed to take patients to nearby hospitals.

Several of them were in critical conditions, though there have been no fatalities so far. The cause of the overdoses has yet to be determined.

The son of Mexican drug kingpin El Chapo pleaded guilty today to drug trafficking charges here in the U.S. Ovidio Guzman Lopez is the first of El Chapo's sons to enter a plea deal. Prosecutors say he and his brother Joaquin ran a faction of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. They were known as the Chapitos, or Little Chapos.

Guzman Lopez admitted to helping oversee the smuggling of large quantities of drugs into the U.S., including cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering, and firearms charges. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.

Turning overseas, thousands of Bosnians marked 30 years since the Srebrenica massacre, when more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed during the Bosnian war. Today, crowds gathered at the town's sprawling cemetery to remember the victims, and seven newly identified victims were finally laid to rest; 30 years later, partial remains are still being found in mass graves around the area.

Srebrenica has been recognized as Europe's only genocide since the Holocaust. Some of those who suffered through it warn similar atrocities continue today.

Munira Subasic, President, Mothers of Srebrenica (through interpreter): I appeal to you, help us fight against hatred, against injustice, against killings, against rape, against expulsion. No one has the right to kill anyone's child. As I stand here, many mothers in Ukraine and Palestine are going through what we went through in 1995.

Amna Nawaz:

Today, Bosnia itself remains ethnically split, and Bosnian Serbs, along with neighboring Serbia, refuse to call the events of Srebrenica a genocide, despite rulings by two U.N. courts.

On Wall Street today, stocks pulled back from their recent record highs. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped nearly 300 points. The Nasdaq fell 45 points on the day. The S&P 500 finished the week about 20 points lower.

Astronomers released images today of an interstellar visitor that may be the oldest comet ever seen. This time-lapse video shows the object called 3I/ATLAS moving across the sky. Scientists believe it could be around seven billion years old or more than three billion years older than our solar system.

The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope spotted the ice-rich object last week. It's only the third known object to enter our solar system from beyond its limits. NASA says the comet will make its closest approach to Earth in October, but poses no threat, as it will remain some 150 million miles away.

And Justin Bieber is back with his first album since 2021 and his first since becoming a father.

(Music)

Amna Nawaz:

The singer's highly anticipated seventh album called "Swag" features 21 new songs with titles like "Daisies," "Forgiveness' and "Dad's Love."

Promotional photos shared by Bieber show his wife, model Hailey Bieber, and their 10-month-old son.