US judge temporarily blocks firing of Voice of America staff

Judge James Paul Oetken blocked the US Agency for Global Media, which runs Voice of America, from firing more than 1,200 journalists, engineers and other staff who were placed on paid leave earlier this month.

Oetken said that the Trump administration could not unilaterally terminate Voice of America and related radio programmes that were approved and funded by Congress. Doing so would require congressional approval, the judge wrote.

Oetken did not say that Voice of America should resume broadcasts, but argued that employees should not be fired until further court proceedings could determine whether the shutdown was "arbitrary and capricious" - in violation of federal law.

The order also bars the Agency for Global Media from terminating grant funding for its other broadcast outlets, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Afghanistan.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March to cut back Voice of America.

A White House statement, titled “The Voice of Radical America,” said the executive order would "ensure taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda". It accused VOA of being anti-Trump.

VOA was set up during World War Two to counter Nazi propaganda. It says it currently reaches hundreds of millions of people globally each week.

Voice of America went off the air soon after Trump issued his executive order on March 14.