First Thing: Trump moves to gut government by offering to buy out 3m federal workers

Memo says aim is to retain only those employees who are ‘reliable, loyal, trustworthy’. Plus, 85% of Greenlanders reject US advances

Good morning.

The Trump administration has offered buyouts to almost all of the roughly 3 million people who work for the US government if they leave their jobs by 6 February in exchange for seven months’ salary, as the White House attempts to gut the civil service.

The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the government’s human resources agency, sent an email to the entire federal workforce on Tuesday evening with four directives that it says Trump is mandating. They included a full-time return to the office for most employees.

The email said that the federal workforce would be subjected to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct”, aiming to retain only employees who were “reliable, loyal, trustworthy”. It warned that most agencies would be downsized.

Trump has pledged to radically remake the government, including significantly shrinking the size of the federal workforce and cutting trillions of dollars of spending.

What are the details? The email had the same subject line – “Fork in the road” – as one sent by Elon Musk to employees at Twitter in 2022 when he bought the social media platform. It asked interested workers to reply with the word “Resign”.

How did the employees’ union react? The American Federation of Government Employees denounced the offer. It said it was an effort to pressure workers who are not considered loyal to the new administration to leave their jobs – which could cause upheaval in federal programs.

Dozens feared dead in crowd crushes at Kumbh Mela religious festival in India

Dozens of people are feared to have died in crowd crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, local officials have said, as vast crowds of people went to bathe at one of the holiest sites of the Hindu gathering.

People were crushed in the early hours of Wednesday as tens of millions of people flocked to immerse themselves in the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, on one of the most auspicious days of the festival.

As the crowd surged in different directions, people began to push their way out and many began to fall to the floor, pushing over barriers and trampling each other.

What do we know about the death toll so far? Local officials counting casualties into hospital tents said at least 38 were feared dead while other officials and doctors have given death tolls ranging from 15 to 50.

‘I’m coming to a place that looks like hell’: the long road home for Gaza’s displaced

Northern Gaza is the most damaged area in a ravaged strip, and the vast crowds trudging along beside the Mediterranean knew they were returning to a wasteland.

Their desperation to get back was testament to the horrors they had endured during their displacement, moving between overcrowded shelters and makeshift camps.

“I know I’m coming back to a place that looks like hell with destruction all around,” said 25-year-old Raed Said Sobeh, who had been displaced five times during the war. He knew his home was gone, but he wanted to kiss the ground where it had been.

Meanwhile, Trump invited the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – who is under an arrest warrant by the international criminal court to stand trial for alleged war crimes – to be the first foreign leader to visit the White House.

How many displaced people have been on the move after the ceasefire? The United Nations said more than 200,000 people were observed moving north on Monday morning. Hamas authorities in Gaza said more than 300,000 displaced Palestinians had returned to the territory’s north.

In other news …

The Mona Lisa will get a room of its own in the Louvre, as the world’s most visited museum undergoes major renovation – after its director said that visiting had become a “physical ordeal”.

In Goma, there has been heavy fighting between Democratic Republic of the Congo forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, with at least 100 people killed and 1,000 wounded in the last three days.

Users experimenting with DeepSeek have seen the Chinese AI chatbot reply and then censor itself in real time, providing an arresting insight into its control of information and opinion.

Donald Trump signed an executive order to curtail gender transition for people under 19, ignoring evidence that studies show allowing trans teens access to treatment leads to lower suicide risk.

Stat of the day: Only 6% of Greenlanders want to join the US, poll says

A survey by the pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish paper Berlingske, shows 85% of Greenlanders do not want their island to become a part of the US, after Donald Trump called for the US to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory. Only 6% of Greenlanders are in favour of becoming part of the US, with 9% undecided.

Don’t miss this: The privilege and pain of being a millennial caregiver – photo essay

Andrew, 33, cares full-time for his grandmother Elo, who has vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s. Photographer Isadora Kosofsky spent four years documenting their relationship. “Just because they have Alzheimer’s and dementia, I think people forget they are sentient human beings. They still feel,” Andrew said.

Climate check: Study shows climate triple whammy boosted risk of LA fires

Hot, dry conditions, a lack of rain and a longer fire-risk season, which caused the intensity of the LA wildfires, are all more likely in today’s hotter climate, according to a study carried out by 32 US and European experts working as part of the World Weather Attribution collaboration

Last Thing: ‘Super pod’ of more than 1,500 dolphins spotted off California coast

A miles-long cluster of dolphins has been filmed leaping and gliding across Carmel Bay off the central coast of California, forming an unusual “super pod” of more than 1,500 of the marine creatures. “They looked like they were having a big party,” said Colleen Talty, a marine biologist.

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