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The White House budget office said Friday that mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.

Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on the social platform X that the “RIFs have begun,” referring to reduction-in-force plans aimed at reducing the size of the federal government.

The White House previewed that it would pursue the aggressive layoff tactic shortly before the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, telling all federal agencies to submit their reduction-in-force plans to the budget office for its review. It said reduction-in-force could apply for federal programs whose funding would lapse in a government shutdown, is otherwise not funded and is “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

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Qatar says it will cover costs of building pilot training facility in Idaho

After it was announced that the Pentagon will build a training facility in Idaho for pilots from Qatar, the nation, which hosts the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East, is making it clear that it will not have a base on U.S. soil and that it will cover the costs of building the facility.

“This will not be a Qatari air base,” the spokesperson for the embassy in Washington said in a statement posted on the social platform X. “Rather, Qatar has made an initial 10-year commitment to construct and maintain a dedicated facility within an existing US air base, intended for advanced training and to enhance interoperability in defending and advancing our shared interests around the world.”

The statement said the project will create hundreds of jobs for Americans and added that planning for began several years ago and received local approval.

US clashes with Venezuela and allies at emergency UN meeting on US strikes in Caribbean

Venezuela asked for the meeting of the U.N.’s most powerful body following deadly U.S. military strikes on four boats that Washington says were carrying drugs.

Venezuela accused U.S. President Donald Trump of seeking to topple President Nicolás Maduro and threatening “peace, security and stability regionally and internationally.” The Trump administration has said three of the targeted boats set out to sea from Venezuela.

The strikes, which the U.S.