Trump administration briefing: Judge reinstates some fired workers, more tariff threats on EU

Judge says it is a lie' that employees at federal agencies had performance issues; Trump mulls EU alcohol tariff - key US politics stories from Thursday at a glance

A federal judge in California has granted a preliminary injunction to reinstate thousands of fired probationary workers at federal agencies as part of a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees.

The ruling by the judge William H Alsup applies to fired probationary employees at the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury.