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.

Moscow offers heavily qualified support for US-Ukraine proposal as Russia regains more of Kursk region

‘We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders,’ says Jens-Frederik Nielsen

Greenland’s probable new prime minister has rejected Donald Trump’s effort to take control of the island, saying Greenlanders must be allowed to decide their own future as it moves toward independence from Denmark.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, whose centre-right Democrats won a surprise victory in this week’s legislative elections and now must form a coalition government, pushed back on Thursday against Trump’s repeated claims that the US will annex the island.

Nineteen people died in the Mariana disaster, prompting a claim of up to £36bn claim against the mining firm BHP

With tears in their eyes, mothers of children who died in Brazil’s worst environmental disaster – the 2015 Mariana dam collapse – demanded justice for their loved ones as submissions in their London lawsuit came to an end on Thursday.

Nineteen people were killed when the Mariana dam in south-eastern Brazil collapsed and unleashed a wave of toxic sludge, leaving thousands homeless, flooding forests and polluting the Doce River.

New requirement hardens enforcement of existing law that hasn’t been applied consistently to Canadians entering the United States

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Canadians who visit the US for more than 30 days will be required to register with authorities and have their fingerprints taken, as the Trump administration tightens migration rules amid soaring tensions between the North American neighbors.

The new requirement, effective from 11 April, will harden enforcement of an existing law, which states that all foreign nationals 14 years old or older who plan to stay in the US for 30 days or more must register with the authorities.