5 h. ago Takeaways from the AP's report on how USAID cuts are imperiling Agent Orange cleanup

A multi-year cleanup at a former U.S. air base in Vietnam was abruptly halted when the Trump administration cut funding, leaving tons of dioxin-contaminated soil exposed

Politics

5 h. ago Agent Orange cleanup and other efforts critical to ties with Vietnam jeopardized by USAID cuts

A multi-year cleanup at a former U.S. air base in Vietnam was abruptly halted when the Trump administration cut funding, leaving tons of dioxin-contaminated soil exposed

Politics

18 h. ago DOGE's bitter blow after massive USAID shuttering is rejected as 'unconstitutional' by Obama

A U.S. judge has ordered the Trump administration and billionaire Elon Musk from further dismantling USAID as DOGE looks to make cuts across the federal government.

Politics

27 h. ago ‘It’s back to drug rationing’: the end of HIV was in sight. Then came the cuts

The abrupt halt to US funding threatens to undo decades of advances, dramatically increasing infections and deaths, but some see an opportunity for Africa to lead the responseThis year the world should have been “talking about the virtual elimination of HIV” in the near future. “Within five years,” says Prof Sharon Lewin, a leading researcher in the field. “Now that’s all very uncertain.”Scientific advances had allowed doctors and campaigners to feel optimistic that the end of HIV as a public health threat was just around the corner. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago People in the US: Share your thoughts on Trump’s second term in office so far

We would like to hear your views on President Donald Trumps’s second term Since taking office in January, US president Donald Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders and made a series of policy moves that have dominated the global news agenda.They range from imposing and threatening international trade tariffs and trying to force through a ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia; establishing the Department of Government Efficiency; suspending the refugee resettlement programme, and declaring a national emergency on the southern US border; putting an end to birthright citizenship and ending diversity programmes in federal government, to exiting the Paris Climate agreement and cuts to USAid. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Aid workers warn ‘people are dying and they’re going to continue dying’ as funding cuts hit

Moves by US, UK and other donors to cut aid mean ‘high malnutrition rates, starvation and death’, say expertsCuts to food assistance by the US, Britain and others are already leading to more people starving to death around the world, experts have warned.As the United Nations and other agencies try to understand just how badly President Donald Trump’s announced 83% cut in funding to USAid will affect the world’s most vulnerable people, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has said its aid provision in Somalia is being reduced, after last month’s estimate that 4.4 million people in the east African nation will be pushed into malnutrition from April because of drought, global inflation and conflict. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago ‘They demand sex in exchange for fish’: Women in Trump’s USAID cuts at risk of exploitation

Exclusive: Extensive droughts in Zambia have forced women into sexual exploitation – and USAID cuts have stopped programs which sought to protect them, writes Alicja Hagopian

Politics

7 d. ago ‘They demand sex in exchange for fish’: Women abandoned by USAID cuts at risk of exploitation in Zambia

Exclusive: Extensive droughts in Zambia have forced women into sexual exploitation – and USAID cuts have stopped programs which sought to protect them, writes Alicja Hagopian

Events

9 d. ago USAid cuts could create untreatable TB bug ‘resistant to everything we have’

Projects to detect, treat and research new ways to fight TB among those disrupted by sudden funding freeze Dangerous new forms of tuberculosis (TB) for which there is no treatment could emerge as a result of US aid cuts, a top doctor has warned.Dr Lucica Ditiu, who heads the Stop TB Partnership, said she feared that interruptions to people’s treatment would allow the airborne bug to mutate into a new, untreatable form. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Trump’s USAid cuts will have huge impact on global climate finance, data shows

Campaigners say funding halt is a ‘staggering blow’ to vulnerable nations and to efforts to keep heating below 1.5CDonald Trump’s withdrawal of US overseas aid will almost decimate global climate finance from the developed world, data shows, with potentially devastating impacts on vulnerable nations.The US was responsible last year for about $8 in every $100 that flowed from the rich world to developing countries, to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of extreme weather, according to data from the analyst organisation Carbon Brief. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Aid operations in Gaza imperiled as millions of promised USAID dollars do not arrive

The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in contractual payments to aid groups, leaving them paying out of pocket to preserve a fragile ceasefire, according to officials from the U.S. humanitarian agency

Politics

1 week ago Inside the Islamic State prisons the west is trying to forget – podcast

Michael Safi travelled to north-east Syria to speak to IS foreign fighters imprisoned there. And discovered that a change in the US administration, and USAid funding cuts, means there is a growing fear of prison breaksA few weeks ago, Michael Safi travelled to north-east Syria, an area controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Here, suspected foreign fighters for Islamic State – including those from Britain – have for years been imprisoned without charge and with no idea of when they would be released.Few prisoners in the camp say they are IS members. Michael and fellow journalist, Will Christou, spoke to a former British surgeon from Leicester who told a surprising story of being ‘tricked’ into crossing into Syria from Turkey. They also met an Australian prisoner, who admitted to being an IS member, and whose family for years did not know his whereabouts. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Supreme court rejects Trump request to continue freezing $2bn in foreign aid

John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett join liberal justices to leave in place lower-court order on USAid cutsUS politics live – latest updatesA divided US supreme court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to continue freezing nearly $2bn in foreign aid, marking a setback for the White House and the tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tasked with slashing the size of the US government and its spending.In a 5-4 decision released on Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett joined the liberal justices in leaving in place a ruling from a US district judge last month, which ordered the administration to unfreeze the nearly $2bn in aid for work that had already been done, and that had been approved by Congress. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Those who depend on aid must embrace Trump’s bombshell and shape their own destiny | Janet Mawiyoo

Trump cutting off USAid reminds us how much power we surrender to those who fund our work. We need a new mindsetAbout 35 years ago, the radio news announced that the then president of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi, had broken diplomatic ties with Norway. The embassy, with about 100 foreign and a few local staff, had one week to clear out of the country.I was one of a few staff there at the time who worked for the Norwegian development agency, Norad, and our jobs disappeared with that radio broadcast. An estimated $30m annual budget, largely targeted at the arid and semi-arid parts of Kenya, also disappeared. Obviously that did not matter much to Kenya’s leadership, who felt that the independence of the country and the ability for them to decide what was good for Kenya, was more important. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Nearly 15,000 will have died already because of Trump and Musk’s cuts to USAID, advocacy program claims

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has saved more than 25 million lives since it began in 2003

Politics

2 w. ago USAID cuts are already hitting countries around the world. Here are 20 projects that have closed

Countries around the world already are feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate more than 90% of foreign aid contracts and cut some $60 billion in funding

Events

2 w. ago US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’

USAid cuts to clinics dispensing antiretroviral drugs will be ‘death sentence for mothers and children’, expert warnsSweeping notices of termination of funding have been received by organisations working with HIV and Aids across Africa, with dire predictions of a huge rise in deaths as a result.After the US announced a permanent end to funding for HIV projects, services across the board have been affected, say doctors and programme managers, from projects helping orphans and pregnant women to those reaching transgender individuals and sex workers. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Musk claims USAID’s Ebola prevention efforts have restarted after DOGE cuts. Officials disagree

‘There was a waiver for Ebola, but USAID funds have never been back online,’ a current official said

Politics

2 w. ago Trump's permanent USAID cuts slam humanitarian programs worldwide: 'We are being pushed off a cliff'

Health groups and non-governmental organizations have expressed surprise and outrage after the Trump administration’s decision to cut 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts

Politics

2 w. ago Trump administration cutting 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts, documents show

The Trump administration says it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world

Politics