7 h. ago African countries boost family planning funding in ‘shift from dependency’ after aid cuts

Zambia, Zimbabwe and DRC take steps to protect decades of progress in reproductive health, as donor fatigue leads to steep cuts in aidAfrican governments are boosting funding for family planning programmes as cuts in foreign aid threaten decades of reproductive health progress and access to birth control for millions of women and girls.Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are the latest countries to announce increased budgets for family planning supplies and services. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Three countries boost family planning funding in ‘powerful shift from dependency’ in Africa after aid cuts

Zambia, Zimbabwe and DRC take steps to protect decades of progress in reproductive health, as donor fatigue leads to steep cuts in aidSeveral African governments are boosting funding for family planning programmes as cuts in foreign aid threaten decades of reproductive health progress and access to birth control for millions of women and girls.Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are the latest to announce increased budgets for family planning supplies and services. Continue reading...

Politics

20 h. ago UK’s £150m cut to worldwide fund fighting deadly diseases will force ‘impossible life

The cut from £1bn to £850m pledged to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria – risking 250,000 lives – was revealed by The Independent last week

Economics

21 h. ago African HIV services face double blow of cuts from both Trump and UK

Britain has significantly slashed its contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – compounding aid cuts announced by Donald Trump earlier this year

Politics

21 h. ago UK’s £150m cut to global fund fighting deadly diseases will force ‘impossible life

The cut from £1bn to £850m pledged the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria – risking 250,000 lives –was revealed by The Independent last week

Economics

25 h. ago David Squires on Fifa’s peace prize and Donald Trump’s eligibility

Our cartoonist on how the US president’s actions in office may have put him in line for an awardBuy a Squires cartoon in our Print ShopDavid’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...

Politics

37 h. ago Jail with 42 staff recruited from overseas would be left in crisis under new visa rules, warns prisons boss

THE Chief Inspector of prisons has warned that a jail with 42 staff recruited from overseas would be left in crisis if the new visa restrictions are not reversed. Britain’s prisons are facing a staffing shortage as visa rules threaten to force a wave of foreign recruits to return home. There has been a surge...

Events

4 d. ago Cutting aid for disease fund would be moral failure, Labour MPs tell Starmer

UK expected to reduce contribution to Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria by 20%A group of seven Labour MPs who served as ministers under Keir Starmer have written to the prime minister warning that an expected cut to UK funding for aid to combat preventable diseases would be both a “moral failure” and a strategic disaster.With ministers and officials expected to decide the UK’s contribution to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria within days, the letter renews pressure on Starmer to pull back from an expected 20% cut. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago IKEA profits plunge more than a quarter after Trump’s tariff uncertainty

IKEA stores across 63 markets around the world fell for a second year in a row

Politics

4 d. ago UK set to slash aid funding to fight deadly diseases – putting 250,000 lives at risk

Exclusive: The UK is expected to pledge £850m to the the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria – a cut of 15 per cent – despite previous assurances to protect funding

Events

4 d. ago UK set to slash aid funding against deadly diseases – putting 250,000 lives at risk

Exclusive: The UK is expected to pledge £850m to the the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria – a cut of 15 per cent – despite previous assurances to protect funding

Events

4 d. ago ‘Dozy Don’ allegations reappear after president closes eyes during Dr. Oz speech

President photographed appearing to doze during announcement of price cuts for weight loss drugs – which tackle obesity and aid sleep

Politics

5 d. ago UK rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite warning of possible genocide

Exclusive: British government adopted ‘least ambitious’ option months before RSF’s massacres in El FasherBritain rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite intelligence warnings that the city of El Fasher would fall amid a wave of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, according to a report seen by the Guardian.Government officials turned down the plans six months into the 18-month siege of El Fasher in favour of the “least ambitious” option of four presented. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago PHOTO ESSAY: One woman’s journey with lupus, the disease of 1,000 faces

Ruth Wilson doesn’t look sick yet “everywhere hurts all the time” – because her immune system is attacking her own body.

Culture

7 d. ago When Trump’s aid cuts robbed them of HIV drugs, these people died. Now the UK is poised to slash funding further

Special Report: Three people have died at just one community centre on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, following US aid cuts to HIV care. Rachel Schraer meets the women fighting to stop more deaths

Events

7 d. ago Rape survivors blocked from treatment as aid cuts make Africa’s unsafe abortion crisis worse, researchers warn

Funding cuts are set to block more women and girls from getting lifesaving healthcare and post-rape support, researcher Dr Jonna Both tells The Independent

Events

7 d. ago Voices: Every pound of UK aid put into disease control guards against one of the most dangerous enemies of our time

For the UK, tackling infectious diseases like TB is not an act of generosity; it’s a matter of national interest, writes Sojan Joseph

Politics

8 d. ago Global activists call on Starmer to do his ‘duty’ and protect HIV care for LGBT+ people

Exclusive: Almost 700 health workers and LGBT+ rights campaigners from 40 countries write to prime minister amid deep cuts to overseas aid

Politics

9 d. ago Orphans of history: the forgotten republic of Transnistria – photo essay

Photographer Didier Bizet has spent time documenting life in the self-proclaimed autonomous republic, which is not recognised by the international community. Its status raises complex questions about the identity of its inhabitants – Ukrainians, Russians, Moldovans and Bulgarians – in a land searching for direction and lacking a clearly defined national identityAmid the ongoing war in Ukraine and between the fragile borders that crisscross the former Soviet Union, the self-proclaimed Republic of Transnistria, which broke away from Moldova more than 30 years ago after a brief but bloody conflict, remains locked in deep political and diplomatic isolation.Home to about 450,000 people, Transnistria is a narrow strip of land wedged between Moldova and Ukraine, along the eastern bank of the Dniester River. Its de facto capital, Tiraspol, lies less than 60 miles from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa. Though small in size – about 125 miles long – the region holds outsized strategic importan...

Culture

1 week ago The luxury gap: Trump builds his palace as Americans face going hungry

Schmoozing the super-rich to fund a $300m ballroom while cutting food aid for those on low incomes threw the president’s architectural folly into sharp reliefIt was a feast fit for a king – and any billionaire willing to be his subject. From gold-rimmed plates on gold-patterned tablecloths decorated with gold candlestick holders, they gorged on heirloom tomato panzanella salad, beef wellington and a dessert of roasted Anjou pears, cinnamon crumble and butterscotch ice-cream.On 15 October, Donald Trump welcomed nearly 130 deep-pocketed donors, allies and representatives of major companies for a dinner at the White House to reward them for their pledged contributions to a vast new ballroom now expected to cost $300m. That the federal government had shut down two weeks earlier scarcely seemed to matter. Continue reading...

Politics