6 h. ago Tighter borders and aid cuts could risk greater instability, UN migration chief warns

The head of the United Nations’ migration agency has warned that tightening borders while cutting development aid could further worsen instability in crisis-hit countries

Events

16 h. ago Lobbyists linked to Donald Trump paid millions by world’s poorest countries

Somalia, DR Congo and Yemen among states forced to sign deals and barter their minerals for aid or military supportSome of the world’s poorest countries have started paying millions to lobbyists linked to Donald Trump to try to offset US cuts to foreign aid, an investigation reveals.Somalia, Haiti and Yemen are among 11 countries to sign significant lobbying deals with figures tied directly to the US president after he slashed US foreign humanitarian assistance. Continue reading...

Politics

17 h. ago ‘We live on bread and tea. I’ve wished for death’: Yemen’s forgotten refugees

War has intensified poverty and hunger as aid is cut, with many families living in makeshift camps barely survivingThe pain of going to bed hungry is becoming familiar for Jamila Rabea. It’s hard to sleep. The meagre rations of bread, tomato paste and tea she spends much of her day trying to gather, she gives to her children. Five of them live with her in a shelter built from tarpaulin, cloth and scraps of wood.Like many of the refugee families living here in a makeshift camp to the east of the Yemen port city of Al-Mukalla, she has had to leave home because of the bombs and fighting. Continue reading...

Events

35 h. ago Too late to stop small boats once people arrive in Calais, says UN migration chief

More orderly migration would ease crisis, says Amy Pope as UK and France prepare to announce plan to block crossingsThe head of the UN’s organisation for migration has warned that it is too late to stop people from crossing the Channel in small boats by the time they have reached northern France, as Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron prepare to announce new measures to stop overloaded dinghies setting sail from French shores to the UK.Amy Pope, the director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said making safe and orderly migration possible closer to the countries people were moving from was a better approach, along with removing the toxic anti-migrant narrative that dominates much of UK politics. Continue reading...

Politics

63 h. ago Photos show Liberia’s health clinics shuttered after US aid cuts

As cuts to U.S. aid take hold, medical services in Liberia are feeling the pinch.

Culture

6 d. ago Aid cuts leave a million facing starvation in Nigeria – as food supplies run out

Exclusive: Huge cuts to international aid – alongside intensifying conflict and the devastating impact of climate change – are creating a humanitarian crisis across Nigeria and its neighbours. Now, the UN’s food charity has warned that supplies of food are set to run out next month. Nick Ferris reports

Economics

6 d. ago Trump’s cuts leave a million facing starvation in Nigeria – as food aid runs out

Exclusive: Huge cuts to international aid – alongside intensifying conflict and the devastating impact of climate change – are creating a humanitarian crisis across Nigeria and its neighbours. Now, the UN’s food charity is warning of the risk of famine, with supplies of food set to run out next month. Nick Ferris reports

Politics

6 d. ago UNAids chief ‘shaken and disgusted’ by US cuts that will mean millions more deaths

Winnie Byanyima tells the Guardian she considered resigning when Donald Trump cancelled Pepfar fundingThe head of the global agency tackling Aids says she expects HIV rates to soar and deaths to multiply in the next four years as a direct impact of the “seismic” US cuts to aid spending.Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAids, said that if the funding permanently disappeared, the world faced an additional 6 million HIV infections and 4 million Aids-related deaths by 2029. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Somalia has relied on aid for decades – can it survive without it?

Somalia is struggling with hunger, security and the impact of the climate crisis, despite decades of aid money worth billions of dollars, writes Nick Ferris. As aid money gets cut, is this the time for countries to wean themselves off aid dependency – and can they do it?

Events

7 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Washington downplays halt of some weapons shipments as Kyiv calls in US ambassador

Ukraine warns that any cut-off will ‘only encourage the aggressor’ while Pentagon spokesperson says Donald Trump still has ‘robust options’ for military aid to Ukraine. What we know on day 1,226Read all our Ukraine war coverageA decision by Washington to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine prompted warnings by Kyiv on Wednesday that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying airstrikes and battlefield advances. Ukraine said it had called in the acting US envoy to Kyiv to underline the importance of military aid from Washington continuing, and cautioned that any cut-off would embolden Russia in its war in Ukraine. The Pentagon’s decision – tied to concerns that US military stockpiles are too low – began in recent days and includes 30 Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine relies on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles, four people familiar with the decision told Reuters on Wednesday. It also includes nearly 8,500 155mm artillery shells, ...

Events

8 d. ago UK accused of hypocrisy at landmark UN foreign aid conference

Experts at the fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) say the UK cannot talk up its role in helping developing nations while cutting aid commitments

Politics

9 d. ago The Guardian view on Trump’s aid cuts and development: the global majority deserve justice, not charity | Editorial

Funding is plummeting as needs grow, with the closure of USAID, the slashing of UK and European aid budgets, and the obstruction of debt reform and cancellationWhen one door closes, you would hope that another opens. As USAID was formally shut down on Monday, a once-in-a-decade development financing conference was kicking off in Seville. But while initially intended to move the world closer to its ambitious 2030 sustainable development goals, it now looks more like an attempt to prevent a reversal of the progress already made.A study published in the Lancet predicted that Donald Trump’s aid cuts could claim more than 14 million lives by 2030, a third of them among children. For many poor countries, the scale of the shock would be similar to that of a major war, the authors found. More than four-fifths of the US agency’s programmes have been cut, with surviving projects folded into the state department. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago More than 14 MILLION could die as a result of Trump's foreign aid cuts, study finds

Research revealed that 4.5 million children under the age of five could die by 2030 as a result of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) being dismantled by the Trump administration.

Politics

1 week ago Trump’s tariff war and aid cuts threaten poorest nations’ recovery

Smaller countries face ‘perfect storm’, says UN and WTO trade tsar ahead of key sustainable development summit in Spain

Events

1 week ago ‘We are privileged’: liberal Afrikaners reject Trump’s ‘white genocide’ claims

As white South Africans arrive in US to escape ‘unjust racial discrimination’, many progressives feel angry at Trump’s portrayal of them as victimsFor some white Afrikaner South Africans, Donald Trump’s offer of refugee status in the US has been seen as a godsend. For others, it has provoked anger and frustration that they are being falsely portrayed as victims of a “white genocide”, 31 years after their community’s own oppressive minority rule ended.In February, Trump signed an executive order claiming Afrikaners, who make up about 4% of South Africa’s population, or about 2.5 million people, were victims of “unjust racial discrimination”. The order cut aid to the country and established a refugee programme for white South Africans. The first group arrived in May. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Israel closes the most direct route for aid to Palestinians in Gaza

Blockade will increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as Spain PM Pedro Sánchez describes situation as ‘genocide’Israel has closed crossings into northern Gaza, cutting the most direct route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine, as airstrikes and shelling killed dozens more people in the devastated Palestinian territory.The move to close the crossings on Thursday will increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as attention shifts from its brief conflict with Iran, back to the violence and grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Starmer’s foreign aid cuts will lead to extra 365,000 deaths, campaigners warn

The ONE Campaign warned a reduction in funding will see 23 million fewer children receive vaccinations

Events

2 w. ago UK pledge to global vaccine effort falls £400m to £1.25bn amid raft of aid cuts

Campaigners warn reduction could cost lives – even if Britain remains of the largest donors to the international Gavi alliance

Economics

2 w. ago Starmer: No tax rises on working people to reach 5% defence spending pledge

He said the current commitment to get defence spending up to 2.5% of GDP was coming from cuts to overseas development aid.

Economics

2 w. ago How did Spain come to be the only nation holding firm on its aid spending? | Ana Carbajosa

By refusing to slash funding to poorer nations, Spain became an outlier in the new world disorder. Next week it hosts a UN summit in Seville to prove itSpain swims against the tide. At a time when much of Europe is grappling with economic crises, caving in to populist anti-aid narratives and slashing development budgets, the country is increasing its financial support for the global south. Instead of planning future aid cuts, Spain has put ambitious goals for 2030 into law.Moreover, at a time when much of the world is looking inward and retreating from multilateralism, Spain will host a UN summit in Seville this month, the first of its kind in the global north. Dozens of heads of government, state and multilateral organisations will discuss how to finance development in a post-aid world, suffocated by military spending and unpayable debt in dozens of countries, particularly those in Africa. For the Spanish government, the forthcoming Seville summit is a clear political statement. Co...

Economics