10 h. ago ‘Conversation on future of aid long overdue’: UK looks to lead response to swingeing US cuts

Huge cuts by Trump administration to international aid budgets has left a vacuum and Britain is looking to lead efforts to find a path forwardThe huge US-led cuts to international aid programmes and to the UN budget has prompted the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to propose a global conference as part of what he described as “a long overdue conversation about the future architecture of aid”.UK Foreign Office officials said the conference was likely to be in the early autumn, and reflected a UK view that since aid cuts were not reversible in the foreseeable future, a discussion about priorities was required. Continue reading...

Politics

28 h. ago My rare disease was getting closer to a cure. RFK Jr could undermine that | Jameson Rich

The Trump administration’s funding cuts to the NIH could destroy a wave of approaching research breakthroughsSince Robert F Kennedy Jr assumed control of the US health department in February, with a mandate to “[lower] chronic disease rates and [end] childhood chronic disease”, he has moved quickly to remake the US’s federal health infrastructure. But the Trump administration’s actions on medical research are already threatening that goal – and could end medical progress in this country for good.Kennedy’s office oversees the National Institutes of Health, the control center of disease research in the United States. Kennedy’s agency has killed almost 800 active projects, according to Nature, affecting medical research into HIV/Aids, diabetes, women’s health, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and more. The administration wants to cut the NIH’s budget up to 40% while consolidating its 27 agencies – separated by disease area – into just eight. Elon Musk’s Doge has been reviewing previo...

Politics

51 h. ago Trump cuts will increase devastation after disasters, expert warns: ‘It is really scary’

Layoffs and funding cuts to Fema and Noaa will hamstring emergency managers, warns professor Samantha MontanoThe Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost American lives, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned.Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled. Continue reading...

Events

51 h. ago Trump cuts will lead to more deaths in disasters, expert warns: ‘It is really scary’

Layoffs and funding cuts to Fema and Noaa will impact how they predict and respond to disasters, warns professor Samantha MontanoThe Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost lives in the US, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned.Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Trump administration to cut thousands of jobs from CIA and other spy agencies – report

CIA to lose 1,200 while NSA among other agencies reported to face downsizing amid president’s drive to shrink federal workforceThe White House plans to cut staffing at the Central Intelligence Agency by 1,200 positions while other intelligence agencies including the National Security Agency will also shed thousands of jobs, the Washington Post has reported.A person familiar with the plan confirmed the changes to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago EPA announces broad reorganization that includes shuffle of scientific research

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced a broad reorganization as part of the Trump administration’s drive to cut costs that some activists worry will harm the agency’s independent scientific research

Science

5 d. ago US economy beats expectations with 177,000 jobs added in April

Figures indicate labour market resilience despite Trump administration’s deep cuts to federal workforce

Politics

6 d. ago People in the US: share your recent experiences of receiving Social Security benefits

We would like to hear from US Social Security benefit recipients and agency workers about their experiences under the Trump administrationThe Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to cut 7000 jobs, about 12% of its workforce as part of the Department of Government Efficiency review of the federal work force.Nearly 69 million Americans on average per month are set to receive Social Security benefits in 2025, consisting of retired workers, disabled workers, survivors and dependents. These benefits represent 31 percent of income for people over the age of 65 in the US. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago AmeriCorps cuts prompt two dozen states to sue Trump administration

About two dozen states have sued the Trump administration over the dismantling of AmeriCorps

Politics

7 d. ago How the Trump administration’s health cuts could kill thousands of test animals

Hundreds of lab animals in West Virginia have reportedly already been euthanized

Events

8 d. ago Trump administration’s budget cuts endanger Meals on Wheels: ‘life and death implications’

Trump team’s slashes to US health department threaten popular program that combats elder hunger and isolationThe Trump administration’s slashes to the Department of Health and Human Services is threatening Meals on Wheels, the popular program dedicated to combatting senior hunger and isolation. Despite decades of bipartisan support, Meals on Wheels now faces attacks from Republicans whose budget blueprint paves the way for deep cuts to nutrition and other social safety-net programs as a way to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.It’s a move anti-hunger advocates and policy experts warn could have disastrous ramifications for the millions of older Americans who rely on the program to eat each day. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Like a slap in the face’: Trump officials cut hundreds of millions to combat gun violence and opioid addiction

DoJ told over 350 groups that promised funding would be cut because it ‘no longer effectuates’ department prioritiesHundreds of millions of federal grant dollars meant to prevent and respond to gun violence, opioid addiction and support victims of violent crimes were cut this week by the Trump administration. The US department of justice emailed more than 350 organizations on Tuesday to tell them that the promised funding was being terminated. According to a termination notice shared with the Guardian, the Department of Justice said the money was rescinded because it “no longer effectuates Department priorities”.Instead, the department intends to focus on “more directly supporting certain law enforcement operations, combatting violent crime, protecting American children, and supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault, and better coordinating law enforcement efforts at all levels of government”, the notice read. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Global study on Covid vaccine safety falls victim to Trump cuts

Groundbreaking project has produced some of the world’s most comprehensive studies on vaccine efficacy and safetyThe largest ever global study into the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has been terminated just 13 months shy of completion, after becoming caught up in the Trump administration’s sweeping funding cuts.The Global Vaccine Data Network, which was established in 2019 by the New Zealand-based vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris and the US-based vaccinologist Steven Black, has already produced some of the world’s most comprehensive studies on vaccine efficacy and safety, based on data from more than 300 million people. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Trump and DOGE’s cuts to Social Security Administration spark fears that benefit payments will be ‘interrupted’ soon

Former Biden official Martin O’Malley sounds alarm that impact of Trump’s DOGE chaos and cuts coming in near future

Politics

2 w. ago Trump administration axes key STI lab amid dramatic rise in US syphilis cases

Chaotic cuts to CDC hit expert leadership and programs that surveil, test and research sexually transmitted diseasesThe Trump administration’s cuts to a sexually transmitted infection lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) comes as some states, such as Wisconsin, announce enormous increases in syphilis.Syphilis mitigation is just the latest example of work in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that will be affected by the lab’s closure, as the Trump administration discards expert leadership and programs that surveil, test and research STIs amid chaotic government cuts. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Outrage as Trump’s coal expansion coupled with health cuts: ‘There won’t be anyone to work in the mines’

Agencies protecting coal miners from hazards such as ‘black lung’ among those gutted by government cutsThe Trump administration’s efforts to expand coal mining while simultaneously imposing deep cuts to agencies tasked with ensuring miner health and safety has left some advocates “dumbfounded”.Agencies that protect coal miners from serious occupational hazards, including the condition best known as “black lung”, have been among those affected by major government cuts imposed by the White House and the unofficial “department of government efficiency” (Doge) run by the billionaire Elon Musk. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump administration makes major cuts to Native American boarding school research projects

At least $1.6 million in federal funds for projects meant to capture and digitize stories of the systemic abuse of generations of Indigenous children in boarding schools at the hands of the U.S. government have been slashed due to federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration

Politics

2 w. ago Donald Trump dealt major blow as Elton John makes huge announcement

Donald Trump's administration recently cut $450 million (£339 million) worth of funding allocated to HIV and AIDS research - but Elton John and co-star Brandi Carlile have teamed up in an effort to reverse the deficit

Politics

2 w. ago Doge cuts spark questions as employees supporting Musk space launches spared

Department of Transportation employees who provide support for Starlink and SpaceX launches safe amid job cutsElon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” and the Trump administration have spared the jobs of US Department of Transportation employees who provide support services for spacecraft launches by Musk’s companies, SpaceX and Starlink – a revelation that raises a new round of conflict of interest questions around Doge.In its most recent buyout announcement, the transportation department did not note that the positions spared supported Musk’s and others’ space operations. Continue reading...

Technology

3 w. ago The great Mississippi tops list of most endangered rivers amid fears over Trump rollbacks

Cuts to disaster agency and deregulation of fossil fuels, plus rise of water-guzzling datacentres, highlighted in new reportThe Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal climate disaster agency – and the full-throttle deregulation of fossil fuels and water-guzzling datacentres – could prove catastrophic for America’s endangered rivers, threatening the food, water and livelihoods of millions of people, according to a new report.American Rivers’ annual most-endangered rivers list lays bare a myriad of human-made threats including floods, drought and other extreme weather events driven by the climate crisis, as well as industrial pollution and poor river management – all of which Trump’s regulatory rollbacks will almost inevitably make worse. Continue reading...

Politics