Trump's DOGE experiment fades as Washington efficiency drive unravels
U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has quietly faded out with eight months left on its mandate, as its powers are absor...
The U.N. agency responsible for providing humanitarian aid and support for displaced people has announced cuts in its 2026 budget due to financial constraints.
The agency plans to scale back its budget by nearly a fifth to $8.5 billion even as displacement continues to rise due to crises like the war in Sudan, a copy of its budget showed on Monday.
This means it will spend $8.5 billion as opposed to its budgeted $10.2 billion for the year 22025 due to financial constraints.
According to the UN, drastic cuts in foreign aid are becoming increasingly common among major donors in Europe and the United States, with a direct impact on the most vulnerable populations.
For example the United Kingdom, Belgium etc have all cut humanitarian spending while increasing military allocations.
At the end of June, less than 17% of the $46 billion needed to meet global humanitarian needs in 2025 had been received, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This represents a 40% drop compared to the same period in 2024.
To cushion this, the agency plans to reduce posts by 25% or 3985 in the coming year. It will also close its regional bureau for Southern Africa effective 1st October.
Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator says of the situation “The math is cruel, and the consequences are heartbreaking. Too many people will not get the support they need, but we will save as many lives as we can with the resources we are given.”
The United States is preparing to launch a new round of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, as President Donald Trump’s administration intensifies efforts to pressure President Nicolás Maduro’s government and targets what it calls Venezuela’s role in the regional drug trade.
Air traffic at Eindhoven Airport in the southern Netherlands was suspended on Saturday evening after multiple drones were sighted near the facility, prompting the deployment of counter-drone systems and raising fresh alarm over airspace security in Europe.
Several international airlines have suspended flights from Venezuela after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned of heightened military activity and deteriorating security conditions in the country’s airspace.
Jamaica has declared an outbreak of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease suspected of causing six deaths following the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Melissa in late October.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a warning to major airlines on Friday, alerting them to a "potentially hazardous situation" when flying over Venezuela.
The United States said it made significant progress on a framework aimed at ending the war in Ukraine during high-level talks in Geneva on Sunday, though no final agreement was reached.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has quietly faded out with eight months left on its mandate, as its powers are absorbed into the federal bureaucracy and critics question whether it ever produced real savings.
Canada and India have agreed to restart negotiations for a new trade deal, Indian officials confirmed on Sunday, after talks stalled following a diplomatic spat two years ago.
Vilnius airport briefly halted night-time operations after balloons drifted towards its airspace, forcing several flights to divert.
Britain, France and Germany have drafted a counter-proposal to Washington’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan, keeping the U.S. outline as a starting point but reshaping it with their own security and reconstruction terms, according to a text seen on Sunday.
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