While serving as a contractor and senior adviser for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Alex Smith had a broad mandate. He was tasked with offering insight on issues concerning gender, infectious disease, nutrition, and the health of mothers and children. And all of those issues converged in Gaza, as Israel’s siege unfolded. The … Read more
Since Donald Trump’s re-election as United States president, there has been growing discussion about what his incoming administration’s policies towards Afghanistan might look like. Many anticipate a tougher stance against the Taliban, but a closer look at Trump’s track record and statements on the issue indicates he is unlikely to make any drastic changes to … Read more
United States President Donald Trump has pushed back on the notion that he has “ceded the presidency” to billionaire Elon Musk, who has taken an outsized role in the president-elect’s transition into the White House. Trump made the comments during a speech in Arizona on Sunday, days after the Tesla and SpaceX owner intervened alongside … Read more
A last-minute budget bill has passed in the United States House of Representatives to keep the federal government funded and running through mid-March, averting an impending shutdown. The continuing resolution now progresses to the Senate with only hours to spare before the shutdown is slated to take effect on Saturday at 12:01am local time (05:01 … Read more
Move brings total in student loan forgiveness during Joe Biden’s term as president to $180bn, Education Department says. US President Joe Biden’s administration is cancelling student loans for another 55,000 people in the United States, amounting to $4.2bn in debt forgiveness just weeks before his time in office ends. The White House said in a … Read more
The United States Congress has until Friday at midnight to pass a bill raising the country’s borrowing limit, also known as the debt ceiling, without which large sections of the government could stop operating. A bill that would have extended the deadline until March 14, prepared by both Democrats and Republicans, was scuttled after President-elect … Read more
United States President-elect Donald Trump has described the toppling of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad as an “unfriendly takeover” by Turkiye, which had aligned itself with several of the opposition groups that led the lightning offensive on Damascus. Trump made the remarks – in apparent praise of Ankara – during a wide-ranging news conference on Monday … Read more
Backlash has been building in the United States following a news report that links one of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed cabinet members to an effort to revoke approval for the polio vaccine. On Saturday, The Associated Press news agency published a statement from a spokesperson for Robert F Kennedy Jr, whom Trump has nominated to … Read more
Prosecutors say McKinsey provided Purdue advice on measures it could take to ‘turbocharge’ OxyContin sales. Consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $650m to resolve a United States Department of Justice investigation into the consulting firm’s work advising opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma on how to boost OxyContin sales. McKinsey has entered into a … Read more
A federal office in the United States charged with shaping foreign trade policies has announced it would launch an investigation into Nicaragua’s government for “persistent attacks on labor rights, human rights and the rule of law”. On Tuesday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative explained it had received “numerous credible reports” that Nicaragua’s … Read more