Category: International

The Trump administration’s measures to cut and restructure American foreign aid is severely damaging the complex international system that attempts to avoid and respond to hunger. The international famine monitoring and relief system, which was already struggling to handle the food crises that were sweeping the developing world before US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, has taken several hits as a result of the abrupt halting of US foreign aid. The spending freeze, which Trump ordered upon taking office on January 20, is supposed to last 90…

The Trump administration is working to identify and exempt specific USAID programmes from a sweeping freeze on foreign aid, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday. His remarks come after President Donald Trump’s decision last month to halt most US foreign assistance, a move that has already placed all directly hired USAID employees globally on leave and recalled thousands of overseas personnel as part of his “America First” policy. Trump and his aides have stated they aim to ensure that billions of dollars in US assistance, including humanitarian…

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is planning to merge the country’s international aid agency, USAID, into the State Department as part of a wider shake-up aimed at cutting staff and bringing aid spending in line with his “America First” policy. Trump has entrusted Elon Musk, the billionaire heading his drive to shrink the federal government, to oversee the project. On Sunday, Trump said USAID had “been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out,” while Musk called it “a criminal organisation” without providing any evidence and…

OTTAWA: Canada has decided to impose 25% levies on imports from the United States following President Donald Trump’s decision to charge tariffs on the Canadian goods entering the country. Relations between the long-time allies who share the world’s longest land border have reached a new low with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning Americans that Trump’s actions would have real consequences for them. Speaking at a news conference, PM Trudeau he was slapping tariffs on C$155 billion ($107 billion) of US goods. Those on C$30 billion will take effect on…

US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered sweeping tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, demanding they stanch the flow of fentanyl — and illegal immigrants in the case of Canada and Mexico — into the United States, kicking off a trade war that could dent global growth and reignite inflation. Mexico and Canada, the top two US trading partners, immediately vowed retaliatory tariffs, while China said it would challenge Trump’s move at the World Trade Organisation and take other “countermeasures.” In three executive orders, Trump imposed 25% tariffs…

OTTAWA: The Canadian government has pledged to offer financial aid on the scale seen during the COVID-19 pandemic to support workers and businesses if US President Donald Trump imposes broad new tariffs, a move that could strain economic ties between the two countries, officials said Wednesday. Trump has said he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico as early as 1 February unless more action is taken to prevent migrants and illicit drugs from crossing into the United States. With about 20 per cent of…

South Korean prosecutors indicted impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday for being the “ringleader of an insurrection” after his abortive declaration of martial law, ordering the suspended leader to remain in detention. Yoon plunged the country into political chaos with his December 3 bid to suspend civilian rule, a move which lasted just six hours before lawmakers defied armed soliders in parliament to vote it down. He was impeached soon after, and this month became the first sitting South Korean head of state to be arrested. That came after…

SEOUL: South Korea’s investigators called off their attempt to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol at his residence Friday over a failed martial law bid, citing safety concerns after a standoff with his security team. Yoon, who has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers, would become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested if the warrant is carried out. The president, who issued a bungled declaration on December 3 that shook the vibrant East Asian democracy and briefly lurched it back to the dark days…

Donald Trump threatened to retake control of the Panama Canal on Sunday, accusing Panama of unfairly charging excessive fees and drawing sharp criticism from Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, Reuters reported. At a rally in Arizona, Trump said he would not allow the canal to fall into the “wrong hands,” referring to concerns about potential Chinese influence, even though China does not control the canal. A subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings has long managed two key ports at the canal’s entrances. In a post on Truth Social, Trump reiterated his…