Programmes to tackle HIV, polio, mpox and bird flu have been affected by the freeze on tens of billions of dollars of overseas aid from the US, says the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

US President Donald Trump has taken steps to close the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), arguing that its spending is “totally unexplainable”.

However, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged the Trump administration to consider resuming aid funding until other solutions can be found.

HIV treatments and other services have been disrupted in 50 countries, he said at a briefing on Wednesday.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the freeze on US aid funding, at a virtual press conference in Geneva, Dr Tedros said: “There are actions that the US government is taking… which we’re concerned are having a serious impact on global health.”

In particular he pointed to the suspension of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, which he said had halted HIV treatment, testing and prevention services in 50 countries.

He added that a reprieve for life-saving services had not stopped the disruption.

“Clinics are shuttered and health workers have been put on leave,” Dr Tedros said.

Experts in global health have warned of the spread of disease, as well as delays to the development of vaccines and new treatments as a result of the cuts.

Trump has argued that USAID is “incompetent and corrupt”.

He recently announced huge cuts to the agency’s 10,000-strong workforce and the immediate suspension of almost all of its aid programmes.

The agency spends about $40bn (£32bn) – about 0.6% of total US yearly government spending – on humanitarian aid, much of which goes towards health programmes.

The vast majority of USAID money is spent in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, where it is primarily used for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who is working on the White House’s effort to shrink the size of the federal government, has previously claimed that the aid agency is “a criminal organisation”.

Neither Trump nor Musk have provided clear evidence to support their claims.

As well as the freeze on USAID, President Trump has taken steps to withdraw the United States from the WHO.

Under the Biden administration the US was the largest funder of the UN’s health agency and in 2023 it contributed almost one-fifth of the agency’s budget.

Dr Tedros said Trump’s decision was affecting collaboration between countries on global health threats. He also said the US had reduced its reporting of bird flu cases in humans.

The WHO says it has employed emergency measures similar to those used during the Covid pandemic to fill the gaps where there are shortages – in life-saving antiretroviral medication, for example, which is used to treat people living with HIV.

Meg Doherty, director of global HIV, hepatitis and sexually-transmitted infection (STI) programmes at the WHO, said efforts were being made to co-ordinate the sharing of vital supplies of medicines between countries.

However, she said a better, long-term solution was needed: “We have been seeking support from country to country for sharing, but this is a short-term approach.”

Source: BBC

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has vowed to continue its judicial work after US President Donald Trump signed an order to impose sanctions on its staff.

The ICC said it “stands firmly” by its personnel and the order seeks to harm its “independent and impartial” work.

Trump’s order accuses it of “illegitimate and baseless actions”, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, which Israel denies. The ICC also issued a warrant for a Hamas commander.

The ICC is a global court, although the US and Israel are not members, with the power to bring prosecutions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In its statement, it said: “The ICC condemns the issuance by the US of an executive order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and harm its independent and impartial judicial work.”

It added it stood by its personnel, pledging “to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world”.

In recent years, the court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Taliban leaders for “persecuting Afghan girls and women” and Myanmar’s military leader for crimes against the Rohingya Muslims.

More than 120 countries are members, including the UK and many European nations.

International Criminal Court: What is the ICC and what does it do?

Judges at the court have said there are “reasonable grounds” to suggest Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’ Mohammed Deif – who died last year – bear “criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

But a White House memo circulated on Thursday accused the Hague-based ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel by issuing the warrants at the same time.

Trump’s executive order said the ICC’s recent actions “set a dangerous precedent” that endangered Americans by exposing them to “harassment, abuse and possible arrest”.

The order adds it “threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States” and “undermines” the national security and foreign policy work of the US and allies.

The sanctions, announced while Netanyahu was in the US, place financial and visa restrictions on individuals and their families who assist in ICC investigations of American citizens or allies.

The move has been met with condemnation by many US allies, including the Netherlands and Germany.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK supported the independence of the ICC.

The United Nations (UN) has called for the measure to be reversed, while Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said on X, external that the ICC “must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity”.

But in a post on X, external on Friday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he “strongly” commended Trump’s executive order.

He claimed the ICC’s actions were “immoral and have no legal basis”, accusing the court of not operating “in accordance with international law”.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook on Friday that Trump’s decision was “absolutely understandable”, alleging the ICC had “in recent times disguised itself as a biased political tool”.

Hungary’s government has received widespread criticism for retaining close ties to the Kremlin following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and has invited Netanyahu to visit despite the international arrest warrant.

A former clerk to the court’s first chief prosecutor warned the sanctions could have “a profound practical impact” on its operations.

“The sanctions… do have the potential of freezing property and assets, as well as suspending entry into the United States of ICC officials and their immediate family members,” Zachary Kaufman told the BBC World Service.

The US has repeatedly rejected any jurisdiction by the body over American officials or citizens, and has accused the ICC of placing constraints on Israel’s right to self-defence, while ignoring Iran and anti-Israel groups.

During his first term in office, Trump imposed sanctions on ICC officials who were investigating whether US forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

This included a travel ban and asset freezes against former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

Those sanctions were lifted by President Joe Biden’s administration.

Last month, the US House of Representatives voted to sanction the ICC, but the bill foundered in the Senate.

In response to efforts to what they described as attempts to challenge the ICC’s authority, nine nations – including South Africa and Malaysia – launched the ‘Hague Group’ last month in an effort to defend the court and its rulings.

Source: BBC

The first US military flight deporting migrants from the United States to Guantanamo Bay landed in Cuba on Tuesday evening, according to a US official. It was the first step in an expected surge in the number of migrants sent to the US naval base, which for decades was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

President Donald Trump has eyed the facility as a holding center and said it has the capacity to hold as many as 30,000.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was assigned to Guantanamo Bay when he was on active duty, has called it a “perfect place” to house migrants. Additional US troops have arrived at the facility in the past few days to help prepare.

Amy Fischer, director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at Amnesty International USA, decried the use of Guantanamo.

“Sending immigrants to Guantanamo is a profoundly cruel, costly move. It will cut people off from lawyers, family and support systems, throwing them into a black hole so the US government can continue to violate their human rights out of sight. Shut Gitmo down now and forever!” Fischer said in a statement.

In addition, the US flew Indian immigrants back to India on Monday, a second US official said. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

There had previously been seven deportation flights, to Ecuador, Guam, Honduras and Peru. In addition, Colombian officials flew to the US and took two flights of migrants back to their country.

There are approximately 300 service members supporting the holding operations at Guantanamo Bay, and the numbers will fluctuate based on the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security, which is the lead federal agency. At least 230 of those service members are US Marines from the 6th Marine Regiment, who began deploying on Friday.

There are more than 725,000 immigrants from India living in the US without authorisation, the third most of any country after Mexico and El Salvador, according to the Pew Research Center.

Recent years have also seen a jump in the number of Indians attempting to enter the country along the US-Canada border. The US Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending Sept. 30, which amounted to 60% of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago.

Source: AP

The Pentagon has revoked the security detail and clearance for Gen Mark Milley, a former US general who has been critical of US President Donald Trump.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the move as one of his first acts in office, asking officials to investigate Gen Milley’s “conduct” and review his military grade.

Gen Milley previously served as the top US general during Trump’s first term but later criticised his former boss, and was quoted calling him a “fascist”.

Since returning to office, Trump has revoked security protections for a handful of former officials with whom he has clashed, including former top health official Anthony Fauci.

Trump previously accused Gen Milley of treason for phone calls he held with his Chinese counterpart during the final weeks of his first Trump presidency, including in the wake of a riot at the US Capitol building by Trump’s supporters in 2021.

Gen Milley reportedly used one of the calls to reassure China that the US would not launch a nuclear strike. On social media the president described those calls as “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”.

Gen Milley, however, testified the calls were coordinated with other defence secretaries.

It was in Bob Woodward’s book War, published last year, that Gen Milley was quoted calling Trump “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country”.

And in 2023, when giving his final speech as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Milley said the military did not take an oath to a “wannabe dictator”. The comment that was seen by many as a reference to Trump, the man who nominated him for the job in the first place.

Ahead of Trump’s return to the White House last week, outgoing President Joe Biden issued Gen Milley – and a handful of others, including Fauci – a pre-emptive pardon in case they faced retribution from Trump.

Biden’s statement said the pardons should “not be mistaken as an acknowledgment” that any of those covered “engaged in any wrongdoing”.

Gen Milley thanked Biden for the move and said he did not want to spend the rest of his life “fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights”.

“I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety,” he said.

The news that Gen Milley was being stripped of his security detail and security clearance was confirmed in a statement to the BBC’s US partner, CBS News.

The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has also been told to “conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding Gen Milley’s conduct so that the Secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination,” the statement said.

Trump’s new administration has also revoked security protections for his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his former National Security Adviser John Bolton and his former envoy Brian Hook.

In the hours after Trump’s second inauguration, Trump’s officials also removed from the Pentagon a portrait depicting Gen Milley’s as chair of the joint chiefs of staff.

Source: BBC

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed that his country’s nuclear program will continue indefinitely.

Kim warned of an “inevitable” confrontation with hostile nations and said 2025 would be a “crucial year” for bolstering North Korea’s nuclear forces, the KCNA news agency reported Wednesday.

“It is our firm political and military stand and invariable noble task and duty to develop the state’s nuclear counteraction posture indefinitely,” Kim said, according to KCNA.

The announcement came just days after US President Donald Trump expressed his intention to re-engage diplomatically with Pyongyang.

Kim said the aim is increasing Pyongyang’s readiness for what he described as “an inevitable long-term confrontation” with hostile countries.

The remarks come against the backdrop of North Korea’s recent test-firing of strategic guided cruise missiles, marking the country’s first military demonstration since Trump’s inauguration.

Kim addressed “the world’s most unstable situation in which a long-term confrontation with the most vicious hostile countries is inevitable,” and that it was “indispensable for the country to steadily strengthen the nuclear shield”.

North Korea says it is seeking nuclear weapons to counter threats from the United States and its allies, including South Korea.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year, prompting the South’s protest.

Source: Presstv

A US judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s order to change birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the constitution

The judge says the order, which was slated to take effect in February, was “blatantly unconstitutional”

Meanwhile, Trump has declassifed files related to the deaths of John F Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr

The president also pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists and signed executive orders relating to cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and the recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina

Earlier, Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos where he told the rest of the world that if they do not make their products in the US, they will face tariffs worth “trillions of dollars”

Source: BBC

As Donald Trump returns to the White House while making and carrying out numerous threats against journalists and the media, Americans are wondering what the future holds for journalism.

Donald Trump has:

– issued at least 15 separate calls to revoke the broadcast licenses of television networks in political retaliation;

– vowed to investigate media outlets that are critical of him;

– insulted or threatened journalists hundreds of times on the campaign trail;

– formed an alliance with anti-journalism tech mogul Elon Musk;

– threatened Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg with jail time in an apparently successful effort to extract concessions on content moderation;

– sued multiple media outlets for coverage he disliked.

No one can say with certainty what threats President Trump will follow through on or whether the institutions that limit presidential powers will withstand an executive onslaught. The United States has the lowest ranking in its history in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, 55th out of 180 countries and territories.

RSF will continue to defend the values of journalism, whatever the threats. Support our actions in the United States and wherever press freedom is threatened. Make a donation now using our online form.

REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES (RSF)

From behind his desk in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders and decrees aimed at cracking down on immigration.

From one order tackling the definition of birthright citizenship, to another declaring illegal immigration at the border a national emergency, Trump swiftly made moves on his promises to tighten the US-Mexico border.

But some of his plans – particularly around changing the definition of birthright citizenship – are likely to face significant hurdles.

He is already facing legal challenges from immigration advocacy groups, which have reacted furiously to his announcements.

One organisation said his plans “do not uphold American values”, and another said Trump’s administration was “actively trying to destroy our lives”.

In his inaugural address earlier in the day, Trump vowed that “all illegal entry will be halted” and that millions of “criminal aliens” would be deported.

He also signed an order declaring Mexican drug cartels terrorist organisations. “I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions,” he explained.

At another event at Washington’s Capital One Arena, Trump formally revoked nearly 80 executive actions of his predecessor Joe Biden. He had previously vowed to scrap Biden’s policies “within five minutes”.

Following his inauguration, he also signed a proclamation that gave officials the authority to “repel, repatriate, or remove” migrants until he was satisfied that “the invasion at the southern border has ceased”.

Although the details of the order are not yet known, officials have said that Trump plans to end birthright citizenship.

That refers to an approach of the US government whereby anyone born on American soil is considered a citizen at birth, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

Trump appears to be seeking to change the rules so that that the children of undocumented migrants living in the US will no longer automatically be considered US citizens. It would not apply retrospectively.

Exactly how he intends to achieve this is unclear, however, because birthright citizenship is enshrined in the constitution and would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to change.

Trump has instructed federal agencies to stop issuing documentation to children born in the US to parents who are in the country illegally or on temporary visas, which could effectively deny them access to public services.

Advocacy group the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) immediately said it was suing the Trump administration over the order. “Denying citizenship to US-born children is not only unconstitutional – it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values,” it said in a statement.

The new administration has also moved to swiftly scrap CBP One, a mobile application used by migrants to book appointments to appear at a port of entry.

Biden administration officials had credited the app with helping reduce the number of detentions at the border since it was first introduced in January 2023. It was the only legal pathway to request asylum at the US-Mexico border.

Now, the Customs and Border Protection website notes that the app is “no longer available”.

App users also now are shown a message noting that “existing appointments scheduled through CBP One are no longer valid”.

According to CBS, the BBC’s US partner, the Biden administration had scheduled roughly 30,000 appointments via CBP One for migrants to enter the US in the next three weeks.

Other estimates had suggested that as many as 270,000 migrants were in Mexico waiting for an opportunity to enter the US using CBP One.

In the Mexican border city of Tijuana, some migrants reported feeling defeated and deflated after learning of CBP One’s demise.

“I hope God touches his [Trump’s] heart,” said Oralia, a Mexican woman who fled cartel violence in her home state along with her epileptic son. “We really do need the help.”

She had been waiting for an appointment through CBP One for seven months.

Among his other day-one moves, Trump ordered a shutdown of another Biden-era initiative, which allowed up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to fly to the US per month. Like the CBP One app, it was designed to lower the number of illegal crossings.

Source: BBC

Cuba said Tuesday it would release 553 prisoners in response to Washington removing the communist country from its list of terror sponsors in a deal hailed by relatives of jailed protesters.

The White House said President Joe Biden was removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in one of his last official acts before Donald Trump is sworn in next Monday.

The move will likely be overturned by Trump, who reinstated Cuba’s terror designation in the final days of his first term of office in 2021.

“An assessment has been completed, and we do not have information that supports Cuba’s designation as being a state sponsor of terrorism,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters.

The deal was negotiated with the help of the Catholic Church for the release of “political prisoners in Cuba and those who have been detained unjustly,” the official added.

Family members of jailed protesters hailed the announcement, including Liset Fonseca, mother of 41-year-old Roberto Perez, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

He had taken part in anti-government protests with thousands of other Cubans in July 2021, fueled by power blackouts and soaring food prices.

“All the mothers of prisoners want our children to be free and out of that suffering, out of that hell that is the prisons in Cuba. They should never have been in prison,” Fonseca told AFP.

One person was killed and dozens injured in the protests, which Havana accused Washington of orchestrating.

According to official Cuban figures, some 500 people were given sentences of up to 25 years in prison for participating, but rights groups and the US embassy say the figure is closer to 1,000.

Some have already been freed after serving their sentences.

‘Diverse crimes’

Cuba welcomed Washington’s announcement Tuesday as a step in the “right direction,” but lamented it was still under US sanctions in place since 1962.

The foreign ministry later announced that 553 people imprisoned for “diverse crimes” will be released.

Cuba blames the US blockade for its worst economic crisis in decades, marked by shortages of fuel, food, medicines and electricity.

Trump’s first presidential term from 2017 to 2021 saw a tightening of sanctions against Cuba that had been loosened during a period of detente under his predecessor Barack Obama.

Before assuming office, Biden had promised changes in US policy towards the island, but postponed these after Havana’s crackdown on the 2021 protests.

Analysts say the Covid-19 pandemic, which tanked tourism, and economic mismanagement by the government have contributed greatly to the poor state of the economy.

But Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel has described US sanctions as “genocidal” and said his country was prepared for “more difficult circumstances” after Trump’s election.

The incoming president’s allies immediately criticized Biden over Tuesday’s announcement, with Ted Cruz — a Cuban-American member of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee — calling it a “rank appeasement of the Cuban regime.”

Trump has nominated Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American highly critical of communism and the left at large, to serve as his secretary of state.

A White House statement said Biden would also waive part of the so-called Libertad Act underpinning the US embargo of Cuba.

Biden would also rescind a Trump-era policy called “National Security Presidential Memorandum 5,” ending restrictions on financial transactions with certain Cuban entities.

Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro and a political party made up of the country’s disarmed ex-FARC guerrilla group, welcomed the White House announcement.

Cuba had hosted the talks from 2012 to 2016 that saw the FARC agree to lay down arms.

Source: AFP