Connect with us

Latest News

Trump administration moves to restore some terminated foreign aid programs, sources say

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday told reporters that the United States had concerns that WFP funding for Yemen and Afghanistan was benefiting the Houthis and the Islamic Emirate.

Published

on

President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to reinstate at least six recently canceled U.S. foreign aid programs for emergency food assistance, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The quick reversal of decisions made just days ago underscored the rapid-fire nature of Trump’s cuts to foreign aid. That has led to programs being cut, restored then cut again, disrupting international humanitarian operations.

USAID Acting Deputy Administrator Jeremy Lewin, who has previously been identified as a member of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, asked staff in an internal email to reverse the terminations.

He asked to restore awards to the World Food Programme in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, five sources familiar with the matter said.

The administration has also resumed four awards to the International Organization for Migration in the Pacific region, two sources familiar with the matter said.

“Sorry for all the back and forth on awards,” Lewin said on Tuesday in the internal email seen by Reuters. “There are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests — that’s my fault and I take responsibility,” he added.

Reuters reported on Monday that the Trump administration had ended life-saving aid programs for more than a dozen countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, totaling over $1.3 billion.

According to Stand Up For Aid, an advocacy group of current and former U.S. officials, WFP contracts canceled on Lewin’s orders last weekend for Lebanon, Syria, Somalia and Jordan totaled more than $463 million.

Many of the terminated programs had been granted waivers by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio following an initial round of cuts to foreign aid programs. The State Department said those did not reflect a final decision.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about restoring the awards.

The decision to restore some aid followed pressure from inside the administration and from Congress, two sources said.

The World Food Programme said on Monday that the U.S. notified the organization it was eliminating emergency food assistance funding in 14 countries, warning: “If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.”

The U.S. did not restore aid to Islamic Emirate-ruled Afghanistan and to Yemen, most of which is controlled by Islamist militants of the Iran-backed Houthi movement. Washington has been the largest aid donor to both countries, which have suffered years of devastating war.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday told reporters that the United States had concerns that WFP funding for Yemen and Afghanistan was benefiting the Houthis and the Islamic Emirate.

“There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut that have been rolled back and put into place,” Bruce said, adding that the administration remains committed to foreign aid.

Among the cuts over the weekend were $169.8 million for the WFP in Somalia, covering food assistance, nutrition for malnourished babies and children and humanitarian air support. In Syria, $111 million was cut from WFP food assistance.

The cuts have been the latest piece of the Trump administration’s drive to dismantle USAID, the main U.S. humanitarian aid agency.

The administration has canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid since the Republican president began his second term on January 20 in an overhaul that officials described as marked by chaos and confusion.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats on Tuesday wrote a letter to Rubio regarding plans to restructure the State Department, including by folding in USAID, which they said was “unconstitutional, illegal, unjustified, damaging, and inefficient.”

Latest News

Latvia launches human trafficking investigation after Epstein file release

Published

on

Latvia has launched a criminal investigation into potential human trafficking after the release of documents related to late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that included references to Latvian model agencies and models, police in the Baltic nation said on Thursday.

The investigation, which also involves Latvia’s prosecutors and its Organised Crime Bureau, will centre on “the possible recruitment of Latvian nationals for sexual exploitation in the United States”, police said in a statement, Reuters reported.

It has asked potential victims to come forward.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics called for the investigation after the public broadcaster reported the Epstein documents included passport data and travel details for several Latvian women.

Eriks Neisans, head of the Natalie modelling agency mentioned in the documents, denied any knowledge of wrongdoing to the public broadcaster.

The U.S. Justice Department’s recent release of millions of internal documents related to Epstein has revealed the late financier and sex offender’s ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business – both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges.

Latvia’s neighbour Lithuania has launched its own investigation into human trafficking earlier this week.

Continue Reading

Latest News

Afghans among top asylum seekers in Russia in 2025, report shows

Published

on

Afghan citizens were among the top three nationalities applying for asylum in Russia in 2025, according to new statistics reviewed by TASS. The figures show that 281 Afghan nationals submitted asylum requests during the year, placing Afghanistan in the third-highest position.

The data shows that Syrians ranked second with 3,196 applications. The highest number of requests came from Ukrainian citizens, who filed 3,332 applications in 2025—slightly lower than in previous years but still the largest group overall.

Uzbekistan (176 applicants) and Germany (129) also appeared among the top five nationalities seeking asylum in Russia last year. Overall, 8,220 foreigners applied for temporary asylum in 2025, an increase of 1,341 compared to 2024.

Temporary asylum in Russia grants legal residence, permission to work without a permit, access to medical care under compulsory insurance, travel documents, education opportunities, and financial assistance. It is also considered the first step toward securing a temporary residence permit and eventually Russian citizenship.

Continue Reading

Latest News

IEA ambassador meets top Chinese diplomat for Asia

Published

on

Bilal Karimi, the Ambassador of the Islamic Emirate in Beijing, met on Thursday with Liu Jinsong, head of the Asian Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Yue Xiaoyong, China’s Special Representative for Afghanistan. The officials discussed political, economic, and commercial relations between the two countries, the activation of the Wakhan corridor, consular affairs, and other related issues.

According to a statement from the Embassy of Afghanistan in China, Karimi praised China’s positive stance toward Afghanistan and considered cooperation between the two countries necessary.

The statement added that Liu and Yue, while respecting Afghanistan’s independence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty, also emphasized the continuation of cooperation.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending

Copyright © 2025 Ariana News. All rights reserved!