Category World News

Taipei, Taiwan – Until recently, Southeast Asia’s Mekong sub-region seemed to be on track to reach its goal of eliminating malaria by 2030.

Named for the 4, 900-kilometre (3, 000-mile) river that runs from southwest China through Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, the area has long been afflicted by the mosquito-borne illness.

From 2010 to 2023, the number of cases caused by the most common malaria parasite declined from nearly half a million to fewer than 248, 000, according to the Global Fund, a United States government-funded organisation that is the world’s largest financier of programmes to prevent, treat and care for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Nearly 229, 000 of those cases were reported in a single country, Myanmar, where the illness exploded with the outbreak of a civil war in 2021 and the displacement of millions of people.

As US President Donald Trump’s administration severely scales back foreign aid with the effective dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), health campaigners now fear that the progress made in the Mekong will be lost after officials targeted Myanmar’s anti-malaria initiative for elimination.

“We were throwing all our resources at]Myanmar], but by stopping this, malaria is going to spill back into Southeast Asia and the Mekong sub-region”, Alexandra Wharton-Smith, who worked on USAID’s Myanmar programme until being laid off by the Trump administration, told Al Jazeera from Thailand.

Myanmar’s government has estimated that cases have risen 300 percent since the start of the civil war, but Wharton-Smith said independent research indicates the real figure is more than double that.

New cases are also emerging in parts of Thailand that had not seen malaria for years as refugees and migrants from Myanmar cross the border, and are likely to rise further following the suspension of programmes to combat the disease, Wharton-Smith said.

The rollback of funding for anti-malaria efforts in the Mekong is just one of many examples of cuts that are raising alarm among humanitarian workers across the Global South, where the collapse of USAID threatens decades of progress against health crises such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Ebola and malnutrition.

On Wednesday, a top United Nations official for humanitarian affairs said the Trump administration had delivered a “seismic shock” to the global aid sector.

“Many will die because that aid is drying up”, Tom Fletcher, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said at a news conference on Monday.

Once the world’s top source of international aid, USAID is set to slash 5, 200 of its some 6, 200 programmes – about 83 percent of the total – according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States”, Rubio said on X on Monday.

The remaining contracts will be overseen by the US State Department, he said.

The announcement capped six weeks of turmoil for the agency that began on January 20 when Trump issued a 90-day “pause” on US development assistance.

Thousands of USAID employees, contractors and support staff were put on leave or furloughed as projects around the world received a “stop work order” and ground to a halt.

Confusion followed as NGOs scrambled to fill in budget gaps and understand which programmes qualified for an announced waiver for life-saving partners.

The Supreme Court last week ordered the Trump administration to comply with a lower court’s ruling ordering the government to release $2bn in back pay owed to USAID partners and contractors from before the pause.

On Monday, a federal judge again called on the Trump administration to release the “unlawfully” impounded funds, arguing they had already been appropriated by the US Congress for a specific purpose.

US development assistance has been a primary target of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close adviser to Trump.

Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya, said that while she agreed USAID should be reformed, the Trump administration’s gutting of the agency demonstrated a “total lack of understanding in how the world works”.

“We’ve made the case that the USAID funding mechanism was very, very inefficient. There was not too much attention paid to impact, to long-term sustainability and things like that, so it was not a perfect system. The problem is that you don’t upend an imperfect system overnight”, Kyobutungi told Al Jazeera.

“It’s not just that people show up and dispense pills for medical resistance, there’s a whole structure” to humanitarian assistance, Kyobutungi said.

“It’s the total disregard of how things work, how the world works, how projects are run, that is just astounding”.

Politicised aid

While the full impact of the USAID cuts is yet to be seen, a humanitarian worker at a leading nonprofit that works on malnutrition in multiple regions, including Africa and the Middle East, said any delay in funding could be deadly.

Among those most at risk are children being treated in intensive care units at emergency feeding stations for complications such as organ failure and hypoglycaemia, said the humanitarian worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The global humanitarian community has thousands of stabilisation centres around the world, supported by US government funds”, the person told Al Jazeera, asking not to be named due to fears of repercussions.

“This is crucial because with all the ups and downs of people awaiting waiver requests to resume programmes, the cash flow problems … we can’t allow these centres to close for even a day. Because if the lights go off in these centres, we see children dying”.

“Up until now, this was never a political issue. Feeding starving children was a bipartisan issue, and humanitarian aid was apolitical. Now they’ve politicised it”, the worker added.

It is also unclear how major US projects like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President’s Malaria Initiative will fare in the future.

Founded by Republican President George W Bush 20 years ago, the projects are credited with saving more than 32 million lives, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and archived USAID data.

They are both funded by Congress but implemented through government agencies such as USAID and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which has also been targeted by DOGE’s cost-cutting measures.

UNAIDS, a major partner of PEPFAR, said last month that it was notified the US government was terminating its relationship effective immediately. The agency said HIV programmes in at least 55 countries had reported cuts in funding.

Grants for UNICEF programmes targeting polio were also terminated, according to the UN, as was funding to the UN Population Fund, which oversees reproductive and sexual health programmes.

USAID has explicitly denied waivers for any programmes linked to family planning or so-called “gender ideology”.

NGOs on the ground in Asia, Africa and elsewhere are now struggling to fill gaps in funding and are facing major disruptions in service since they were issued a “stop work order” during the 90-day USAID “pause”.

Rubio’s most recent pronouncement on USAID has done little to clear up the confusion, while USAID-funded food and essential items remain locked in warehouses, according to two NGO sources.

Back in the Mekong, Wharton-Smith, the former adviser to USAID’s Myanmar programme, said she was concerned that a trickle of malaria cases over the Myanmar border over the last two years could turn into a flood with the withdrawal of USAID.

“We’re going to have more malaria where there hasn’t been malaria before. A lot of people have lost their immunity, so that could mean deaths”, she said.

The prime minister of Ireland, Michael Martin, is the latest European leader to visit United States President Donald Trump during his second term in the White House.

But the occasion was a markedly light-hearted one: to hold receptions and events in advance of St Patrick’s Day, a popular Irish holiday held each year on March 17.

Still, Wednesday’s visit was clouded by many of the same looming issues that accompanied other European leaders to the White House, among them Russia’s war in Ukraine and the fate of the delicate ceasefire in Gaza.

Trump took up much of the spotlight, holding court in an Oval Office sit-down. As the US president took questions from the news media, Martin appeared relatively silent.

When he did speak, Martin offered warm praise for the Irish-American alliance and the historic ties between the two countries.

He also touted Trump’s self-professed role as a peacemaker, as did French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer when they visited the White House in late February.

“Mr President, we are forever grateful for the United States ‘ contribution to transforming our island”, Martin said at a luncheon for the Friends of Ireland, a group of bipartisan US lawmakers. “We wish you well in the efforts that you are making to bring peace to the Ukraine and to the Middle East and further afield”.

Here are five takeaways from their meeting today at the White House.

A relatively warm visit, despite boycotts

The atmosphere was decidedly cosier than some of Trump’s other recent visits. Since taking office, Trump has welcomed a stream of world leaders, including King Abdullah II of Jordan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with whom he had a shouting match.

Both leaders came in the context of seeking assurances about US cooperation in regional conflicts: the war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza.

But with Martin – known by the title taoiseach, Irish for “chief” – the stakes were somewhat lower.

During their Oval Office sit-down, Martin’s conversation with Trump meandered to the US president’s luxury Doonbeg golf resort, situated on Ireland’s west coast.

“  I’d just say, president, you have the distinction of being, I think, the only president that has physically invested in Ireland through your Doonbeg”, Martin said, as Trump tried to interject.

“I love this guy”, Trump replied, pointing a thumb at Martin.

Trump responded with his own form of flattery, invoking Martin’s family history as the son of a famous boxer – and toeing Irish stereotypes about fighting.

“I know so many Irish fighters. They like to fight, and they are damn good at it too”, Trump said at the luncheon, before turning to Martin. “His father was a great fighter, actually. So that means, genetically, I’m not going to mess around with you. You understand? I’m a believer in that”.

Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, even wore shamrock socks and a green tie to mark the occasion.

But at one point during the visit, a journalist did confront Trump about some notable absences from this year’s St Patrick’s Day festivities.

Irish parties like Sinn Fein had announced last month that they would boycott the events in Washington, DC, over Trump’s stance on Gaza.

“  What are they boycotting”? Trump asked.

When the journalist explained, Trump shrugged it off. ” I haven’t heard that”.

Trump uses ‘ Palestinian ‘ as a slur, dismisses ethnic cleansing concerns

Trump has previously said he would like the US to “own” the war-torn territory and permanently displace its Palestinian residents, in a move critics liken to ethnic cleansing.

But in recent weeks, the US president has backed away from that proposal. In an interview on February 21, for instance, he told Fox News hosts, “I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it”.

Still, his comments have continued to reverberate across the world, particularly as he continues to push for the annexation of countries like Canada.

At one point, a reporter asked Martin whether he planned to discuss Trump’s previous plans for expelling Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump instead jumped in, responding with a denial. “Nobody’s expelling any Palestinians”, he replied.

Palestinians were once again evoked at another point in the Oval Office conversation, as Trump reminisced about his recent speech to a joint session of Congress. He used the term “Palestinian” as an insult to blast his rivals in the Democratic Party.

“The Democrats have to get their act together, and if they don’t vote, then what you’re going to do is you’re going have taxes that are going to go through the roof”, Trump said, seeming to refer to recent budget negotiations in Congress.

Then, he pivoted to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Jewish senator who has led Democratic resistance to a Trump-approved budget.

“You’re going have some very bad things happen, and people are going to blame the Democrats. And Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I’m concerned. You know, he’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore: He’s a Palestinian”.

Still, Martin lauded Trump for his approach to the peace process overall. After Trump was asked about the St Patrick’s Day boycott, the Irish prime minister interjected “to pay tribute to the president on the peace initiatives” in Gaza and elsewhere.

He also drew a parallel to the peace process in Northern Ireland, where there had been sectarian violence for several decades, continuing into the 1990s.

“I recall back in the early ‘ 90s, when the first tentative steps to get peace in Ireland]were taken], people criticised people like John Hume or people like Albert Reynolds who were then taoiseach. But they kept going”, Martin said. ” Anything we can do to stop the violence, I think, is an extremely positive thing”.

Nevertheless, Martin reaffirmed his country’s commitment to a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, though he offered a caveat about feasibility.

“It’s been our view that a two-state solution would be ideal. It’s become much more challenging and difficult as times moved on. But that has always been our position”, he said.

Trump says he was ‘ toughest ever ‘ on Russia

Much of the attention during their meeting also fell on the ongoing war in Ukraine, where Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Just a day prior, on Tuesday, US and Ukrainian officials had agreed to a 30-day ceasefire proposal during negotiations in Saudi Arabia. Russia, however, has yet to agree to the deal.

Trump acknowledged that US envoys were already on their way to Moscow to encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept. Putin, however, has pledged not to commit to a temporary ceasefire, for fear Ukraine could re-arm.

Prime Minister Martin’s visit, however, brought to mind the last time a foreign leader visited the Oval Office. On February 28, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy arrived at the White House to discuss a deal that would see the US gain rights over part of his country’s rare earth minerals in exchange for support.

But the meeting spun off course, with Trump berating Zelenskyy about not being “thankful” enough and showing “disrespect”. Trump also accused Zelenskyy of not wanting to bring peace to Ukraine.

The US president referenced that encounter again on Wednesday, seated next to Martin.

“I’ve always said that Ukraine might have been the more difficult party. You saw. You were here a week ago when some interesting things happened”, Trump said. “I had somebody that didn’t seem to want peace. Now he’s agreed to peace”.

He also took pains to talk tough about Putin, a leader for whom he has shown public admiration. At the meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump at one point shouted, “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me”, though it was unclear what he meant.

Putin is currently subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, for crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

“What I did to Russia was very tough. I was the toughest ever”, Trump said, comparing himself to his predecessors, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W Bush.

He hinted he could take economic actions against Russia, something he has hinted at before. But then he demurred.

“  In a financial sense, yeah, we could do things very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia. But I don’t want to do that because I want to see peace, and we’re getting close to maybe getting something done”, Trump said.

Trump threatens further tariffs on the EU

While the peace negotiations took up much of the president’s attention, he also spoke at length about a favourite economic tool: tariffs.

On Wednesday, the US imposed 25-percent tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium, and Canada and the European Union (EU) responded with their own retaliatory trade measures.

But the trade war could escalate further, as Trump himself warned from the Oval Office.

“Of course, I’m going to respond”, Trump said in response to a question. ” The EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States”.

He did not exempt Ireland from that statement, even when asked by a member of the news media. Instead, he accused Ireland of poaching the US pharmaceutical industry.

“All of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies”, Trump said. “This beautiful island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasp”.

Several major US pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and Pfizer, have factories in Ireland, drawn by lower taxes.

Their products help drive a trade deficit with the US. As of 2024, the US imported $103.3bn in Irish goods and exported $16.5bn in return.

But experts warn that, since most of Ireland’s pharmaceutical products are sent unfinished to the US to complete the manufacturing process, tariffs on those goods may simply drive up the costs of producing medical products.

Still, Trump framed the trade deficit as the result of poor US leadership.

“The United States shouldn’t have let it happen. We had stupid leaders. We had leaders that didn’t have a clue. Or, let’s say, they weren’t businesspeople”, Trump said.

Trump frames Ireland’s housing crisis as ‘ good problem ‘

No meeting with Trump is without a few eyebrow-wiggling moments, and Trump offered some of his usual media-baiting zingers, including about extending his presidency beyond constitutional limits.

“Taoiseach,   I want to just thank you once again for being here. It’s an honour, and hopefully we’re going be doing this at least three more times”, Trump said at the end of his remarks at the luncheon.

“We’re going be doing this three more times – at least. When I say ‘ at least’, they go absolutely crazy”, he continued, pointing to the media.

Trump cannot run for office again in 2028, as presidents are restricted to two terms in the US.

But Trump also waded outside of US politics, into one of the most pressing issues in Ireland: the housing crisis.

Experts say population growth has outstripped housing supplies, driving up costs for those properties that are available. Homelessness is on the rise. And Ireland’s Central Statistics Office estimates that nearly two out of every three people between ages 18 and 34 live with their parents.

One Irish reporter asked Trump – with his experience in real estate – to offer advice to Martin.

“You know why they have a housing crisis”? Trump replied. “Because they’re doing so well. They can’t produce houses fast enough. That’s a good problem, not a bad problem”.

Martin appeared cheered by Trump’s support: “That’s a pretty good answer”.

Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in a Champions League penalty shootout – again – to keep their title defence alive and advance to the quarterfinals.

Defender Antonio Rudiger scored the decisive spot-kick in a 4-2 shootout win on Wednesday after two Atletico players missed.

Marco Llorente’s shot struck the bar after Julian Alvarez’s score after he slipped was disallowed because the ball struck his right foot twice.

Madrid also beat Atletico in a shootout to win the 2016 final – part of a streak of eliminating its city rival in four straight years.

Madrid moves on to the quarterfinals to face Arsenal, who also advanced on Wednesday along with Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund.

Real Madrid’s penalty low and high

The quarterfinals lineup was completed with Madrid’s win in a tense derby that ended 2-2 on aggregate score after extra time.

Atletico led 1-0 after 90 minutes and extra time in its Metropolitano Stadium to cancel out Madrid’s 2-1 advantage from the first leg&nbsp, last week.

Two key incidents defined regulation time. Atletico Madrid scored within 30 seconds and Real Madrid missed a penalty in the 70th minute.

Atletico took the lead with its first attack when England midfielder Conor Gallagher pounced on the ball from close range when a cross by Rodrigo De Paul was deflected into the goalmouth.

Madrid star Vinicius Junior blazed a penalty kick high over the Atletico goal when he could have sent the defending champion into the quarterfinals.

He was substituted in extra time for his teenage fellow Brazilian, Endrick.

Arsenal, Aston Villa and Dortmund also progress

Arsenal rested some regulars in a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven to run up a 9-3 aggregate score.

Aston Villa also had a stress-free evening at home to ensure England has two teams in the quarterfinals, one night after Premier League leader Liverpool was beaten at Anfield by Paris Saint-Germain.

Villa won 3-0 against Club Brugge, which played with 10 men from the 17th, after a 3-1 win in Belgium last week. Brugge defender Kyriani Sabbe was sent off for pulling back Marcus Rashford when running clear on goal.

Substitute Marco Asensio, on loan at Villa from PSG, scored twice in the second half to ensure his temporary club will meet his parent club next.

Borussia Dortmund rallied with two second-half goals to win 2-1 at Lille and advanced 3-2 on aggregate. The beaten finalist last season now faces Barcelona.

The quarterfinals pairings are: Arsenal vs Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain vs Aston Villa, Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan

First-leg games are on April 8-9 and return games are one week later.

There’s only one former European champion from England left in the Champions League. Villa’s unbeaten home record has driven its run to the quarterfinal, with wins against Bayern, Juventus, Celtic and now Brugge.

Liverpool’s exit to PSG followed Manchester City being pushed out of the knockout playoffs last month by Real Madrid. Without the Champions League winners in 2019 and 2023, respectively, England’s challenge halved to just two.

Aston Villa the only English winners still standing

Villa’s 1982 European Cup title is perhaps a less-remembered one in the competition’s 70-year history. Arsenal’s only time in the final was a loss to Barcelona in 2006.

Villa manager Unai Emery now goes back to Paris where his two seasons as coach there until 2018 seemed to be unsatisfactory for both parties.

Who is going all the way? ????#UCL pic. twitter.com/c9DzzIcetI

Asensio lived up to his status on Wednesday as the most prolific substitute in Champions League history. The former Real Madrid player now has 12 goals in 51 games off the bench in the competition.

Just like last season, Borussia Dortmund is better in the Champions League than the German league.

The Bundesliga’s 10th-place team trailed Lille from the fifth minute to Canada forward Jonathan David’s shot, before rallying in the second half for a decisive 2-1 win. Dortmund levelled in the 54th from Emre Can’s penalty and Maximilian Beier sealed the victory nine minutes later with a rising shot.

Dortmund was the beaten finalist last June – losing 2-0 to Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium – and got into this Champions League only because Germany earned a bonus entry for fifth place in the Bundesliga.

Niko Kovac, the club’s third coach in the Champions League this season, now takes Dortmund to face former star forward Robert Lewandowski at Barcelona.

Expected exits for Brugge and PSV – after Benfica and Feyenoord were eliminated Tuesday – leaves only the five wealthiest leagues in Europe now represented.

No team from outside England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France has reached the Champions League final since Porto coached by Jose Mourinho won in 2004.

UEFA will share almost 2.5 billion euros ($2.7bn) total prize money among the 36 Champions League teams this season and the 20 percent higher payouts this season figure to widen the wealth gap in European soccer. England and Spain also are in line for bonus fifth places in the Champions League next season, sending tens of millions more in prize money there.