In Gujarat, India, at least ten people died as a result of the collapse of the Gambhira Bridge into the Mahisagar River. As rescuers searched for victims, the bridge’s wide gap and the vehicles dangling over its edge can be seen on surveillance.
A senior US official waived nine anti-fraud and counterterrorism safeguards to accept a $30 million award last month to a contentious Gaza aid organization supported by the Trump administration and Israel, according to an internal memo.
Despite the fact that the GHF funding plan failed to meet the “minimum technical or budgetary standards,” the former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) associate Jeremy Lewin approved the award.
Kenneth Jackson, a former DOGE agent and acting deputy US Agency for International Development (USAID), sent the June 24 action memo to Lewin. The pair has managed the organization’s merger into the State Department and its dissolution.
According to two people with knowledge of the situation, Lewin overruled 58 objections USAID staff experts wanted GHF to address in its application before the funds were granted.
According to the “action memorandum” containing his signature on June 24, Lewin, who oversees the State Department’s foreign aid program, received the funds only five days after GHF submitted its proposal on June 19.
In an email sent to USAID leaders on June 25th, Lewin urged the organization to “ASAP” to distribute the funds. “Strong Admin support for this one.”
Lewin and Jackson haven’t made any comments yet. Despite the group’s lack of experience and the killing of hundreds of Palestinians close to its Gaza aid distribution centers, the documents highlight the priority the Trump administration has given GHF.
GHF, which works in close cooperation with the Israeli military, claims that the violence took place outside of its operations area.
Lewin and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s office, as well as President Donald Trump’s negotiator for Gaza, were able to discuss the funds in the email.
He acknowledged that granting the funds would be contentious, saying, “I’m taking the bullet on this one.”
Requests for comment were not addressed to the White House. According to the Reuters news agency, Witkoff and Rubio did not respond to a question about whether they had any knowledge of or supported the decision to renounce the safeguards.
The State Department claimed in a statement that the $30 million was approved under a legal provision that allows USAID to make “emergency awards as quickly as possible” in response to “emergency needs.
The statement read, “The GHF award is still subject to strict oversight, including of GHF’s finances and operations.” GHF was subject to new reporting and control requirements as part of the award.
A GHF spokesperson responded to a request for comment by saying that “our model is specifically designed to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.” Every dollar we spend is protected in order to ensure that all resources, including those from the American taxpayer, reach Gaza’s citizens. The spokesperson continued, noting that these clarification requests from the US government regarding fund applications were frequent.
The spokesperson stated that “we are addressing each question in accordance with regulations and standard procedure and will continue to do so as required” when referring to the nine conditions that were waived.
At least 743 Palestinians have died and more than 4, 891 others have been injured while visiting GHF aid sites, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
In light of numerous rumor reports that its contractors and Israeli forces have opened fire on aid seekers, the GHF, which started operating in the bombarded Palestinian enclave in late May, has received a lot of negative feedback.
Leading human rights and humanitarian organizations have demanded the GHF’s immediate closure, accusing it of forcing “two million people into overcrowded, militarised zones where they face daily gunfire and mass casualties.”
The UN claims that the organization’s operations are “inhumane and deadly militarised scheme,” while Amnesty International has previously described its operations as “a humanitarian model that goes against humanitarian principles.
Despite the risks involved, Palestinians under bombardment in Gaza and the threat of a famine are left with no choice but to turn to the GHF for assistance.
As he intensifies a trade war that could have an impact on developing nations that depend on US trade, US President Donald Trump is meeting with leaders of five African nations.
According to a White House official, Trump held discussions with leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal at the White House on Wednesday, with the discussions slated to focus on business opportunities.
Trump claimed at the lunch that the participants were from “very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, great oil deposits, and wonderful people.”
“Your continent is full of anger.” Trump cited a recent peace agreement that Rwanda’s leaders, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the United States have signed at the White House as proof that we have been successful in solving many of the issues.
According to statements from the White House and Liberia, the leaders are expected to discuss pressing issues of cooperation, including democracy, security, infrastructure, and economic development. Trump claimed that US tariffs were unlikely to apply to the five nations.
President Trump has a multilateral lunch with African leaders https://t.co/nkcx56xF74
Trump is anticipated to make soon announcements regarding the location of a larger summit with African leaders, possibly in September, when the UN General Assembly is taking place.
The most recent effort by successive administrations to dispel the myth that the US has neglected a continent where China has increasingly made economic strides is this week’s mini-summit.
The meeting on Wednesday is anticipated to concentrate on economics.
Brice Oligui Nguema, president of Gabon, stated at the meeting that while his nation is open to investment and wants to see its local raw mineral resources processed, it also requires significant energy investments.
We are not developing nations. When it comes to raw materials, we are wealthy nations. However, Nguema said at the meeting that we need partners to help us develop those resources through win-win partnerships.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, president of Senegal, suggested that his nation also offered opportunities for tourism investment, including a golf course.
Trump could travel to New York to demonstrate his abilities, according to Faye, who stated that the course would only take place in six hours.
The Banio Potash Mine in Mayumba, Gabon, will receive project development funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation, which earlier announced its intention to reduce its import dependence.
DFC’s investments are backed by Conor Coleman, DFC’s head of investments, Conor Coleman, who stated that “DFC’s efforts not only benefit the nations and communities where they invest but also advance US economic interests by opening new markets, strengthening trade relationships, and promoting a more secure and prosperous global economy.”
The five countries that are meeting Trump’s leaders only trade in the US and Africa, but they also have untapped natural resources.
The Trump administration is concerned about drug trafficking, but Senegal and Mauritania, two of their main transit and origin nations, are also concerned about it.
However, African Union officials question how, under “abusive” tariff proposals and visa restrictions, primarily aimed at Africans, Africa could strengthen trade ties with the US.
Ambassador Troy Fitrell, the top US diplomat for Africa, has refuted claims of unfair trade practices by the US.
The US Agency for International Development wasdissolved earlier this month, and the organization’s management announced that it was no longer pursuing “a charity-based foreign aid model” and would instead concentrate on working with nations that “show the ability and willingness to help themselves.”
US President Donald Trump has issued a new round of tariff letters to six countries, including Algeria, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova and the Philippines.
The letters, which were sent on Wednesday, call for tariffs of 30 percent on Algeria and Iraq, 25 percent on Brunei, Libya and Moldova, 20 percent on the Philippines – the largest of the trading partners announced on Wednesday. The tariffs are expected to start on August 1.
Trump posted the letters on Truth Social after the expiration of a 90-day negotiating period that began with a baseline levy of 10 percent. Trump is giving countries more time to negotiate before his August 1 deadline, but he has insisted there will be no extensions for the countries that receive letters.
The Census Bureau reported that last year, the US ran a trade imbalance on goods of $1.4bn with Algeria, $5.9bn with Iraq, $900m , with Libya, $4.9bn with the Philippines, $111m with Brunei and $85m with Moldova.
The imbalance represents the difference between what the US exported to those countries and what it imported. None of the countries listed are major industrial rivals to the United States.
Taken together, the trade imbalances with those six countries are essentially a rounding error in a US economy with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $30 trillion.
Wednesday’s letters are the latest in a slate the Trump Administration sent to nations around the globe. On Monday, he threatened Japan and South Korea with 25 percent tariffs, stepping up pressure on the two historical US allies and a dozen other economies to reach trade deals with Washington.
Over the weekend, the Trump administration began sending letters to countries informing them that the US would begin to reimpose the tariffs it postponed in April. Trump’s erratic approach to tariffs is triggering widespread economic effects on the US and countries around the world.
In the US, the most recent jobs report showed little to no growth in sectors including trade and construction, industries largely impacted by tariffs. The US GDP contracted 0.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to data released by the US Department of Commerce’s report last month.
This comes amid a handful of looming trade negotiations across the globe that will impact the US economy and many of its key trade partners.
The Trump administration has only put forth two trade agreements thus far, which are with the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
A South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant for former President Yoon Suk-yeol over his attempt to impose martial law on December 3.
The arrest warrant was issued in the early hours of Thursday, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. Yoon had appeared in a Seoul court on Wednesday for a seven-hour hearing to review the arrest warrant requested by prosecutors, and was then taken to a detention centre while he waited for the court’s decision.
Yoon, a conservative, was removed from his position as president by South Korea’s Constitutional Court in April over his martial law attempt, after being accused of overstepping his authority. Parliament had voted to impeach Yoon on December 14, but needed the approval of the Constitutional Court.
Yoon was previously arrested in January while he was still president, but was released in March after his arrest was overturned.
However, the Seoul Central District Court accepted on Thursday Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk’s argument that there was a risk Yoon would seek to destroy evidence if he was not arrested.
Cho’s team had questioned him twice before submitting a request for Yoon’s arrest warrant on Sunday. Yoon’s lawyers had said that the request was excessive and without basis.
The former president is accused of abuse of power, falsifying official documents and obstruction of official duties, as well as charges related to his attempt at imposing martial law on South Korea, in what prosecutors have labelled an attempted rebellion and an attempt to seize total power and detain his opponents. He denies the charges.
Yoon’s martial law attempt fell flat, however, after protesters and lawmakers quickly descended on South Korea’s parliament, defying soldiers, before the parliamentarians voted to lift the martial law order.
South Korea voted in Yoon’s liberal rival, Lee Jae-myung, in June elections. He approved legislation to launch investigations into Yoon’s martial law attempt and other criminal allegations involving his wife and administration.
Yoon could potentially now spend months in custody, with the possibility of more charges against him being filed, until his trial begins.
If he is found guilty of the charges he currently faces, he may be punished by life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Much of the South Korean public reacted with vitriol towards Yoon’s actions against a liberal-majority legislature he accused of blocking his agenda. The country is one of the most economically advanced in Asia and has had a strong democracy for more than 30 years.
Footage from the occupied West Bank city of Hebron shows Israel installing mobile housing units in a section of the city formally under the control of the Palestinian Authority, raising fears of further settlement expansion.