Us Funding

Bill Gates warns child deaths may rise after Trump-era funding cuts

More than 200,000 additional children under 5 are expected to die this year, according to modeling in the Gates Foundation's annual Goalkeepers report

Trump admin to partially fund SNAP in Nov amid govt shutdown, court rulings

US President Donald Trump's administration has said that it will partially fund SNAP for November, after two judges issued rulings requiring the government to keep the nation's largest food aid programme running. The Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), had planned to freeze payments starting November 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it during the federal government shutdown. The programme serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation's social safety net. It costs more than USD 8 billion per month nationally. The government says an emergency fund it will use has USD 4.65 billion -- enough to cover about half the normal benefits. Exhausting the fund potentially sets the stage for a similar situation in December if the shutdown isn't resolved by then. It's not clear exactly how much beneficiaries will receive, nor how quickly they will see value show up on the debit cards they use to buy

Best of BS Opinion: SME IPOs' heady rise masks irrational exuberance

Today's editorials examine the risks around SME listings as well as investments into the AI ecosystems; our columnists bat for automation in agriculture, and for avenues to attract scientific talent

Trump offers all colleges preferential funding plan rejected by MIT

The move expands President Donald Trump's latest pressure tactic beyond the relatively small circle of elite colleges and research universities that have so far been his administration's targets

UN to cut 25% of its global peacekeeping force amid US funding strains

The United Nations will begin slashing its peacekeeping force and operations, forcing thousands of soldiers in the next several months to evacuate far-flung global hotspots as a result of the latest US funding cuts to the world body, a senior UN official said. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting, briefed reporters Wednesday on the 25 per cent reduction in peacekeepers worldwide as the United States, the largest UN donor, makes changes to align with President Donald Trump's America First vision. Around 13,000 to 14,000 military and police personnel out of more than 50,000 peacekeepers deployed across nine global missions will be sent back to their home countries. That comes as the UN plans to cut about 15 per cent of the peacekeeping force's USD 5.4 billion budget for next year. The decision to institute a major overhaul of the peacekeeping force known globally for their distinctive blue berets or helmets followed a meeting Tuesday ...

US aid cuts unleash suffering across Myanmar, hitting children hardest

Across Myanmar and in the refugee camps along its borders, the suffering unleashed by the United States' gutting of its foreign aid program has been severe and deadly, particularly for children, The Associated Press found. In interviews with 21 Myanmar refugees, five people trapped in internment camps inside Myanmar and 40 aid workers, medics and researchers, the AP uncovered widespread devastation due to President Donald Trump's dismantling of the US Agency for International Development. Children are screaming for food, safehouses that sheltered dissidents have shuttered and people must forage for hours in the jungle each day to survive. Here are the key takeaways from AP's investigation, as told through the people who have been impacted: The funding cuts have been fatal Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as h

Trump admin asks judge to pause Harvard funding case amid govt shutdown

Judge Allison Burroughs ruled that Harvard grant terminations were unlawful over antisemitism claims, but final judgment is pending with a status report due by Oct 3

US escalates scrutiny of Harvard with debarment move, funding in jeopardy

Harvard has 20 days to appeal the decision, but it could totally lose access to research grants, student aid and government contracts if the HHS debarment is upheld

India's VC funding hits $3.5 bn led by fintech amid global slowdown: KPMG

Global venture capital (VC) investment declined to $101.05 billion across 7,356 deals in the second quarter of 2025, compared to Q1's $128.4 billion: KPMG's latest Venture Pulse report

Native American radio stations at risk as US looks to cut $1 bn funding

Dozens of Native American radio stations across the country vital to tribal communities will be at risk of going off the air if Congress cuts more than USD 1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to industry leaders. The US Senate is set to vote this week on whether to approve the Department of Government Efficiency's plan to rescind previously approved public broadcasting funding for 2026 and 2027. Fear is growing that most of the 59 tribal radio stations that receive the funding will go dark, depriving isolated populations of news, local events and critical weather alerts. The House already approved the cuts last month. For Indian Country in general, 80 per cent of the communities are rural, and their only access to national news, native story sharing, community news, whatever it is, is through PBS stations or public radio, said Francene Blythe-Lewis, CEO of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Native American video programming producer Vision Maker Media. If the

Senate votes to move ahead with Trump's request for $9 bn in spending cuts

Senate Republicans on Tuesday advanced President Donald Trump's request to cancel some USD 9 billion in previously approved spending, overcoming concerns from some lawmakers about what the rescissions could mean for impoverished people around the globe and for public radio and television stations in their home states. The Senate vote was 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. A final vote in the Senate could occur as early as Wednesday. The bill would then return to the House for another vote before it would go to Trump's desk for his signature before a Friday deadline. Republicans winnowed down the president's request by taking out his proposed USD 400 million cut to a programme known as PEPFAR. That change increased the prospects for the bill's passage. The politically popular programme is credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under then-President George W. Bush to combat HIV/AIDS. The president is also looking to claw back money for foreign aid

Waltz to face grilling over Signal chat row at Senate hearing for UN role

Mike Waltz, President Donald Trump's nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations, will face questioning from lawmakers Tuesday for the first time since he was ousted as national security adviser in the weeks after he mistakenly added a journalist to a private Signal chat used to discuss sensitive military plans. The former Republican congressman is set to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing, with Trump looking to fill his remaining Cabinet position after months of delay, including the withdrawal of the previous nominee. The hearing will provide senators with the first opportunity to grill Waltz over revelations in March that he added The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on an unclassified messaging app that was used to discuss planning for strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen. Waltz took responsibility even as criticism mounted against Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared the sensitive plans in

US aid cuts pause HIV vaccine research in S Africa, to have global impact

Just a week had remained before scientists in South Africa were to begin clinical trials of an HIV vaccine, and hopes were high for another step toward limiting one of history's deadliest pandemics. Then the email arrived. Stop all work, it said. The United States under the Trump administration was withdrawing all its funding. The news devastated the researchers, who live and work in a region where more people live with HIV than anywhere else in the world. Their research project, called BRILLIANT, was meant to be the latest to draw on the region's genetic diversity and deep expertise in the hope of benefiting people everywhere. But the $46 million from the US for the project was disappearing, part of the dismantling of foreign aid by the world's biggest donor earlier this year as President Donald Trump announced a focus on priorities at home. South Africa hit hard by aid cuts South Africa has been hit especially hard because of Trump's baseless claims about the targeting of the ..

Yale's $2.5 billion private equity sale tests its vaunted endowment model

Trump also threatened to strip schools of their tax-exempt status, and this week said Columbia University no longer meets accreditation standards

Trump's funding cuts spark global race to attract displaced US scientists

As the Trump administration cut billions of dollars in federal funding to scientific research, thousands of scientists in the US lost their jobs or grants and governments and universities around the world spotted an opportunity. The Canada Leads programme, launched in April, hopes to foster the next generation of innovators by bringing early-career biomedical researchers north of the border. Aix-Marseille University in France started the Safe Place for Science programme in March pledging to welcome U.S.-based scientists who may feel threatened or hindered in their research. Australia's Global Talent Attraction Programme, announced in April, promises competitive salaries and relocation packages. In response to what is happening in the US, said Anna-Maria Arabia, head of the Australian Academy of Sciences, we see an unparalleled opportunity to attract some of the smartest minds here. Since World War II, the US has invested huge amounts of money in scientific research conducted at

Humanities groups sue Trump administration to reverse local funding cuts

A humanities federation and a state council have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to reverse local funding cuts made by Trump adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Portland, Oregon, by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Oregon Council for the Humanities, names DOGE, its acting administrator, Amy Gleason, and the NEH among the defendants. The plaintiffs ask the court to "stop this imminent threat to our nation's historic and critical support of the humanities by restoring funding appropriated by Congress." It notes the disruption and attempted destruction, spearheaded by DOGE, of a partnership between the state and the federal government to support the humanities. The lawsuit, filed Thursday, maintains that DOGE and the National Endowment for the Humanities exceeded their authority in terminating funding mandated by Congress. DOGE shut down the funding and lai

Judge orders Trump admin to restore $12 million for Radio Free Europe

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore USD 12 million that Congress appropriated for Radio Free Europe, a pro-democracy media outlet at risk of going dark for the first time in 75 years. US District Judge Royce Lamberth granted the temporary restraining order for the US Agency for Global Media to disburse money for April 2025 for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty pending the outcome of a lawsuit seeking to keep the station on the air. Lamberth, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, found that the administration could not unilaterally revoke funding approved by by Congress. Attorneys for the media outlet say President Donald Trump's administration has terminated nearly all of its contracts with freelance journalists, missed payments on leases and furloughed 122 employees. They warn that more employees will be furloughed and more contracts will be cancelled on May 1 if funding isn't restored. By the end of May, RFE/RL will be forced to cancel the

Harvard in talks to sell $1 billion in private equity amid financial strain

Harvard Management Co., managing the largest fund in US higher education, is collaborating with Jefferies Financial Group to sell the portfolio to Lexington Partners in a secondaries transaction

Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University

The federal government says it's freezing more than USD 2.2 billion in grants and contracts to Harvard University, since the institution said Monday it won't comply with the Trump administration's demands to limit activism on campus. In a letter to Harvard Friday, the administration called for broad government and leadership reforms, a requirement that Harvard institute what it calls merit-based admissions and hiring policies as well as conduct an audit of the study body, faculty and leadership on their views about diversity. The demands, which are an update from an earlier letter, also call for a ban on face masks which appeared to target pro-Palestinian protesters. They also pressure the university to stop recognizing or funding "any student group or club that endorses or promotes criminal activity, illegal violence, or illegal harassment. Harvard President Alan Garber, in a letter to the Harvard community Monday, said the demands violated the university's First Amendment rights

White House proposes significant cuts to State dept, UN, Nato funding

The White House's Office of Management and Budget has proposed gutting the State Department's budget by almost 50 per cent, closing a number of overseas diplomatic missions, slashing the number of diplomatic staff, and eliminating funding for nearly all international organizations, including the United Nations, many of its agencies and for NATO headquarters, officials said. The proposal, which was presented to the State Department last week and is still in a highly preliminary phase, is not expected to pass muster with either the department's leadership or Congress, which will ultimately be asked to vote on the entire federal budget in the coming months. Officials familiar with the proposal say it must still go through several rounds of review before it even gets to lawmakers, who in the past have amended and even rejected White House budget requests. Though the proposal is preliminary, it gives an indication of the Trump administration's priorities and coincides with massive job and