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Business Daily USAID: What happened when the funding stopped?

BBC News24-03-2025

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stopping USAID projects worldwide, saying he wants overseas spending decisions to align with his election policy to "put America first".
USAID is the US government's main overseas aid agency and it administers humanitarian aid programmes on behalf of the US government.
It has bases in more than 60 countries and works in dozens of others. However, most of the work on the ground is carried out by other organisations that are contracted and funded by USAID.
The vast majority of projects have been abruptly halted. But what has this decision meant for the people who relied on them? From Kenya's Lake Victoria to Nairobi's slums, we explore the profound impact on lives, businesses, and livelihoods.
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: businessdaily@bbc.co.uk
Presented and produced by Sam Fenwick
(Image: Little boy walking on railroad tracks with Kibera slum in the background. Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: Getty Images)

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Polling on Elon Musk glaring red light for Republicans
Polling on Elon Musk glaring red light for Republicans

The Independent

time34 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Polling on Elon Musk glaring red light for Republicans

Even as Elon Musk and President Donald Trump no longer appear to be on speaking terms, the Tesla CEO's popularity among the Republican base is on the rise, according to polling. Trump and Musk's friendly relationship came to a dazzling end on Thursday as their disagreement over the Republicans' spending package went into full bloom. Musk called the bill, which significantly increases the deficit, a 'disgusting abomination.' Trump said his former friend had gone 'crazy' as Musk called for his impeachment and removal and claimed that the president is included in the 'Epstein Files.' He later deleted that post. While Musk isn't set to take over as the top figure in the Republican Party, he could create chaos surrounding the GOP's agenda and its plans for the 2026 midterms. Seventy-six percent of Republicans see Musk favorably, according to the most recent poll by The Economist and YouGov. Meanwhile, just 18 percent view him unfavorably. According to a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College in late April, 77 percent of Republicans view Musk favorably. Since the start of the second Trump administration, Musk's popularity has been over 70 percent in most polls, Politico noted. The billionaire is more popular than House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, or almost anyone else in the GOP. Among Republicans, both Trump and Vice President JD Vance are more popular than Musk, with 87% and 80% approval, respectively, according to the Economist /YouGov survey. Musk's polling strength with the Republican base may partly be rooted in the fact that GOP voters believed in the mission of the Department of Government Efficiency from the outset, with almost 90 percent backing the notion that the government needs to be downsized. A recent Harvard-Harris poll found that about the same percentage of Republicans believe that DOGE has been effective at scaling back spending. Meanwhile, Democrats and independents are less likely to trust DOGE's accomplishments and are much less likely to view Musk favorably. Fifteen percent of Democrats and 34 percent of independents have favorable views of the billionaire. Musk may become a dangerous rival for the Republican Party, whose values align with the DOGE mission of cutting spending and reducing the deficit. Musk's wealth and social media influence as the owner of X may pose a threat to Trump and his party. This comes as Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he has 'no intention' of speaking to Musk or attempting to repair the relationship. 'I'm too busy doing other things,' said Trump. 'I have no intention of speaking to him.' 'I would assume so, yeah,' he said when asked if his relationship with Musk was over. 'I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the President,' he added. He also issued a threat, saying that Musk will face 'very serious consequences' if he chooses to use his significant wealth to fund Democrats. Musk's opposition to the spending bill could lead the billionaire to fund challengers to Republicans who voted in favor of it. 'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Trump told NBC News.

Trump's toxic feud with Musk is the greatest show on Earth – & I have a hunch about President's ‘terrifying' next move
Trump's toxic feud with Musk is the greatest show on Earth – & I have a hunch about President's ‘terrifying' next move

The Sun

timean hour ago

  • The Sun

Trump's toxic feud with Musk is the greatest show on Earth – & I have a hunch about President's ‘terrifying' next move

DONALD TRUMP versus Elon Musk pitches the world's most powerful man against one of the richest. Two big beasts kicking lumps out of each other. How can it be anything less than the greatest show on Earth? 6 6 This is Godzilla v Kong, a Rumble in the Washington Jungle, the Thriller in the Twittersphere. Did any bromance in history ever go so sour so quickly? In comparison to Trump and Musk's furious feud, Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings look like Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson sadly going their civilised separate ways. There is no spat more toxic, spiteful and below-the-belt than the row that is conducted online. And the war of words between the POTUS and the wild-eyed titan of Tesla went thermo-nuclear on X, formerly known as Twitter, the digital soap box owned by Mr Musk himself. 'Time to drop a really big bomb,' Elon jeered on X, before accusing Trump of being in files related to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. 'That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!' That's when the gloves came off. That's when the trembling finger pressed down hard on the red doomsday button. That's when it got really nasty. Trump was famously friendly with fellow Big Apple big shot Epstein, but the Orange King has largely remained untouched by that particular scandal until now — unlike, say, the royal prince formerly known as Randy Andy. But Elon Musk has gleefully pulled open a can of very nasty worms. And the watching world can only gawp at the spectacle and wonder how Mr President will retaliate. Because — like Godzilla taking one in the cakehole from King Kong — you know that retaliation is a stone-cold certainty. The falling out between Trump and Musk was meant to be about policy — about differences of opinion over Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' which, Elon believes, will massively increase US debt. By bringing the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein on stage, Musk has brazenly chosen to make it about other things. Whatever next? Perhaps we will learn the truth about the black eye that Musk was sporting when he bid an emotional formal farewell to Trump in the White House. Elon's shiner was meant to come from some horseplay with his five-year-old son, X. Really? The five-year-old Mike Tyson could not give you a black eye like that. 'Time to drop a really big bomb' Come on, Mr President — tell us what really happened. Like Japan at Pearl Harbor, Elon Musk has started a war that he can never win. For all the racy revelations that the eccentric electric car maker has up his sleeve, Donald Trump has the power to make his life very difficult indeed. And you just know that he will. Roll up, roll up to see these two gigantic egos rolling around in the digital gutter. The man with all the power v the man with all the money. Although — guessing here — I have a hunch that the maker of the electric vehicle which has been branded the Swasticar is about to get poorer every day. 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With the death toll of Russian forces expected to pass the one million mark during its summer offensive, Trump should ask what leverage his pal Putin holds, beyond the willingness to sacrifice any number of Russian lives in his meat grinder. Ukraine has freedom on its side. That will always be the greatest motivation of all. Ballerina reviews are a World Of pain for Ana HOLLYWOOD does not know what to do with Ana de Armas. She dazzles as a supporting actress – as a sexbot in Blade Runner 2049, as a good-hearted home help in Knives Out, as the ultimate Bond girl in No Time To Die – but is less than impressive when she is carrying a film. 6 6 The reviews for Ana's From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina are shockingly bad. 'I would watch Ana open a crisp packet,' posts one defiant fan. Me too. But it would probably be more fun than Ana's latest turkey. PRIDE IN OUR DAVID DAVID BECKHAM has been our national game's greatest ambassador since Bobby Moore. If you feel that you have watched Becks grow up, you have. Beckham, who is now to be knighted, has a showreel in our national consciousness. The floppy-haired kid from Chingford scoring for Manchester United against Wimbledon from the halfway line in 1996. The England player who – blond locks flying with youthful petulance – became a national pariah after getting sent off against Argentina in 1998. And then, that handsome head-shaved man, single-handedly dragging his country into the 2002 World Cup with a laser-guided free kick against Greece. Beckham in the white of Madrid, the black-and-red stripes of AC Milan, the blue of Paris Saint-Germain. Beckham . . . always working harder than anyone else. A credit to England, his sport and Chingford. His knighthood is totally deserved, and it will be a source of pride and joy after all the recent headlines about the kind of rifts that happen in the best of families. The family feuds will fade away. The memories of the football will endure for ever. NATION TIRED LABOUR came to power with just 33.7 per cent of the vote, the lowest share of any party forming a post-war majority government. Meaning despite their landslide, most of us didn't vote for Labour. It has always been very presumptuous for Starmer and other comrades to deliver their dreary sermons with rows of manufacturing workers as extras. And when Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited the Mellor Bus factory in Rochdale, speaking about the mess left by the Tories, one young worker appeared to be dying of boredom. As the hour-long speech dragged on, he looked like he wanted to simply go back to work. And without saying a word, that man spoke for the nation. IT is a shock to learn that Morten Harket, the lead singer of A-ha, has Parkinson's disease at the age of 65. 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I am all for giving the police the funding they need to do the job of protecting us. But the law needs to start focusing on the crimes that matter. Burglaries, not tweets. Muggings, not social media rants. Evil, violent people robbing in the real world – not keyboard warriors in digital Dodge City. More catching bad guys. Less virtue signalling. When will these cretinous Chief Constables ever learn? Get our cops back on the streets. Because policing can't be done online. TWO Love Island hunks have been questioned by police – one for the theft of a mobile phone, the other for a machete attack – but both were released with no further action taken. Which is a relief. I was starting to worry the new Love Island series might be held on Alcatraz.

Trump says relationship with Musk is over
Trump says relationship with Musk is over

BBC News

timean hour ago

  • BBC News

Trump says relationship with Musk is over

US President Donald Trump has said his relationship with Elon Musk is over."I would assume so, yeah", Trump told NBC News on Saturday, when asked if he thought the pair's close relationship had ended. He replied "No" when asked if he wished to mend the damaged comments were Trump's most extensive remarks since the epic fallout between him and Musk unravelled on social came after the tech billionaire - who donated millions to Trump's election campaign and became a White House aide - publicly criticised one of the president's key domestic policies, his tax and spending bill. A majority of Republicans have fallen in line behind the president, with Vice-President JD Vance saying that Musk may never be welcomed back into the fold because he had "gone so nuclear". Vance told podcaster Theo Von in an interview released on Saturday that it was a "big mistake" for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to attack the weeks, Musk had been criticising Trump's signature legislation - dubbed the Big Beautiful Bill - as it made its way through Congress. He argued that, if passed, the bill would add trillions of dollars to the national deficit and "undermine" the work he did as the head of Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, and its efforts to cut government after leaving Doge after 129 days in the job, Musk took to his social media site X to call the bill a "disgusting abomination" - but did not criticise Trump directly. On Thursday, however, Trump told reporters he was "disappointed" with Musk's responded with a flurry of posts on X, saying that Trump would have lost the election without him and accusing Trump of being implicated in files of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in jail awaiting sex trafficking charges. He has since deleted the post and Epstein's lawyer has come out denying the responded on his social media platform Truth Social, saying that Musk had gone "crazy". In one post, he threatened to cut Musk's contracts with the federal government. In his interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump said Musk had been "disrespectful to the office of the president". "I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the president," Trump the world's richest man, who donated roughly $250m to Trump's presidential campaign, suggested during the social media feud that he might back some of Trump's opponents during next year's midterm elections, throwing his support behind challengers to the lawmakers who supported Trump's tax bill. When asked about the prospect of Musk backing Democratic candidates that run against Republicans, Trump said he would face "serious consequences".

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