A quarter of young Africans believe USAID cuts could be positive, survey finds

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Losing funds should force leaders to confront their own challenges, they said, while many voiced concerns over increasing foreign influence

A quarter of young Africans believe aid cuts by the US could have a positive impact, saying that losing foreign money will force leaders to confront and solve their own challenges, according to a new survey.

In Ghana and Nigeria, almost half (41% and 40% respectively) of young people aged 18 to 24 were optimistic, with Liberia not far behind (37%). A further one in 10 (11%) young people were uncertain about the impact, according to the African Youth Survey, which interviewed almost 5,000 people across 16 of the continent’s 54 recognised countries.

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Death of 15 elephants in Kenyan national park sparks outrage, investigation – The Washington Post

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  1. Death of 15 elephants in Kenyan national park sparks outrage, investigation  The Washington Post
  2. Amboseli elephant deaths: Kenya Wildlife Service suspects cyanide in tomato pesticide to be the cause  BBC
  3. Fifteen elephant deaths at Kenya park may be due to cyanide poisoning  The Guardian
  4. What Lindsey Graham Taught Us About Political Weakness: Wolff  The Daily Beast
  5. 15 Elephants Die of Suspected Cyanide Poisoning After Eating Contaminated Tomatoes  people.com
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Anthony Fauci’s diaries take aim at News Corp journalist Sharri Markson’s ‘nonsense’ Covid-19 investigation

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US former top health official, who was subpoenaed to appear at a Senate hearing into Covid-19, says Markson’s reporting about virus’s origin ‘does not make any sense’

Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s chief medical adviser at the start of the pandemic, has described a book by News Corp investigative journalist Sharri Markson backing the “lab leak” theory of Covid-19’s origins as a “bunch of nonsense” in his newly released diaries.

This week, Fauci, 85, was subpoenaed by the Republican senator Rand Paul to appear at a Senate hearing into Covid-19 and his handling of the pandemic.

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How Vladimir Putin’s refinery dream became Ukraine’s target – Financial Times

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  1. How Vladimir Putin’s refinery dream became Ukraine’s target  Financial Times
  2. Russia's Ryazan refinery has halted oil processing after drone attack, sources say  Reuters
  3. True Scale of Putin’s Humiliating Crisis Is Exposed  The Daily Beast
  4. Ukraine says it hits 2 major Russian oil refineries hours after Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump  AP News
  5. Ukraine Says It Attacked Lukoil’s Volgograd Oil Refinery  Bloomberg.com
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Russia accused of violating Polish airspace after missile explosion near village

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Polish PM visits scene of crater thought to have occurred during deadly wave of attacks on Ukraine

Russia has been accused of violating Polish airspace, after a missile exploded in a field in the east of the country, triggering Nato air defences, in the midst of a massive air raid that killed 13 people in neighbouring Ukraine.

Polish authorities said that the explosion near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, close to Lublin, had created a 10-metre-wide crater. Residents of Tarnawa-Kolonia reported hearing an explosion at about 4am that shook the windows of their homes, police said.

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US hits dozens of targets in Iran overnight as peace efforts under threat

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Central Command says strikes aimed at diminishing Iranian military while mediators say talks are continuing

The US struck Iran overnight and Tehran retaliated at US allies in the region, reigniting the low-intensity, tit-for-tat war as mediators struggled to pull the two countries back to the negotiating table.

The US carried out overnight strikes on Iran – the first in more than five days – hours after Donald Trump vowed to hit the country “very hard” following Tehran’s targeting of a base in Jordan that hosts American troops.

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