Category Archives: Society

Less than 10% of EU aid reaches world’s poorest countries, study finds

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Contributions from European countries drop as progress on 0.7% target goes into reverse

Less than 10% of EU aid money reaches the countries where it is most needed, according to a study that found levels of assistance had dropped for the second year running.

The EU and its member states remain the biggest development donor group in the world – investing €71.9bn ($61bn) in 2018, more than half of global aid – but its contribution was 5.8% lower than in 2017, the European NGO network, Concord, found in its AidWatch report.

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Uganda bans thousands of charities in ‘chilling’ crackdown

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Government critics fear purge of sector as more than 12,000 organisations lose registered charity status

More than 12,000 charities have been told they can no longer operate in Uganda as critics raised fears that government regulatory measures effectively amounted to a purge.

The government said a review that took place in August and September would root out poorly performing organisations and create “a reliable data bank on all NGOs” in the country.

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Uganda recalls a million faulty condoms

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Charity takes action after holes are discovered in two batches of Life Guard condoms

The charity Marie Stopes International is recalling more than a million condoms in Uganda, after officials raised concerns that they were prone to breaking.

The charity began the recall of packets of Life Guard condoms after the National Drug Authority found they contained holes and did not meet quality standards. More than half of the affected products have since been recovered.

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UN warns Burkina Faso could become ‘another Syria’ as violence soars

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Children bear the brunt as extremism and climate crisis drive almost 500,000 people from their homes

The UN food agency has warned of an “escalating humanitarian crisis” in Burkina Faso, driven by growing extremist violence and the long-term impact of climate crisis in the arid central Sahel region.

A sharp increase in attacks, the result of the west African country becoming embroiled in the jihadist insurgency that began in the region in early 2015, has forced almost half a million people from their homes.

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Election debate: Johnson and Corbyn clash over NHS future

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Labour leader claims service will be sold by PM, who keeps repeating Brexit mantra

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have clashed over which of them is best placed to safeguard the NHS if they win the general election, with the Labour leader accusing the prime minister of being ready to sell it off to US corporations.

In a testy live debate on ITV, during which the prime minister repeatedly returned to the claim that he would “get Brexit done”, both men lavished praise on the NHS, but Corbyn said Johnson would put it up for sale.

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New boiler, £0? The plumber, hairdresser and beautician who work for free

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Haircuts for rough sleepers. Beauty treatments for cancer patients. Boilers for disabled people. A wave of specialists are providing skills – and hope – for those in need

Goodwill, it appears, is in high demand. One thing all the altruists I met while researching this article have in common is that they’re on the phone the whole time. Perhaps if mobiles had been around in Robin Hood’s day he would have had one pressed constantly to his lughole. “Marion … yes, love. I’m just having a fight on a bridge with Little John … sorry, you’re breaking up, terrible reception in here, all the oaks... What, the Sheriff’s abducted you? OK, I’m coming!”

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Men in west London have highest male life expectancy in EU

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Expert warns of ‘huge inequality’ in capital, while Lithuanian males live shortest lives

Men from west London, one of the wealthiest areas of the UK, have the longest life expectancy of males in Europe with a newborn baby expected to live to the age of 82, according to statistics published to mark International Men’s Day.

The data from the EU department Eurostat suggests that only men from the city centre of the Spanish capital, Madrid, tend to live as long as the fortunate subset of Londoners.

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Scientists develop slippery toilet coating to stop poo sticking

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Spray-on surface could prevent bacteria building up and reduce household water use

The toilet brush need never leave its holder again. Scientists have created a super-slippery coating that helps usher excrement on its way without leaving traces behind.

The spray-on coating, which is slipperier than Teflon, reduces adhesion of even tenacious faeces by up to 90%, tests suggest, so far less water is needed to flush them away and leave the toilet clean.

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‘Call me Robin Hood’: mystery patron pays debts of Istanbul’s poor

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Benefactor pays bills to ‘earn God’s blessing’ after suicides blamed on rising cost of living

Poor neighbourhoods of Istanbul have been visited by an anonymous benefactor paying off debts at grocery stores and leaving envelopes of cash on doorsteps, at a time when desperation at the spiralling cost of living has been blamed for recent suicides.

Residents of Tuzla, a largely working-class shipbuilding district on the Asian side of the city, were overjoyed last week to find their shopping bills in several grocery stores had been cleared by an unknown male benefactor.

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Welsh bill would allow 16- and 17-year olds to vote in local elections

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Planned changes would be biggest shakeup to country’s electoral system for 50 years

A bill is being introduced that would give the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds in many elections in Wales and empower local authorities to decide which voting system they use.

The Labour-led Welsh government said the planned changes would be the biggest in the Welsh electoral system since the voting age was reduced to 18 in the UK half a century ago. They come as a bill to reduce the voting age to 16 for Welsh assembly elections nears the end of its journey through the Senedd.

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Argentina’s new president vows to legalise abortion

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Campaigners hail Alberto Fernández’s pledge to oversee U-turn in official policy

Argentina’s president-elect, Alberto Fernández, has promised he will move to legalise abortion after taking office on 10 December.

He will send a bill to congress which, if approved, would make Argentina the first major Latin American nation with legalised abortion. The ruling in the 45 million-strong country would follow decisions by its much smaller neighbour Uruguay, which legalised the practice in 2012, and Cuba, in 1965.

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German parliament approves compulsory measles vaccinations

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Bundestag backs law that will fine parents up to €2,500 if children are not inoculated

Germany’s parliament has voted to make measles vaccinations compulsory for children, in response to a global rise in cases of the disease.

Parents who refuse to get their children inoculated face fines of up to €2,500 (£2,140) and a likely ban from nursery or school.

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Family planning schemes must offer options other than abortion, says US

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Campaigners urge global action on reproductive rights as US comments embolden anti-choice groups at Nairobi summit

The US will only support family planning programmes that offer alternatives to abortions, a senior policy adviser has told a conference in Nairobi.

In a statement that has emboldened anti-choice groups in the city, Valerie Huber, the US special representative for global women’s health, also told a summit on population and development that her country sought to combat gender-based violence by investing in programmes that respected the rights of women and girls, but didn’t compromise “the inherent value of every human life – born and unborn”.

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Why is the world losing the fight against history’s most lethal disease?

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Easy to catch but hard to diagnose, TB is almost as deadly today as it was 150 years ago. Better, cheaper drugs are a priority

Tuberculosis has killed more people than any other disease in history. Last year, 1.5 million people died from TB and 10 million more acquired it. A shocking one-quarter of the world’s population is infected. That’s not much better than 1993, when one-third of the world was infected and the World Health Organization declared TB a global emergency. We are losing the battle.

Earlier this month, experts gathered in Hyderabad for the 50th Union World Conference on fighting the disease. When the first such gathering was held in 1867, TB was the leading cause of death in industrialised nations. Today, it still ranks in the top 10 worldwide. Why, despite all the progress in medicine and public health over the past 150 years, is TB still the most common and lethal of all infectious diseases?

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General election: Boris Johnson urges voters to reject ‘Sturgeon-Corbyn alliance’ – as it happened

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The prime minister delivers the first big set-piece speech of the campaign as Labour pledges £26bn extra per year for NHS

That’s all from us for this evening. Thanks for reading and commenting. For a comprehensive rundown of the day’s events, see my colleague Andrew Sparrow’s daily election briefing:

Related: Andrew Sparrow's election briefing: Johnson won't change Brexit stance to please Farage

Related: Boris Johnson heckled over floods but does not apologise for 'slow response'

Hoey also said complained that MPs had spent the last two years trying to thwart Brexit, telling LBC:

We’ve had two years of parliament – a remain parliament – doing everything they can to stop us leaving; by different methods and some not so serious as others. But most of the Labour MPs in there and a substantial number of Conservatives have tried to stop it.

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Cost of ending maternal deaths laid bare as $115bn funding shortfall revealed

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UN urges major push to meet targets as researchers at Nairobi summit also sound alarm over family planning and violence

The global push to stop mothers dying unnecessarily in childbirth, meet family planning needs and end violence against women could be undermined by a massive funding shortfall, researchers have found.

World leaders have pledged to redouble efforts to end preventable maternal death, satisfy family planning demand and stop violence and harmful practices against women and girls by 2030.

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Donald Trump plans to make foreign aid conditional on religious freedom

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President wants to apportion aid based on how countries treat religious minorities

White House officials are reportedly drafting plans to make US foreign aid conditional on how countries treat their religious minorities, in an effort that is seen as a sop to Christian evangelicals in Donald Trump’s base.

The move, which threatens to impose further constraints on a US foreign aid policy already heavily restricted under the Trump administration, was first reported by Politico after briefings from White House aides.

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Access to contraception falling far short of global targets – report

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Family planning services are reaching more women, but population growth is hampering efforts to reach 2020 goal

More women and girls in low income countries are using family planning than ever before, but global efforts to widen access to contraception are still falling well behind targets, according to a report.

One year away from a global deadline to widen access to modern forms of family planning, such services are accessible to less than half of the women that policy makers hoped to reach.

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France puzzled over ‘very pure’ cocaine washing up on Atlantic coast

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Rennes’ public prosecutor warns people who spot packages to refrain from touching them

French police are investigating how a “significant amount” of cocaine and other drugs have washed up on beaches along the Atlantic coast in recent weeks. New packages continue to appear daily.

The cocaine is particularly pure and therefore dangerous, according to the prosecutor’s office in the western city of Rennes, who urged people who spot packages not to touch them but immediately call the police.

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‘Geography is a problem’: slowing the silent spread of HIV in the Amazon

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A team of doctors and volunteers are travelling by boat to treat and educate indigenous communities at higher risk of Aids

As the serpentine Amazon river meanders through a sea of jungle, a little red boat speeds across its muddy brown waters. Powered by two outboard motors, the vessel carries a cargo of volunteers, medics and nurses, an awning, and dozens of HIV screening tests.

The first stop is Nueva Vida Yahua, an indigenous village 40 minutes down the Nanay river from Iquitos. The women are dressed in red skirts and grass tops worn draped over their shoulders, the men in long grass skirts and headdresses made from blue macaw feathers.

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