Vatican’s Caritas outraged at ‘reckless’ USAID cuts, says millions will die, others left in poverty – The Associated Press

  1. Vatican's Caritas outraged at 'reckless' USAID cuts, says millions will die, others left in poverty  The Associated Press
  2. How Christian Groups Are Responding to Trump’s Foreign-Aid Freeze  TIME
  3. Editorial: Silence in the face of Trump's cruelty is complicity  National Catholic Reporter
  4. USAID cuts may harm more than 100 Maryland groups and contractors  The Baltimore Banner
  5. Vatican official: People ‘terrorized’ by U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration  Catholic News Agency
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Almost all nations miss UN deadline for new climate targets – Yahoo

  1. Almost all nations miss UN deadline for new climate targets  Yahoo
  2. Most of the world’s big polluters just blew off a major climate deadline  The Washington Post
  3. Only One Big Economy Is Aiming for Paris Agreement’s 1.5C Goal  Bloomberg
  4. Analysis: 95% of countries miss UN deadline to submit 2035 climate pledges  Carbon Brief
  5. ‘Backsliding’: most countries to miss vital climate deadline as Cop30 nears  The Guardian
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Why Trump’s tariffs could push Europe to target US tech services – Euronews

  1. Why Trump's tariffs could push Europe to target US tech services  Euronews
  2. Trump’s Team Takes Its Fight to a Wary Europe  The Wall Street Journal
  3. EU plots strategy for dealing with Donald Trump's tariffs blitz  Centre for European Reform
  4. Trump Tariff Tirade: Will the EU Target Tech Giants in Response? | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G  Firstpost
  5. How to counter Trump's trade war? Anti-coercion, antitrust, and targeted tariffs in view  MSN
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Tech Firms Want to Upend the Pentagon. The Old Defense Guard Has Some Lessons for Them. – The Wall Street Journal

  1. Tech Firms Want to Upend the Pentagon. The Old Defense Guard Has Some Lessons for Them.  The Wall Street Journal
  2. How Can We Measure if Defense Innovation Works?  War On The Rocks
  3. Rebooting the Pentagon  The New York Review of Books
  4. Opinion | When it comes to innovation, the Pentagon could use a little DOGE  The Washington Post
  5. A New Military-Industrial Complex Arises  Tom Dispatch
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Why a China deal has set off a Cook Islands-New Zealand spat – Al Jazeera English

  1. Why a China deal has set off a Cook Islands-New Zealand spat  Al Jazeera English
  2. New Zealand concerns rise as Cook Islands plans to sign agreement with China  NBC News
  3. Cook Islands and New Zealand fall out over China deal  BBC.com
  4. Another Pacific island is set to fall under Chinese influence  The Telegraph
  5. Cook Islands’ ‘strategic’ deal with China angers New Zealand  Financial Times
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Littleproud says ‘hardly any’ public servant jobs to go under Coalition government in significant backdown

It’s a change of pace for the Nationals leader who vowed to slash as many as 36,000 public servant jobs back in August 2024

The opposition has walked back its vow to slash tens of thousands of federal government jobs, suggesting a Dutton government, if elected, will make the bureaucracy more efficient through “natural attrition”.

The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, said on Monday “hardly any” public service jobs will be on the chopping block if the Coalition were to win at the polls, in a significant backdown on comments in 2024 promising to dump as many as 36,000 public servants.

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China Marriages Fall to Record Low as Demographic Crisis Deepens – Bloomberg

  1. China Marriages Fall to Record Low as Demographic Crisis Deepens  Bloomberg
  2. New marriages in China crash to record low, while divorces on the rise  CNN
  3. Marriages in China plunged by a record last year, fanning birthrate concerns  NBC News
  4. China’s birth crisis deepens as marriage registrations plunge to 40-year low  South China Morning Post
  5. World's second-biggest economy faces a threat as Chinese are not getting married  The Economic Times
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SPD’s Scholz and CDU’s Merz spar on migration, economy, AfD – DW (English)

  1. SPD's Scholz and CDU's Merz spar on migration, economy, AfD  DW (English)
  2. Scholz Fails to Land Decisive Blow in German Election TV Debate  Bloomberg
  3. Merz and Scholz clash on migration, economy and Trump: ‘How dumb can somebody be?’  POLITICO Europe
  4. Greens: Climate change ignored in German election TV debate  Yahoo
  5. Germany's Scholz, Merz clash over far-right AfD in election debate  The Pryor Information Publication
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Sudan army plans new government as it advances in capital – BBC.com

  1. Sudan army plans new government as it advances in capital  BBC.com
  2. Sudan army-aligned foreign ministry sets path to elections amid civil war  Al Jazeera English
  3. Sudan’s Army Close to Retaking Its Own Capital From Rebels  The Wall Street Journal
  4. Sudan’s Tagadum to split, recommends name change amid parallel government dispute  Sudan Tribune
  5. Sudan army nears biggest victory of civil war with assault on capital  Financial Times
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Australia holds its nose for the 3rd rancid bloom of a rare corpse plant in 3 months – ABC News

  1. Australia holds its nose for the 3rd rancid bloom of a rare corpse plant in 3 months  ABC News
  2. Corpse flower: Plant with 'rotting flesh smell' blooms in Australia  Sky News
  3. Corpse flower blooms at Canberra's Australian National Botanic Gardens for the first time  ABC News
  4. AP Strange SummaryBrief at 2:53 a.m. EST  News Item
  5. Plant smartens up: Not so much rotting meat now, more like dirty laundry  The Canberra Times
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Monday briefing: Why the brutal fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo could spiral into wider war

In today’s newsletter: As Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seize more territory and the humanitarian crisis worsens, what’s the background to the war and prospect of peace?

Good morning. Over the weekend, the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda – Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame – were among those who took part in a regional summit aimed at ending the resurgent violence in eastern DRC. The summit ended with a call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. But while there was a lull in the fighting yesterday, many fear that a ceasefire is less likely than escalation to a wider regional war.

Rwanda does not officially admit to its involvement in the latest episode of the long-running and devastating conflict in eastern DRC. But M23, an armed group with Rwanda’s tacit and practical support, has taken the capital of North Kivu province, Goma, and is now moving south to expand the territory under its control. At stake is control of a mineral-rich region of crucial strategic significance, and the fate of civilians there who are frequently the subject of ethnically targeted attacks – but also the question of whether national borders can act as any sort of constraint.

Arms trade | Britain’s system for controlling arms exports is broken, subject to political manipulation and has seen conduct that crossed the threshold into complicity with war crimes, a former UK diplomat has claimed. Mark Smith said officials were instructed to manipulate findings on the misuse of UK arms by allies.

Immigration | The Home Office is launching a fresh wave of immigration raids as Labour attempts to counter the growing political threat from Reform UK. Amid anger from critics who believe the approach echoes Theresa May’s “hostile environment” regime, the government will broadcast footage of deportations from detention to removal centres and on to waiting planes.

Israel-Gaza war | Israeli forces have withdrawn from the strategic corridor that divides northern and southern Gaza, as part of a ceasefire plan that has brought a fragile pause to the 16-month war. Despite the withdrawal – and the release of hostages and prisoners – little progress has been made on negotiating the second phase of the deal.

Air pollution | More than 1,100 people a year in the UK are developing the most prevalent form of lung cancer as a result of air pollution, the Guardian can reveal. Health experts, cancer charities and environmental campaigners said the UK findings were “devastating”

Trump tariffs | Donald Trump has said he will announce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US on Monday that would affect “everybody’, including its largest trading partners Canada and Mexico, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.

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