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First Post
4 days ago
- Health
- First Post
As US & UK cut funds to Gavi, millions risk losing access to vaccines
As the United States and United Kingdom have cut billions in funds to Gavi, the global vaccination partnership, millions of people across the world are set to lose access to affordable vaccines and hundreds of thousands are at the risk of dying. read more A woman holds her baby as she receives a shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Mavrovouni camp on Lesbos, Greece. (Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters) The United States and the United Kingdom have announced cuts to their donations to Gavi, the global vaccination partnership, putting millions across the world at the risk of losing access to affordable vaccines. While American cuts are rooted in the anti-vaccine stance of the Donald Trump administration, British cuts are a result of diversion of funds from foreign aid towards defence in the wake of the increasing security threats from the likes of Russia and China. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Junior has announced the administration will cut around $300 million in annual donations to Gavi, according to Reuters. The UK has slashed its donations annual contribution to Gavi for the next five years from $438.4 million to $342.5 million, according to The Daily Telegraph. Estimates have said that millions of people across the world are at the risk of losing access affordable vaccines and hundreds of thousands are at the risk of dying as a result of cuts. 350,000 children at risk of dying, says estimate Gavi serves some of the poorest people of the world and they are bound to be hit the hardest. The British cuts alone will threaten 23 million child vaccinations over the next five years and potentially cause 350,000 additional deaths, The Telegraph reported the ONE campaign's estimate as saying. Gavi has been distributing vaccines for diseases like HPV, malaria, yellow fever, COVID-19, Ebola, measles, and typhoid, in some of the poorest communities of the world. It relies on support from countries and philanthropies. British International Development Minister Baroness Jenny Chapman told The Telegraph that the cuts are a result of some 'really tough choices' the government had to make. 'We've had to make some really tough choices. But we've decided as a government that we want to invest in defence, because that's the world we are in When we cut the aid budget, we knew we'd have to cut things that are globally good. Gavi would be something it would be great to put more money into in future and I hope we can, but for today this is a good pledge from the UK,' said Chapman. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China to gain at cost of US & UK The US vaccine aid cuts are part of the broader foreign aid cuts under the Trump administration. The Trump administration has hollowed out the US AID that ran the foreign aid programme and has withdrawn from large parts of the world, compromising healthcare, nutritional, and developmental programmes in some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. The US withdrawal from the world, particularly in the poor and developing parts of the world, will create a vacuum that China will rush to fill in, making foreign aid cuts a self-goal by Trump, Tej Pratap Singh, a scholar of China at the Department of Political Science, Banaras Hindu University, previously told Firstpost. Humanitarian operations are instruments to peddle soft power the world over and the shutting down of humanitarian operations anywhere is a self-goal, said Singh. 'Developing countries need assistance. If the United States withdraws, China will reach out to these nations and they will be glad to have Chinese support. China has been making inroads in Africa for many years and the US withdrawal is set to increase that. India has been countering Chinese influence in the Global South but countering China needs joint efforts and, in the absence of US involvement, China is set to make good gains,' said Singh. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Straits Times
17-06-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
EU hits Greece with record fine over farmers subsidy fraud
FILE PHOTO: A European Union and the Greek flags flutter, with the Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis hill seen in the background in Athens, Greece, April 9, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/ File Photo The European Union has imposed a 392.2 million-euro ($451.9 million) fine on Greece over a major scandal involving the mismanagement of agricultural subsidies by a government agency between 2016 and 2022. The bloc's Executive Commission decided to reduce the subsidies Greece will receive in the next years by 5%, it said on Friday, reflecting the view that there has been no proper supervision and operation of the subsidy management model for years. Greece expected to receive about 1.9 billion euros in direct EU subsidies next year. The fine comes months after European prosecutors charged dozens of Greek livestock farmers who received EU financial aid through the Greek government paying agency OPEKEPE with making false declarations of ownership or leasing of pastureland. The European Public Prosecutor's Office has said that the majority of the 100 suspects did not live where they had declared in their applications for funds from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Greece last month promised to overhaul OPEKEPE, in charge of paying out annual subsidies to farmers worth about 2.4 billion euros, by merging it into the country tax authorities, with international consultants assisting in the transition. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
17-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
EU hits Greece with record fine over farmers subsidy fraud
FILE PHOTO: A European Union and the Greek flags flutter, with the Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis hill seen in the background in Athens, Greece, April 9, 2025. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/ File Photo (Reuters) -The European Union has imposed a 392.2 million-euro ($451.9 million) fine on Greece over a major scandal involving the mismanagement of agricultural subsidies by a government agency between 2016 and 2022. The bloc's Executive Commission decided to reduce the subsidies Greece will receive in the next years by 5%, it said on Friday, reflecting the view that there has been no proper supervision and operation of the subsidy management model for years. Greece expected to receive about 1.9 billion euros in direct EU subsidies next year. The fine comes months after European prosecutors charged dozens of Greek livestock farmers who received EU financial aid through the Greek government paying agency OPEKEPE with making false declarations of ownership or leasing of pastureland. The European Public Prosecutor's Office has said that the majority of the 100 suspects did not live where they had declared in their applications for funds from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Greece last month promised to overhaul OPEKEPE, in charge of paying out annual subsidies to farmers worth about 2.4 billion euros, by merging it into the country tax authorities, with international consultants assisting in the transition. ($1 = 0.8678 euro) (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Straits Times
03-06-2025
- General
- Straits Times
Greece appeals court rules 10 people guilty over deadly 2018 wildfire near Athens
FILE PHOTO: Eleni Anagnostaki, 85, sits in the yard of her destroyed house in the village of Mati, near Athens, Greece, August 22, 2018. Picture taken August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo ATHENS - A Greek appeals court found 10 people guilty on Tuesday of misdemeanour charges over a wildfire in 2018 that killed 104 people, a ruling that angered relatives of those who died in the country's worst such disaster in living memory. The court upheld a lower court verdict from last year but ordered the conviction of an additional four people on misdemeanour charges, including involuntary manslaughter, bringing the total to 10, among them former fire brigade officials and a man accused of arson, legal sources said. Eleven people, including regional governors, were cleared. The sentences will be announced on Wednesday. The penalty for a misdemeanour may be a suspended prison sentence or a jail term with the alternative of a fine. The blaze that ripped through the seaside town of Mati, about 27 km (17 miles) east of the capital Athens, in July 2018 killed 104 people and injured dozens. Most of those killed were caught in a maze of thickly-forested streets as they tried to flee in their cars. "Such a horrible disaster so badly handled and it's being treated as a misdemeanour. That's far too lenient. It's sad," said Alexandros Papasteriopoulos, a lawyer representing relatives of the dead. Survivors and relatives released black balloons and held white roses during the trial to honour those killed. They shouted "shame" when the verdict was announced. The disaster cast a pall over the then-leftist Syriza government, with survivors accusing authorities of botching rescue attempts. Authorities dismissed the accusations, saying that erratic winds fuelling the flames meant there was no time for coordinated action. Devastating wildfires have become more frequent in Mediterranean countries. Scientists attribute their frequency and intensity to the increasingly hot and dry weather conditions linked to climate change. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
03-06-2025
- General
- The Star
Greece appeals court rules 10 people guilty over deadly 2018 wildfire near Athens
FILE PHOTO: Eleni Anagnostaki, 85, sits in the yard of her destroyed house in the village of Mati, near Athens, Greece, August 22, 2018. Picture taken August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo ATHENS (Reuters) -A Greek appeals court found 10 people guilty on Tuesday of misdemeanour charges over a wildfire in 2018 that killed 104 people, a ruling that angered relatives of those who died in the country's worst such disaster in living memory. The court upheld a lower court verdict from last year but ordered the conviction of an additional four people on misdemeanour charges, including involuntary manslaughter, bringing the total to 10, among them former fire brigade officials and a man accused of arson, legal sources said. Eleven people, including regional governors, were cleared. The sentences will be announced on Wednesday. The penalty for a misdemeanour may be a suspended prison sentence or a jail term with the alternative of a fine. The blaze that ripped through the seaside town of Mati, about 27 km (17 miles) east of the capital Athens, in July 2018 killed 104 people and injured dozens. Most of those killed were caught in a maze of thickly-forested streets as they tried to flee in their cars. "Such a horrible disaster so badly handled and it's being treated as a misdemeanour. That's far too lenient. It's sad," said Alexandros Papasteriopoulos, a lawyer representing relatives of the dead. Survivors and relatives released black balloons and held white roses during the trial to honour those killed. They shouted "shame" when the verdict was announced. The disaster cast a pall over the then-leftist Syriza government, with survivors accusing authorities of botching rescue attempts. Authorities dismissed the accusations, saying that erratic winds fuelling the flames meant there was no time for coordinated action. Devastating wildfires have become more frequent in Mediterranean countries. Scientists attribute their frequency and intensity to the increasingly hot and dry weather conditions linked to climate change. (Reporting by Renee MaltezouEditing by Frances Kerry)
