Musk says time for USAID ‘to die’ as agency work halted


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Elon Musk on Monday said he was working to shut down the US foreign aid agency (USAID), in a move that could hit major recipients in the Middle East and North Africa hard.

The billionaire, who is leading President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the federal government, discussed the agency in a talk on X with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican senator Joni Ernst. Mr Musk said his Department of Government Efficiency aimed to close USAID.

"It's beyond repair," Mr Musk said, adding that Mr Trump agrees it should be shut. “Time for it to die,” he added on X.

USAID is the world's largest single donor. Seven of the top 10 recipient countries of the agency's money are in the Middle East and Africa, according to figures from the US State Department. They include Ethiopia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

It's an ethos that will end badly for the United States and for the American people
Dave Harden,
former mission director of USAid in Gaza and the occupied West Bank

The US disbursed $72 billion of assistance around the world in the fiscal year 2023, boosting efforts to support issues including women's health in conflict zones and access to clean water. The country provided 42 per cent of all humanitarian aid tracked by the UN last year.

USAID, an independent agency, has a budget of more than $50 billion. It is responsible for more than half of US foreign assistance, while its blue and red font is ubiquitous in developing nations around the world. The agency has more than 10,000 staff.

On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he is the acting director of the agency, though he has "delegated that authority to someone". Mr Rubio, who was speaking from El Salvador, said that many of the agency's functions are going to continue, but they "must be aligned with American foreign policy".

Also on Monday, Democratic Senator Brian Schatz said he would place a “blanket hold” on all of Mr Trump’s State Department nominees until the administration’s attack on USAID ends, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Its website appeared to be offline on Monday and an Instagram page that publicises its work had been taken down.

Mr Trump has assigned Mr Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel. Asked on Sunday whether Mr Musk was doing a good job, the President said: "He's a big cost-cutter. Sometimes we won't agree with it and we'll not go where he wants to go. But I think he's doing a great job. He's a smart guy. Very smart. And he's very much into cutting the budget of our federal budget."

Since taking office 11 days ago, Mr Trump has embarked on a major government makeover, sacking and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps towards downsizing US bureaucracy and installing more loyalists. He has ordered a global freeze on most US foreign aid as part of his "America First" policy, a move that has sent shock waves around the world.

Speaking more broadly about cutting US expenses, Mr Musk estimated the Trump administration could cut $1 trillion from the US deficit next year. He also claimed "professional foreign fraud rings" are stealing vast sums of money by masquerading as or creating fake digital US citizens, but did not offer any evidence to support his claim.

Former US president John F Kennedy created USAID in 1961 with an executive order, which followed an act by Congress stipulating the reorganisation of foreign assistance programmes.

Elon Musk is leading President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the US federal government. Reuters
Elon Musk is leading President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the US federal government. Reuters

Some observers in Washington have questioned the legality of closing the agency. “There's a legal and a practical matter,” said Dave Harden, who served as the mission director of USAID in Gaza and the occupied West Bank from 2013 to 2016.

“Taking down the website and merging it in a slimmed down fashion to the State Department, and having it kind of embedded under, like a relatively minor bureau, almost in the State Department, is symbolic of, really, an unconstitutional, illegal attempt to remove a statutorily independent federal agency that has been around since 1961,” he told The National.

Mr Harden fears Mr Trump’s efforts to change foreign assistance programmes will hurt Americans. “This is a structural change in philosophy to America and its place in the world, whether it's the diminishment of soft power, whether it's a collaborative approach to complex problems like, let's say, climate change, or whether it's just a zero-sum trade war with our closest neighbours, allies and trading partners," he said. "It's just an ethos that will end badly for the United States and for the American people.”

SPECS

Nissan 370z Nismo

Engine: 3.7-litre V6

Transmission: seven-speed automatic

Power: 363hp

Torque: 560Nm

Price: Dh184,500

West Indies v India - Third ODI

India 251-4 (50 overs)
Dhoni (78*), Rahane (72), Jadhav (40)
Cummins (2-56), Bishoo (1-38)
West Indies 158 (38.1 overs)
Mohammed (40), Powell (30), Hope (24)
Ashwin (3-28), Yadav (3-41), Pandya (2-32)

India won by 93 runs

Monster

Directed by: Anthony Mandler

Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington 

3/5

 

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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RESULT

Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds:
 Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')

Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Xpanceo

Started: 2018

Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality

Funding: $40 million

Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)

Results
%3Cp%3E%0D%3Cstrong%3EElite%20men%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Amare%20Hailemichael%20Samson%20(ERI)%202%3A07%3A10%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Leornard%20Barsoton%20(KEN)%202%3A09%3A37%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20Ilham%20Ozbilan%20(TUR)%202%3A10%3A16%0D%3Cbr%3E4.%20Gideon%20Chepkonga%20(KEN)%202%3A11%3A17%0D%3Cbr%3E5.%20Isaac%20Timoi%20(KEN)%202%3A11%3A34%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EElite%20women%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Brigid%20Kosgei%20(KEN)%202%3A19%3A15%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Hawi%20Feysa%20Gejia%20(ETH)%202%3A24%3A03%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20Sintayehu%20Dessi%20(ETH)%202%3A25%3A36%0D%3Cbr%3E4.%20Aurelia%20Kiptui%20(KEN)%202%3A28%3A59%0D%3Cbr%3E5.%20Emily%20Kipchumba%20(KEN)%202%3A29%3A52%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

500 People from Gaza enter France

115 Special programme for artists

25   Evacuation of injured and sick

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Ticket prices
  • Golden circle - Dh995
  • Floor Standing - Dh495
  • Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
  • Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
  • Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
  • Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
  • Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
  • Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
Dhadak

Director: Shashank Khaitan

Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana

Stars: 3

The%20specs%20
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Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMBC%20Shahid%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?

Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
 

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989

Director: Goran Hugo Olsson

Rating: 5/5

The 12 breakaway clubs

England

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur

Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus

Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Gertrude Bell's life in focus

A feature film

At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.

A documentary

A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.

Books, letters and archives

Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
 

'Midnights'
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MATCH INFO

Newcastle 2-2 Manchester City
Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace
Chelsea 0-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
Tottenham 3-2 Bournemouth
Southampton v Watford (late)

Profile of VoucherSkout

Date of launch: November 2016

Founder: David Tobias

Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers

Sector: Technology

Size: 18 employees

Stage: Embarking on a Series A round to raise $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 with a 20 per cent stake

Investors: Seed round was self-funded with “millions of dollars” 

Day 5, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance

Moment of the day When Dilruwan Perera dismissed Yasir Shah to end Pakistan’s limp resistance, the Sri Lankans charged around the field with the fevered delirium of a side not used to winning. Trouble was, they had not. The delivery was deemed a no ball. Sri Lanka had a nervy wait, but it was merely a stay of execution for the beleaguered hosts.

Stat of the day – 5 Pakistan have lost all 10 wickets on the fifth day of a Test five times since the start of 2016. It is an alarming departure for a side who had apparently erased regular collapses from their resume. “The only thing I can say, it’s not a mitigating excuse at all, but that’s a young batting line up, obviously trying to find their way,” said Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach.

The verdict Test matches in the UAE are known for speeding up on the last two days, but this was extreme. The first two innings of this Test took 11 sessions to complete. The remaining two were done in less than four. The nature of Pakistan’s capitulation at the end showed just how difficult the transition is going to be in the post Misbah-ul-Haq era.

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

MATCH INFO

England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)

New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)

Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

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Updated: February 06, 2025, 6:28 AM