Gaza not covered in announcement and will be handled on separate track, says US state department official

The United States on Monday pledged $2bn in assistance to tens of millions of people facing hunger and disease in more than a dozen countries next year, part of what it said was a new mechanism for the delivery of life-saving assistance following major foreign aid cuts by the Trump administration.

The US slashed its aid spending this year, and leading western donors such as Germany also pared back assistance as they pivoted to increased defense spending, triggering a severe funding crunch for the UN. The billions of dollars in assistance pledged by Washington on Monday will be overseen by the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, the state department said, under what it described as new model of assistance agreed with the UN that aims to make aid funding and delivery more efficient and increase accountability for the spending of funds.

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© Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

LeBron James was forced off in the final quarter of Los Angeles Lakers’ win over Sacramento Kings on Sunday night

© AP

It comes two years after Croatia joined in January 2023

© Reuters

Louis Gerstner, the former CEO and chairman of IBM, died on Saturday, aged 83.

The search was continuing on Sunday morning, Fathur Rahman, mission coordinator for Indonesia's search and rescue agency in the area, told Reuters.

California has dropped a lawsuit challenging the decision by the administration of President Donald Trump to cancel more than $4 billion in federal grants for the state's high-speed rail project, the state said late on Friday.

Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what President Volodymyr Zelensky said would be a key meeting with US President Donald Trump to work out a deal to end nearly four years of war

The victims were attacked at Republique, Arts et Metiers and Opera at around 4 p.m. local time on Dec. 26.

Gov. Hochul compared the social media labels to warnings on other products like tobacco, where they communicate the risk of cancer.

The ceasefire broke down in early December, with at least 98 people killed on both sides and more than half a million on displaced.

The measures freeze any assets the companies and individuals hold in China and bar domestic organisations and individuals from doing business with them, the ministry said.

Groq more than doubled its valuation to $6.9 billion, from $2.8 billion in August last year, following a $750 million funding round in September.

The investigation was opened on Tuesday after the agency received a defect petition alleging that the vehicles' mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled and not intuitive to locate during emergencies.

Three people were killed by a bomb in Moscow on Wednesday after two police officers approached a man acting suspiciously near the site where a senior general was killed two days ago by a car bomb that Russia said was planted by Ukrainian intelligence.

Bacon and Nygard were neighbors in an exclusive gated community in the Bahamas and became embroiled in a bitter dispute over Nygard’s efforts to expand his property, which Bacon opposed.