Rick Noack

Trump’s PEPFAR cuts upend the lives of Kenyan families battling HIV U.S. aid allowed Mary, a former sex worker, to do HIV outreach work and support eight children. Her future, and the U.S.-led fight against HIV, are now in doubt.

Mary, a Kenyan HIV outreach worker, has 4 children of her own. When a colleague was murdered, she took in the 4 orphans, one HIV+. In Jan, the US suspended the programs supporting the family. The kids were thrown out of school; today, they were evicted. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Amid airstrikes, interests of Turkey and Israel clash in Syria Israeli strikes on Hama and Homs this week come amid an escalation in tensions with Turkey, as both countries seek to gain political leverage from the turmoil in Syria.

Amid airstrikes, interests of Turkey and Israel clash in Syria: wapo.st/42v9klR

For Europeans, Signal chat gives unfiltered view of Trump team’s disdain European officials saw the screenshots as more proof in private of what the Trump team has indicated in public: scorn for America’s traditional allies.

EUROPE REACTS

“Vance and his mates clearly aren’t fit to run a group chat, let alone the world’s strongest military force”

They “loathe Europe (as they try to extort money out of it)”

“It has to make our security services nervous about the intelligence we’re sharing with them”

wapo.st/41VIW3e

Let's see if this works...

U.S. to shut Canadian entrance to beloved Vermont-Quebec border library The move will bring 120 years of binational harmony between the bordering communities to an abrupt end

Oh come on

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Federal Cuts Prompt Johns Hopkins to Cut More Than 2,000 Workers The university, a leader in scientific research, has been hard hit by the Trump administration’s cuts, which will slash at least $800 million from its budget.

“In addition to the loss of jobs at Johns Hopkins, he said, the loss of the programs will lead to a spike in communicable diseases worldwide.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/u...

Afghans promised a future in the U.S. now fear deportation from Pakistan Thousands of Afghans set to be relocated from Pakistan to the United States before President Donald Trump halted refugee arrivals are now at risk of arrest and deportation.

TRUMP'S HALT TO REFUGEE ADMISSIONS means thousands of Afghan former allies and workers who have been waiting in Pakistan for relocation to the United States could now be sent back to Afghanistan and the Taliban @ricknoack.bsky.social reports

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

How the World Is Reeling From Trump’s Aid Freeze President Trump’s order to halt most foreign aid has intensified humanitarian crises and raised questions about the United States’ reliability as a global leader.

How the World Is Reeling From Trump’s Aid Freeze www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/w...

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalate amid border clashes Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, which Islamabad blames for harboring extremists who have been waging an insurgency in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s leadership was frequently accused of harboring or tolerating Afghan Taliban leaders and fighters during the 20-year Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Now Pakistan finds itself on the other end of a very similar situation. Our latest: wapo.st/40piXBG

Afghan blast kills key minister, shocking Taliban Khalil Haqqani was the acting minister for refugees and a key member of the notorious Haqqani network.

Afghan blast kills key minister, shocking Taliban wapo.st/3Zt2ydP

Last month in Burkina Faso, I met the president of Africa Initiative, who let me spend a few days with the group — giving a window from the ground into one of Russia’s main conduits for soft power in the region

Free link to the story here & will thread some reporting highlights: wapo.st/4gbItPX

Women despair over Taliban rules, but many Afghan returnees don’t see it Afghans living abroad are flocking back to visit relatives for the first time since the Taliban takeover. Draconian restrictions on women are not top of mind.

For the first time since the Taliban takeover, Afghans living outside the country have begun flocking back to their homeland. For Afghan women who have had to live under Taliban rule, the enthusiasm of visiting relatives can be puzzling and, increasingly, frustrating. Gift link: wapo.st/4f01rrW