LONDON: Around 200,000 more children will likely die before their fifth birthday this year than in 2024 as international aid cuts undermine decades of progress, the Gates Foundation said on Thursday.

The projected increase would mark the first rise in preventable child deaths this century, Gates said, from an estimated 4.6 million in 2024 to 4.8 million this year. Child deaths have roughly halved since 2000.

“For decades, the world has made steady progress in saving children’s lives. But now, as challenges mount, that progress is reversing,” said Bill Gates, chair of the eponymous foundation, in a foreword to its annual Goalkeepers report.

Aid cuts have spread beyond the US

The report tracks progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on reducing poverty and improving health. It usually comes out in September but was delayed this year due to the uncertainty over global health funding.

International aid cuts began with the US at the beginning of the year, but have since spread to other major donors like Britain and Germany. Overall, global development assistance for health fell by just under 27% this year compared to 2024, the report says.

The cuts are a key reason for the reversal in progress on child mortality, Gates said, although other issues, like countries facing mounting debt and fragile health systems, are also factors. Earlier this year, Gates warned that the cuts would lead to more children dying.

If the cuts are permanent, that could mean between 12 and 16 million more child deaths by 2045, the report adds, depending on funding levels. This year, the increase in deaths could see them match 2023’s number, the latest year for which the World Health Organisation has data.

The figures in the report are based on modelling from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at Washington University.

Gates urged governments and individuals to step up and focus on innovative new tools as well as proven solutions, like vaccination and investment in primary healthcare, to boost child health.

• Hegseth’s use of Signal could have endangered mission and troops.
• Hegseth under intensifying scrutiny over US strikes in Caribbean.
• Hegseth used Signal on his personal device in a policy violation.

WASHINGTON: A Pentagon investigation has faulted US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth for using Signal on his personal device to transmit sensitive information about planned strikes in Yemen, saying it could have endangered US troops if intercepted, two people familiar with the document said on Wednesday.

However, the report by the Pentagon’s independent Inspector General did not weigh in on whether the information Hegseth posted was classified at the time, since it acknowledged that he, as the head of the Pentagon, can decide what information is classified and what is not, the sources said.

The report has not yet been publicly released, something US officials expect to happen this week.

In a statement, the Pentagon said the review cleared the US defence secretary, comments echoed by Hegseth himself later on social media.

“No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed,” Hegseth said on X.

Legal concerns raised

The renewed focus on Hegseth comes at a delicate time for the former Fox News host, as scrutiny intensifies of his leadership overseeing deadly US strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean that have raised legal concerns.

Prominent Democrats, including the top Democratic lawmaker on the House Armed Services Committee, said the Signal investigation showed Hegseth lacked the judgment required of the leader of the US armed forces.

“This report is a damning review of an incompetent secretary of defence who is profoundly incapable of the job and clearly has no respect for or comprehension of what is required to safeguard our service members,” said Representative Adam Smith of Washington state.

Hegseth shared the details on the imminent March 15 launch of US attacks on Houthi fighters with a group of President Donald Trump’s top national security officials, which accidentally included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg.

Goldberg later revealed the details of the chat in an article and, when Trump administration officials accused him of exaggerating their importance, he published screenshots of the back-and-forth between Hegseth and other top Trump officials.

Hegseth could be seen in the screenshots texting about specific plans to kill a Houthi leader in Yemen two hours before the secret military operation.

The Inspector General’s report said the information from the US military had been classified at the time it was transmitted to Hegseth and it could have put US service members and the mission itself at risk had the chat been intercepted, the sources said.

Hegseth, who repeatedly denied texting war plans and said no classified information was shared, declined to be interviewed by the Inspector General’s office for the investigation, the sources said, citing the report.

In a written statement to the Inspector General, Hegseth said he was allowed to declassify information; however, he determined was appropriate and only texted information he did not think posed an operational risk, one of the sources said. He also accused the investigation of being driven by political opponents, even though it was called for by Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the source said.

Hegseth’s past defence of his use of Signal has bewildered Democrats and former US officials, who regard timing and targeting details as some of the most closely held material ahead of a US military campaign.

If Houthi leaders knew a strike was coming, they might have been able to flee, possibly to crowded areas where targeting is more difficult, and the number of potential civilian casualties might be deemed too high to proceed.

However, the chat did not appear to include any names or precise locations of Houthis being targeted or to disclose information that could have been used to target US troops carrying out the operation.

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, said the Inspector General’s report confirmed it was aware of several other Signal chats used for official business, “underscoring that this was not an isolated lapse.”

“It reflects a broader pattern of recklessness and poor judgment from a secretary who has repeatedly shown he is in over his head,” Warner said.

The Inspector General noted Hegseth only provided a small number of his Signal messages for review, leaving the investigation to rely on screenshots published by The Atlantic, the source said, citing the report.

• Opinion polls show NCP in third place with only 6% support.
• Party holding talks with BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, say leaders.
• Nahid Islam says party is weak due to lack of time to build it.

DHAKA: Thousands in Bangladesh flocked to hear the plans of the students who toppled long-time leader Sheikh Hasina when they launched a new political party this year, but now it finds itself struggling to translate the street power into votes.

Fighting to deliver on its promise to free the nation from decades of nepotism and two-party dominance, the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) faces entrenched rivals with deep networks and resources as polls approach in February.

“Our organisation is weak because we haven’t had enough time to build it,” said its chief Nahid Islam, prominent in last year’s deadly anti-government protests who served briefly in the caretaker administration under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

“We are aware of this, but we are still taking on the challenge,” added the 27-year-old, speaking from the party office in a high-rise in Dhaka, the capital, where one wall was covered in graffiti depicting crowds in revolt.

BNP in lead

Opinion polls show the NCP, which aims to contest all 300 seats, in third place, with support of just 6%, far behind the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, which leads with 30%.

Even the Jamaat-e-Islami will do better than the NCP, coming in second with 26%, a December poll by a US-based non-profit, the International Republican Institute, showed.

“When they first launched, I saw hope in them, like everyone,” said Prapti Taposhi, 25, who helped lead the revolt and looked to the newcomers to break decades of rule by two dominant parties, only to say she was eventually disappointed.

“They say they are centrist, but their actions don’t match that,” added Taposhi, a feminist activist.

“They hesitate to take positions on important issues, whether it’s minority rights or women’s rights, and when they do, it comes too late.”

Another sign of growing disenchantment was the party’s failure to win a single seat in September’s student body election at Dhaka University, the epicentre of the uprising that forced Hasina to flee to New Delhi.

Hasina’s Awami League, which remains barred from contesting the election, has warned of unrest if the ban is not lifted, a threat that could imperil Bangladesh’s textile industry, the world’s second biggest garment exporter.

Political alliance

Hampered by a skeletal structure, scarce funds, and a stance on key issues such as rights for women and minorities widely seen as unclear, the NCP is holding talks with other parties, including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, leaders say.

“If we stand independently, there is a chance we may not win even one seat,” a senior NCP leader told Reuters on condition of anonymity, acknowledging the risks.

On the other hand, say analysts, an alliance risks diluting the party’s “revolutionary” image.

“If they ally, the public will no longer see them as a distinct force outside the Awami League, BNP and Jamaat,” said Dhaka-based writer and political analyst Altaf Parvez.

While the uprising briefly united students across party lines to oust Hasina, most returned to their respective groups afterwards, leaving just a fraction to form the NCP, said political analysts and one NCP leader.

Now the party faces rivals with long-entrenched networks and well-oiled machinery stretching deep into villages.

Fundraising issue

Money is another hurdle, Islam said, as members rely on salaries from full-time jobs, small donations and crowdfunding to keep campaigns afloat.

Some, like 28-year-old Hasnat Abdullah, have tried to drum up support by going door-to-door in villages.

“In my constituency, I tell people I am penniless,” he said, referring to an eastern region where he plans to contest. “I told them a leader’s main job is not to give voters money, but to ensure government funds are properly allocated and used.”

Graft accusations against some NCP leaders, which the party denies, saying it has a zero-tolerance policy on corruption, have further dented its image, however.

Striving for egalitarian culture

Yet some young people are still inclined to support the party, seeing it as striving for a more egalitarian culture in a political landscape shaped by money, muscle and dynastic power.

“They are young, they led the revolution, and I’m hopeful they can deliver change — as long as they don’t turn authoritarian themselves,” said one such backer, university student Manzila Rahman.

The NCP launched an unusual search for candidates in November, interviewing more than 1,000 applicants among ordinary citizens nationwide over two days.

Young party leaders moved from booth to booth interviewing hopefuls, including a rickshaw puller who took a day off work for the tryout, and a 23-year-old student partially blinded by police pellets during the protests.

“Some may think a rickshaw puller has nothing to offer in parliament,” said Mohammad Sujan Khan, 32. “Give me a chance and see what I do to change the country”.

The chance of such a future attracted Tasnim Jara, a doctor who left a successful career in Cambridge to join the NCP, seeking to help build it from the ground up.

“We want to open up politics, not keep it confined to powerful families, and give power back to ordinary people,” she said.

BNP and Jamaat leaders also see value in engaging with students.

“It’s the young people who are going to dominate politics in the future, so it will be good if we can accommodate them in parliament,” said BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

NCP leaders say they are thinking beyond the upcoming vote, aiming for institutional and structural reform in the long term.

“Win or lose, just by taking part in the election, we are offering something new,” said NCP’s Abdullah.