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Received today — 16 December 2025

Figures reveal stark reality of US funding cuts as 1,394 family planning clinics shut

Survey by world’s largest network for sexual and reproductive health shows devastation to services, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, and amplification of anti-rights voices

Cuts to US aid funding have directly led to the closure of more than 1,000 family planning clinics, new figures shared with the Guardian reveal.

Millions of people have been left without access to contraceptives or care, including those who have suffered sexual assault, as part of a “radical shift towards conservative ideologies that deliberately block human rights”, according to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

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© Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/AP

© Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/AP

© Photograph: Aaron Ufumeli/AP

Received before yesterday

Papua New Guinea grapples with HIV epidemic as it battles stigma and US aid cuts

Papua New Guinea has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the Asia-Pacific region, with many unaware they have the virus

After battling illness for years, Nancy Karipa tested positive for HIV in 1999. She had just given birth to her first child. “It was a crossroads moment for me, with the fear of denial, but I chose action,” Karipa, who is now in her 50s, said at an Aids awareness event in Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby in December. She and the baby received treatment, and her child remains healthy.

Karipa, from East Sepik in northern PNG, is unusual in sharing her story. The stigma around the disease is high in the Pacific nation, but speaking out has never been more important. This year PNG declared HIV a “national crisis”.

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© Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

Dr. Oz tells his federal employees to eat less during the holidays

10 December 2025 at 09:45

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and former daytime talk show star, has recently been emailing all federal workers in his agency weekly tips on “Crushing Cubicle Cravings” and how to avoid snacking in the office.

“We all love a fun cookie swap and potluck this time of year. With several teams across CMS hosting holiday gatherings this month, I am sharing some strategies to help you make healthier choices—while still indulging in festive treats,” Oz wrote in his latest missive, which appears as a recurring section in his weekly bulletin titled “From the Administrator’s Desk,” according to emails viewed by WIRED.

“Set your intentions,” writes Oz. “Decide in advance how many treats you’ll allow yourself to enjoy and try to stick to that number. You don’t have to try every cookie on the cookie table.”

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© Premyuda Yospim

Trump Announces Deal to Drop Obesity Drug Prices to as Little as $149 a Month

President Trump announced a deal with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to lower prices on hugely popular weight-loss drugs for Medicare, Medicaid and American patients who pay with their own money.

© M. Scott Brauer for The New York Times

Americans have been able to buy Wegovy and Zepbound for about $500 a month in most cases.

‘A Big Positive’: How One Company Plans to Profit From Medicaid Cuts

New work requirements are expected to leave millions of poor Americans uninsured. For Equifax, which charges states steep prices for its trove of employment data, it is a business opportunity.

© Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg

"All the rage, all the shame."

8 July 2025 at 06:51
Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World A three part documentary looking back at the Live Aid, 40 (!?) years on.

History has been... somewhat mixed in its assessment of Live Aid but, as a useful Guardian review notes "there's no debating what an extraordinary phenomenon it was." "Episode one... is all about the smaller but still massive cultural moment that resulted from Geldof's initial impulse to raise funds for Ethiopia: Do They Know It's Christmas?, a single by the hastily assembled supergroup Band Aid." Subsequent episodes deal, somewhat more critically, with the accusation that Geldof became a "white saviour" figure, with the practical measures involved in actually allocating the money raised and with the self-interest of at least some of the participants.
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