US under secretary of state for foreign assistance Jeremy Lewin and UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher, leave the podium after signing a funding memorandum of understanding between the US government and the United Nations, at the US mission in Geneva 29 December 2025. (Keystone/Salvatore Di Nolfi)

🤝Exclusive: Inside US-UN plan to remake funding for humanitarian crises. A memorandum of understanding signed between Washington and UN aid chief Tom Fletcher suggests US aid will be increasingly channelled through the coordination agency, deemed to be “rising to the challenge”.

🏛️Unexpected global health wins in the US foreign aid bill. In a major reversal, US lawmakers released an appropriations bill that would allocate $20 billion more in aid in 2026 than the Trump administration’s request. It also includes allocations for organisations that had seen funding slashed, like Gavi, the UN Population Fund, Unicef and UNAids. The bill still has to go to a vote in both chambers and receive Trump’s okay.

🗓️Member states to discuss US withdrawal from WHO, as failure to pay fees violates agreement. Nearly one year after Washington decided to exit the UN health agency, it is still unclear how and when that will happen, with rules requiring it to cancel its debts.

🏔️Trump to attend Davos as global cooperation cast into doubt. The US leader is expected to bring Washington’s largest delegation yet. European leaders, including Ursula Von der Leyen and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have also RSVPed and are hoping to obtain security guarantees from Trump.

⚔️Economic conflicts are world’s greatest risk, WEF survey suggests. The survey of 1,300 business leaders, scholars and civil society members also puts extreme weather events and biodiversity loss among the 10 top threats the world faces in the next 10 years.