NEWS

The United States dollar has had its worst first six months of the year since 1973, as President Donald Trump’s economic policies have prompted global investors to sell their greenback holdings, threatening the currency’s “safe-haven” status.

The dollar index, which measures the currency’s strength against a basket of six others, including the pound, euro and yen, fell 10.8 percent in the first half of 2025.

President Trump’s stop-start tariff war, and his attacks that have led to worries over the independence of the Federal Reserve, have undermined the appeal of the dollar as a safe bet. Economists are also worried about Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill, currently under debate in the US Congress.

The landmark legislation is expected to add trillions of dollars to the US debt pile over the coming decade and has raised concerns about the sustainability of Washington’s borrowing, prompting an exodus from the US Treasury market.

Meanwhile, gold has hit record highs this year, on continued buying by central banks worried about devaluation of their dollar assets.

What has happened to the dollar?

On April 2, the Trump administration unveiled tariffs on imports from most countries around the world, denting confidence in the world’s largest economy and causing a selloff in US financial assets.

More than $5 trillion was erased from the value of the benchmark S&P 500 index of shares in the three days after “Liberation Day”, as Trump described the day of his tariffs announcement. US Treasuries also saw clear-outs, lowering their price and sending debt costs for the US government sharply higher.

Faced with a revolt in financial markets, Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs, except for exports from China, on April 9. While trade tensions with China – the world’s second-largest economy – have since eased, investors remain wary of holding dollar-linked assets.

Last month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced that it had cut its US growth outlook for this year from 2.2 percent in March to just 1.6 percent, even as inflation has slowed.

Looking ahead, Republican leaders are trying to push through Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act through Congress before July 4. The bill would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, slash healthcare and welfare spending and increase borrowing.

While some legislators believe it could take until August to pass the bill, the aim would be to raise the borrowing limit on the country’s $36.2 trillion debt pile. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said it would raise Federal debt by $3.3 trillion by 2034.

That would significantly raise the government’s debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio from 124 percent today, raising concerns about long-term debt sustainability. Meanwhile, annual deficits – when state spending exceeds tax revenues – would rise to 6.9 percent of GDP from about 6.4 percent in 2024.

So far, Trump’s attempts to lower spending through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have fallen short of expectations. And though import tariffs have raised revenue for the government, they’ve been paid for – in the form of higher costs – by American consumers.

The upshot is that Trump’s unpredictable policies, which prompted Moody’s rating agency to strip the US government of its top credit score in May, have slowed US growth prospects this year and dented the demand for its currency.

The dollar has also trended down on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to support the United States’ economy, urged on by Trump, with two to three reductions expected by the end of this year, according to levels implied by futures contracts.

Is the US becoming a ‘less attractive’ destination?

Owing to its dominance in trade and finance, the dollar has been the world’s currency anchor. In the 1980s, for instance, many Gulf countries began pegging their currencies to the greenback.

Its influence doesn’t stop there. Though the US accounts for one-quarter of global GDP, 54 percent of world exports were denominated in dollars in 2023, according to the Atlantic Council.

Its dominance in finance is even greater. About 60 percent of all bank deposits are denominated in dollars, while nearly 70 percent of international bonds are quoted in the US currency.

Meanwhile, 57 percent of the world’s foreign currency reserves – assets held by central banks – are held in dollars, according to the IMF.

But the dollar’s reserve status is supported by confidence in the US economy, its financial markets and its legal system.

And Trump is changing that. Karsten Junius, chief economist at Bank J Safra Sarasin, says “investors are beginning to realise that they’re over-exposed to US assets.”

Indeed, foreigners own $19 trillion of US equities, $7 trillion of US Treasuries and $5 trillion of US corporate bonds, according to Apollo Asset Management.

If investors continue to trim their positions, the dollar’s value could continue to come under sustained pressure.

“The US has become a less attractive place to invest these days… US assets are not as safe as they used to be,” Junius told Al Jazeera.

What are the consequences of a lower-value dollar?

Many within the Trump administration argue that the costs of the US dollar’s reserve status outweigh the benefits – because that raises the cost of US exports.

Stephen Miran, chair of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, has said high dollar valuations place “undue burdens on our firms and workers, making their products and labour uncompetitive on the global stage”.

“The dollar’s overvaluation has been one factor contributing to the US’s loss of competitiveness over the years, and… tariffs are a reaction to this unpleasant reality,” he added.

At first blush, a lower dollar would indeed make US goods cheaper to overseas buyers and make imports more expensive, helping to reduce the country’s trade deficits. However, these typical trade effects remain in flux due to ongoing tariff threats.

For developing countries, a weaker greenback will lower the local currency cost of repaying dollar debt, providing relief to heavily indebted countries like Zambia, Ghana or Pakistan.

Elsewhere, a weaker dollar should boost commodity prices, increasing export revenues for countries exporting oil, metals or agricultural goods such as Indonesia, Nigeria and Chile.

Have other currencies done well?

Since the start of Trump’s second term in office, the greenback’s slide has upended widespread predictions that his trade war would do greater damage to economies outside the US, while also spurring US inflation – strengthening the currency against its rivals.

Instead, the euro has risen 13 percent to above $1.17 as investors continue to focus on growth risks inside the US. At the same time, demand has risen for other safe assets like German and French government bonds.

For American investors, the weaker dollar has also encouraged equity investments abroad. The Stoxx 600 index, a broad measure across European stocks, has risen roughly 15 percent since the start of 2025.

Converted back into dollars, that gain amounts to 23 percent.

Meanwhile, inflation – again belying predictions – has come down from 3 percent in January to 2.3 percent in May.

According to Junius, there is no significant threat to the dollar’s status as the world’s de facto reserve currency anytime soon.

But “that doesn’t mean that you can’t have more of a weakening in the US dollar,” he said. “In fact, we continue to expect that between now and the end of the year.”

Three people have been killed and 35 taken to hospital following an attack by Ukraine on a factory in the city of Izhevsk – more than 1,000km (620 miles) from the border, Russian authorities say.

Of those injured ten had suffered serious injuries, the governor of Udmurtia Aleksandr Bechalov said, adding he had briefed President Vladimir Putin on the attack.

Drones reportedly targeted the Kupol Electromechanical Plant – a military factory which is said to produce Tor surface-to-air missile systems and radar stations.

The plant also specialises in the production of Osa air defence systems and has developed drones, according to Ukrainian media.

An Ukrainian official confirmed that two long-range drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Kupol plant from a distance of around 1,300 km (807 miles).

“Each such special operation reduces the enemy’s offensive potential, disrupts military production chains and demonstrates that even deep in Russia’s rear, there are no safe zones for its military infrastructure,” the source said in comments reported by Ukrainian media.

A video posted on social media and verified by the BBC showed an explosion on the roof of a building, followed by a large plume of black smoke rising over a factory-type chimney.

Russia’s civil aviation regulator Rosaviatsia imposed restrictions on operations at Izhevsk airport, before lifting them a few hours later.

This is second Ukrainian drone attack on the Kupol factory since November – although that strike had not resulted in any casualties.

For its part, Moscow continues to carry out attacks in Ukraine. At the weekend Russia launched a record 537 drones and missiles on various locations across the country, including Kyiv and the Western city of Lviv.

On Monday Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky granted the Hero of Ukraine award posthumously to an F-16 pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustymenko, who was killed while trying to repel the aerial attack.

On the battlefield, while Russia’s advance on the Sumy region seems to have stalled, Moscow appears to be targeting the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. Unconfirmed reports in Russian media suggested Moscow’s forces took control of the first village in the region.

Two rounds of talks aimed at agreeing a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow have taken place at the behest of US President Donald Trump since May, but have failed to produce tangible results.

Last week, President Putin said Russia was ready to hold a new round of peace negotiations although he said that the Russian and Ukrainian peace proposals were “absolutely contradictory”.

On Monday Zelensky again expressed scepticism of Putin’s intentions. “Putin has already stolen practically half a year from diplomacy… on top of the entire duration of this war,” the Ukrainian leader said.

“Russia is not changing its plans and is not looking for a way out of this war. On the contrary, they are preparing for new operations, including on the territory of European countries.”

US senior envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg echoed this on Monday, when he wrote on X that Russia could not “continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine”.

Moscow swiftly pushed back, saying it was not “interested in stalling anything” and thanking the US for its support.

Journalist, author and professor emeritus Bill Schneider explains why Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” for the US budget will likely pass – despite opposition from both parties.

Keir Starmer faces crunch vote on welfare spending after watering down planned cuts to disability benefits.

The United Kingdom’s Labour government hopes to limit a rebellion over welfare reform from its own politicians in a key vote in Parliament, just days after attempting to win them over with concessions.

Almost a year after his party won a landslide election victory, Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces one of the toughest tests of his premiership on Tuesday, when MPs vote on his government’s welfare plans.

Angered by proposals to change the eligibility criteria of the country’s main disability benefit and to reduce health-related support received by those on low incomes, more than 120 Labour politicians signalled last week that they would be voting against the bill.

In a bid to appease them, Downing Street announced a set of concessions on Friday, including a pledge that current claimants of the disability benefit, which is known as the personal independence payment (Pip), would not be affected by the cuts.

The government also promised to launch a review into Pip, led by Disability Minister Stephen Timms.

Speaking on Friday, senior Labour backbencher Meg Hillier, one of the rebels, described the U-turn as a “workable compromise”.

However, shortly ahead of Tuesday’s vote, it appeared that dozens of Labour politicians still opposed the bill, with British media reporting that at least 35 were planning to go against the government.

The vote comes after 86 disability and human rights groups issued a joint statement on Monday urging politicians to vote against the welfare reform bill.

Rachael Maskell, a Labour MP and critic of the proposal, wrote on X on Monday evening that disabled people “have yet to have agency in this process”.

“It is time their voices were heard,” she added.

The disputes around the government’s welfare reform bill have led to questions being asked once more about Starmer, who has a working majority of 165 in the House of Commons.

“It’s a failure of leadership for a prime minister with such a big majority to not be able to get their agenda through,” said Rob Ford, a politics professor at the University of Manchester.

“I can’t think of many examples of a prime minister in post-war politics suffering such a big setback when presiding over such a strong position in the Commons,” Ford noted.

Friday’s concessions were not the only time Starmer had made a U-turn in recent weeks. On June 9, his government announced that it was reversing a policy to scrap a winter heating benefit for millions of pensioners.

The latest polling shows that Labour is trailing the right-wing populist party Reform UK, which outperformed its rivals in local elections in May.

Another 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries after the blast and fire at the Sigachi factory.

At least 36 people have been confirmed dead after a powerful explosion triggered a fire at a pharmaceutical factory in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

“The condition of the bodies is such that we’ve had to deploy a specialised medical team to carry out DNA tests,” said Health and Medical Cabinet Minister of Telangana Damodar Raja Narasimha on Tuesday.

A government panel has been formed to investigate the cause of the disaster.

The blast, which erupted on Monday afternoon at a facility run by Sigachi Industries, took place in the plant’s spray dryer unit – a section used to convert raw materials into powder for drug manufacturing. The factory is located roughly 50km (31 miles) from Hyderabad, the state capital.

Authorities recovered 34 bodies from the debris, while two more workers succumbed to injuries in hospital, according to Telangana’s fire services director, GV Narayana Rao.

“The entire structure has collapsed. The fire is under control and we’re continuing to clear the rubble in case more people are trapped,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

Twenty-five of the deceased are yet to be identified, a district administrative official, P Pravinya, said.

About 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries. Police officials said that more than 140 people were working in the plant when the incident occurred.

Local residents reported hearing the blast from several kilometres away.

The incident has raised new concerns about industrial safety in India’s booming pharmaceutical sector. Despite the country’s reputation as a global supplier of low-cost medicines and vaccines, fatal accidents at drug manufacturing units are not rare, particularly in facilities handling chemicals or solvents.

Sigachi Industries, which has its headquarters in India, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and nutrient blends, and operates manufacturing plants across the country. It also runs subsidiaries in the United Arab Emirates and the United States, according to its website.

Officials say rescue and recovery efforts will continue until the entire site has been cleared. The factory’s operations have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

The amount of time off and pay new parents can get after the birth of a child will be looked at in a “landmark” review, the government says.

Ministers said they wanted to modernise the system across paternity, maternity and shared parental leave, which campaigners said had been “overlooked for years”.

Campaign group The Dad Shift called the review the “best chance in a generation to improve the system and make sure it actually works for working families”.

A committee of MPs recently called the UK’s parental leave system “one of the worst in the developed world” with “fundamental flaws”.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said jobs would be lost if more costs were “piled on to employers”.

June’s report by the Women and Equalities Committee said “bold” action was needed to address those flaws, but warned that any changes would require significant investment.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told BBC Breakfast the current system is “really confusing”, with eight different types of parental leave available, and “is not particularly generous or supportive compared to other countries”.

Reynolds said one in three fathers takes no paternity leave and “hardly anyone” takes shared parental leave.

He said the review – which is expected to take 18 months – is needed because the parental leave system has not been reformed in decades, during which time both working habits and families have changed.

The government’s review will look at statutory leave, which is the minimum amount employers have to provide by law and is funded by the government. Some companies choose to top this up for their employees using their own money.

Statutory maternity leave allows most new mums and birthing parents to take up to 52 weeks off work.

Statutory maternity pay is paid for up to 39 weeks, providing 90% of a person’s average weekly earnings – before tax – for the first six weeks.

The following 33 weeks pays either £187.18 per week, or 90% of their average weekly earnings again – whichever is lower.

Mums are ineligible for statutory maternity pay if they are self-employed or earn less than £125 a week.

Statutory paternity leave, which was introduced in 2003, allows most new fathers and second parents in the UK to take up to two weeks off work.

It applies to all partners, regardless of gender, after the birth, surrogacy or adoption of a baby. Like with maternity leave, those who are eligible receive £187.18 a week or 90% of their average earnings, whichever is lower, for those two weeks.

That works out as less than 50% of the National Living Wage – the minimum amount that employers are legally required to pay anyone aged 21 and over.

Fathers cannot receive statutory paternity leave and pay if they are self-employed or earn less than £125 a week.

Shared parental leave was introduced in 2014 and allows parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay after the birth or adoption of a child.

Announcing its review of the whole parental leave system, the government acknowledged that take-up of shared parental leave was very low, as well as the fact that one in three dads do not take paternity leave because they cannot afford to.

George Gabriel, co-founder of The Dad Shift campaign, said paternity leave was “groundbreaking” when it was introduced by the last Labour government, but by remaining unchanged since then had become the “least generous in Europe”.

He said he was “delighted” with the review and “ambitious for the change to come”.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “If you’ve no job in the first place it doesn’t matter how much family leave you get.”

Rachel Grocott, chief executive of the Pregnant Then Screwed charity, said improving parental leave overall would help to close the gender pay gap and give children the best start in life, adding that investing in the system was a “no-brainer”.

Constitutional Court hears petition seeking premier’s dismissal as separate court hears defamation case against her father.

Thailand’s ruling political dynasty is facing legal peril, as the country’s Constitutional Court considers a petition seeking the dismissal of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, while a separate court hears a royal defamation suit against her father, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The petition filed by 36 senators and being heard on Tuesday accuses Paetongtarn of dishonesty and breaching ethical standards in violation of the constitution over a leaked telephone conversation with Cambodia’s influential former leader, Hun Sen. If the court accepts the case, it could decide to suspend the premier from duty with immediate effect.

Thaksin also has his first hearing at Bangkok’s Criminal Court on Tuesday in a case centred on allegations that he insulted Thailand’s powerful monarchy, a serious offence punishable by up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. He denies the charges and has repeatedly pledged allegiance to the crown.

The kingdom’s politics have for years been dominated by a battle between the conservative, pro-military, pro-royalist elite and the Shinawatra family, whom the elite consider a threat to Thailand’s traditional social order.

On Tuesday, Thailand’s Constitutional Court is due to meet for the first time since a group of conservative senators lodged a case against Paetongtarn, accusing her of breaching ministerial ethics during a diplomatic spat with Cambodia.

If the court decides to hear the case, they could suspend the prime minister as they enter months-long deliberations, plunging Thailand into chaos as it grapples with a spluttering economy and the threat of tariffs from the United States.

The controversy stems from a June 15 call intended to defuse escalating border tensions with Cambodia. During the call, Paetongtarn, 38, referred to Hun Sen as “uncle”, and criticised a Thai army commander, a red line in a country where the military has significant clout. She has apologised and said her remarks were a negotiating tactic.

The leaked conversation triggered outrage and has left Paetongtarn’s coalition with a razor-thin majority, with a key party abandoning the alliance and expected to soon seek a no-confidence vote in parliament, as thousands of demonstrators demand the premier resign.

“I will let the process take its course,” a downcast Paetongtarn told reporters on Monday. “If you are asking whether I am worried, I am.”

If Paetongtarn is suspended, power will pass to her deputy, Phumtham Wechayachai.

The 38-year-old Paetongtarn took office less than a year ago but has been badly weakened by the Cambodia controversy.

Thailand’s king on Tuesday approved Paetongtarn’s cabinet reshuffle after her allies quit. She has appointed herself as culture minister.

Meanwhile, Thaksin, the 75-year-old family patriarch and billionaire twice elected leader in the early 2000s, appeared at a Bangkok criminal court to face accusations of breaching strict lese-majeste laws used to shield Thailand’s king from criticism.

The allegations stem from a 2015 interview he gave to South Korean media and he faces up to 15 years in jail after the trial, which is set to last for weeks, with a verdict not expected for at least a month after that.

A court official confirmed to the AFP news agency that the trial had started but media would not be allowed in.

Thaksin has denied the charges against him and repeatedly pledged allegiance to the crown.

Thaksin dodged jail and spent six months in hospital detention on medical grounds before being released on parole in February last year. The Supreme Court will this month scrutinise that hospital stay and could potentially send him back to jail.

Here is how things stand on Tuesday, July 1:

Fighting

• The Russian-installed governor of the occupied Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, Leonid Pasechnik, said that Russian troops are now in full control of the entire region.
• If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war. Luhansk is one of four regions that Russia now claims as its own.
• Russia’s state media and war bloggers also said that Russian forces have taken control of the first village in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk.
• This came as Moscow-appointed officials said Ukrainian forces attacked the city of Donetsk in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, killing at least one person, damaging several buildings and setting a market on fire.
• Also in Donetsk, Russian forces have occupied one of Ukraine’s most valuable lithium deposits near the village of Shevchenko, The Kyiv Independent reported, citing Roman Pohorilyi, the founder of the open-source mapping project Deep State Map.
• The Ukrainian Air Force, meanwhile, said it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the country’s airspace overnight, a day after the country experienced the biggest aerial attack from Russian forces since 2022.
• Russian strikes in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight wounded, including a 6-year-old child, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
• Outside the immediate region, Bloomberg reported an explosion on an oil tanker near Libya, in the latest unexplained blast on vessels that had previously called at Russian ports.

Politics and diplomacy

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged the United States to consider whether new sanctions on Russia would help the Ukraine peace effort after a top Republican senator said he had received US President Donald Trump’s blessing to move forward on a bill introducing punitive measures against Moscow.
• US envoy Keith Kellogg responded to Peskov’s comments, describing them as “Orwellian”. “Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine,” Kellogg said in a post on X.
• German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul, speaking during a visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of making “pure mockery” of peace talks.
• “His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far,” Wadephul said, adding that Germany was trying to help Ukraine get to a point where it could “negotiate more strongly”.
• The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Moscow was introducing “reciprocal measures” restricting access to 15 media outlets from the European Union, in retaliation for the latest round of EU sanctions on Russia.
• In North Korea, images on state television showed leader Kim Jong Un draping coffins with the country’s national flag in what appeared to be the repatriation of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine, according to the Reuters news agency.
• Norway said it would deploy F-35 fighter jets to Poland to protect Polish airspace and a key logistical hub for aid to Ukraine, a day after Warsaw scrambled aircraft in response to Russian air attacks on western Ukraine, near the border.

Economy

• The International Monetary Fund said it would provide $500m to Ukraine, after completing a routine review of its $15.5bn four-year support programme.

A federal task force threatens to cut all of Harvard’s federal funding over alleged violations of the rights of Jewish and Israeli students.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has accused Harvard University of violating the civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students and threatened to cut off all federal funding to the institution.

The announcement on Monday is the latest action by the Trump administration against the United States’s oldest university after the institution rejected earlier demands to alter its operations.

In a letter sent to Harvard president Alan Garber, a federal task force said its investigation has concluded that “Harvard has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff”.

The letter went on to say that the majority of Jewish students at Harvard felt they suffered discrimination on campus, while a quarter felt physically unsafe.

It also threatened further funding acts if Harvard did not change course.

“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” it said, without elaborating what the reforms needed were.

In a statement, Harvard pushed back against the allegations.

The university said that it had taken “substantive, proactive steps” to combat anti-Semitism on campus, and had made “significant strides to combat bigotry, hate and bias”.

“We are not alone in confronting this challenge and recognise that this work is ongoing,” it said, adding that it remains “committed to ensuring members of our Jewish and Israeli community are embraced, respected, and can thrive at Harvard”.

At a White House briefing later, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said discussions between the Trump administration and Harvard were taking place “behind closed doors”, but offered no further details.

Protests against Israel’s war on Gaza

US universities have faced controversy over alleged anti-Semitism on their campuses since the eruption last year of nationwide student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Trump has called such protests “illegal” and accused participants of anti-Semitism. But protest leaders – who include Jewish students – have described their actions as a peaceful response to Israel’s actions, which have elicited concerns about human rights abuses, including genocide.

The Trump administration has frozen some $2.5bn in federal grant money to Harvard, moved to block it from enrolling international students and threatened to remove its tax-exempt status.

It has demanded that Harvard end all affirmative action in faculty hiring and student admissions and disband student groups that promote what it calls criminal activity and harassment.

It also called for changes to the admissions process “to prevent admitting international students hostile to the American values”, including “students supportive of terrorism or anti-Semitism”.

Harvard has rejected those demands, and sued the administration, calling its actions “retaliatory” and “unlawful”.

The Trump administration has also gone after top colleges, including Columbia, Cornell and Northwestern.

In early March, Columbia – whose protest camps were copied by students at colleges all over the country – had $400m in federal funding cut from its budget.

The school later agreed to a list of demands from the Trump administration. These included changing its disciplinary rules and reviewing its Middle East studies programme.

Separately, University of Virginia president James Ryan said last week he chose to step down rather than fight the US government as the Trump administration investigated the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Around the same time, the Trump administration also launched a probe into hiring practices at the University of California system – which enrols nearly 300,000 students – to determine whether they violate federal anti-discrimination laws.

The universities have, meanwhile, said that the Trump administration’s actions threaten academic freedom and free speech, as well as critical scientific research.

About 1,200 children are being urged to undergo testing for infectious diseases after a Melbourne childcare worker was charged with a string of offences including child rape.

Joshua Dale Brown was arrested in May and faces 70 charges, with police alleging he abused eight children – including a five-month-old – between April 2022 and January 2023.

The 26-year-old has worked at 20 childcare centres since 2017, prompting local health authorities to notify parents of any children who may have been in his care, recommending many be tested as a “precaution”.

Brown, who is yet to enter a plea to the charges, has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court in September.

The eight children – all under the age of five – who police allege were harmed attended the Creative Gardens Early Learning Centre in Point Cook, in Melbourne’s south-west.

Brown is accused of child rape and sexual assault offenses, as well as producing and transmitting child abuse material.

Detectives are also investigating alleged offences by Brown at a childcare centre in Essendon “as a priority”.

At a press conference, authorities said he had a valid working with children check and was employed as a fill-in childcare worker when he was arrested.

Brown was not known to them before the investigation, they said, adding that they believed he acted alone and that the alleged offending only happened in Victoria.

Revealing Mr Brown’s identity was an “unusual decision”, Victoria Police’s Janet Stevenson said, but this is a “unique” case.

“It’s very important to ensure that every parent out there that has a child in childcare knows who he is and where he worked,” she said.

Chief Health Officer Christian McGrath would not say if Mr Brown had tested positive to sexually transmitted infections, but said the manner of the alleged offending meant some children may be asked to undergo screening for infectious diseases.

About 2,600 families had been contacted, with 1,200 children recommended for testing, she said, adding that the infections that the children may have been exposed to can be treated with antibiotics.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said she was “sickened” by the allegations.

“My heart breaks for the families who are living every parent’s worst nightmare,” she said.

Families across Victoria will be “angry and frightened” by the case, Allan said, adding that a dedicated website has been set up for those impacted.

Researchers at Stanford University recently tested out some of the more popular AI tools on the market, from companies like OpenAI and Character.ai, and tested how they did at simulating therapy.

The researchers found that when they imitated someone who had suicidal intentions, these tools were more than unhelpful — they failed to notice they were helping that person plan their own death.

“[AI] systems are being used as companions, thought-partners, confidants, coaches, and therapists,” says Nicholas Haber, an assistant professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and senior author of the new study. “These aren’t niche uses – this is happening at scale.”

AI is becoming more and more ingrained in people’s lives and is being deployed in scientific research in areas as wide-ranging as cancer and climate change. There is also some debate that it could cause the end of humanity.

As this technology continues to be adopted for different purposes, a major question that remains is how it will begin to affect the human mind. People regularly interacting with AI is such a new phenomena that there has not been enough time for scientists to thoroughly study how it might be affecting human psychology. Psychology experts, however, have many concerns about its potential impact.

One concerning instance of how this is playing out can be seen on the popular community network Reddit. According to 404 Media, some users have been banned from an AI-focused subreddit recently because they have started to believe that AI is god-like or that it is making them god-like.

“This looks like someone with issues with cognitive functioning or delusional tendencies associated with mania or schizophrenia interacting with large language models,” says Johannes Eichstaedt, an assistant professor in psychology at Stanford University. “With schizophrenia, people might make absurd statements about the world, and these LLMs are a little too sycophantic. You have these confirmatory interactions between psychopathology and large language models.”

Because the developers of these AI tools want people to enjoy using them and continue to use them, they’ve been programmed in a way that makes them tend to agree with the user. While these tools might correct some factual mistakes the user might make, they try to present as friendly and affirming. This can be problematic if the person using the tool is spiralling or going down a rabbit hole.

“It can fuel thoughts that are not accurate or not based in reality,” says Regan Gurung, social psychologist at Oregon State University. “The problem with AI — these large language models that are mirroring human talk — is that they’re reinforcing. They give people what the programme thinks should follow next. That’s where it gets problematic.”

As with social media, AI may also make matters worse for people suffering from common mental health issues like anxiety or depression. This may become even more apparent as AI continues to become more integrated in different aspects of our lives.

“If you’re coming to an interaction with mental health concerns, then you might find that those concerns will actually be accelerated,” says Stephen Aguilar, an associate professor of education at the University of Southern California.

Need for more research

There’s also the issue of how AI could impact learning or memory. A student who uses AI to write every paper for school is not going to learn as much as one that does not. However, even using AI lightly could reduce some information retention, and using AI for daily activities could reduce how much people are aware of what they’re doing in a given moment.

“What we are seeing is there is the possibility that people can become cognitively lazy,” Aguilar says. “If you ask a question and get an answer, your next step should be to interrogate that answer, but that additional step often isn’t taken. You get an atrophy of critical thinking.”

Lots of people use Google Maps to get around their town or city. Many have found that it has made them less aware of where they’re going or how to get there compared to when they had to pay close attention to their route. Similar issues could arise for people with AI being used so often.

The experts studying these effects say more research is needed to address these concerns. Eichstaedt said psychology experts should start doing this kind of research now, before AI starts doing harm in unexpected ways so that people can be prepared and try to address each concern that arises. People also need to be educated on what AI can do well and what it cannot do well.

“We need more research,” says Aguilar. “And everyone should have a working understanding of what large language models are.”

British police have announced that the weekend performances by rap-punk duo Bob Vylan and the Irish-language band Kneecap at the Glastonbury Festival are subject to a criminal investigation after they led crowds in chants calling for “death” to the Israeli military and a “free Palestine”.

Police on Monday said the performances at the United Kingdom’s largest summer music festival “have been recorded as a public order incident”.

Rapper Bobby Vylan, who until the weekend was relatively unknown, led crowds in chants of “free, free Palestine” and “death, death” to the Israeli military.

The BBC said it regretted livestreaming the performance and it should have pulled it off the air.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other UK politicians condemned the chants, saying there was no excuse for such “appalling hate speech”. Starmer added that the BBC must explain “how these scenes came to be broadcast”.

Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, said it was “very concerned” about the BBC livestream and said the broadcaster “clearly has questions to answer”.

Meanwhile, the United States Department of State said it has revoked the visas for Bob Vylan to perform in the US after its “hateful tirade at Glastonbury”.

“Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in a social media post.

Israel’s genocidal assault in Gaza has inflamed tensions around the world, triggering pro-Palestinian protests in many capitals and on college campuses. Israel and some of its supporters have described the protests as anti-Semitic while critics said Israel uses such descriptions to silence its opponents.

While maintaining a crippling siege on the bombarded enclave, Israeli forces have killed at least 56,531 people and wounded 133,642, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Bob Vylan, known for mixing grime and punk rock, tackles a range of issues in its lyrics, including racism, homophobia and the class divide, and has previously voiced support for Palestinians.

Its lead vocalist, who goes by the stage name Bobby Vylan, appeared to refer to the weekend performance in a post on Instagram, writing: “I said what I said.”

“Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place,” he added.

The duo played Saturday afternoon right before Kneecap, whose set was not livestreamed by the BBC but still found a huge online audience via TikTok. It is another band that has drawn controversy previously over its strongly pro-Palestine stance.

Kneecap led a crowd of tens of thousands in chants of “Free Palestine” at the festival. It also aimed an expletive-laden chant at Starmer, who had said he didn’t think it was “appropriate” for Kneecap to play Glastonbury after one of its members was charged under the Terrorism Act.

Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who is also known as Liam O’Hanna and performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged with supporting a proscribed organisation for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London last year.

Israel has faced sustained international opprobrium for the conduct of its war in Gaza. Weekly protests draw thousands of people around Europe and across the world in support of Palestinians.

Public pressure, in part, seemed to prompt the Israeli allies France, Canada and the UK to issue a sharply worded statement in May calling for Israel to stop its “egregious” military actions in Gaza and criticising Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank.

The US Senate has begun a marathon vote on a sprawling budget that is critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda, but the spending plan is hanging in the balance after weeks of fraught negotiations.

Republicans – who control both chambers of Congress – are divided over how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend tax breaks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The president’s party is sprinting to pass the legislation by this week’s self-imposed deadline of the Fourth of July public holiday.

If the measure does clear the Senate, it will have to go back for another vote to the House of Representatives, which passed its own version of the bill last month by a single vote.

Senators zipped through the halls of the Capitol on Monday, making their way to the chamber floor for various amendment votes, then back to their private meeting rooms where they hashed out grievances outside the view of reporters.

Senators are currently arguing for or against adding amendments to the nearly 1,000-page bill in a process called “vote-a-rama”, which could entail up to 20 hours of debate.

“We’re still obviously perfecting a few things,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Monday.

An amendment to the proposal for Medicaid cuts recently proposed by Florida Senator Rick Scott could cause roughly 20 million Americans to lose their health insurance coverage, according to one estimate.

When asked about the report, Thune said there are “lots of analyses out there”.

“The thing that [Scott’s] bill doesn’t do is it doesn’t take effect until 2031. So I’m not sure how you can make the argument that it’s going to kick any people off of health insurance tomorrow,” Thune said.

Democrats, who have repeatedly denounced the bill, particularly for cutting health insurance coverage for millions of poorer Americans, are expected to use all 10 of their allotted hours of debate, while Republicans probably won’t.

Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and longstanding critic of Trump, called the bill “terrible”.

He told the BBC he was unsure if Senate Republicans would meet Trump’s deadline of passage by this Friday, when America celebrates Independence Day, adding that, even if they did, “who knows what happens in the House”.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump is “confident” the bill would be passed and still expects it on his desk by his self-imposed deadline.

Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, appeared frustrated on Monday afternoon, after no signs of a final draft of the bill emerged.

“Oh my God, I just want to go home,” he said, adding that the extended negotiations and voting rounds have caused him to miss his “entire trip to the beach”.

“I don’t think it’s really helpful to put people here till some ungodly hour,” he said.

On Sunday, Democrats used a political manoeuvre to stall the bill’s progress, calling on Senate clerks to read all 940 pages of the bill aloud, a process that took 16 hours.

The move followed weeks of public discussion and the Senate narrowly moving on the budget bill in a 51-49 vote over the weekend.

Two Republicans sided with Democrats in voting against opening debate, arguing for further changes to the legislation.

One of those Republicans, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, announced his retirement following that vote and said the legislation broke promises that Trump and Republicans made to voters.

“Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who really don’t give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail,” Tillis wrote in his announcement.

The White House reacted angrily to Tillis’ comments on Monday, with Leavitt telling reporters the senator is “just wrong” and that “the President and the vast majority of Republicans who are supportive of this legislation are right”.

The other Republican who voted against moving the bill was Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. He objected to the debt increase, and cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare programme that is relied on by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans.

On Monday, Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, sought to quell concerns about cuts to Medicaid, saying “we’re going to be fine in this”.

When the bill comes up for a full Senate vote – expected either late on Monday night or early Tuesday morning – Republicans can only afford three defections in order for the bill to pass.

If they lose three votes, Vice-President JD Vance will have to cast a tie-breaking vote.

The bill would then return to the House of Representatives, where leadership has advised a full vote on the Senate’s bill could come as early as Wednesday morning.

While Republicans control the House, they can also only lose a handful of votes. There are frustrations with the Senate version of the bill among some Republicans in the House, which could make for another close vote.

The fiscal hawks of the Republican-led House Freedom Caucus have threatened to torpedo the Senate version over budget disagreements.

The Senate proposal adds over $650bn to the national deficit, the group said in a post on social media on Monday.

“That’s not fiscal responsibility,” they said. “It’s not what we agreed to.”

Democrats in both chambers have largely objected to the spending cuts and the proposed extension of tax breaks.

Meanwhile, Republican debate has focused on how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend $3.8tn (£2.8tn) in Trump tax breaks.

The proposed cuts could strip nearly 12 million Americans of their health insurance coverage and add $3.3tn (£2.4tn) in debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan federal agency.

The version of the bill senators will soon vote on contains tax cuts that Trump campaigned on, such as a tax deduction on Social Security benefits, and the elimination of taxes on overtime work and tips.

The bill also authorises $5tn in new borrowing that will add to a swelling US debt load – a move that goes against what many conservatives have argued for and infuriated one-time Trump confidant Elon Musk.

Musk fired off social media posts on Monday, vowing to fund challengers to any conservative who votes for the bill and to set up an alternative political party.

“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” he wrote on X.

“Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”

The national debt currently sits at $36 trillion, according to the treasury department.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged Congress to address the debt limit by mid-July and warned if they do not, the US could be unable to pay its bills as early as August.

(With additional reporting from Bernd Debusmann Jr at the White House)

On a Tuesday morning, Kaneng Fom’s* mind told her she was going to die.

The day had begun normally: Kaneng took a short walk down her estate street with her brother, watched her favourite anime, and hoped for an update to the show, before finally getting in the car. Her mother was waiting at the steering wheel to drive her down the road in the Gwarimpa area of Abuja, North Central Nigeria, to get a loaf of bread. The ride was usually smooth for Kaneng, but not that day; the crushing feeling of death and panic consumed her.

That feeling unsettled her mind, tightened her chest, and overwhelmed her breath. Her mother was talking to her in the car, but Kaneng’s anxiety prevented her from truly hearing. She knew how best to describe what was happening; she had learned this phrase online when trying to understand the strange anxiety that randomly overpowers her: a panic attack.

Her mother, however, seeing this for the first time, has different verbiage to handle the condition.

“Jesus!” she yelled.

“She was screaming, ‘Jesus, Jesus,’ until I eventually calmed myself down,” Kaneng recounts. “After she asked me a few questions, she said that I should pray more and if I prayed more or invited the Holy Spirit to go about my day, I would have fewer panic attacks.”

Nigeria is a religious country. About 99.4 per cent of the country’s population is affiliated with a major religion, according to the World Factbook. For those deeply connected to its culture and way of life, like Kaneng’s mother, religion is viewed as a solution to nearly every problem, including mental health challenges.

But while religion offers a source of strength, its dominance also reflects a deeper issue: mental health care in Nigeria is expensive, under-resourced, and often out of reach. As therapy costs rise and stigma remains high, for many Nigerians, then, the default response to psychological distress isn’t clinical but spiritual.

Research by the West African Academy of Public Health shows that many Nigerians like Kaneng are first and solely pushed to seek spiritual sustenance when they face a mental health challenge. 

‘Why worry when you can pray?’

Such was the case for 22-year-old Tolu*, a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who identifies with several symptoms from autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and trauma from sexual assault.

“I come from a very Catholic family, so obviously I believed the church should be my first option,” he said. “I was at a church retreat, and my head just wasn’t clear, so I went to the priest for guidance. I was like (to the priest) ‘I don’t think I’m okay mentally’ and all he told me to do was pray. I didn’t ask him for any particular help, but he didn’t provide any particular help either. ”

A study by researchers at the Department of Religion and Cultural Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka in the country’s South East, revealed that some Nigerian religious bodies have positioned themselves as entities capable of curing any struggle, mental illness included. The study explains that this posture, in some cases, allows religious leaders to extort Nigerians who come to them for help. 

Despite estimates from the African Polling Institute suggesting that 20 to 30 per cent of Nigerians may have mental illness, there is a significant lack of care and attention dedicated to addressing their needs. The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) also estimates that only about 300 psychiatrists are tending to mentally ill Nigerians, with only about 4.72 per cent of Nigeria’s total health budget allotted to mental health care. For many, accessing a psychologist can be a painful struggle, and when they do get access, the psychologists often lack proper resources.

In the context of widespread need and inadequate support, spiritual solutions become the more accessible, familiar, and often the only option available.

This “faith-centred healing” approach is echoed by popular religious leaders like Jerry Eze, an evangelist and founder of an Abuja-based Pentecostal ministry, Streams of Joy, who conducts services where the “spirit” of depression or anxiety is cast away on the authority of Jesus. 

During a sermon to thousands of congregation members on June 22, Pastor Jerry described anxiety as something people position themselves in. 

“If I position in fear, my seed (blessings) will be eaten. If I position myself in anxiety, then my seed (blessings) will be eaten,” he claimed during the sermon, giving many a sense of power over something they may feel helpless about. To fix this issue, he insisted his devoted listeners command the spirit of fear away, saying, “It does not matter whether there is change (in your fears) or not, keep commanding!”

When Ruth Anya*, a Streams of Joy member, was asked whether Pastor Jerry encouraged the congregation to seek professional mental health care, she replied, “He doesn’t discourage us, and has even encouraged people to speak to loved ones if they are struggling. But we all know we are at Streams of Joy for our miracles.”

People of other faiths face similar situations, where spiritual explanations are often prioritised before other possibilities are explored. In May, Suhayla Yusuf*, a young Muslim woman, told HumAngle that she had turned to an Islamic platform to share her distress over the intrusive thoughts associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but was simply told the thoughts were from the devil, with no further support offered. OCD has different subtypes, and in Islamic discourse, Suhalya’s experience aligns with what is commonly referred to as waswas, a term that translates to “whisperings of the devil.”

The cost of mental wellness

In 2024, Nigeria’s minimum wage was increased to ₦70,000. While this policy has been slow to implement, the price of therapy and the general cost of living in the country have continued to skyrocket beyond what the average Nigerian makes monthly.

To better understand the cost limitation to seeking mental health support, HumAngle researched and found that a leading psychiatry resource in Nigeria offers therapy sessions that range in price from ₦15,000 to ₦155,000. The cost depends on factors such as your location, the therapist’s qualifications, the type of therapy provided, and whether the session is conducted online or in person. Regardless of the circumstances, many Nigerians may find this cost of a single therapy session unaffordable.

“Therapy is largely inaccessible to the average Nigerian. The cost of treatment, especially private services, remains out of reach for most,” Okwuchukwu Mary-Ann, a clinical psychologist, told HumAngle. 

Her reasoning is backed by data: the World Bank estimates Nigeria’s rural poverty rate is 75.5 per cent. The World Health Organisation has reported that those living in poverty are the most likely to experience mental health issues. Therefore, a ₦15,000 session is far too expensive for the majority of Nigerians who need mental health support.

“Finances pose a big problem for me,” Kaneng noted. “I’ve always been supportive of therapy, but I’ve never been able to afford to go. I would ask my parents, but as I told you, my mother thinks I need to pray more, and my father, our breadwinner, agrees.” When asked if they tried to help her beyond this advice, Kaneng said, ‘My mother prayed whenever I brought it up. That was it.’”

Tolu also faces the same challenge, explaining, “I diagnosed myself through a test sent to me by a friend. A big hindrance towards me getting a formal diagnosis is money.”

Morayo Adesina*, a student at the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos, South West Nigeria, who tried therapy in 2022, told HumAngle it wasn’t a favourable experience. “It wasn’t easy to find a therapist in Nigeria,” she claimed. “As a student, my only options were the school therapist who may potentially expose my secrets to school authorities, or a therapist gotten through my mother who may potentially expose certain aspects of my worldview to her that I didn’t want her to know about.”

Despite her reservations, Morayo had no choice but to trust her mother’s judgment. This path led her to two therapists, the second of whom she stayed with for some time.

“The second therapist I saw cost around ₦50,000 for the first session, and ₦30,000 for subsequent sessions. That was three years ago, though, and the price today should be over ₦70,000,” she said. 

When asked why she stopped, Morayo responded, “I did about four to five sessions before I started to feel like I was wasting my mum’s money.” 

With a few sessions and over ₦100,000 spent on therapy, Morayo was able to reap some benefits from her sessions with the therapist, who eventually gave her a diagnosis for the persistent pessimism and gloominess she has carried as long as she can remember. 

The verdict was depression, anxiety, and, most importantly, a way for Morayo to feel more at ease with herself; “this diagnosis made me feel more normal because it felt like I could at least tie what was wrong with me to something outside of the feeling that I was probably irredeemably broken.”

However, Morayo doesn’t think the sessions were enough, telling HumAngle that the cost and number of therapy sessions necessary to fix what she thinks is wrong with her come at an expensive price. The American Psychological Association has shown that 15 to 20 therapy sessions are essential to heal 50 per cent of people with mental illness, meaning Morayo’s five sessions only scratched the surface. When people like her, a middle-class student, can’t afford to pay for therapy sessions, the chances of the majority lower class seem far less likely. 

Rashid Usman*, an Arabic and Islamic teacher, agrees that the cost of therapy is too high, but believes surrendering oneself to Allah is the perfect way to avoid mental illnesses. “Mental illness is a condition that affects your thoughts, behaviours and emotions when you are too worried rather than allowing your creator to control your affairs,” he argued, noting that instead of spending money on therapy, it is much cheaper to position God at the heart of your problems. 

“People should be taught how to handle and manage anything that could lead to this problem in the way of God, at the worship centre,” he added. Rashid’s answer explains the reason some look to divinity rather than therapy.

Between stigma and possession

The cost of therapy is a significant barrier for many individuals, but the stigma associated with mental illness also presents a considerable obstacle. When Kaneng was asked about the difficulties of managing a mental illness in Nigeria, she sighed and responded, “It’s truly challenging, and it becomes even more difficult when I can’t express my feelings to my parents or convey my desire to seek therapy. I often feel like an outsider.”

Tolu also experienced the same thing: “It is challenging. You go through things people do not understand, and sometimes you want to explain, but you just dismiss the idea because they will most likely misunderstand your situation.”

Nigerian society has taught people like Tolu and Kaneng that it is better to be silent, whispering the particulars of their mental stress only to God. 

Rashid puts it plainly when asked if he thinks mental illness has a spiritual cause, stating, “Yes, spiritual attack from Jin [demon] can alter mental stability.”

Religious leaders from different faiths preach messages that align with his views. In 2022, Adeola Akinniyi, a pastor at Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, published a sermon titled “The Enemy Called Depression,” in which he described mental illness as a spiritual attack.

“The enemy is using the weapon of depression against believers in the church, manipulating sisters, brothers and everyone. That you have money does not stop the enemy from attacking you with the weapon of depression,” he told his congregants.

Faith and therapy 

In the ongoing conversation about the role of religion in mental health, a question arises: Can communion with God truly lead to complete healing from mental struggles? While Kaneng leans toward a hopeful affirmation, her response reveals a more complex truth.

“I’m not irreligious,” she cuts in quickly. “And I do feel some relief when I pray, but never in the middle of a [panic] attack, and they always come back.  I’ve begun to believe that praying or fasting can’t fix certain things, but they provide relief.”

Mary-Ann highlights the risks of relying solely on religious intervention for mental health issues. “This mindset of only seeking religious help can delay the pursuit of additional support, which may worsen symptoms or lead to chronic problems,” she noted.

Several other medical sources warn that unchecked mental illness can become permanent over time, an issue Kaneng thinks befell her.

“My panic attacks are less intense now that I’ve done research into what they are and I try to manage them,” she said. “But over the last two years, they have become more frequent, and I consider them a part of my daily life.”

There are religious leaders who understand the place of mental healthcare, however. 

Femi Ogunleye*, a youth pastor at the Cathedral Church of Advent in Abuja, believes mental health care is not restricted by God, explaining, “Christianity only discourages sin. Wanting help healthily isn’t a sin.”  

He proposes this dual style of healing: “There are medicines that can help (mental health care), you know, and depending on the type [of medicine]. Some can be resolved by going back to God in prayer and reading the word of God, but there are some that you need mental health care. So the church should promote going to mental health facilities when you have such challenges.”

He is not alone in believing that faith and therapy can coexist. Other Nigerian religious leaders, such as the well-known Apostle Femi Lazarus, have spoken extensively on the subject. In a sermon titled “Issues of Mental Health Need to be Addressed in The Body of Christ”, Lazarus affirms his belief that Christians and Nigerians need to pay better attention to mental health problems, saying, “Many people have mental health issues, and we need to first take them for therapy.” 

In Nigeria’s South South region, a group of Catholic nuns is providing free mental health services to women at risk of homelessness in Uyo and surrounding areas.

Additionally, mental health advocates like Mariam Adetona have found ways to properly combine faith with mental health care. On a muslim-advocacy blog, “Reviving Sisterhood”, Mariam spoke about reaching people who need mental health help, saying, “I have noticed many do not think therapy is necessary or are sceptical about its efficiency or effectiveness. In cases like this, I use my own experience with therapy to persuade them, as well as others’ experiences.”

Still, until therapy becomes truly affordable and stigma fades, many Nigerians will continue to find themselves caught between their faith and their pain, turning first to prayer, even when what they need most is professional care.

Names marked with * have been changed to protect identities.

The Brazilian side advance to face either Manchester City or Al Hilal in a quarterfinal on Friday.

Fluminense have reached the Club World Cup quarterfinals with a stunning 2–0 win over Inter Milan as German Cano’s early goal and Hercules’s stoppage-time strike toppled the Champions League runners-up.

Fluminense struck after three minutes when Cano pounced on a deflected cross and headed in from close range, putting the ball through goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s legs for a dream start in the sweltering heat in Charlotte, North Carolina, the US on Monday.

The Brazilian side nearly doubled the lead in the 30th minute, when Sommer spilled Jhon Arias’s initial effort and Samuel Xavier fired the rebound attempt narrowly wide of the far-left post.

And in the 39th minute, Ignacio thought he had doubled Flu’s advantage, only to be ruled fractionally offside by the automated review system.

The pattern of more Inter Milan possession but more dangerous Fluminense chances continued early in the second half, and Sommer reacted superbly in the 62nd minute to dive and push Arias’s effort from beyond the penalty area just around his left post.

Lautaro Martinez came closest to pulling Inter Milan level, forcing the 44-year-old Fabio into a pair of saves in the 80th and 82nd minute, then striking the post with another low effort only seconds later.

Eleven minutes later, Inter Milan’s at times shaky defence was exposed for a second time. Hercules found himself free at the edge of the 18-yard box following a throw-in, and he drove a composed, low finish into the bottom right corner and sent the Fluminense fans into delirium.

Fluminense captain Thiago Silva said he was “very proud of my team and teammates” for beating such a top side and in extremely hot conditions.

“I’m very happy for myself and the team,” he told DAZN. “Ten days ago, I had an injury, and it wasn’t easy to play today. But I am very happy with the medical team … it was very very important for me to play today.”

The result ensured that there will be two Brazilian quarterfinalists in the first edition of this expanded tournament format, after Palmeiras also reached the last eight.

Fluminense will play the winner of Monday’s later game between Manchester City and Al Hilal in the quarterfinals.

If heavily favoured Manchester City progress, it would present a rematch of the 2023 Club World Cup final, which Manchester City won 4-0.

Inter Milan were eliminated in the second round 30 days after they suffered a 5-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League final. They also narrowly finished second in the Italian Serie A.

Cristian Chivu, Inter Milan’s coach, hailed his team for their attitude as they battled to come back from conceding such an early goal.

“We didn’t give up; we tried until the end. We tried to make some changes even in the formation. It wasn’t our day,” he told DAZN.

“We didn’t expect them to play five at the back, but they were well organised with the low block on defence. It was tough for us to find solutions, especially in the first half when we tried a lot … in the second half, maybe we tried to switch a little bit more, to play outside and with some more crosses.

“We also tried to build something with two strikers in a 4-4-2. Until the end, we tried, but it wasn’t our day.”

The World Food Programme has sounded an alarm, saying it may have to reduce its aid operations for Sudanese refugees because of cutbacks in its funding.

Four million refugees are in countries neighbouring Sudan after fleeing from the ongoing civil war, and most of them rely on aid.

But that was put in jeopardy after United States President Donald Trump’s administration slashed overseas aid budgets this year.

The European Union, the United Kingdom and Germany have also cut their foreign aid as some nations switch funding to invest in defence.

So who else can step in to fill the gap?

And what will happen to the people who depend on aid to survive?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests

• Carl Skau, World Food Programme’s deputy executive director and chief operating officer
• Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation
• Kholood Khair, political analyst and founding director at the Confluence Advisory think tank

Incident is latest in months of intense violence between rival drug cartel members.

Twenty bodies, several of them decapitated, have been found on a highway bridge in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, Mexican authorities say, as rival drug cartel factions fight one another in the area.

The Sinaloa state prosecutor’s office reported a grisly scene on Monday: Four headless corpses were found on a roadside, 16 bodies were discovered inside an abandoned vehicle near the state capital, Culiacan, and five human heads were found inside a bag.

Authorities said the bodies were left with a note, apparently from one of the cartel factions – though the note’s contents were not immediately disclosed.

Feliciano Castro, the Sinaloa government spokesperson, condemned the killings and said authorities needed to examine their strategy for tackling organised crime with the “magnitude” of the violence seen.

“Military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa,” Castro said. Most in the state, however, say authorities have lost control.

Sinaloa has been gripped by months of violence fuelled by rival drug traffickers vying for control of routes used to produce and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the United States.

The groups are split between members loyal to Sinaloa Cartel co-founders Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

The violence peaked after the arrest in July 2024 of Zambada, who is on trial in the US. The US announced it had arrested 76-year-old Zambada and 38-year-old Joaquin Guzman Lopez, “El Chapo” Guzman’s son, at an airport near El Paso, Texas.

Zambada accused Guzman Lopez of kidnapping him in Mexico and flying him to the US in a private plane against his will.

“El Chapo” has been serving a life sentence in the US for drug trafficking since 2019.

Guzman Lopez pleaded not guilty last July to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court in Chicago.

In September, Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, murder and other charges in a New York court.

The violence in Sinaloa has killed more than 1,200 people, according to official figures.

Criminal violence, most of it linked to drug trafficking, has claimed about 480,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and left more than 120,000 people missing.

Helmets, padding and the ability to practice better has made everyone fair game and you’re acutely aware that you’ll receive a bouncer when you walk out there, especially as you’ll be tasked to do the same when you have the ball in your hand.

Your palms get sweaty, you need a nervous trip to the toilet every five minutes and you can’t take your eyes off who the opposition captain is gesturing at to bowl next.

I made the mistake of bouncing Jofra Archer in a County Championship match in 2018, hitting him on the head.

As soon as it was my turn to bat, I knew who’d have the ball in his hand.

The index finger on my right hand is still swollen from where the first ball I faced from him squeezed in against my bat handle in front of my face. He got me out next ball for nought.

The psychological lift a wagging tail gives to a dressing room is also huge.

It lightens the mood, it gives players the confidence that the momentum in the game is in their favour and you can physically see the frustration in the opposition as they toy with how to extract the last few wickets.

The top order batters’ minds are distracted from facing the opening overs of the following innings and if the tail really wags it can descend into chaos.

England were the sixth worst at removing the tail in the previous cycle of the World Test Championship, with the opposition averaging 87.04 after the sixth wicket fell in that period.

With the best in the world, New Zealand, conceding an average of 61.92, that is a significant 50.24-run swing across a Test.

Cast your mind back to the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2023 that Australia won by two wickets.

In a chase of 282, Scott Boland as nightwatchman scored 20 from 40 balls, Pat Cummins 44 not out from 73 and Nathan Lyon a 28-ball unbeaten 16.

More was made of the Stokes declaration on day one, but fundamentally, the inability to blow the tail away in the second innings was where the game was lost.

Killing the tail is going to be imperative to England’s success not only in this series, but in this winter’s Ashes too. Tongue has shown he has the skills. The likes of Carse, Archer or Gus Atkinson could do it too.

Gobbling up rabbit pie could be more important than anyone thinks.