Gordon Brown

It is now more than four months since the dramatic exit of US and other Western forces from Afghanistan.

With low-income countries in Africa and elsewhere still imploring rich countries to stop stockpiling millions of unused Covid-19 vaccines, there are still real doubts as to whether the United States and Europe will honour the promise made at this year’s G7 summit to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022.

Today, 270 million people—equivalent to the combined population of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy—are on the brink of starvation. This number has doubled over the last 12 months. And it is the world’s children who are suffering most.

Since the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID) was created 22 years ago, it has lifted millions out of poverty, sent millions of children to school, and saved millions of lives through vaccination programmes and other innovative initiatives. Most recently, it has been a world leader in delivering development aid to poor countries facing the ravages of climate change.

The decision by US President Donald Trump's administration to stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has politicised humanitarian aid, threatens to add yet more fuel to one of the world's most combustible conflicts, and jeopardises the futures of a half-million Palestinian children and young people.

Britain will have a new prime minister today – but the country's post-European Union future remains uncertain. Indeed, prolonged delays are likely in implementing the voters' decision to leave the EU.

If troubled Lebanon, wracked by sectarian violence and religious divides, can champion coexistence and provide Syrian refugees with a chance to study, there is no reason other countries in the region should not follow its example.

WHY is it that schools and schoolchildren have become such high-profile targets for murderous Islamist militants?