Australian projects tackling climate change and poverty in Indo-Pacific 'in limbo' after Trump halts USAid

Donald Trump's "chaotic" freeze of foreign aid has left Australian government-funded projects in limbo, putting climate change, health and education initiatives across Asia and the Pacific at risk, experts say. The Trump administration, with the help of billionaire and unelected "special government employee" Elon Musk and his "department of government efficiency" (Doge), gutted the agency and stopped funding flows. Musk said he had fed the US agency for international development (USAid) "into the wood chipper", while there are legal attempts to keep some funding and functions, as well as some exemptions for humanitarian aid. In the five years to 2022,…