Bel Trew

Hard-won success in efforts to stop women and babies dying in childbirth have faced a serious setback with recent cuts to foreign aid - with the trend now reversing in some countries, new figures show. Maternal mortality is particularly acute in parts of Africa, and is already playing out in the Central African Republic, which has the second highest rate of neonatal deaths globally, according to the UN. Busayna, 25, who fled massacres in Darfur on foot after militants murdered her husband, told The Independent she nearly died a few months ago while giving birth to her fifth child. She had no money or food and she had to walk to the nearest clinic while in labour. On International Mothers’ Day, chief international correspondent Bel Trew reports from the Central African Republic, while Nick Ferris in London examines the data.

Bel Trew Hard-won success in efforts to stop women and babies dying in childbirth have faced a serious setback with recent cuts to foreign aid with the trend now reversing in some countries, new figures show.

The nightmare that unravelled the lives of Sally Lane and John Letts started with a single phone call more than 12 years ago. The British-Canadian parents had initially been relieved when their eldest son, Jack, showed a natural proficiency in Arabic. Their introverted teenager, with an apologetic smile, had been struggling with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder at school in a quiet middle-class neighbourhood of Oxford. He converted to Islam and asked to spend part of his gap year studying Arabic in Kuwait. Just a few weeks into the course, in August 2014, he called home. “Mum, I’m in Syria,” he said before the crackly line went dead. For 12 years, Sally Lane and John Letts have been fighting to bring their son Jack – held in Isis prisons in Syria and Iraq – back home to Oxford. They tell the story of how their lives fell apart to chief international correspondent Bel Trew.

Trying to hammer out a sustainable peace deal between the US, Israel, Lebanon and Iran is already an impossibly hard task.

Trying to hammer out a sustainable is already an impossibly hard task, despite the fact that it is needed to bring the world back from the brink.

The glittering jewel in Donald Trump 's (self-declared) crown was his “Board of Peace”, a multi-country body nominally created to implement a truce plan for war-ravaged Gaza , but with a global remit.

ANALYSIS: A pattern is emerging where, amid glittering ceremonies and bombastic press conferences, Trump tries to takes centre stage in the resolution of crises he has either supported or even initiat...

Any future deal requires a level of detail the US president seems incapable of delivering on

For the first time in more than a quarter of a century, the Israeli military has seized control of the strategic Beaufort Castle deep into sovereign

For the first time in more than a quarter of a century, the Israeli military has seized control of the strategic Beaufort Castle deep into sovereign Lebanese territory – even though there has been a ceasefire in place in the area, supposedly since April. There are concerns that Israel is actually trying to extend its borders permanently with its boots-on-the-ground occupation down in the south in Gaza, Israeli troops’ presence in Syria, and now pushing further north, deep into Lebanese territory. The Lebanese Prime Minister has accused Israel of pursuing scorched-earth tactics and a collective punishment of the Lebanese people. Israel’s defence minister has said they will not stop until they have crushed Hezbollah. So what does this mean for that truce, for the wider peace talks, for Israel's intentions in Lebanon, and crucially, for the Lebanese people? The Independent's chief international correspondent Bel Trew reports.