The US foreign aid agency formally closed down Tuesday, with President Donald Trump's administration trumpeting the end of the "charity-based model" despite predictions that millions of lives will be lost.

Founded in 1961 as John F. Kennedy sought to leverage aid to win over the developing world in the Cold War, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has now been incorporated into the State Department -- after Secretary of State Marco Rubio slashed 85 percent of its programming.

In a farewell to remaining staff on Monday, former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- as well as U2 frontman Bono -- saluted their work and said it was still needed.

Bush pointed to PEPFAR, the massive US effort to fight HIV/AIDS that he considers one of the top achievements of his 2001-2009 Republican presidency.

"This program shows a fundamental question facing our country -- is it in our nation's interest that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is," Bush said in a video message seen by AFP.

Obama, who like Bush has been sparing in openly........

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