Spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims whose riches enabled horse racing glory, The Aga Khan, dies at 88
The Aga Khan set up the Aga Khan Development Network in 1967. The group of international development agencies employs 80,000 people helping to build schools and hospitals and providing electricity for millions of people in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia.
Risk of pandemics explosion worldwide rises as Trump orders CDC to stop working with WHO
President Donald Trump last week issued an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the US from WHO, but that did not take immediate effect. Leaving WHO requires the approval of Congress and that the US meets its financial obligations for the current fiscal year. The US also must provide a one-year notice.
Analysts: M23 capture of Goma in eastern Congo likely to open floodgates for illicit gold exports to Dubai via Rwanda and Kenya
A lightning advance in Congo’s mineral-rich eastern borderlands is set to boost the M23 rebellion’s illegal mining revenues, with analysts predicting a further surge in illicit trade in minerals including coltan and gold through neighbouring Rwanda. The Rwanda-backed insurgency entered Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest city, this week,...
Some 300,000 Gaza residents stream home to the north after hostage breakthrough
Despite the ceasefire agreement, Palestinian hospital officials said a bulldozer driver was killed by an Israeli missile along the coastal road west of Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
Jordan and Egypt supported by Arab world reject Trump’s call to grant asylum to Palestinians from Gaza
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has repeatedly called for the return of Jewish settlers to Gaza, welcomed Trump’s call as “an excellent idea” and said he would work to develop a plan to implement it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected such notions, advocated by Smotrich.
Saudi Arabia World Cup: Why widow of slain Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi wants Fifa to honour husband’s fight for free speech
The human rights strategy in Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid, carried out by law firm AS&H Clifford Chance, does not mention Khashoggi or free speech once across its 28 pages. Under the scope and methodology section of the report by AS&H Clifford Chance, the firm says the scope of its assessment was “determined by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in agreement with FIFA”.
Immoral consistency: Why calls by West to sideline Afghan cricket team reek of sports colonialism
What began as a boycott based on the International Cricket Council’s requirement that any nation with Test status must have an active women’s team has morphed into a catch-all protest against the numerous limitations placed on women and girls in the Islamic Emirate.
Israel and Hamas swap hostages and prisoners in second phase of ceasefire deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Palestinians in Gaza will not be allowed to cross back to the northern part of the territory until the issue is resolved. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had been displaced from northern Gaza during the war and many were expecting to return from Sunday.
Five days before Trump is sworn in, Israel and Hamas agree to end Gaza war, free hostages and prisoners
If successful, the planned phased ceasefire could halt fighting that has left much of Gaza in ruins, displaced most of the enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million, and killed tens of thousands of people. The toll is still rising daily.
China’s credit cuts to Kenya forces the East African nation to turn to UAE for railway financing
Trade between Kenya and the UAE has more than doubled over the last decade, Ruto’s office said. The UAE is the sixth biggest export market for Kenyan goods, and its second biggest source of imports. The value of the trade stood at Ksh445 billion ($3.44 billion) in 2023, with the UAE buying agricultural products, while Kenya imports petroleum products, machinery and chemicals.
