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Israel to attend new ceasefire talks as UN says Gaza hunger crisis worsens
© Reuters. Smoke rises following an Israeli strike as Palestinians fleeing north Gaza due to Israel’s military offensive move southward, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at the central Gaza Strip, March 15, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot
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DOHA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The main U.N. aid agency operating in Gaza said on Saturday that acute malnutrition is rising more quickly in the north of the enclave as Israel prepared to send a delegation to Qatar for new ceasefire talks.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said one in three children under the age of 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished amid growing pressure on Israel over looming famine in the embattled enclave.
Israel said on Friday it would send a delegation to Qatar for more talks with mediators after its enemy Hamas presented a new proposal for a ceasefire with an exchange of hostages and prisoners.
The delegation will be led by the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, a source familiar with the talks said, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking to convene the security cabinet to discuss the proposal before the talks start.
Efforts to secure a ceasefire before Islam’s holy month of Ramadan started a week ago repeatedly failed, with Israel saying it plans to launch a new offensive in Rafah, the last relatively safe city in tiny, crowded Gaza after five months of war.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is starting a two-day visit to the region, voiced concern about an assault on Rafah, saying there was a danger it would result “in many terrible civilian casualties”.
The conflict began on Oct. 7 when Hamas sent fighters into Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 252 hostages according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s ground and air campaign has killed more than 31,500 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The assault has also devastated the enclave’s built environment, forcing nearly all the inhabitants from their homes, leaving much of the territory in rubble and triggering a massive hunger crisis that has alarmed even Israel’s allies.
Western countries have called on Israel to do more to allow in aid, with the U.N. saying it faced “overwhelming obstacles” including crossing closures, onerous vetting, restrictions on movement and unrest inside Gaza.
Israel says it puts no limit on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and blames slow aid delivery on incapacity or inefficiency among U.N. agencies.
Air and sea relief deliveries into Gaza have started, but aid agencies say these are no substitute for bringing in supplies by land.
A first delivery into Gaza by the World Central Kitchen, pioneering a new sea route via Cyprus, arrived on Friday and was off-loaded, the charity said, with another ship ready. The United States and Jordan said they carried out an air drop on Saturday.
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Trump transition team plans immediate WHO withdrawal, expert says
By Maggie Fick and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team are laying the groundwork for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization on the first day of his second term, according to a health law expert familiar with the discussions.
“I have it on good authority that he plans to withdraw, probably on Day One or very early in his administration,” said Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health (NS:) Law.
The Financial Times was first to report on the plans, citing two experts. The second expert, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, was not immediately available for comment.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The plan, which aligns with Trump’s longstanding criticism of the U.N. health agency, would mark a dramatic shift in U.S. global health policy and further isolate Washington from international efforts to battle pandemics.
Trump has nominated several critics of the organization to top public health positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who is up for the post of secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees all major U.S. health agencies including the CDC and FDA.
Trump initiated the year-long withdrawal process from the WHO in 2020 but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.
Trump has argued that the agency failed to hold China accountable for the early spread of COVID-19. He has repeatedly called the WHO a puppet of Beijing and vowed to redirect U.S. contributions to domestic health initiatives.
A WHO spokesperson declined to directly comment but referred Reuters to comments by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing on Dec. 10 in which he was asked whether he was concerned that the Trump administration would withdraw from the organization.
Tedros said at the time that the WHO needed to give the U.S. time and space for the transition. He also voiced confidence that states could finalize a pandemic agreement by May 2025.
Critics warn that a U.S. withdrawal could undermine global disease surveillance and emergency response systems.
“The U.S. would lose influence and clout in global health and China would fill the vacuum. I can’t imagine a world without a robust WHO. But U.S. withdrawal would severely weaken the agency,” Gostin said.
Stock Markets
Just in: MicroStrategy Buys $561 Million More Bitcoin (BTC), Announces Saylor
U.Today – MicroStrategy has made headlines again by purchasing 5,262 BTC for approximately $561 million at an average price of $106,662 per BTC. The company now holds a staggering 444,262 BTC, accumulated at a total cost of approximately $27.7 billion, with an average purchase price of $62,257 per BTC.
Despite impressive returns of 47.4% since the beginning of the quarter and 73.7% since the beginning of the year, skepticism about the company’s strategy is growing.
It is believed that to sustain its purchases, MicroStrategy raises capital through methods such as issuing convertible and corporate bonds, securing credit lines and selling shares.
This cycle appears to operate as follows: shares are sold to acquire the cryptocurrency, and the rising price per BTC increases asset value, enabling further loans, which are then reinvested in more purchases.
Some observers warn that a significant decline in Bitcoin’s price or MicroStrategy’s stock could trigger a cascade effect. A sharp fall in MSTR shares would weaken the collateral backing its loans, potentially leading to forced asset sales, including BTC.
This scenario could exert downward pressure on the broader cryptocurrency market, as the company holds 2.2% of the global Bitcoin supply now.
Thus, while some view Michael Saylor’s approach as a bold bid to cement the cryptocurrency’s role in the financial system, others see it as unsustainable. History offers a cautionary note: in 2000, MSTR shares surged to $333 before plummeting 99%, a collapse that took 24 years to recover from.
Stock Markets
Taylor Morrison Named Among America’s Most Trusted and Best Companies by Forbes
National homebuilder ranked No. 12 on inaugural list ranking companies based on trust
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — With a longstanding reputation for trust, national homebuilder and land developer Taylor Morrison (NYSE:) (NYSE: ™HC) has been recognized by Forbes on their inaugural list of the Most Trusted Companies in America. The homebuilder ranked No. 12 out of 300 companies across all industries.
“There are few things more powerful than trust and it’s something we strive to earn amongst all company stakeholders, from our customers to our team members, our shareholders, and our local communities,” said Taylor Morrison Chairman and CEO Sheryl Palmer. “To be included on this esteemed list in its inaugural year is especially meaningful and these awards are important reminders of the relationships we’re building across all aspects of our business.”
Fueled by hundreds of millions of data points, the Most Trusted Companies in America list combines data on a wide range of factors across four categories: employee trust, customer trust, investor trust and media sentiment. The ranking was created in partnership with research companies HundredX, Signal AI and Glassdoor.
Taylor Morrison also earned the No. 67 spot on Forbes’ inaugural America’s Best Companies list. The ranking is Forbes’ most comprehensive company ranking to date and factored in ratings for financial performance, customer and employee satisfaction, cybersecurity, sustainability, companies’ remote work policies, media coverage and more. Forbes’ America’s Best Companies list assessed more than 60 metrics across 11 primary categories to identify which organizations excel across the board. Of the more than 2,000 U.S.-based publicly traded companies that were eligible, only 300 qualified for each list.
In addition to being named among the Most Trusted and Best Companies in America by Forbes, Taylor Morrison holds several additional accolades including being named on Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies and America’s Greenest Companies lists, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For list, the American Opportunity (SO:) Index, America’s Most Trusted ® Home Builder for nine years, Hearthstone’s 2021 BUILDER Humanitarian Award, and inclusion on the Fortune 500 list since 2021.
About Taylor Morrison
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taylor Morrison is one of the nation’s leading homebuilders and developers. We serve a wide array of consumers from coast to coast, including first-time, move-up, luxury and resort lifestyle homebuyers and renters under our family of brands”including Taylor Morrison, Esplanade and Yardly. From 2016-2024, Taylor Morrison has been recognized as America’s Most Trusted ® Builder by Lifestory Research. Our long-standing commitment to sustainable operations is highlighted in our annual Sustainability and Belonging Report.
For more information about Taylor Morrison, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.
CONTACT:
media@taylormorrison.com
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