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Saudi Arabia’s Gaza aid threatened by Rafah closure, aid official says
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi
AMMAN (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s main humanitarian agency said on Thursday the Israeli closure of Rafah and other crossings into Gaza was hampering its aid efforts to send lifesaving food, some of which was in danger of spoiling.
“We have hundreds of trucks now piling in Rafah because of the closure of Rafah and other corridors. We are facing big restrictions to reach the people of Gaza,” said Abdullah al Rabeeah, the head of the state-run King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief).
Rabeeah, whose agency has provided over $6 billion in aid worldwide in the last few years, said food on hundreds of trucks waiting to enter Gaza and stored in warehouses could be approaching expiry with the closure of the crossing since May 7, when Israel stepped up its offensive.
Food and medicine for Palestinians in Gaza are piling up in Egypt while sporadic supplies are now sent through Jordan and the West Bank to Gaza’s Kerem Shalom crossing, U.N. officials say.
Some officials say as many as 2,500 trucks were waiting, with Egyptian warehouses nearly full.
“We are worried that food items will lose their expiry date because the corridor is closed and we are checking those food items … So it is a big burden on us,” Rabeeah, who is also Saudi royal palace advisor and former minister of health, told Reuters.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas gunmen burst into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages back into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s offensive in retaliation has killed 38,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Rabeeah signed agreements with top Palestinian health and aid officials in Amman to treat some of Gaza’s cancer patients in the kingdom. He said another multi-million-dollar project would fund artificial prosthetics for the thousands of Gazan victims who lost body parts.
Rabeeah echoed sentiment by U.N. bodies and nongovernmental organizations that Israel should immediately lift restrictions and stop the use of food aid as a weapon of war.
“All corridors should be opened without any restriction in order to salvage the life of children, women and elderly people,” he said.
COGAT, an Israeli Defense Ministry agency tasked with coordinating aid deliveries into Palestinian territories, has said it is enhancing efforts to boost aid into Gaza.
The Saudi government’s humanitarian arm launched an “air and sea bridge” from Riyadh to Al Arish and Rafah, has flown more than 54 civilian and military planes and sent eight ships through Jeddah port relief operations in partnership with the U.N., Rabeeah said.
“The need is way, way above what is getting in for the people of Gaza,” he added, saying the agency had contingency plans to scale up aid, including temporary homes, once the war ends.
“Should there be a ceasefire and long-lasting ceasefire, you cannot leave people living in tents,” Rabeeah said, adding that his country would play a major role in reconstruction of the enclave. He did not elaborate.
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.
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.
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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