Nov 11(Jowhar)-Ra’iisul Wasaaraha Xukuumadda Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya, Mudane Xamsa Cabdi Barre, ayaa xafiiskiisa ku qaabilay Danjiraha Jamhuuriyadda Jarmalka u fadhiya Soomaaliya, Sebastian Groth.
Philippine typhoon kills five, displaces over one million residents
A nation swept by water: Typhoon Fung-wong’s merciless trail
By the time the storm moved on, the Philippines looked like a watercolor left in the rain: colors blurred, edges gone. Whole villages — rows of tin roofs, banana groves, and narrow dirt alleys — lay submerged. Power lines sagged like tired vines. For millions, the day after felt less like recovery and more like the quiet before another reckoning.
Typhoon Fung-wong carved a path across nearly the entire archipelago, slamming into the eastern coast as a “super typhoon” and leaving behind a scoreboard of suffering: at least five lives lost, more than a million people displaced, and more than 1.4 million evacuated at the storm’s peak. It arrived only days after Typhoon Kalmaegi battered central islands, a grim double blow that has stretched rescue teams, charities, and the patience of communities almost beyond breaking.
From Tuguegarao’s inundated streets to Catanduanes’ roaring seas
In the far north, in Cagayan province, the Chico River finally gave way after relentless rains. “We received reports around six in the morning… that some people were already on their roofs,” said Rueli Rapsing, the provincial rescue chief, describing frantic early-morning calls to evacuation centers. He and his team managed to pull many to safety, but video verified by news agencies showed some families still clinging to rooftops, waiting for boats that were hours away.
Mark Lamer, 24, from Tuao town in Cagayan, spoke with the bluntness of someone who has watched the horizon change overnight: “We didn’t think the water would reach us. It had never risen this high previously. This is the strongest typhoon I have ever experienced.” His town, and nearby Tuguegarao — recorded as being underwater after the Cagayan River overflowed — illustrate how quickly normalcy can be taken from a place.
Further south, Catanduanes island took a battering from the ocean itself. “The waves started roaring around 7:00 am. When the waves hit the seawall, it felt like the ground was shaking,” said Edson Casarino, 33, describing a scene where streets turned into rivers and saltwater surged into homes. In Bicol, tractors that usually plow rice paddies sat half-submerged; coconut trees, which often define the silhouette of the region, bent under the wind’s force.
Loss in quiet corners
Not all the casualties were dramatic, public scenes. Sometimes the dead were a family that slept through an advancing mudslide. Civil defense officer Alvin Ayson said five-year-old twins were killed as their home was swept away in the night, and an elderly man died scarcely an hour later in a separate landslide. These are the quieter horrors: rain-saturated soil, a hillside surrendering, and a household wiped out while the rest of the world watches footage of flooding on its screen.
Evacuations, interrupted lives, and the slow work of cleaning up
More than 5,000 people in some areas were evacuated before rivers reached critical levels; in Tuguegarao, tens of thousands fled as the Cagayan river rose at reported rates of about 0.3 meters per hour. Schools and government offices shut their doors across Luzon, including in Manila, where residents woke to sopping streets and a familiar, exhausted communal effort to mop, sweep, and salvage what can be salvaged.
“You learn to move fast here,” said a volunteer with a local disaster relief crew who asked not to be named. “But speed only gets you so far against this kind of water. We need boats, dry provisions, medicine. We need more hands and more time to coordinate.” Aid convoys, local NGOs, and the military have been working in tandem, but logistics are a nightmare when roads are broken and bridges washed away.
What the numbers tell us — and what they don’t
Statistics are blunt instruments but they do map part of the story: more than 1 million displaced, 1.4 million evacuated, rainfall forecasts for Taiwan of up to 350 millimeters in 24 hours as Fung-wong heads north, and the wretched tally of human loss from a sequence of storms that has already killed hundreds in previous weeks. President Ferdinand Marcos has extended a “state of national calamity” declared during the onslaught of Typhoon Kalmaegi to a full year — a signal that recovery won’t be quick.
Yet numbers can’t tell you the small, human details: the woman in Tuguegarao who refused to leave without her pet carabao, the fish vendor in Samar watching years of nets and plywood huts washed away for the second straight storm season, the schoolteacher in Catanduanes who is now running classes out of a makeshift tent while the classroom waits under a foot of mud.
Climate change: a hand in every storm
Scientists have been clear: a warming planet reshapes storms. Warmer oceans feed typhoons with more energy; a warmer atmosphere can hold roughly 7% more moisture for every degree Celsius of warming, bringing heavier downpours. Global average temperature has risen about 1.1–1.2°C above pre-industrial levels, which is already changing the character of tropical cyclones. Higher sea levels — roughly 20 centimeters globally since the late 19th century — mean storm surges start from a higher base, pushing the waterline deeper into homes and fields.
“We are not seeing simply more storms; we are seeing different storms,” said a climate scientist who has worked with evacuation planning in Southeast Asia. “They intensify faster and dump more rain over smaller areas, which increases flooding risk. That shifts what communities need from disaster response — earlier warnings, stronger infrastructure, and a rethink of where and how people live.”
Local resilience and the long shadow of inequality
The Philippines has a long language of weather: alarm bells, bells for harvest, boats hauling in early, and people reading the sky as both warning and guide. But resilience is uneven. Island communities with concrete seawalls and reinforced houses fare better than inland barrios living in makeshift housing on steep slopes; fisherfolk with insurance are not the norm; many whose livelihoods depend on daily wages have nowhere to go but back to work — or to debt.
“After the water goes, it’s not just the house you rebuild. It’s the rice field, the livelihood, the kids’ schooling,” said an elder from a small barangay. “When the storms come one after the other, you can’t keep borrowing hope.”
Looking up: what comes next?
How do we hold both the immediate pain and the bigger picture? How do nations prepare for weather that is becoming more unpredictable? There are clear strands of action: investment in resilient infrastructure, better early-warning systems, planned relocation out of the most dangerous floodplains, and financial safety nets for the vulnerable. But there is also a need for global cooperation — for wealthy nations to expedite climate finance and for multilateral bodies to help island states build durable defences.
For now, Filipinos sweep, salvage, and comfort. They tap into community networks that have sustained them through storms for generations. They queue for relief packs, share motorboats, and sleep in school gymnasiums by the hundreds. And when the rain clears, they will measure loss, mourn, and start the slow labor of rebuilding — again.
Ask yourself: if ordinary lives can be overturned overnight by water and wind, what are we doing today to protect them tomorrow? What will it take to make sure a village’s roof is the only thing drenched, and not the whole story of a family’s life?
In the meantime, the Philippines — a country whose coastlines and communities are as beautiful as they are vulnerable — braces for the next chapter, hopeful that the lessons of this storm will guide both immediate relief and long-term change.
Qarax dhimasho sababay oo ka dhacay caasimadda Pakistan ee Islamabad
Nov 11(Jowhar)-Ugu yaraan lix qof ayaa ku dhintay, halka tiro kale ay ku dhaawacmeen qarax xooggan oo ka dhacay bannaanka dhismaha maxkamad ku taalla magaalada Islamabad, sida ay xaqiijiyeen booliska Pakistan.
U.S. Senate Advances Legislation to End Federal Government Shutdown
The Long Pause: Capitol Haggling, Empty Desks and the Sound of a Country Waiting
There is a peculiar hush that settles over Washington when politics becomes logistics. It is audible in airport terminals where screens blink delays in cold blue, and in federal office buildings where rows of cubicles sit dark and dusted with a week’s worth of unanswered emails. For 40 days, that hush has been the soundtrack of a federal government operating on chips and trust, and yesterday it frayed into motion: the US Senate moved a procedural step to reopen the government, advancing a stopgap plan that could lull the shutdown into history — or prolong the uncertainty by days.
The vote was clinical — a 60‑40 margin, just enough to beat a filibuster — but the atmosphere on Capitol Hill was anything but. Lawmakers talked past one another in tense hallways while aides typed furiously. Outside, parents checked school lunch balances, farmers tallied SNAP-dependent customers, and travelers flipped calendars to see if Thanksgiving would remain a family promise. “It looks like we’re getting very close to the shutdown ending,” President Trump told reporters at the White House before the vote, a line that landed like a tentative promise.
A Fragile Truce on the Hill
The bill that crossed the Senate threshold is not a panacea. It is a patch: it would fund the government through January 30 and bundle three full-year appropriations bills into the deal. It would put a temporary lid on the White House’s effort to pare down the federal workforce and prohibit agencies from firing employees until that date. It would guarantee back pay for furloughed workers, including military members, Border Patrol agents, and air-traffic controllers.
Behind the scenes, negotiators such as Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Maine’s independent Angus King, stitched the measure together with a handful of Democrats who broke ranks with their leadership. “For over a month, I’ve made clear that my priorities are to both reopen government and extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits. This is our best path toward accomplishing both of these goals,” Senator Shaheen posted on X, framing the move as both pragmatic and principled.
Not everyone cheered. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer voted against the plan, and Representative Ro Khanna — a progressive voice within the Democratic caucus — fired off a blunt rebuke on X: “Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” a stark reminder that intra‑party tensions can be as combustible as cross‑aisle gridlock.
What’s in the bill?
- Funding through January 30 to reopen federal operations.
- Three full-year appropriations bills included in the package.
- Prohibition on federal agency firings until January 30.
- Back pay guarantees for furloughed federal employees, military, air-traffic controllers and others.
- A promise of a December vote on extending Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, per the negotiating agreement.
On the Tarmac: Travel Snarls and Human Stories
Outside of committees and roll calls, the shutdown’s disruptions have a face. Airports became a weather map of American inconvenience: by yesterday evening more than 2,700 cancellations and nearly 10,000 delays were logged by FlightAware. New York area hubs — LaGuardia, Newark Liberty — Chicago O’Hare, and Atlanta’s Hartsfield‑Jackson felt the brunt.
At LaGuardia, where more than half of outbound flights were delayed on some days this week, weary travelers clustered near food carts and power outlets. “I booked my tickets in June,” said Mariela Santos, a mother of two, rubbing her coffee. “We were supposed to land in Orlando for a family Thanksgiving. Now I’m watching my kids’ school permission slips wondering if the flights will even run.”
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy warned of mounting air travel chaos if the closure persisted, and the White House’s economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that prolonged disruption could push US economic growth into negative territory for the fourth quarter, particularly if holiday travel falters. The stakes are not just sentimental: delayed flights cascade through supply chains, business travel and tourism revenue, and the cost in hours — and money — ripples outward.
Health Care at the Heart of the Fight
At the core of the negotiations lay the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits — subsidies that have swelled marketplace enrollment to about 24 million people since their expansion in 2021. Republicans, including President Trump, cast those payments as a windfall to insurers and have proposed replacing them with direct payments to individuals, an idea the President pushed on his Truth Social platform. “I stand ready to work with both Parties to solve this problem once the Government is open,” he wrote.
Democrats have called the subsidies a lifeline for millions who would otherwise face steep premium increases. Health analysts estimate the end of those pandemic‑era credits could more than double the average monthly premiums for 2026 plans for some shoppers — an outcome that would reverberate across middle‑class budgets just as households plan holiday travel and winter expenses.
“If the credits lapse, you will see a chaotic reordering of choices,” said a health policy analyst at a Washington think tank who asked not to be named. “People will either pay much more for the same plans, or they’ll drop coverage entirely. Neither outcome is good for continuity of care or long‑term cost control.”
Federal Workers: The Invisible Frontline
The human ledger is stark. Federal records show roughly 2.2 million civilians worked for the federal government at the start of this administration’s second term. Some estimates used by administration officials suggested that as many as 300,000 of those employees could be gone by year’s end due to attrition and downsizing plans.
For many furloughed workers, back pay is small consolation for the anxiety of missed mortgages and overdue medical bills. “Back pay is important,” said a federal employee at the National Park Service who requested anonymity. “But what I can’t get back is the lost momentum — repairs not made, kids’ activities skipped because I had to take odd jobs just to put food on the table.”
Union leaders hailed the bill’s temporary protections against forced separations. The ban on firings until January 30 appears aimed at halting an administration drive to shrink federal ranks — at least for the moment.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The Senate’s advance is only one box ticked. The House must sign off on any amended bill and send it to the President, who could sign or veto. That process could take several days; it could also be a crucible for more bargaining. Meanwhile, the ACA open enrollment window runs through January 15 — a sliver of time that gives lawmakers a breathing room to act on health credits for the coming year.
As Washington inches toward an answer, ordinary Americans are left to balance calendars, pocketbooks and patience. Will the vote relieve travelers’ anxieties in time for Thanksgiving? Will families who rely on SNAP — the program that helps more than 42 million people buy groceries — breathe easier now that the package reportedly restores its funding? Will long‑term policy disputes about the role of government in health and workforce policy find calmer waters?
These are not only questions for politicians. They are questions for a public learning the cost of governance by stalemate. When the corridors of power finally reopen, will anything have changed — in policy, in trust, or in the lived experience of the millions who felt the shutdown like a shuttered door on their everyday life?
For now, the country waits — in terminals and kitchens, in union halls and parks — listening for the sound of lights clicking back on. If the Senate’s step forward becomes law, the first order of business will be to turn repair into resilience. The next order, perhaps the harder one, will be to ask why it took 40 days for that repair to begin.
Safiirka Soomaaliya ee dalka Congo oo laga guddoomey Waraaqihiisa Aqoonsiga
Nov 11(Jowhar)-Safiirka JFS ee dalka Congo Mudane Ilyaas Cali Xasan, ayaa si rasmi ah uga guddoomay Waraaqihiisa Aqoonsiga Madaxweynaha DRC, Mudane Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, munaasabad ka dhacday Qasriga Qaranka ee Kinshasa.
Canada stripped of measles elimination status amid growing outbreak
A Country’s Quiet Reversal: How Canada Lost Its Measles-Free Badge
On a damp spring morning in a Winnipeg neonatal ward, the hum of monitors is punctured by the quiet grief of parents who had thought such tragedies belonged to history books. Two newborns — their small lives measured in days — succumbed to a virus that was declared vanquished from Canadian soil nearly three decades ago. The disease: measles. The tally: 5,138 confirmed cases so far in 2025, a number that has jolted public health officials and ordinary Canadians alike.
Canada’s status as a measles-free nation — a badge earned in 1998 and nurtured by high childhood vaccination rates — has been stripped away, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced after determining that the same measles strain had been transmitted locally for more than a year. The technical definition is stark and simple: to be considered measles-free, a country must show no local transmission of the same strain for 12 continuous months, backed by trustworthy surveillance. Canada failed that test.
Where things went wrong
The chain of transmission that unravelled this status began quietly in October 2024 in eastern Canada. What was initially dismissed as an anomalous cluster smoldered into something far larger. Over months, the virus threaded its way through gaps in immunity — pockets of under-vaccinated communities, social networks where hesitancy meets isolation, and places where access to healthcare is inconsistent.
“We are watching a preventable disease exploit social fractures,” says Dr. Lila Kapoor, an infectious disease epidemiologist. “Measles isn’t choosy. It follows human patterns — gatherings, travel, family chains. And when immunity dips in any corner, the whole population becomes vulnerable.”
Provincial epicentres emerged. Ontario and Alberta shouldered the lion’s share of the cases. Alberta’s health office, speaking cautiously, reported a dramatic recent turn: cases are down more than 90% from their peak, and only two active cases have been reported in recent weeks. Vaccination uptake in Alberta has climbed, officials say — roughly 50% higher since March compared with the same period a year earlier — a signal that fear and outreach can move people toward protection.
The human stories behind the numbers
Numbers are an essential ledger of an outbreak, but they don’t capture the ragged edges of loss. “We thought we were safe because we live in Canada,” says Maya Thompson, a public health nurse who has spent long nights tracing contacts and consoling parents. “Then you deliver a baby whose mother refused vaccination while pregnant because of fear online, and suddenly you’re not talking theory anymore.”
Jacob, a father who asked that his full name not be used, remembers the frantic calls and the hospital corridor conversations. “My nephew was fine in November,” he says. “By January he had a rash and then a fever. It spread through a small community event. People were angry, confused—some blamed each other. It felt like the fabric holding our neighbourhood together was being pulled thread by thread.”
Within this tapestry are specific communities where lower vaccination rates contributed to sustained chains of transmission. Certain groups of Mennonite Christians, as public reporting has described, have sizeable populations who decline vaccination on religious grounds. Yet it’s important to remember nuance: Mennonite communities are diverse — many accept vaccines and actively engage with public health initiatives. The outbreak exposed the harm done when segments of any community remain disconnected from vaccination efforts.
Why measles is so unforgiving
Measles is one of the most contagious pathogens known to humans. It spreads through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or even breathes. A single infected person can infect 12 to 18 others in susceptible populations. The disease begins with fever and cold-like symptoms and progresses to a telltale rash, but complications can be devastating: pneumonia, brain inflammation, and death — particularly among infants and the immunocompromised.
“We sometimes forget that vaccines are less about individual convenience and more about a shared insurance policy,” says Dr. Marco Estevez, a pediatrician in Toronto. “When that policy unravels, the most vulnerable — newborns, elderly, those who cannot be vaccinated — pay the highest price.”
What officials are doing
In the wake of PAHO’s determination, provincial health ministers have been convening to discuss coordinated responses. Public officials are talking about more than mass vaccination campaigns; they’re talking about trust-building, community engagement, and nuanced strategies to reach populations that are skeptical or difficult to access.
Planned measures include:
- Targeted outreach and mobile clinics in under-vaccinated communities.
- Collaborations with trusted local leaders and religious institutions to share credible information.
- Enhanced surveillance and rapid response teams to isolate and contain new clusters.
- Public education campaigns to counter misinformation spread online.
“Punitive measures alone won’t close these gaps,” cautions Dr. Kapoor. “We need listening, humility, and persistent local partnerships.”
Beyond Canada: a global pattern
Canada’s loss of elimination status is not an isolated event. Across the Americas this year, countries have grappled with resurgent measles. The United States and Mexico reported thousands of cases and several deaths; the Americas region only reclaimed measles-free status in 2024 after a tough battle to stop an outbreak in Brazil. International mobility, declining vaccination rates among children in some wealthy countries, and the wildfire of misinformation online have created a tinderbox.
There are deadlines and inflection points elsewhere: U.S. health authorities, for example, have deadlines to demonstrate that ongoing cases are not linked to earlier outbreaks. The global health community watches these timelines because the loss of elimination in one country can ripple outward in an interconnected world.
What this moment asks of us
So where do we go from here? This outbreak is, at its heart, a question about civic solidarity: what responsibilities do we owe one another in a shared public health landscape? It’s also a test of public institutions — can they rebuild trust when skepticism runs high? Can public health messages be reframed not as mandates but as community protection?
“I don’t want fear to be the driver,” says Thompson, the nurse. “I want honest conversations. I want parents to come in and be heard. They’re more likely to vaccinate if they feel respected, not shamed.”
Ask yourself: when was the last time you checked your immunization records? When did you last speak with someone whose choices differ from yours and try to understand why? These small acts ripple outward, and in a season when a single unvaccinated gathering can fracture decades of progress, that ripple matters.
Closing thoughts
Measles won’t bow to rhetoric. It responds to immunity. Canada’s reversal is a sobering reminder that victories in public health are not permanent; they require constant stewardship. The scenes in hospital wards and community centers across Canada are both heartbreaking and instructive. They call us to rebuild bridges — between policymakers and communities, between science and lived experience, and, perhaps most importantly, between neighbors.
If there is a silver lining, it’s that behaviour can change quickly when people see the stakes. Alberta’s surge in vaccinations and the steep decline in active cases show what can happen when outreach is responsive and sustained. The question now is whether the rest of the country, and the world, will act with the same urgency before more lives are lost.
Syria oo ku biireysa isbaheysiga lagula dagaalamayo kooxda Daacish
Nov 11(Jowhar)-Maraykanka ayaa sheegay in Syria ay ku biirayso isbahaysiga caalamiga ah ee looga adkaanayo kooxda Daacish, isla markaana ay dib u bilaabayso xiriirka diblomaasiyadeed ee ay la leedahay Washington.
Vehicle explosion in Delhi kills at least eight people
When a car exploded by the Red Fort: smoke, questions, and a city that refuses to be silent
The street still smelled of diesel and spices the morning after — a pungent, unsettling mix that is so quintessentially Old Delhi it almost felt obscene. Charred metal sat like a skeleton where a sedan had been. Shutters of nearby shops were half-lowered. A ring of flowers, plastic water bottles and the haphazard scrawl of chalk marked where people had tried to make sense of what happened: at least eight dead, twenty wounded, a thin film of fear settling over lanes that have been loud with bargaining and rickshaw bells for centuries.
The blast struck just as dusk fell, in a congested pocket near the Red Fort — Lal Qila — a 17th-century Mughal citadel whose red sandstone walls are woven into the national imagination. Tourists and locals alike flock here year-round; every August 15 the prime minister stands on the fort’s ramparts to address the nation. That symbolism makes this more than an attack on infrastructure. It feels, for many, like an assault on narrative itself.
The immediate scene: chaos and grit
Witnesses described a small, slow-moving car stopping at a traffic signal, then a sudden, fierce rupture. Nearby vehicles were shredded. A frantic crowd gathered, some trying to pull people from wreckage, others calling for ambulances on phones that shook in their hands.
“I saw smoke and then people running. There was blood on the pavement,” said a shopkeeper who asked to be called Rahim. “We closed our shop after that; we are scared but we will reopen tomorrow — what else can we do?”
Emergency responders arrived quickly by Delhi standards: police, ambulances, and teams combing for clues while bystanders flicked through CCTV footage on their phones. Federal Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking to reporters, said authorities were examining “all angles.” Police forces have registered a case, and television channels reported the probe will proceed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA — India’s primary anti-terrorism statute.
What is the UAPA — and why does its invocation matter?
The UAPA, originally enacted in 1967 and strengthened through a series of amendments, is the legislation New Delhi often turns to in cases thought to involve terrorism or threats to the state’s integrity. A 2019 amendment broadened powers further, allowing the government to designate individuals as terrorists and tightening standards around bail and arrests.
To understand why invoking the UAPA is consequential, think of it as a legal hammer that can detain suspects for long periods and restrict traditional avenues of appeal. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have long warned that these broad powers risk curbing civil liberties and can be used in ways that chill dissent.
- UAPA enables long pre-trial detention and limits the ability to get bail in serious cases.
- The law allows for the designation of organizations — and, since 2019, even individuals — as “terrorists.”
- Critics argue it lowers procedural protections and increases executive discretion.
“From a legal standpoint, using UAPA signals the state is preparing for a sustained, high-stakes investigation,” said a counterterrorism analyst who asked not to be named. “It tends to bring more agencies into the fold — intelligence services, federal investigators — and shapes the public narrative from ‘accident’ to ‘attack’. That has real consequences for how communities are policed.”
Voices from the neighborhood
Old Delhi is a tapestry of vendors, pilgrims and longtime residents. The post-blast hush was pierced by small, personal testimonies — each one a thread of humanity that large headlines can erase.
“My nephew was going to his tuition class. He called and said there was smoke everywhere,” said Meera, a tea seller whose stall faces the lane where the car had halted. “We all help each other here. When something bad happens, everyone becomes family. Tonight the family is frightened.”
A young tourist from Spain, still clutching his camera, said he had been staying in a guesthouse a short walk away. “I came for the history, the colors,” he said. “Now the color is black for a moment. But I will stay. People here are warm.” His resolve was a small rebuke to the anxiety that would otherwise push visitors away.
Local police, pressed by cameras, were cautiously blunt. “We are piecing together CCTV and witness statements,” said an officer, who refused to be named pending the ongoing inquiry. “We will not speculate on motive until evidence is clear. For now, the priority is helping the injured and securing the area.”
Beyond the blast: politics, symbolism, and urban vulnerability
Why does an explosion near a place like the Red Fort register so loudly across the country and beyond? Partly because historic sites are soft targets in a hard world: full of visitors, with limited secure perimeters, and overflowing with symbolic value. An attack here reverberates beyond the immediate casualties — it hits at memory and national pride.
But the effects are practical, too. Several state governments reportedly moved to higher alert. Security at key facilities tightened. Tourism boards will now need to reassure travelers. Small businesses — the life-blood of Old Delhi — fear a drop in footfall that could last weeks or months.
And yet, there is another layer: the balance between security and civil liberties. When the state reaches for laws like UAPA, it promises tough action. It also raises questions: Do such measures prevent future violence, or do they alienate communities whose cooperation is essential? Are there safeguards to ensure investigations don’t become pretexts for wider crackdowns?
What to watch for next
Investigators will follow forensic leads: fragments from the scene, CCTV frames, mobile phone records and witness testimony. Officials say a conclusion will come “soon,” though history suggests complex cases often take time. The invocation of a stringent anti-terror law suggests authorities expect a protracted inquiry with potential national security implications.
For residents, the immediate concern is more pedestrian and human: funerals, hospital bills, and the mental aftershocks of trauma. For policymakers and civil society, the test is twofold — to bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly and transparently, and to do so in a way that preserves constitutional rights.
Closing: a city, a people, a question
As the sun set again on the red walls of Lal Qila, vendors re-lit tea stoves and a few curious tourists returned to the lanes. Life, stubborn and generous, edged forward. But the questions linger, heavy as the ash in the gutters: How do we protect open, historic spaces without turning them into fortresses? How do we confront violence without eroding the freedoms that define us?
What would you do if a place that holds your national memory was suddenly the site of tragedy — would you stay, rebuild, demand harsher laws, or call for restraint? In cities around the world, from narrow bazaars to broad boulevards, those are choices we all face now and will continue to face.
Syrian President Meets Trump, Asserts Al-Qaeda Links Are Historical
When a Rebel Walked Through the Side Door: Washington, Syria and the Strange New Chessboard
The white of the West Wing glowed under a cold November sky, but the arrival was anything but ceremonial. Instead of the familiar fanfare that greets state visits, a low-profile entrance, a few aides and a scattering of flags across the street marked the moment when Ahmed al-Sharaa — once a militant commander, once listed as a terrorist by Washington — stepped into the corridors of American power.
It felt like watching a hard-cut scene in a long-running drama: the rebel who led an insurgent offensive, the man whose name was linked for years to extremist networks, now sitting across from the President of the United States. For Syrians who have lived through the slow-motion ruin of their country, for Americans watching foreign policy pivot in real time, the image was disorienting and, for some, oddly hopeful.
From Enclave to Embassy Steps
Al-Sharaa’s path to the Oval Office was abrupt and improbable. A former militant commander who rose through insurgent ranks in the chaos after 2003, he was publicly designated by the U.S. as a terrorist for years. In a swift period of realignment, he renounced old group ties, consolidated power in Syria’s northwest and, within months of a decisive campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad, was being greeted in Riyadh and then in Washington.
“People say he’s had a rough past. We’ve all had a rough past,” President Trump told reporters after the meeting — a terse summation that underscored the administration’s pragmatic tone. “I get along with him,” he added, signaling that the United States is willing to fold Syria, under al-Sharaa’s leadership, back into a regional safety architecture.
Security First — and Fast
The substance of the talks was as stark as the optics. On the table: a proposed security pact with Israel, arrangements for a possible U.S. presence at a Damascus airbase, and Syria’s tentative return to a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. Washington has indicated it wants Syria to help secure its own borders and to take a formal role against jihadist resurgence — a reversal of a decade-long posture that treated Damascus as a pariah.
“The calculus is clear: stability in Syria reduces the pressure on its neighbors and on Europe,” said Dr. Miriam Alvi, a security analyst who has studied Syrian insurgent networks for two decades. “But stability without reconciliation is brittle. The risk of renewed sectarian fractures is very real.”
Assassination Plots, Arrests and the Shadow of ISIS
Just hours before al-Sharaa’s meeting, Syrian officials disclosed that two Islamic State plots to assassinate the president had been foiled. Those warnings were followed by a nationwide security sweep: more than 70 arrests, government media reported, as Damascus moved to demonstrate that it could still maintain internal order.
“We’ve been living under the threat for years,” said Leila Haddad, a teacher in Idlib who fled her home five years ago and now runs an informal classroom in a tent camp. “When some of these leaders meet in plush rooms, we wonder who will protect the baker, the children, the elderly when bombs fall again. Words are not enough.”
Sanctions, Rebuilding, and the Money That Might Save — or Control — a Country
Perhaps the thorniest issue is money. The World Bank has warned that rebuilding Syria could cost in excess of $200 billion — a staggering figure for a nation with collapsed infrastructure, millions displaced and businesses shattered.
U.S. sanctions remain a key lever. After meetings in Riyadh and Washington, the Trump administration signaled its intention to lift many of the penalties, and the United Nations and Washington removed several terror-related designations in recent weeks. But the strongest of those measures — the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 — cannot be undone by executive fiat. Repeal requires congressional action, and Capitol Hill is split.
“There are powerful voices saying: don’t reward a regime that has failed its people,” noted Representative James Carter (R-Ohio), who has long been skeptical of rapid normalization. “Yet there are equally strong arguments for engagement if it secures a lasting defeat of extremist groups and opens the door for reconstruction that benefits Syrians, not warlords.”
Human Cost and Social Fault Lines
Beyond the geopolitics, the human ledger remains devastating. Fourteen years of conflict have left neighborhoods in ruins, families scattered and civic institutions hollowed out. International agencies estimate that more than 6 million Syrians remain internally displaced, while countries around the world host more than 5 million refugees who fled the violence.
And new violence continues to simmer. Since the fall of Assad, some reports suggest sectarian exchanges have killed thousands more, deepening mistrust between communities that now must learn to live under a new authority.
“We are tired of being bargaining chips,” said Ibrahim Qasim, a displaced shopkeeper now living in a camp outside Damascus. “If there is to be peace, it must be a peace for all Syrians. Otherwise, this new order will be another cycle of another man’s rule.”
What This Means for the Region — and for Us
Al-Sharaa’s visit is more than a single diplomatic headline. It signals a wider reorientation in the Middle East: a retreat of Iranian and Russian influence in some corridors, a patchwork rapprochement with Gulf states and Turkey in others, and a U.S. administration willing to bet on former foes to check newer threats.
“Sharaa’s arrival in Washington is emblematic of a dramatic shift,” said Firas Maksad, a Middle East specialist at the Eurasia Group. “Syria has pivoted away from one axis to another in short order. The risk is that the social compact inside Syria does not keep pace with the diplomatic deals made in foreign capitals.”
Questions That Won’t Go Away
As readers, as global citizens, we should ask: What will lifting sanctions truly buy for ordinary Syrians? Can a country heal when political settlements leave grievances unaddressed? And how will Western governments ensure that reconstruction money doesn’t entrench new patronage networks?
There are no easy answers. The visit laid out a possible blueprint for Syria’s return to international life, but the work of peace — rebuilding institutions, protecting minorities, prosecuting crimes and fostering economic opportunity — will be done in dusty towns and over chipped tea cups, not in the White House.
For now, Syrians like Leila, Ibrahim and the millions living in limbo will watch closely. They will look for concrete investments in hospitals and schools, for real protection against militant reprisals, and for recognition that a durable peace requires more than a change of flags at a foreign plaza.
And you, reading now from across oceans and time zones, might ask: what obligations do we have to a nation reshaped by war, and how should the international community balance the desire for stability with the demand for justice?
That balancing act will define Syria’s next chapter — and perhaps the world’s sense of what it means to rebuild not just buildings, but trust.
Kushner, Netanyahu Discuss Plans for Second Phase of Gaza Truce
The Quiet Between Storms: Gaza’s Fragile Month of Ceasefire
The streets of Gaza are quieter than they were a month ago, but the silence is brittle—a thin film over a landscape that still smolders. In the markets, vendors tentatively reopen stalls; in refugee camps, children play beneath skeletal trees. Yet the air is laced with unease. Every distant thud, every drone shadow, revives the memory of the violence that shattered lives last October.
Washington has quietly upped its diplomacy in recent days, dispatching Jared Kushner to Jerusalem to coax the fragile truce into a more durable peace. Kushner — described by some Israeli officials in frank terms as a key broker of the ceasefire — met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to press forward on what they call “phase two.” The meeting was not merely diplomatic choreography; it was an attempt to translate tentative goodwill into enforceable terms.
What “Phase Two” Means — And Why It’s So Dangerous to Assume
Phase two, as sketched by Israeli spokespeople, reads like a checklist that could reorder Gaza’s future: disarm Hamas, demilitarize the Strip, and install an international stabilization force. “Phase two also includes the establishment of the international stabilisation force,” Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told journalists, noting that the fine print was still under negotiation.
But the details are where ceasefires go to die. Who disarms? Who polices? Who occupies — even temporarily — and under what rules of engagement? Bedrosian was blunt: “There will be no Turkish boots on the ground,” she said, rejecting one proposed participant. At the same time, other regional powers have parsed the offer in their own terms.
- Egypt, Qatar and Turkey have been placed on potential rosters for an international stabilisation force.
- The UAE warned it would likely abstain unless the mission came with a clear operational framework, according to Emirati presidential adviser Anwar Gargash.
- Turkey, eager to play a role, finds itself frozen out by Israeli resistance and a diplomatic chill that has only deepened since Ankara issued arrest warrants charging Israeli leaders with grave crimes.
Those fault lines are not bureaucratic trivia; they are the marrow of power politics. A stabilization force without regional legitimacy is a force without an operating permit. And a plan that insists on the disarmament of Hamas — an insistence the group calls a “red line” — risks collapsing before it begins.
Exchanges, Returns, and a Thousand Small Griefs
Small acts of closure have punctuated the month: the return of 20 living hostages by Hamas and the delivery of the remains of 24 captives, including 21 Israelis. In turn, Israel freed nearly 2,000 prisoners and handed back 315 bodies of Palestinian captives. These exchanges are human transactions at the rawest level — proof that diplomacy can, in fits and starts, bring people home.
“Time has stood still,” said Ayelet Goldin when the remains of her brother, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin — missing since 2014 — were repatriated. “How do you process fighting for a brother who’s gone?” Her voice, strained and small, echoed something larger: memory can be returned, but life cannot.
Yet the numbers on the ground reveal why reconciliation feels so distant. Gaza’s health ministry reported that at least 242 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces since the truce began — a figure the Israeli military disputes and that independent verification organizations say is difficult because of media restrictions and access limits. Meanwhile, Israel says it has targeted Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing 15 members of the group since the start of November, and continues strikes despite last November’s cessation of broader hostilities.
Lives in Limbo: Voices from Al-Bureij and Beyond
“We still do not feel safe,” Salma Abu Shawish, 40, who lives in Al-Bureij refugee camp, told me over the phone. The camp, a cluster of concrete and corrugated roofs, is alive with the restless industry of survival: women mending clothes, men haggling for bread, children tracing patterns in the dust.
“Shooting continues,” she said. “We try to protect our children from psychological trauma and to help them forget the war and its effects. Life in Gaza is hard. We still lack food, and many families remain homeless. We only wish this nightmare would stop and never return.” Her words are ordinary and devastating: a wishlist for peace that reads more like a prayer.
Humanitarian workers on the ground describe clinics barely functioning, a patchwork of food distributions, and a generation of children walking through rubble carrying backpacks too large for their shoulders. “The psycho-social toll is enormous,” said Dr. Leila Haddad, a psychologist working with displaced families. “Even when the shooting stops, trauma persists. We are treating nightmares and bedwetting in children whose world has been reduced to walls and the sky.”
The Regional Chessboard and the Question of Enforcement
Netanyahu, speaking to parliament, promised to wield the agreements with “an iron fist.” “Whoever seeks to harm us, we harm them,” he said. Such rhetoric reassures some constituencies at home but inflames others abroad. The Israeli calculus is straightforward: prevent future attacks by rendering adversaries militarily impotent. The moral, legal and practical hurdles of that approach are anything but simple.
For Washington, the immediate task is stabilisation: to make sure the tenuous silence does not unravel into a new round of violence. Jared Kushner’s role — a figure already familiar to the region for his earlier initiatives — is to stitch together the competing interests. But the U.S. envoy faces the same problem every mediator confronts: can an international guarantor be both credible and accepted?
“Trust cannot be negotiated on a table alone,” said Michael Levin, a Middle East analyst. “It is built in lanes — access to aid, reopening crossings, accountability mechanisms. Without those, any ceasefire is simply a pause before the next conflict.”
What Comes Next — And How You Can Watch It Unfold
The coming weeks will reveal whether phase two will be a blueprint for stability or a battleground of competing ambitions. Will an international force be fielded with a mandate strong enough to deter violence? Will Hamas agree to measures that it says amount to surrender? Will regional actors be satisfied that their interests are safeguarded?
These are not merely strategic questions. They are human ones. They ask what justice looks like for those who lost loved ones, what security means for children whose schools were rubble, and what dignity means to people living in tents when winter approaches.
If you care to follow this story, do not watch only the headlines. Tune into the small details: aid convoys, the reopening of hospitals, the distribution of food, and the slow, stubborn work of rebuilding trust. Ask yourself what a durable peace would demand from every player — locally, regionally, and internationally.
For the people of Gaza and for Israelis who have felt the knife-edge of fear, peace is not an abstraction. It is a row of returned bodies, a child’s belly filled, a teacher going back to a classroom. For now, the ceasefire breathes, tentative and wary. The rest — the hard architecture of peace — remains to be built.
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