Five billion dollars to rebuild Gaza and thousands of foreign troops on the ground. These are pledges by US President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’. Critics say the plan falls far short of what’s needed. Al Jazeera’s Nour Hegazy looks ahead to the board’s meeting in Washington.
Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has made his first appearance since rumours about his health spread online.
The Presidential Court on Wednesday shared video footage of the Emirati president, also known as MBZ, smiling alongside Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham during a meeting in Abu Dhabi.
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WAM, the UAE’s official news agency, also shared photographs of the encounter at Qasr Al Shati, in which MBZ appeared alongside Graham.
In a social media post, the US senator rebuffed in no uncertain terms any claims that the UAE president may be unwell.
“To those who are perpetuating false narratives against the United Arab Emirates and President Sheikh [Mohamed bin Zayed] personally, you are full of it,” Graham said on X.
“Not only is he alive, but he is also well and as sharp as I’ve ever seen him.”
Graham, a top Republican in Congress, hailed MBZ for embracing the so-called Abraham Accords, a series of US-brokered deals to normalise relations between Israel and Arab states.
The UAE was among the countries to sign on to the initiative, which was unveiled in 2020 during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
A man handed Mark Zuckerberg a stack of papers and said “you’ve been served with a summons and complaint” while the billionaire Meta CEO entered a Los Angeles courthouse. Zuckerberg was appearing for a case alleging his social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children.
Leila Shahid, the first female diplomat to represent Palestine abroad, has died at age 76, drawing an outpouring of condolences and tributes.
Citing Shahid’s family, Le Monde newspaper said the former Palestinian ambassador to France died on Wednesday at her home in the south of the country.
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“She died today,” her sister Zeina told the AFP news agency, without providing further details.
“Leila Shahid, the iconic ambassador of Palestine, has left us,” Hala Abou-Hassira, the Palestinian ambassador to France, wrote on social media. “A tremendous loss for Palestine and for the world that believes in justice.”
Majed Bamya, the deputy Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, also paid tribute to Shahid, describing her as “a voice for justice, freedom and peace”.
“She is Palestine personified in the francophone world. She’s the one who convinced me to join the diplomatic corps, or as she put it, to have the honour of representing a cause and a people,” Bamya wrote on X.
“I had the honour of serving alongside her, of learning alongside her, of witnessing her magnanimity and compassion, and seeing how she embodies the aspirations and suffering of her people.”
Hussam Zumlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, also hailed Shahid as “a towering figure, a role model and one of the most inspiring diplomats Palestine has ever known”.
“Palestine has lost a seasoned and steadfast voice — one who carried her people’s cause with grace, conviction, and unwavering dedication,” he wrote on X.
Born in the Lebanese capital Beirut in 1949, Shahid studied at the American University of Beirut, where she met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
She worked in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon before becoming the first woman to represent the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) abroad, beginning her career in Ireland in 1989, before also becoming a representative in the Netherlands and Denmark.
She served as Palestinian ambassador to France for more than a decade, from 1994 until 2005, and later as the envoy to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg.
In an interview with France24 in September of last year, Shahid hailed France’s decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
“I think it’s very, it’s very important, it’s not only symbolic,” she said. “We are reminding the world that it’s [about] self-determination, and we don’t know any other form for self-determination except a state.”
But she added that a lot of work still needed to be done “to change the reality” for Palestinians.
“We know that on the ground, we are witnessing a genocide in Gaza and very, very violent, brutal attacks by the settlers in the West Bank,” she told France24. “We have been occupied since 1967, and you can’t make a state under military Israeli rule.”
On Wednesday, Abou-Hassira – the Palestinian ambassador to France – said in a statement that Shahid never stopped speaking out against the Israeli occupation or believing that “justice would ultimately prevail”.
Her death comes “as Palestine is experiencing one of the darkest chapters in its history”, Abou-Hassira said.
“In her memory, we commit to continuing what she started. Her fight is our fight. Her determination is our compass. Her demand for dignity, justice, and truth remains our roadmap.”
The federal agency tasked with regulating drugs in the United States has said it will review a flu vaccine application from the pharmaceutical giant Moderna, one week after it declined to do so in an unusual move.
Moderna announced on Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had accepted a revised application seeking full approval for a new flu shot to be offered to patients between the ages of 50 and 64 and expedited approval for those over 65.
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“Pending FDA approval, we look forward to making our flu vaccine available later this year so that America’s seniors have access to a new option to protect themselves against flu,” CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.
He also expressed thanks for the FDA’s “engagement” on the issue.
The FDA’s decision to accept Moderna’s application marked an abrupt reversal from its earlier stance. On February 10, Moderna revealed that the FDA had denied its application to review the new flu vaccine for use among older adults.
That announcement sparked concerns in the pharmaceutical industry about how new vaccines would be received under US President Donald Trump, whose administration has rescinded certain vaccine guidelines.
Some Trump officials, most notably Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, have also spread false claims about vaccine safety.
At the time, Moderna called the agency’s rejection “inconsistent with previous written communications” with the FDA.
The decision, Bancel said in a statement, “did not identify any safety or efficacy concerns with our product” and “does not further our shared goal of enhancing America’s leadership in developing innovative medicines”.
The agency’s refusal to consider the company’s application was an unusual move.
In a “refusal to file” letter rejecting the initial application, the FDA’s vaccine director Vinay Prasad argued that Moderna should have included a high-dose brand for comparison in its trial process.
Moderna had undertaken a 40,000-person clinical trial, focused on adults age 50 and older, that concluded its new vaccine was more effective than a standard shot.
The company publicly responded that the FDA had itself recommended that approach when it approved the trial study.
In a compromise, Moderna agreed to conduct another study once the new flu shot is available. The FDA is aiming to reach a decision on the revised application by August 5.
The flu shot was created with mRNA technology, a subject of frequent criticism from Kennedy, who has promoted anti-vaccine views and replaced experts in the Health and Human Services Department with figures who share his scepticism.
Israel approves West Bank land claims unless Palestinians prove ownership, sparking ‘annexation’ accusations.
The United Kingdom’s High Court has ruled that Palestine Action should never have been proscribed as a “terrorist” organization. As the case winds its way to a final decision, what does this mean for the thousands of Britons who have been arrested — and for the future of Palestinian solidarity in the UK?
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Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé and Tamara Khandaker with Melanie Marich, Maya Hamadeh, Tuleen Barakat, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker and Alexandra Locke.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhemm. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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