
UAE confirms will invest $1.4 trillion in US over 10 years during Trump visit
The UAE has announced it will invest 1.4 trillion in US over 10 years.
Trump arrived in the UAE today as part of his three-country tour of the Gulf. He is the second US President to head to the Emirates.
Abu Dhabi
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Khaleej Times
15 minutes ago
- Khaleej Times
Rate of Gaza children suffering acute malnutrition nearly triples, survey shows
The rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has nearly tripled since a ceasefire earlier this year when aid flowed more freely, according to data collected by humanitarian groups and released by the U.N. on Thursday. The report was issued at a time when aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave is under intense scrutiny because of deadly shootings close to the operations of a new U.S.-backed system. After the two-month ceasefire broke down in March, Israel blockaded aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks, prompting a famine warning from a global hunger monitor. Israel, which has only partially lifted the blockade since, vets all aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing some of it - something the militant group denies. Around 5.8% out of nearly 50,000 children under five who were screened in the second half of May were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, an analysis by a group of U.N. and other aid agencies known as the nutrition cluster showed. This was up from 4.7% in early May and nearly three times the rate in February during a pause in fighting in the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas, the analysis said. It did not specify the exact rate in February, nor say how many children were screened. The analysis also reported an increase in severe acute malnutrition cases among children -- a life-threatening condition that compromises the immune system. It said centres to support medical complications from severe cases in north Gaza and Rafah in the south of the enclave have been forced to close, leaving children without access to lifesaving treatment. It did not give a reason for the closures but many medical centres have run out of supplies, been damaged in the war or attacked by Israel, which accuses Hamas of using them for military purposes. Hamas denies using them in this way. A Palestinian minister reported 29 starvation-related deaths among the children and elderly in just a few days last month. Separately, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that doctors in the Gaza Strip were donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid.


Khaleej Times
15 minutes ago
- Khaleej Times
Wish to volunteer? Dubai teens launch platform to help students find opportunities
Two Dubai students are on a mission to make volunteering easier and more accessible for teenagers across the UAE. Year 12 students Samaira Bhattacharya and Chloe Ramel from Nord Anglia International School Dubai have launched Volunteer Hub, a platform that connects students with local volunteer opportunities based on their interests. 'As high school students, we genuinely found it difficult to locate volunteering opportunities in the UAE,' said Samaira, who hopes to study medicine in the UK. 'There are so many amazing initiatives available but they're not always visible or accessible to students without the right resources.' Chloe added that the idea for the platform stemmed from their own experiences. 'I was complaining to Samaira about not being able to find opportunities for the coming months and she said we should do something about that,' she said. 'So we started talking and decided that we should set up this platform, Volunteer Hub, to help students across the UAE resolve this issue that a lot of us have.' Malak Ezzeldine, a budding economist and a Year 12 student at the same school added that the platform solved a lot of issues for students like her. 'I had contacted so many NGOs looking for volunteer opportunities but no one would get back to me,' she said. 'So, when I heard that they had launched this platform, I signed up for as many opportunities as I could. I even found one volunteer opportunity in my school which I found out only through Volunteer Hub.' Built from scratch In just four months, the duo built the platform from scratch. While Samaira reached out to NGOs, Chloe developed the website using Wix. Volunteer Hub now features filters by location, cause, and type of activity — making it easy for students to find what suits them. According to the girls, the support from their teachers was integral in helping expand the reach of the platform. So far, Volunteer Hub has partnered with 10 non-profits, including Sparkle Foundation and Thrift for Good, and has already helped over 90 students sign up for various roles in areas like sustainability, education, and animal welfare. Even though the platform is mainly aimed at students between the ages of 14 and 18, there is no minimum age for signing up. Year 11 student of Springdales School Dubai Sampritha found her first volunteering opportunity through the platform in May and it was a memorable experience for her. 'I signed for the beach clean up at Jumeirah and it was a great experience for me,' she said. 'For over two hours we combed the beach for cigarette butts and other waste items. I also met a lot of other people. I am looking forward to doing it again.' Future plans Samaira, who has previously volunteered as an English teacher for underprivileged students in India, said it was equally difficult to find opportunities in other countries as well. 'Hopefully in the future, we could expand Volunteer Hub also to a wider reach, maybe use it in India and other countries as well,' she said. 'We want to develop it into a global platform so that it makes it possible for high schoolers anywhere in the world to easily access meaningful ways to give back to the society.' The duo also has a long-term vision for the platform. 'We want to ensure that Volunteer Hub remains sustainable,' said Chloe. 'Even when we head off to university, since we're currently in year 12, we want the platform to keep running. So we're working on building a leadership handover system to younger students within our school or other schools so we can keep the platform growing'


The National
15 minutes ago
- The National
British relatives say Israeli aid is death trap for Gazans
British Palestinians have described the challenges that their families in Gaza are going through to get food as part of a plea for tougher action by the UK government on Israel. Wafaa Shamallakh, who works as a medical interpreter in London, described how her sister Maysa in Gaza, spent hours yesterday waiting for her husband and son to return from an aid distribution point on the Netzarim border. Maysa's husband and son Joud, 15, walked for more than an hour to reach the aid distribution point, but were forced to turn back owing to the chaos they found there. 'Thousands of people were there, coming from the north and the south of Gaza, desperate to find a bag of flour, a little sugar, maybe some pasta. It was chaos. A quadcopter flew overhead shooting at crowds,' she said. Fire and smoke bombs made it difficult for them to see. Her cousin Khaled was injured. The pair returned empty-handed that day. 'My twin nieces, Dima and Rima cried when they saw their father return with nothing. But my sister Maysa was relieved, because at least they came back alive,' she said. 'This is what it means to survive in Gaza. This is their daily life, fetching food has become a battle of survival,' she said. The family were living in tents, with 'no insulation, no water, no electricity', where they cook over fires from wood collected from the rubble. 'My sister spends hours just trying to find enough work to earn a piece of bread.' The family may have two meals on a 'lucky' days, having lentil soup for breakfast, or sharing a piece of bread in the evening. Often they 'go hungry so their children can eat'. Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since March. A US and Israeli attempt to introduce their own aid distribution mechanism through US security contractor the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation last week has backfired. The GHF closed its distribution centres on Wednesday after several deadly shooting incidents killed scores of Palestinians and drew sharp UN condemnation. It then delayed the reopening of its aid sites on Thursday, without clarifying when they would resume service, as starvation looms in the war-ravaged enclave. People were journeying for days from different parts of Gaza to get access to food the distribution points in Rafah – but were forced to turn back owing to the scenes of chaos when they arrived. Bassem Farajallah, a British Palestinian, described how his nephew Nour travelled from Gaza city to Nusayra, from which he was then forced to walk to Rafah owing to an Israeli prohibition of vehicles there. On arrival, he found 'nothing, only danger and gunfire'. 'In the end, he managed to buy a small amount of flour for nearly 100 dollars,' he said. He was gone for three days, and Mr Farajallah described the huge emotional toll on his sister, Nour's mother, as she waited for him to return. The family has not seen meat or chicken in more than a year, and his sister a diabetic with high blood pressure, survives on bread that is stretched with salt and pasta. UK urged to take action UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer changed his tone on Gaza this week, describing the humanitarian crisis as 'intolerable' during a press conference in Scotland. Reiterating his comments in Parliament, he said on Wednesday: 'We will keep looking at further action along with our allies, including sanctions, but let me be absolutely clear: we need to get back to a ceasefire.' Though he met British Palestinians in October last year, there was a prevailing sense from the community that they were being ignored. 'I want them to look genuinely at us, to sit with us and listen and consider our demands. Listen to that community, which has families back in Gaza,' Mr Farajallah told The National. Ms Shamallakh said she felt let down by the British government's response to the conflict, which until recently supported Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The new Labour government said it would be guided by international law in its response to the conflict. Last month, it suspended new trade talks with Israel, imposed a new round of sanctions of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, and summoned the Israeli ambassador to the UK. But those measures were undermined by the UK Trade envoy's visit to Israel the following week. Ms Shamallakh called on the UK government to impose a full embargo, political and economic sanctions, and assert 'real pressure to bring an end to the genocide' and ensure unhindered humanitarian aid access. 'Let this be a turning point where Britain stops whispering about international law and starts upholding it, because the people of Gaza are not waiting for your sympathy, they are demanding your courage,' she said.