And we see thousands who have mobilised to protest in current times, many receiving right wing aggressive crushing of their efforts, but many succeeding within a democracy to let the people choose.
Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) launches global Sylvester Stallone campaign for EGP 1.6 trillion SouthMed project
Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa Group Holding (TMG) has launched a global promotional campaign fronted by Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone for its SouthMed tourism project, a development with investments nearing EGP 1 trillion and anticipated sales of EGP 1.6 trillion (approximately $35bn).
The campaign for the 23m square metre (5,500 feddan) project in El Dabaa on the North Coast accumulated millions of views on digital platforms within hours of its release for the summer 2026 season. The marketing push coincides with a new sales phase featuring 15-year payment terms, aimed at leveraging TMG’s leading 38 per cent market share in the region.
In the promotional video, Sylvester Stallone provided a testimonial for the development, stating: “I’ve visited many destinations on the Mediterranean, but from time to time you discover a place that is different in all its details, and SouthMed is one of those rare places.”
Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ announced on Saturday that it will acquire a 40.5% stake in ICON, the listed hospitality arm of Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG), allowing the ADQ to take part ownership of several luxury hotels across the country.
The value of the acquisition was not disclosed.
Under the deal, a special purpose vehicle owned by ADQ and its unit Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC), with respective 49% and 51% holdings, will carry out a capital increase to acquire the ICON stake.
EFG Hermes is acting as the sole financial advisor to TMG Holding on the transaction, which is currently under the customary closing conditions.
In December, TMG’s ICON finalized an $882 million deal to acquire a 39% stake in Legacy Hotels, which owns seven historical state-owned hotels.
The seven hotels are Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan, Mövenpick Resort Aswan, Sofitel Winter Palace Luxor, Steigenberger Hotel Tahrir, Steigenberger Cecil Hotel Alexandria, Marriott Mena House Cairo, and Marriott Omar Khayyam Zamalek.
ICON owns four operational hotels, which are Four Seasons Cairo at Nile Plaza, Kempinski Nile Hotel Cairo, Four Seasons Sharm El-Sheikh, and Four Seasons Alexandria at San Stefano.
“The transaction represents a major foreign direct investment in Egypt and marks a strong vote of investor confidence in the Egyptian tourism and hospitality sector,” ADQ said in a statement.
Post-transaction, ICON will have a combined portfolio of 15 luxury and upscale hospitality assets with a total of around 5,000 keys in prime locations including Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Sharm El Sheikh, and Alexandria.
The acquired hotels in Egypt are managed by best-in-class operators and will continue to benefit from the synergies, resources, and in-country expertise of TMG Holding, according to ADQ.
“The investment in ICON is an important strategic step for ADNEC Group, as we deliver on our global expansion strategy and will provide ADNEC Group and its portfolio companies with access to Egypt’s rapidly growing tourism market and reaffirms our commitment to enhance our hospitality and tourism platform,” said Humaid Matar Al Dhaheri, managing director and group CEO of ADNEC Group.
“We will work closely with TMG Holding to enhance and grow ICON and create additional value for our shareholders,” he added.
ADQ said that this transaction reinforces its interest in investing in assets that can provide continued upside growth and sustainable returns. ADQ is a long-term investor in the Egyptian economy.
Meanwhile, Hisham Talaat Moustafa, CEO and Managing Director of TMG Holding noted: “We are delighted to have ADQ and ADNEC join us as strategic partners and shareholders in this landmark transaction and provide for an exciting outlook going forward. Through this partnership, we will pursue substantial growth opportunities in Egypt’s tourism sector and beyond and will unlock further value for our shareholders.”
In the past years, ADQ has made investments in market leaders across different sectors, including the acquisition of Amoun Pharmaceutical Company., one of Egypt’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and exporters.
ADNEC Group has evolved into a full-service tourism solutions provider by creating Tourism 365, a leisure tourism arm, that has existing operations in Egypt and hence offers significant synergistic potential with the investment in ICON.
Europe fortifies itself against Russia’s hybrid war
Europe’s allies strengthen security as the Kremlin’s sabotage and hostile actions increase
Rescue teams carry the body of a woman killed in a Russian attack on a residential neighborhood in Zaporizhzhia, last Saturday.Kateryna Klochko (AP/LaPresse)
Russia is stepping up its hybrid war against Europe. From sabotage, drone incursions, and arson to plots (mostly foiled) to assassinate pro‑Ukraine activists and Russian dissidents on European soil, the Kremlin is testing the allied response, and incidents against NATO’s European partners are becoming more serious, such as the explosive‑laden drones found this summer at Leipzig Airport in Germany. That gray line between a hybrid attack and a conventional one is blurring, and several European intelligence sources warn of the risk that one of those incidents could escalate — either by a deliberate Kremlin decision or a miscalculation.
“What would have happened if the explosives at Leipzig Airport had detonated?” asks a senior EU source. Senior European and NATO officials consulted over the past week share the concern — not because of a conventional military assault but because that gray boundary is becoming ever more fragile. “The greatest danger now is that the hybrid war will accidentally cross a red line,” says another veteran source, who points to an incident two weeks ago in which flares were fired from a Russian frigate at a Danish helicopter as an example.
In fact, Emily Ferris, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), says the serious episode involving explosive drones in Leipzig — which Germany clearly attributed to the Kremlin on September 1 — “showed that Moscow, and probably NATO itself, still lacks clarity on the current red lines that would trigger a military response.”
The Kremlin is furious at the stalemate in its war against Ukraine — which is approaching its fifth anniversary — and is moving to undermine allied support for Kyiv while testing the West’s response capacity, which so far has been relatively mild. The uptick in attacks is also occurring at an especially vulnerable moment for Europe, as it considers how to operate without the security umbrella of the United States and on the eve of a key super election year for the European project.
In recent weeks the alarm has risen sharply and Europe is beginning to bunker down against a threat that is becoming less and less hybrid. “We are preparing to face and survive a new kind of war,” admits a European intelligence source. One that does not necessarily involve missiles or tanks but could paralyze a country and undermine society through cuts to water and energy supplies, disruptions to computer systems, or weeks‑long closures of its airports, the source stresses.
Temperatures are rising in European capitals and the secret visit by CIA director John Ratcliffe to Moscow on August 25, the mystery over its purpose, and the messages he received there, has fed concern. The trip revived an unsettling precedent: the last time a CIA director traveled to Moscow was in November 2021, when William Burns tried to dissuade the Kremlin from invading Ukraine. Vladimir Putin launched the full‑scale war on February 24, 2022. As such, Keir Giles, a researcher at the Chatham House think tank, says the comparison is inevitable — and the parallel, he adds, shows how seriously the U.S. appears to view the current Russian threats.
Hybrid warfare is not episodic, but a permanent feature of Russia’s strategy, rooted in Soviet “active measures” and enhanced by modern tools like artificial intelligence–enabled information manipulation and cyber operations. It exploits the seams of open societies — disinformation, cyber, sabotage, coercion — below the war threshold.
Defensive measures such as cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection mitigate damage but do not deter Russia, which exploits ambiguity and inaction in the gray zone.
Western responses must go beyond resilience, imposing credible costs — through sanctions, cyber countermeasures, diplomatic expulsions, and legal actions — that outweigh the benefits Russia gains from hybrid operations. Resilience alone will not stop hybrid warfare; allies should pair deterrence-by-denial with deterrence-by-punishment.
Deterrence principles must address clear credibility, capability, and communication, and all these measures must remain grounded in the rule of law to ensure legitimacy, allied unity, and stability.
Practical countermeasures to Russian hybrid threats should include public attribution and naming-and-shaming, enhanced NATO and European Union (EU) intelligence sharing, stronger maritime and infrastructure security, targeted sanctions against Russian elites and networks, expulsions of intelligence-linked diplomats, and dismantling of disinformation networks.
A coordinated NATO-EU approach is essential, aligning the EU’s economic and legal levers with NATO’s military and cyber capabilities to prevent Russia from exploiting divisions.
Instead of warning Russia of the possible ramifications of its actions, allies should be proactive by imposing timely, coordinated costs to make hybrid aggression a losing bet for the Kremlin.
This is part of an article from back in March of 2026. The Israeli settlers have continued to demolish mosques, homes, farms of the Bedouins who have lived on this land for countless generations.
Bedouin communities – Dispossession and entrapment
From desert nomads to displaced people: The Ongoing Nakba of the Bedouins
March 17, 2026 at 7:27 pm
Israeli army continue attacks on the El-Halayil Bedouin community, forcing 11 Palestinian families to leave their homes in Ramallah, West Bank on February 21, 2026. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
As the war in Gaza continues to devastate Palestinian life, and the ongoing confrontation involving Iran, Israel, and the United States deepens regional instability, another quieter tragedy unfolds on the margins of the conflict. The Bedouins – long-standing desert communities whose lives have been intertwined with the fragile ecosystems of the Middle East – find themselves caught in the crosscurrents of militarization, displacement, and geopolitical rivalry.
While global attention focuses on the spectacle of war, Bedouin communities across the Naqab (Negev), the occupied West Bank, and parts of Sinai endure intensifying dispossession, settler violence, and forced displacement. Their struggle, largely invisible in global headlines, reflects a deeper pattern of erasure that has accompanied the Palestinian catastrophe since 1948 and which now risks accelerating under the cover of wider regional war.
Bedouins (from the Arabic badawi, “desert dweller”) are traditionally nomadic, Arabic-speaking tribes who have inhabited the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa for centuries. They are pastoral nomads, traditionally raising camels, goats, and sheep, and living in portable black goat-hair tents.
Palestinian Bedouin communities – both within the occupied West Bank and in the Naqab – are facing accelerated displacement, sometimes described as a “slow-motion genocide” or “spaciocide” aimed at erasing their presence.
Historically, they moved across arid landscapes in search of water and grazing land for their livestock.
Bedouin society is patriarchal and tribal, who place a strong emphasis on community, honour, loyalty, and hospitality. While many still live in the desert, others have settled into permanent modern homes.
Today, while some Bedouins continue to herd and live in desert environments, others have adapted to more sedentary lifestyles. Their cultural traditions are often highlighted in tourism sectors in countries such as Jordan, Egypt, and the UAE.
In 1948, over 110,000 Bedouins were displaced from the Negev/Naqab, reducing the population to around 11,000 who were subsequently confined to a designated area. The ongoing post-1948 context is often described as an “ongoing Nakba,” where the Bedouin community in the Naqab is caught between state-driven dispossession and efforts to secure legal rights to their ancestral lands. The remaining Bedouins were placed under strict military rule until 1966. During this period, the state used the “Absentee Property Law” to declare Bedouin lands as “unregistered” or “absentee” property, enabling large-scale land confiscation. To further limit land claims and centralize control, the government later concentrated Bedouin populations into seven state-established townships.
Despite being a subaltern minority, Bedouins have engaged in both resistance and, at times, tactical legal or economic engagement with Israeli authorities to maintain their presence.
Post-Nakba (1948), the political background of the Bedouins in Israel and the occupied territories has been characterized by forced displacement, rapid sedentarization, marginalization, and ongoing struggles over land rights.
Bedouin youth face extreme stress, experiencing both anger toward Israeli policies and fear of violence, while often lacking basic protection such as bomb shelters in unrecognized villages. Many struggle daily without running water, electricity, or adequate schools. Communities are frequently threatened by military training exercises and settler violence. In places like the Muarrajat village, settlers have forced families off their land, destroying their traditional and sustainable ways of life.
In the Sinai Peninsula, Bedouin communities face a different but equally severe form of marginalization. Many are trapped in poverty with limited economic opportunities and an inability to register land ownership. The collapse of tourism and continuing instability have further weakened their livelihoods. Despite these hardships, Bedouin individuals have demonstrated remarkable courage and solidarity.
Independent international commissions, UN experts, and various human rights organizations have accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, characterized by mass killing, forced displacement, and the systematic destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure. In this broader context, Palestinian Bedouin communities – both within the occupied West Bank and in the Naqab – are facing accelerated displacement, sometimes described as a “slow-motion genocide” or “spaciocide” aimed at erasing their presence.
Since October 7, 2023, there has been a sharp increase in settler violence and military actions leading to the displacement of numerous Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills. Bedouins are being pushed off their land through mechanisms such as 48-hour expulsion orders and the designation of areas as “closed military zones,” which then enable the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements. In one documented incident, residents of the Bedouin village of Wadi as-Seeq were forced out by armed soldiers and settlers, marking a clear example of a systematic policy to seize Palestinian land.
Human rights defenders argue that Israel is exploiting global focus on the war in Gaza to intensify what they describe as the “de-Palestinisation” of other areas, including East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Bulldozers, demolitions, and forced removals – methods visible in Gaza – are increasingly being applied in the West Bank to target Bedouin communities
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 24, 2026. Photo by Bing Guan/Reuters
RFK Jr.’s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office
What Happened: HHS took about $12 million from the Office of Minority Health to help pay for RFK Jr.’s security as his protection costs jumped from roughly $10 million to $17 million a year. HHS also canceled 16 grants for programs including maternal care, chronic disease screenings, and access to fresh food.
Why It Matters: Money meant to provide health care and services to low-income communities was used to help pay for Kennedy’s increasingly expensive security.
Russell Vought and His Budgeting Cronies Are Using This Sketchy Loophole to Control Government Spending
Why the hell are Republican senators letting it happen?By Charles P. PiercePublished: Oct 02, 2026 5:00 PM EDT
Senator Ron (Shreds of Freedom) Johnson has been eclipsed on the calendar of Republican senatorial foolishness by the likes of Tommy Tuberville and, most recently, Eric Schmitt. But there’s life in the old fella yet. He personally intervened to allow the odious Office of Management and Budget to use a strategy of dubious legality to impound nearly a billion dollars in appropriations that already had been passed by the Congress. Emine Yücel has been bulldogging these shenanigans for Talking Points Memo.
A congressional watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), published a post Wednesday morning reaffirming that “pocket rescissions”—a supposed loophole that the Trump White House thinks it can use to seize Congress’ power of the purse—are illegal.
“A pocket rescission is illegal as we explained in our most recent decision on pocket rescissions,” GAO wrote in its WatchBlog, referring to a 2018 report the agency put out that states, “amounts proposed for rescission must be made available for prudent obligation before the amounts expire, even where the 45-day period for congressional consideration provided in the ICA approaches or spans the date on which funds would expire.”
[OMB head Russell] Vought and his allies believe they have found a loophole in the budgeting process that, they claim, allows them to declare congressionally approved funding rescinded if a rescissions package is sent to Congress close to the end of the fiscal year when funds will expire. Normally, a formal rescissions request starts a 45-day clock in which the executive branch is allowed to withhold the cash in question that it is asking to claw back. But if the request comes in 45 days before the new fiscal year is set to begin on October 1, Vought contends, the White House could withhold the money for that timeframe, regardless of whether Congress takes action on the package, and then claim that the funding is expired when the fiscal year ends.
Vought is trying this Mickey Mouse finagling again. Last week, Senate Democrats tried to force a vote on a bill that would block these so-called pocket rescissions now and in the future. On Wednesday night, however, Johnson rose up and objected to the bill, effectively killing it.
So, around 7 p.m., we got our answer: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) objected to the bill. He did not directly address the way in which Vought’s maneuvering has run roughshod over one of Congress’ most important duties: dictating federal spending. He shrugged that all government spending should be reduced, and then said the law around impoundments was vague. “It’ll probably have to be all sorted out by the Supreme Court,” he said. That much is right, and the Court has already shown an openness to what Vought is trying to do.
President Donald Trump personally ordered OBM director Russell Vought to find taxpayer money for TV ads promoting his presidency, triggering a $20 million government contract funded through Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to a new report.
The New York Timesreported Friday that Trump instructed Vought, who runs the Office of Budget Management, to come up with the money from inside the federal government after expressing enthusiasm for ads about himself and his administration.
The money, according to the Times, was ultimately drawn from funds available to CBP and shifted on September 19 into a Department of Homeland Security budget category for “commemorative events.” One day later, CBP awarded a $20 million “national media campaign” contract to Maryland marketing firm LMD.
The Times, citing 12 people familiar with the process, reported that Trump had been eager to get the promotional spots on television and personally approached Vought about financing them. White House Counsel Will Scharf and OMB counsel Mark Paoletta concluded that DHS money could legally be used, according to the report.
The $170 billion price tag for immigration enforcement eclipses other law enforcement expenditures at the federal, state, and local level. It is more than the annual expenditures on police by state and local governments in all 50 states and the District of Columbia combined.
Even the slice that goes just to ICE this year – nearly $29 billion – exceeds the budgets for all other non-immigration federal law enforcement functions put together, eclipsing funding to agencies whose law enforcement missions involve pursuing terrorists, violent criminals, sex offenders, fentanyl and other drug traffickers, and gun traffickers.
In the October 27, 2025, issue of The New Yorker, Andy Kroll wrote a long profile of Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. I read it then and wondered why we heard so little about a man with so much power over the money Congress appropriates.
Nearly a year later, I had the same question: What has he done lately?
On September 25, the White House sent Congress a request to cancel roughly $810 million that Congress had already appropriated for health, education, housing, and other programs. Most of it—$567 million—comes from funds for services to refugees, asylum seekers, and other noncitizens. The request arrived only days before the September 30 end of the fiscal year.
This is what is called a pocket rescission.
Ordinarily, a president can ask Congress to cancel previously approved funding, and Congress has time to decide. By making the request just before the money expires, the administration seeks to keep the money from being used even if Congress never agrees to cancel it. The White House says the spending should end. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office put it plainly in its explanation of the tactic: “Unlike pocket vetoes, pocket rescissions aren’t allowed.” They are illegal. On September 29, GAO told lawmakers and Vice President Vance that the administration cannot lawfully withhold these funds past the September 30 expiration date. That is GAO’s legal conclusion; a court has not ruled on this particular $810 million request. In a similar foreign-aid dispute last year, the Supreme Court temporarily paused an order requiring funds to be committed before they expired. The Court expressly said its decision was not a final ruling on the merits; that case also involved foreign affairs, unlike the domestic programs targeted now.
Republican Senator Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, objected, saying OMB cannot decide for itself which programs are worth funding. Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Representative Brendan Boyle condemned the move as well. Their objections are about more than any one program: Who gets the final say when Congress has passed a spending law?
Trump $5000 Dividend Check: President Donald Trump stood before a roaring crowd at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Wednesday night, September 9, 2026, and made a promise that instantly became the biggest political story of the week: a $5,000 dividend check for every adult American citizen. The announcement came during the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention, and Trump tied the payout directly to the outcome of the November midterm elections. “If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them,” he told the crowd, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.” He compared the idea to a company handing out cash distributions to its shareholders, framing ordinary Americans as stakeholders in the nation’s economic performance. We’ll be updating this article monthly as new details, legislation, or official guidance emerge.
Within hours, the Trump dividend pledge had triggered a wave of fact-checking, cost estimates, and political pushback. Independent analysts quickly pegged the price tag of the proposal at somewhere between $1.2 trillion and $1.35 trillion, based on Census Bureau estimates of roughly 240 to 270 million adult U.S. citizens. That figure alone makes this one of the largest single cash-payment proposals ever floated by a sitting U.S. president, dwarfing even the COVID-era stimulus checks sent out under both the Trump and Biden administrations in 2020 and 2021. Yet, as of this writing, there is no legislation, no funding mechanism, no confirmed eligibility criteria, and no payment date. What exists is a campaign-style pledge made from a convention stage, and this article breaks down everything currently known, everything that remains unconfirmed, and what would have to happen before a single check goes out.
Trump appears to mix up Brazil’s presidential election with India’s as he calls US voting ‘corrupt’
Story by Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff
• 5h
Topline
President Donald Trump appeared to mix up India and Brazil in a late Sunday night Truth Social post about the latter’s presidential election results—where Trump’s ally Flávio Bolsonaro advanced to a runoff—where he once again attacked the U.S. voting and counting process as “corrupt,” without citing any evidence.
Simon Andriesz, a former banker who told the FBI in 2020 and 2021 about allegations concerning Howard Lutnick’s links to Jeffrey Epstein and his former employer BGC, has died by suicide, according to The Banker. The publication reported his death, aged 57, on 2 October 2026.
Andy Agathangelou, founder of Transparency Task Force, confirmed Andriesz’s death but did not state a cause in the announcement quoted by the publication. The reporting reviewed for this article does not cite an official finding on the cause of death or evidence linking it to Lutnick, Epstein, BGC or Andriesz’s disclosures.
In the dark world surrounding child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a string of mysterious deaths preceded his own. Long before the disgraced American financier was found hanging in New York jail cell in August 2019, several people linked to him — from his former employees and alleged allies to potential witnesses and investigators—met sudden, and in some cases unexplained ends. Each case, though officially unrelated, seemed to hint at the same mysterious and murky network of money, power, and silence that defined Jeffery Epstein’s empire. This timeline retraces those deaths, the circumstances surrounding them, and how they were tied—directly or indirectly—to Jeffrey Epstein’s world of influence before his own death on August 10, 2019.
Alfredo Rodriguez (2014)
Marvin Minsky (2016)
Leigh Skye Patrick (2017)
Joe Recarey (2018)
Michael Jackson (2009)
While most of these deaths were ruled natural or accidental, their timing and proximity to Jeffrey Epstein’s network have continued to fuel public suspicion and conspiracy theories. Epstein’s world of power and influence — stretching across politics, finance, and celebrity circles — has remained under scrutiny even after his own death in 2019. Notably, the later deaths of key figures, including key accuser Virginia Giuffre, have been linked by some observers to the broader political establishment. The name of US President Donald Trump has also surfaced in Epstein-related files, keeping the scandal alive in public debate.
………
From 2019 onward, a string of mysterious deaths has surrounded figures once tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s circle — from associates and aides to accusers. French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel and banker Thomas Bowers were both found dead by hanging, while Epstein’s ex-cellmate Efrain Reyes and former UN ambassador Bill Richardson died of illness. Hollywood producer Steven Bing and Epstein’s mentor Steven Hoffenberg also met grim ends. Most recently, Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre’s suicide in 2025 reignited debate over the enduring reach of his powerful network and the unanswered questions left in the wake of his 2019 death.
The Death of Virginia Guiffre
A prominent Epstein accuser, Giuffre died by suicide on April 25, 2025, at her farm in Neergabby, Western Australia, at age 41. Her family confirmed the cause in a statement, noting the heavy toll of her lifelong trauma, and Western Australia police investigated but ruled it non-suspicious, with no foul play indicated. Giuffre had indeed expressed safety fears in a 2019 court filing amid Epstein-related threats, stating she worried about retaliation from powerful figures.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court where sexual assault claimants invited by a judge addressed a hearing following Epstein’s jailhouse death in New York, Aug. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir revisits her story with harrowing new detail about the abuse she endured. The book “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice,” recounts her experiences with Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and includes further allegations against Prince Andrew — which he continues to deny.
It’s been a bit more than a month since Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian who had come to the United States legally as a high schooler in 2024, threw himself under a truck on the interstate—a death of despair following the revocation of his legal status by the Trump administration this summer. Among the hundreds gathered to mourn Saturday at Springfield’s St. John Missionary Baptist Church, the grief was still raw and immediate.
The banners on the church walls proclaimed messages of scriptural comfort: “Jehovah Shammah: The Lord is always present. Jehovah Rophe: The Lord heals.” As family members audibly wailed and sobbed, the ministers asked God in English and Haitian Creole for consolation amid heartbreak.
“You are near the brokenhearted. We pray that you would draw near us today,” prayed Pastor Ernie Brown of St. John. “When questions have no answers, give them strength to trust you with what we cannot understand.”
Many unanswerable questions hung over Bel’s funeral. Here are two. How could a country extend such a shining future to a young man like him—only to shatter that future, and him, by suddenly ripping it away? And how could the president who made it happen show his face that same day, just miles down the road, not only to defend that change, but to bask in it?
From Bill Kristol & Andrew Eggar, Substack
SPRINGFIELD, OH – If there was one thing to know about Pierre Damas Bel, it was that he loved his community.
It was the resounding agreement of everyone who spoke, affirmed with nods and “amens” from attendees at the 20-year-old Haitian immigrant’s funeral on Oct. 3 at St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in Springfield.
“He was my everything,” Bel’s father, Pierre Ronal Bel, wrote in a statement read aloud at the funeral.
Bel’s casket, adorned in colorful flowers, lay before well over 100 family members, friends, coworkers and even strangers grieving the loss of someone they repeatedly called a generous, intelligent young man with a “profound capacity to love” and who never tired of helping others. Bel was an honors student who loved soccer, wanted to become a neurosurgeon and dreamed of building a hospital in his homeland one day.
Flowers placed on top of the casket during the funeral service for Pierre Damas Bel at St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church on Oct. 3, 2026
Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch
On Aug. 31, Bel was hit by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 70 east of Springfield, where he and over 10,000 other Haitians reside, after leaving his vehicle on the side of the road, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.
While the official cause of death has not been confirmed by a coroner, Bel’s loved ones are certain he died by suicide, brought on by being bullied for wearing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ankle monitor following the revocation of Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants.
“Our dear friend and brother may have died by suicide, but he was killed by the system,” Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said at Bel’s funeral service.
Loss of protected status left Bel, Ohio Haitians in despair, confusion
UN says at least 5,700 killed, wounded in Haiti gang crisis this year
Story by AFP
• 2d
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the Gang Suppression Force remains well below its target strength, with only about 1,500 of a planned 5,500 personnel deployed. (EPA Images pic)
GENEVA: Haiti’s gang violence crisis has left at least 5,700 people dead or wounded this year while more than 1,000 women and girls have been raped, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Friday.
2,500 American troops leave Iraq after 12-year ISIS mission
Iraq enters post-US military era as militias, foreign forces and security challenges take center stage in Baghdad
September 30, 2026
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The withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 US troops marks the end of Operation Inherent Resolve, but Iraq continues to face questions over armed groups, foreign forces and security in the Kurdistan Region.
Despite the military withdrawal, US-Iraq relations are not ending. Analysts say the relationship is expected to increasingly focus on economic and commercial cooperation, alongside continued defense ties, as Baghdad seeks to consolidate its sovereignty while maintaining its partnership with Washington.
Iraq is set to enter a new phase after the United States completes the withdrawal of its remaining 2,500 troops on September 30, ending the 12-year US-led Operation Inherent Resolve mission against ISIS and more than two decades of US military involvement in the country.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has described October 1 as a new era of Iraqi sovereignty, with Baghdad planning four public holidays to mark what it calls “Independence Day.” The withdrawal follows a 2024 agreement between Baghdad and Washington. However, the departure of US forces does not mean Iraq will be free of foreign military deployments. Turkey still maintains troops in northern Iraq, although Ankara has said it will gradually hand over a military base to Baghdad, dw.com reports.
As Egypt is threatened with losing its vital water supply, the building of dams in the region highlights the fragility of water supply in North Africa.
History:
In 1843 it was decided to build a series of diversion dams (barrages or weirs) across the Nile at the head of the delta about 12 miles downstream from Cairo, so as to raise the level of water upstream to supply the irrigation canals and to regulate navigation. This delta barrage scheme was not fully completed until 1861, after which it was extended and improved; it may be regarded as marking the beginning of modern irrigation in the Nile valley. The Zifta Barrage, nearly halfway along the Damietta branch of the deltaic Nile, was added to this system in 1901. In 1902 the Asyūṭ Barrage, more than 200 miles upstream from Cairo, was completed. This was followed in 1909 by the barrage at Isnā (Esna), about 160 miles above Asyūṭ, and in 1930 by the barrage at Najʿ Hammādī, 150 miles above Asyūṭ.
The first dam at Aswān was constructed between 1899 and 1902; it has a series of four locks to allow navigation. The dam has twice been enlarged—first between 1908 and 1911 and again between 1929 and 1934—thus raising the water level and increasing the dam’s capacity. It is also equipped with a hydroelectric plant with an installed power of more than 345 megawatts.
Brittanica
On July 21, 1970, Egyptian engineers completed the Aswan Dam, which controls the flow of the Nile River.
Egypt and Ethiopia have expelled diplomats from each other’s countries in a sharp escalation of tensions already fuelled by the long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Egypt and Ethiopia have turned a long-running dispute over the Nile into a fresh diplomatic confrontation, expelling each other’s diplomats and giving them just 48 hours to leave. The escalation began in Addis Ababa, where Ethiopia declared Egyptian diplomat Ahmed Moharam Ahmed Soliman persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours. Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said the decision was taken under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations but did not publicly explain what prompted it.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia. Egypt wants the United Nations Security Council to “undertake its responsibilities” and prevent Ethiopia from starting to fill its massive, newly built hydroelectric dam on the Nile River.
![Israeli army continue attacks on the El-Halayil Bedouin community, forcing 11 Palestinian families to leave their homes in Ramallah, West Bank on February 21, 2026. [Issam Rimawi - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/AA-20260221-40631406-40631404-ISRAELI_FORCES_DISPLACE_11_PALESTINIAN_FAMILIES_FROM_IN_RAMALLAH.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
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