Angelina Jolie could establish a shelter for orphans in Gaza, a Palestinian activist said on Monday, as he called for more overseas support to help the enclave recover from Israel's devastating war.
Samer Sinijlawi, an advocate of a two state-solution, welcomed reports that the Hollywood actress and former UN goodwill ambassador could be involved in efforts to rebuild Gaza after the conflict.
“I’ve been aware of the intention of Angelina Jolie to do a huge SOS village for orphans in Gaza,” he told an online panel convened by the Candid Foundation in Germany.
It could cost $80 billion and take many years, even decades, to rebuild Gaza, estimates from the UN and other organisations say.
A reconstruction conference in Cairo next month aims to attract private investment, as the costs cannot be met by governments alone.
“There are some people who can kick off certain ideas that can help Gazans, in parallel to what governments can do,” Mr Sinijlawi said. "We should not wait only for what governments are doing."
Jolie has spoken out against Israel's bombardment of Gaza. In a social media post in October 2023, she said: “What happened in Israel is an act of terror, but that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation and not even the basic human right to cross a border to seek refuge."
Her agent was contacted for comment.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and White House adviser Jared Kushner arrived in Israel on Monday to discuss the truce plan with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after weekend violence in Gaza threatened to wreck the ceasefire.
Efforts to rebuild the enclave can only proceed if the fragile US-brokered ceasefire holds. But Gazans have raised concerns that they could be left out of the process. The 20-point peace plan states the enclave will be administered by an international Board of Peace and peacekeeping force.
The Gaza Chamber of Commerce, which represents traders in the enclave and abroad, has not been invited to the Cairo conference, its chairman said on Monday. “The future of Gaza will not be decided in donor conferences or by foreign administrations. It must be shaped by Palestinians themselves through transparent, inclusive and accountable institutions,” Ayed Abu Ramadan said.
“Nothing will happen in Gaza without the involvement of Gazans. For too long, Gaza's fate has been discussed in international forums without meaningful local participation or presentation."
The chamber worked on a proposal for the recovery of the enclave while the war raged and many of its members were displaced. This includes repurposing the rubble to build a commercial port, a move Israel has opposed on environmental grounds.
Yet the main obstacle towards recovery is Israel’s occupation of Gaza. Mr Abu Ramadan urged European countries to put pressure on Israel to ensure free movement in and out of the enclave and allow access to farmland on the border, so Gaza can start trading internationally.
European leaders could also use their influence to ensure Palestinians are included in the Board of Peace, which is to be led by US President Donald Trump.
Elections are vital to reforming the Palestinian Authority and ending factionalism, Mr Sinijlawi said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged to hold the first elections one year after a ceasefire came into effect.
Mr Sinijlawi believes elections in Gaza are logistically possible and necessary for ending Hamas’s control of the enclave. “If we want Hamas to start exiting the political scene in Gaza, it should be through elections because if they are not defeated in elections, they will not surrender voluntarily whatever they are controlling,” he said.
He added that the peace plan’s emphasis on “deradicalising” Gaza was “short-sighted” if that did not happen in tandem with efforts to support democracy and development in Gaza. “If you do not give hope, some people will go to the left side,” he said.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Juvenile arthritis
Along with doctors, families and teachers can help pick up cases of arthritis in children.
Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. JIA causes pain and inflammation in one or more joints for at least six weeks.
Dr Betina Rogalski said "The younger the child the more difficult it into pick up the symptoms. If the child is small, it may just be a bit grumpy or pull its leg a way or not feel like walking,” she said.
According to The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in US, the most common symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness that doesn’t go away. Usually it affects the knees, hands, and feet, and it’s worse in the morning or after a nap.
Limping in the morning because of a stiff knee, excessive clumsiness, having a high fever and skin rash are other symptoms. Children may also have swelling in lymph nodes in the neck and other parts of the body.
Arthritis in children can cause eye inflammation and growth problems and can cause bones and joints to grow unevenly.
In the UK, about 15,000 children and young people are affected by arthritis.
The specs: 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk
Price, base: Dh399,999
Engine: Supercharged 6.2-litre V8
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 707hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 875Nm @ 4,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 16.8L / 100km (estimate)
WandaVision
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany
Directed by: Matt Shakman
Rating: Four stars
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
