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Gaza grab, Sweden shooting and the Aga Khan passes

 
Today's MidEAST story

Trump: US 'will take over' Gaza, without Palestinians

What happened
President Donald Trump yesterday said the U.S. "will take over the Gaza Strip" and rebuild it into a "world class" and "unbelievable place" for "the world's people," after the Palestinians who call it home abandon their bombed-out enclave.

Who said what
"I do see a long-term ownership position" for the U.S. in Gaza, Trump said in White House appearances with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and "everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land" and developing it into something "magnificent," like "the Riviera of the Middle East." Trump said he "strongly" believed Gazans would only stay "because they have no alternative," and would be "thrilled" to "get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy."

Asked how many Palestinians should leave, Trump said, "all of them," and pressed repeatedly on whether he would force them out, he said: "I don't think they're going to tell me no." He "didn’t rule out sending U.S. forces to hold Gaza, a deployment that could launch the kind of long-term American military occupation in the Middle East that Trump has long decried," The Wall Street Journal said. Forcibly removing populations also violates the Geneva Conventions.

Trump has "completely lost it," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. "He wants a U.S. invasion of Gaza, which would cost thousands of American lives and set the Middle East on fire for 20 years? It's sick." Netanyahu "would not be drawn into discussing the proposal in depth other than to praise Trump for trying a new approach," Reuters said. Trump, he said, states "things others refuse to say, and after the jaws dropped, people scratch their heads and they say, 'You know, he's right.'"

What next?
Following Trump's comments, the U.S.'s Western allies reiterated their firm support for an independent Palestinian state including Gaza, as did Saudi Arabia, adding that it will not "establish diplomatic relations with Israel" until that happens.

 
 
Today's International story

At least 11 killed in Sweden adult ed school shooting

What happened
At least 11 people died in a shooting yesterday at an adult education center in Orebro, Sweden, including the suspected gunman, police said. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the attack the "worst mass shooting in Swedish history."

Who said what
Located 125 miles west of Stockholm,, the school, Campus Risbergska, "serves students over age 20," most of whom are working to complete their high school education," The Associated Press said. It also offers "Swedish classes for immigrants, vocational training and programs for people with intellectual disabilities."

"Fatal attacks at schools are rare" in Sweden, with 10 such deaths recorded between 2010 and 2022, Reuters said. But a "wave of shootings and bombings caused by an endemic gang crime problem" has left the country with "by far the highest per capita rate of gun violence" in the European Union.

What next?
Officials said the death toll could rise. Police did not publicly identify the suspected shooter or offer a motive, though they said they did not believe it was tied to terrorism or organized crime. "The time will come when we will know what happened" and why, Kristersson said in a press conference. "Let us not speculate."

 
 
Today's RELIGION Story

The Aga Khan, billionaire spiritual leader, dies at 88

What happened
The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Ismaili Muslims and one of the world's wealthiest hereditary heirs, died yesterday in Portugal. He was 88 and had led the Shiite branch — with large communities in South and Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and East Africa — for nearly seven decades

Who said what
Prince Karim Al-Hussaini became the Aga Khan IV and 49th hereditary iman in his family's 1,300-year-old dynasty when he was a 20-year-old student at Harvard. His grandfather, the Aga Khan III, unexpectedly bequeathed him the title upon his death in 1957, bypassing his playboy son Prince Aly Khan, Prince Karim's father. Queen Elizabeth II granted the Aga Khan IV the nonhereditary title "His Highness" two weeks later, reflecting the "close ties between the two dynasties, bonded in a shared fascination with fine horses," The New York Times said.

The Aga Khan "evolved into a business magnate and a philanthropist, moving between the spiritual and the worldly with ease," The Associated Press said. "Urbane, cosmopolitan and often media-averse," the Times said, he drew his fortune — estimated at between $1 billion and $13 billion — from an "eclectic" array of business ventures, a "lucrative equestrian empire" inherited from his father and "a kind of Quranic tithe levied on his followers." His philanthropy funded hospitals, housing, schools and development projects in some of the world's poorest places.

What next?
The Aga Khan will be buried in Lisbon. His handpicked successor will be named publicly after his will is read for family and religious leaders.

 
 

It's not all bad

With its stronger antimicrobial and antiallergenic properties, camel milk could be a healthier alternative to traditional cow milk, scientists from Edith Cowan University in Australia found. Because camel milk has a "higher potential" to yield molecules that can "selectively inhibit certain pathogens," it "creates a healthy gut environment" and likely lowers the risk of developing heart disease, The Independent said. And in several parts of the world where cattle farming is difficult, the land is "perfect for camels.”

 
 
Under the radar

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban, has ramped up its terrorist attacks on the country's all-powerful military in recent months, entrenching its influence in the tribal borderlands. This surge in violence is causing increasing tension with Afghanistan, which Pakistan accuses of harboring TTP militants. A month ago, Pakistan launched airstrikes against alleged TPP hideouts in Afghanistan, prompting Afghanistan to retaliate with strikes of its own.

Founded in 2007 to create an Islamic emirate in Pakistan, the TTP has been responsible for some of the country's "deadliest attacks," said Al Jazeera. Last year, more than 2,500 people in Pakistan were killed in terrorist acts, most of them by these militants, making it the deadliest year in a decade. 

For two decades Islamabad covertly supported the Taliban in Afghanistan, hoping it would "rein in" the Pakistani Taliban in return, said The New York Times. That, experts say, was a "strategic miscalculation." 

Locals believe the Pakistani militants could number up to 20,000, said The Diplomat. The TPP effectively operates a "parallel governance system." Pakistan's military has warned it will no longer tolerate "safe havens" for TTP fighters in Afghanistan. It has begun referring to them as khawarij ("outside the fold of Islam") and calling on Afghanistan to crack down on the group. 

The economic interdependence between Pakistan and Afghanistan means "neither side can afford a breakdown in relations," Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. and the U.N., said to the Financial Times. "But this level of cross-border violence can't go on."

 
 
On this day

February 5, 1885

Belgian King Leopold II established the Congo Free State in Africa, deeming the colonial territory his own personal property. Under Leopold's rule, the Congolese were forced to harvest resources including ivory and rubber; thousands of Congolese people died during what is considered one of colonial Africa's greatest atrocities.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

Elon Musk "takes showdown to new levels" as he "tears at traditional democracy to make way for Trump's new order," the Los Angeles Times says on Wednesday's front page. "Musk relying on Bay Area 'bros,'" the San Francisco Chronicle says. "U.S. officials warn Musk blitz may be against law," The Washington Post says. His "moves leave agencies in chaos," The Wall Street Journal says. "Education Department may be next dismantling," USA Today says. Donald Trump "proposing takeover of Gaza as U.S. territory," The New York Times says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

As strange as fiction

A fungus named after David Attenborough is manipulating spiders in a Northern Ireland cave, turning them into "zombies," according to a study published in Fungal Systematics and Evolution. Infected spiders are leaving their lairs or webs and hanging from the walls or roof of the cave, dying of exposure. This "indicates a behavioral change," scientists explained, "similar to those reported for zombie ants," the Brazilian rainforest ants infected by the cordyceps fungi, featured in the post-apocalyptic TV series "The Last of Us."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harriet Marsden, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP via Getty Images; Horacio Villalobos - Corbis / Corbis via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images