Center-right candidate Daniel Noboa, the 35-year-old son of a banana tycoon, will become Ecuador’s next president, following an election driven by concerns over rising violence and a worsening security situation in the Latin American nation.

More than 10 million people have voted in the presidential election, and data from the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE) shows Noboa obtained 52.3% of the votes (4,829,130).

His main political rival, leftist candidate and first round front-runner Luisa González, obtained 47.7% of votes (4,404,014), the CNE said.

Noboa was a lawmaker before outgoing President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the legislature and called for early elections.

The Acción Democrática Nacional party’s candidate, he has pledged to create more work opportunities for the young, bring in more foreign investment, using technology to fight crime, and has suggested several anti-corruption measures including sentences for tax evasion.

Speaking to reporters after the result, Noboa thanked his wife, parents, and God for allowing him to serve his country.

“I also thank all those people who have been part of a new, young, improbable political project, a political project whose purpose was to give back a smile to the country,” he said.

“Starting tomorrow, Daniel Noboa, your president of the republic, starts working.”

His rival, González of the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana party, a protégé of former leftist President Rafael Correa, ran on a promise to enhance public spending and social programs and wants to address the security crisis by fixing the root causes of violence, such as poverty and inequality.

González was the frontrunner in the first round of voting.

She conceded to Noboa after the result was announced, saying she would congratulate him on his victory.

“To the candidate now president-elect, we offer deep congratulations because it’s a democracy; we have never called for a city to be set on fire, we have never come out to shout fraud,” she said.

Security was tight throughout Sunday’s vote with tens of thousands of police officers and army personnel stationed at polling stations across the country.

Crime remained at the forefront of Ecuador’s run-off vote, months after the high-profile assassination of another presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, who was slain days before the August 20 first-round poll.

The killing became a tragic symbol of the country’s worsening security situation, where rival criminal organizations have been meting out brutal and often public shows of violence in the country’s streets and prisons in their battle to control drug trafficking routes.

Voter turnout was “historic” at 82.33% despite initial security concerns, CNE president Diana Atamaint said after polls closed Sunday.

“The transmission of the results has been fluid and constant; the Ecuadorians have permanently followed the votes obtained by each of the candidates, which are the result of the popular will expressed at the polls,” she Atamaint after the results came out.

“We have complied with a historic electoral process. The country gave us this mission, and today, we say to Ecuador and the entire world, ‘task accomplished;’ today democracy won, today Ecuador won.”

Tough job ahead

Before Ecuador, a nation of nearly 17 million, was transformed into one of the most dangerous countries in the region, it was known as a relatively peaceful place that was nestled between two of the world’s largest narcotics producers, Peru and Colombia.

Its deep ports, dollarized economy, and corruption have since made it a key transit point for drugs making its way to consumers in the US and Europe. The mounting violence, paired with a lack of economic prospects, have also compelled many Ecuadorians to leave the country.

Ortiz said he hopes the new president will focus not just on security but on the economy because “there are so many people who are unemployed, that is why crime [is] abound.”

Whoever wins on Sunday may gain a cursed chalice, say analysts covering the region. “Governing Ecuador right now is hell – this presidency is designed to eliminate you from political life,” Freeman said.

The new president will have relatively little time to work on a solution to the country’s woes. They will hold office only until 2025, which would have been the end of Lasso’s term – a short window for even the most seasoned politician to turn things around in the country.

The men in the wedding hall at the Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank spend most of their days and nights glued to their phones, smoking, constantly refreshing their news feeds. They look exhausted, the horrors of the last few days clearly visible on their faces.

These 180 men – they are all men – are refugees from Gaza. They are among the roughly 18,000 residents of the enclave who have Israeli work permits and are allowed to cross the border back and forth. When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shut all access to Gaza following Hamas’ deadly attack last Saturday, these men became stuck.

Some have wives and children in Khan Younis, a town in southern Gaza that is now the epicenter of its own rapidly unfolding refugee crisis, with no way of getting out.

The IDF has been relentlessly pounding Gaza with airstrikes and artillery after Hamas fighters staged a terror attack and launched thousands of rockets that so far have killed at least 1,400 people. The terror group also kidnapped some 150 others last Saturday during their unprecedented rampage.

Israel’s military says their goal is to destroy Hamas and ensure it can never again carry out such an attack. But the civilian toll of the campaign has been immense. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said 2,450 have been killed in the past eight days, which is more more than during the entire 2014 war, which lasted 51 days.

Ismail Abd Almagid’s wife and five children – four girls and one boy – are in Gaza while he is staying in the refugee camp. He has videos of all of them on his phone. One shows his young daughter Misk eating a piece of mango. When he plays the clip, tears start streaming down his face.

Tala, his second-oldest daughter, was injured in the 2014 war when the family was staying at his parents’ house. “She loves roller skates, so I told her I’ll bring them when I come back,” he said.

“My children are telling me to pray for them. The situation is very difficult over there,” he said. “I’d go back (to Gaza) right now … even with everything that’s going on, take me to Gaza, I will go with you right now … my life is not worth it without my family.”

Right now a huge population shift is underway in Gaza, with hundreds of thousands heading south, many heading to the overcrowded streets of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military told people living in densely populated northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to relocate to the south of the strip. The United Nations said the instruction, which it said affects 1.1 million people, would cause “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

When Abd Almagid got his permit to work in Israel in October last year, it felt like winning the lottery. The economy in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas but blockaded by Israel and Egypt, has been decimated, and the unemployment rate stands at 45%, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

“I always wanted this permit because the situation in Gaza is very dire. The financial situation, the debt … the economy is zero. There’s no work opportunities,” he said, adding that he had been unemployed since graduating in 2004 when he got the permit.

Israel began issuing thousands of work permits for Gazans to cross into Israel as part of an economic incentive strategy Israeli authorities had hoped would deter Hamas from further armed conflict.

His wife, who has an English degree, is also without work. He said he was spending every other week in Israel, where he worked at a bakery.

Many of the men at the Dheisheh refugee camp are in the same situation – they are the only members of their families to have a job. The salaries they earn in Israel are multiple times higher than anything they’d be able to get in Gaza.

Marwan Saqer, 55, is the only one of his entire family to have a job – and the only one to have ever stepped foot outside of Gaza.

He was working at a construction site in Kafr Qassem, an Arab town near Tel Aviv, when Hamas attacked Israel. He said that the Palestinian Authority told him and other Gazans to come to the West Bank after their Israeli work permits were canceled.

He said the people of Dheisheh welcomed them with open arms, bringing them mattresses, blankets and basic supplies, and providing comfort and company.

The Dheisheh camp in Bethlehem was first established in 1949, when 3,000 Palestinians settled there after being expelled or fleeing from villages west of Jerusalem.

The camp’s population has since grown to more than 18,500 people who are still living in a now-built-up area of one third of a square kilometer, according to the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

The walls of the camp are decorated with portraits of its residents, mostly young men, who have been killed in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The tradition started in the 1990s as a way to commemorate them and has persisted until now.

Marwan Saqer said that as far as he knows, his wife and eight children have left their home in central Gaza three or four times in the past week, but are now back.

The fact that it’s the husbands and fathers who are in the relative safety of the refugee camp while women and children are in Gaza is weighing hard on these men.

“It’s difficult. We all sit together, and we share our feelings. We all feel the same all the fathers. We all feel the suffering of our children,” Saqer said.

The space is getting claustrophobic, and the atmosphere is tense. Arguments can erupt easily over issues like access to power plugs.

“There are people within our group that stay up all night crying,” Saqer said. “All of us, physically, we are here, but our minds are in Gaza.”

It wasn’t love at first sight when Aditi Anand met Susan Dias at a book club in Mumbai.

“We didn’t get along with each other at all,” Anand, a filmmaker, said with a smile as she recalled the encounter. “We were always antagonistic toward each other’s views on the books we were reading.”

Weeks later, when the two women bumped into each other at a phone shop, Dias even ignored Anand.

“She tried so hard not to acknowledge me. But unfortunately, or rather fortunately for both of us, we found each other at the phone counter,” Anand said. “We said hi and exchanged numbers.”

More than a decade later, Anand and Dias have built a life together. They have co-founded their own companies, are raising a son, own a home and have adopted a dog.

But there’s one thing they have not been able to do in their home country: marry.

India, the world’s largest democracy and most populous country, does not recognize same-sex marriage, effectively barring millions of LGBTQ couples from accessing some of the legal benefits attached to matrimony in relation to issues like adoption, insurance and inheritance.

In Dias and Anand’s case, for instance, under the present law only one of them is recognized as their son’s legal parent, which affects issues like who can make medical decisions on his behalf.

However, things could be about to change.

In a landmark case being live-streamed to the public and watched by tens of thousands of people every day, India’s Supreme Court has since April been hearing submissions from activists challenging the law.

Advocates acting on behalf of 18 petitioners say it’s time for India to treat the country’s LGBTQ community as equal citizens under its constitution.

But they’re up against a tough opponent: the ruling government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which argues that same-sex marriage is a “Western” concept without “any basis” in the constitution. It told the court in a recent submission such unions were an “urban” and “elitist” concept, and therefore not welcome in the country.

A ruling by the court is expected soon.

If the activists are successful, it could change the fabric of what is traditionally a deeply conservative country.

“I want my son to have two legitimate, lawful parents,” said Dias who, like Anand, is among the 18 petitioners. “And that’s why this petition is important to us.”

A complex relationship

Indian attitudes to LGBTQ issues are complex.

Hindu mythology dating back centuries features men transforming into women and holy texts feature third gender characters. But same-sex intercourse was criminalized and marriage rights limited to heterosexual couples under a penal code introduced by India’s British former colonial leaders in 1860.

Since then, India’s LGBTQ community – likely one of the world’s largest given its population of 1.4 billion people – has faced widespread marginalization from society.

Both those elements of the colonial-era penal code remained in force even 70 years after India gained independence in 1947 (and years after they were abandoned by the former colonizer – with England and Wales legalizing same-sex intercourse in 1967 and same-sex marriage in 2013).

During nearly a decade in power, Indian leader Narendra Modi and his ruling BJP party have been keen to shake off India’s colonial baggage, renaming streets and cities and championing an India in charge of its own destiny. But Victorian laws governing same-sex marriage are one throwback to the colonial past his party has fought to retain.

In 2017, when the couple Vishwa and Vivek got married, homosexuality was still a crime – punishable by up to 10 years in prison. They held an intimate Hindu ceremony at Vishwa’s parents apartment just outside of New Delhi, inviting only some of their closest friends and family.

“We had to do it very quickly. It had to be brief,” said Vivek, who works for an NGO. “My family was not present.”

That same year, award-winning Indian filmmaker Karan Johar wrote about what it meant to be gay in India.

“Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is,” he wrote in his memoir “An Unsuitable Boy.” “I don’t need to scream it out…. I won’t, only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this.”

But there are signs attitudes are beginning to change.

In 2018, after a decade-long battle, the Supreme Court struck down the colonial-era law that criminalized same-sex intercourse – though it left intact the legislation limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.

In recent years same-sex relationships have been increasingly embraced both by Bollywood, the country’s highly influential Hindi-film industry, and major cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru, which celebrate pride month with parades and large-scale events.

Vishwa says these are big wins for the community and have encouraged efforts to change the law further, even in the face of strong government opposition. Even a ruling against the petitioners might have a silver lining, he said.

“It might not be a win. Most of us have made peace with it,” Vishwa said. “But we know that any positive statement made by the Supreme Court will benefit us in the future and we are very ready to continue fighting.”

Fighting ‘for those who cannot’

Whatever the court decides, its ruling will affect millions of people in India for generations to come.

Advocates say a positive ruling will give legitimacy and more influence to the countless Indians who presently struggle to come to terms with their sexuality and face harassment on the streets, in schools and in the workplace.

Celebrity chef and LGBTQ activist Suvir Saran is among those critical of the government’s stance, saying it is sending a message that India doesn’t accept people the way they are.

In rural pockets of the country, where discrimination is widespread, the ramifications of coming out can be particularly dire, Saran says.

“If you’re coming from a place with no access to quality education, or just any of the basic amenities of life, you’re broken. You’re broken even before you get to your sexuality,” Saran said.

Anish Gawde, founder of Pink List India, an organization that tracks the LGBTQ views of Indian politicians, said many people without support have been driven from their homes and forced to live a life of seclusion.

“Marriage equality is in fact more important to these tens of thousands of queer people in India,” Gawde said. “They love and continue to love despite social stigma and oppression.”

Vivek hopes a positive ruling would legitimize his relationship with his husband in the eyes of the wider public.

“I want to be known as the partner of Vishwa in the eyes of the law,” he said. “Marriage is a social contract. It’s also a financial contract. The rights given to heterosexual couples are so significant for people like us to build a life together.”

Since petitioning the top court, Dias said she has realized that they are not doing this for themselves, but for the millions of people who don’t have the means to fight.

“It’s really become a collective action now. I’m doing this for those who cannot, as much as I’m doing it for myself,” she said.

Anand agreed, adding that what started off as a conversation in their home has morphed into a movement that has united India’s LGBTQ community.

“We are asking can we be equal?” she said.

Gaza is being “strangled” by Israel’s week-long siege and aerial bombardment, UN experts have warned, as concerns grow that further escalation and a lack of safety for fleeing civilians risks drawing regional foes into the long-running conflict.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas in response to the unprecedented October 7 terrorist attacks by the Islamist militant group, which controls the enclave. At least 1,400 people were killed and many taken hostage during Hamas’ rampage, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in what US President Joe Biden has called “the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Diplomatic efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor to send desperately-needed supplies into Gaza are ramping up before the coastal strip’s 2.3 million people completely run out of clean drinking water, food, fuel and medicine, which aid agencies have warned will result in an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

“Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity,” said United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, in an urgent plea for critical aid to be allowed in. “We all know water is life – Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life. ”

Lazzarini said that “not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a liter of fuel” has been allowed into Gaza for the past eight days and people trapped in the densely-populated blockaded strip are desperate.

On Monday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office denied there were any arrangements for the opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt – the only entry point into the enclave that Israel does not control.

On the brink of collapse, hospitals have run out of painkillers and many Gazans are beginning to suffer from severe dehydration due to lack of drinking water, according to medical NGO Medecins sans Frontieres. Multiple aid agencies have said fuel and other necessities could run out in hours, not days.

The 50,000 pregnant women currently in Gaza – 5,000 of whom are due to give birth in the coming month – face a “double nightmare,” said UN Population Fund (UNFPA) representative Dominic Allen, and face having their babies in unsanitary conditions, risking health complications while under the threat of bombs.

Compounding the critical situation is the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homes in northern Gaza and attempting to head south through the battered streets ahead of an Israeli offensive that the IDF said would include widespread strikes and “significant ground operations.”

UNRWA’s Lazzarini said at least 1 million people were forced to flee their homes in one week alone and at least 400,000 displaced people are taking shelter in UN schools and buildings, though there is little available space to cope with the numbers of displaced.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog on Sunday described the “horrific scenes” he saw from the Hamas assault on Israeli homes and communities, including a booklet he claimed contains tactics used by the militant group to kidnap and torture people.

In over a week of bombardment, Israeli airstrikes have killed least 2,670 people in Gaza, including hundreds of children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which accused the Israeli military of “direct targeting of medical staff and their families.”

Casualties in Gaza over the past eight days have now surpassed the number of those killed during the 51-day Gaza-Israel conflict in 2014. Meanwhile, Hamas is believed to be holding 199 Israeli and foreign nationals hostage in Gaza, according to the IDF’s spokesperson Rear Adm. Dan Hagari Monday. 

That number was revised up from the previous figure of 155, with many believed to be held in the warren of tunnels underneath Gaza.

‘Mammoth’ diplomatic efforts

Frantic calls to open humanitarian corridors into Gaza have grown in urgency and number in recent days, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis and several nations and international aid agencies among them.

UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said “mammoth diplomatic efforts” are underway with Guterres and many member states “exercising what leverage they can.”

President Herzog said Sunday he was meeting again with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss establishing a humanitarian corridor but further plans to execute such a route would need to include “Israeli cabinet and government under Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu and the new national unity emergency government.”

The top US diplomat has been visiting Israel and neighboring countries in recent days, meeting with various regional leaders.

On Sunday Blinken promised the Rafah border crossing “will be open” and that the United States was working with the UN, Egypt, Israel and others to coordinate aid efforts.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi accused Israel over the weekend of going “beyond the scope of self-defense.” China’s Middle East envoy Zhai Jun said he would visit the region this week.

Aid has been piling up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing but so far, the facility appears to remain nonfunctional; Egypt says that airstrikes on the Gaza side have made roads inoperable, and Jordan has said it is seeking assurance that aid convoys will not be targeted by Israeli warplanes.

The UN’s emergency relief chief, Martin Griffiths, reiterated the desperate need for aid to get into Gaza Monday. “We need access for aid. We are in deep discussions with the Israelis, with the Egyptians and with others, hugely helped by Secretary Blinken in his travels around the region,” Griffiths said in a video from the UN Monday.

“And I’m hoping to hear some good news this morning about getting aid through Rafah… to help those million people who have moved south as well as those who live there already. So, rules of war, aid, access.”

It is also unclear if water is now flowing into southern Gaza.

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus later said Israel has “opened taps” on its side to allow water to enter southern Gaza, but he said he “doesn’t have visibility on exactly how much is actually flowing where it should.”

Regional concerns grow

As Israel battles Hamas, it also faces the threat of a wider conflict on new fronts, with hostilities with Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah in the north, and Syria potential flash points.

A regional conflagration has Western powers concerned: French President Emmanuel Macron “warned” his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi against an escalation of the Gaza crisis on Sunday and the US has been increasing its defense posture in the Middle East to deter any Iranian aggression or an expansion of the fighting beyond Israel’s borders, according to a US official.

Additional US attack aircraft including A-10 Warthogs arrived in the Middle East Sunday joining squadrons of fighter jets already deployed as well as two US carrier strike groups deployed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Speaking to CBS Sunday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that while there is no new intelligence the threat level from Iran has changed, “there is a risk of an escalation of this conflict.”

Iran has warned of the consequences of a possible larger escalation if Israel continues to attack Gaza.

Egypt is facing mounting pressure to act as neighboring Gaza gets pummeled by Israeli strikes after last weekend’s brutal assault in Israel by Hamas.

In the wake of the Hamas attacks, Israel closed its two border crossings with Gaza and imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, blocking supplies of fuel, electricity and water.

That has left the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt as the only viable outlet to get people out of the enclave and supplies into it.

But the crossing has been closed for much of the past week, with neither Gazans nor foreign nationals able to cross, and tons of vital humanitarian supplies for people in Gaza piling up on the Egyptian side of the border.

The Biden administration has held talks with Israel and Egypt about ensuring safe passage for Americans and other civilians out of Gaza.

But Egypt, which already hosts millions of migrants, is uneasy about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees crossing into its territory. More than two million Palestinians live in Gaza, a densely packed coastal enclave that is under intense Israeli bombardment.

Israel’s military has called for the 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate their homes and move southwards, according to the United Nations, as Israel amassed 300,000 reservists on the border in apparent preparation for a ground incursion.

Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack on Israel killed 1,300 people, prompting retaliation by Israel against which has killed 2,329 people in Gaza. As attacks intensify and Israel continues to cut off essential supplies, rights groups have raised concerns about a potential humanitarian catastrophe.

People and supplies stuck at the border

Movement through the Rafah crossing is normally extremely limited; only Gazans with permits as well as foreign nationals are able to use it to travel between Gaza and Egypt. But the border has been effectively sealed shut in recent days.

Western efforts to reopen the crossing and evacuate their nationals from Gaza continued over the weekend, with the US advising Americans in the strip to move closer to Rafah in case the crossing opened, if it was possible for them to relocate safely.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports have flocked to the border but have been left sitting in the streets for hours, the Palestinian border official said Saturday.

Alqahera News, a local news channel linked to the government, reported Saturday that Egyptian officials were not allowing US and other foreign nationals to use the crossing because a deal had not been struck on facilitating aid into the strip, citing Egyptian sources.

Meanwhile, humanitarian supplies are continuing to arrive in Egypt as diplomatic efforts continue to bring aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Aid flights from Jordan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the World Health Organization, and the Red Cross have arrived in the Egyptian city of El-Arish, approximately 45 kilometers (23 miles) away from Rafah, according to footage aired on Egyptian state television on Saturday.

The Red Crescent has warehouses full of humanitarian aid and the El-Arish stadium has been prepared to accommodate more aid, an Egyptian Red Crescent official said on Saturday.

A World Health Organization plane carrying medical supplies landed in Egypt on Saturday, said Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO. However, the organization is still waiting for humanitarian access through the crossing.

Shoukry said Egypt has tried to ship humanitarian aid to Gaza but has not received the proper authorization to do so.

Egypt said Sunday it would intensify its efforts to try and help relief organizations deliver aid to Gaza as the territory’s humanitarian crisis worsens, though a statement from the Egyptian presidency said “national security is a red line and that there is no compromise in its protection.”

‘We sympathize’

Speaking at a military graduation ceremony Thursday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi compared the situation in his country to a lone house in a neighborhood that’s on fire. He said that rumors about Egypt not seeking to help its Palestinian neighbors are untrue.

“We are making sure that aid, whether medical or humanitarian, at this difficult time, makes it to the strip,” Sisi said, adding that “we sympathize.”

But he warned that Egypt’s ability to help has limits.

“Of course we sympathize. But be careful, while we sympathize, we must always be using our minds in order to reach peace and safety in a manner that doesn’t cost us much,” he said, adding that Egypt hosts 9 million migrants already. The largest groups in the country’s migrant population are from Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Libya, according to a 2022 report by the UN’s International Organization for Migration.

Egypt’s foreign ministry warned Friday against Israel’s call for evacuation, calling it “a grave violation of international humanitarian law” that would put the lives of more than 1 million Palestinians in danger.

But Egyptian media outlets have sounded alarms about the prospect of allowing Palestinian refugees into the country, warning that it may forcefully displace Gazans into Sinai.

Sisi echoed those sentiments on Thursday. “There is a danger” when it comes to Gaza, he said – “a danger so big because it means an end to this (Palestinian) cause… It is important that (Gaza’s) people remain standing and on their land.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah, who met with Blinken Friday, warned against “any attempt to displace Palestinians from any Palestinian territories or to cause their displacement.”

The vast majority of Gaza’s residents today are Palestinian refugees from areas that fell under Israeli control in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. That war marked Israel’s creation, but it is also lamented by Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” as more than 700,000 Palestinians were either expelled or forced to flee their homes in what is now Israel.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians took refuge in Gaza, which fell under Egyptian control after the war. Israel captured the territory from Egypt in the 1967 war and began settling Jews there, but it withdrew its troops and settlements in 2005.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Beijing for the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics, they confidently outlined their vision for a new international order no longer dominated by the United States and its democratic allies.

Now, nearly two years on, and with geopolitical fault lines hardening globally, the world’s two most powerful autocrats are preparing to see each other again in the Chinese capital.

The meeting comes under the shadow of conflict, with Russia’s grinding invasion of Ukraine – launched just three weeks after the leaders’ last get-together in Beijing – and Israel’s war against Hamas, which now threatens to escalate regionally.

Both Beijing and Moscow have criticized Israel’s actions in response to a shock attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas last week and called for a ceasefire, in the latest showing of the two powers’ efforts to step up their alternative leadership to that of the United States, which affirms Israel’s on-going right to retaliate.

Xi and Putin are likely to discuss the situation during a meeting this week as Putin arrives as a guest of honor at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing – an exceptionally rare foreign trip for the diplomatically isolated leader.

Heads of state, representatives and delegations from more than 140 countries are expected to attend China’s landmark, two-day diplomatic event beginning Tuesday, which marks 10 years since the start of Xi’s global infrastructure funding drive, and presents the Chinese leader with an opportunity to project Beijing’s growing global ambitions.

A rare trip

Putin, who has seldom left the bloc of former Soviet nations since launching his war, is shunned by the West and wanted by an international court for alleged war crimes. Experts say he is also unwilling to travel anywhere he feels his personal security can’t be absolutely assured. He made his first known trip of the year outside of Russian-controlled territory last week, with a visit to Kyrgyzstan.

But despite Putin’s changing circumstances since his last time in Beijing, the two leaders have become increasingly aligned in presenting an alternative world view to the one offered by the West – as they seek to bring more countries alongside their efforts to shift a global balance of power they feel is stacked against them.

In an interview with China’s state broadcaster ahead of the event, Putin lavished praise on Xi, calling the Chinese president “steady, calm, pragmatic and reliable – a true world leader,” and hailing his “unique approach of dealing with other countries” that has shown no imposition or coercion, but rather provided others with opportunities.

Putin and Xi, who frequently refer to their close friendship, have met 40 times in the past decade, including twice since the start of the war in Ukraine. During their previous meeting in Beijing, the two men released a 5,000-word joint statement declaring a friendship with “no limits” and underscoring their deep alignment against the West.

Attending the forum will be a significant opportunity for Putin to “achieve international exposure … and show that Russia still has a strong friend in China,” said Li Mingjiang, an associate professor of international relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“And for China, having an important international player like Putin to join the BRI summit is also politically important,” he added. Otherwise, the forum – the crowning event of Xi’s diplomatic year – is largely expected to include leaders from less-influential developing and middle income nations.

‘No limits’ no more?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine put the growing China-Russia relationship to the test like no other event in recent history, placing Beijing under heavy scrutiny from Western nations for its close ties to its northern neighbor and raising questions about whether Xi had advance knowledge of Putin’s plan.

Beijing has since claimed neutrality in the conflict and called for peace, in recent months ramping up efforts to be seen as a potential peace broker, as concerns about its close ties with Russia further strained its relations with Europe and the United States.

But the world’s second largest economy has also become a key lifeline for a sanction-ridden Russia, which is now dependent on it for goods and energy purchases, and the two countries have deepened their interactions across a range of areas since the start of the war.

Last year, Russia and China saw record trade, which continued to grow in 2023. They’ve expanded security cooperation through more joint military drills and robust official dialogue, experts say, and continued to deepen diplomatic ties – including those of Putin and Xi, who earlier this year chose a state visit to Moscow as the symbolically significant first foreign trip of his third term as China’s President.

“China tries rhetorically and symbolically to put a certain distance between itself and Russia when it comes to talking to Western audiences,” said Alex Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center think tank in Berlin.

“(But) even if it’s officially not dubbed a ‘no limits partnership,’ (the China-Russia relationship) has become, in real terms, more solid, robust, and deep,” he said.

Push for peace?

The timing of the Beijing hosted forum, coming as Israel signals it may launch a ground invasion of the Hamas-governed Gaza strip, presents Putin with opportunity to shift the global spotlight away from his war in Ukraine, analysts say.

Moscow is expected to table a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire, without naming Hamas, with its UN envoy on Friday comparing the day-after-day shelling of Hamas-controlled Gaza by Israel to the brutal siege of Leningrad during World War II.

At the other end of the historical spectrum, US President Joe Biden this weekend described Hamas’ attack as the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

China has said it will send its envoy to the Middle East to encourage talks and condemned “all acts that harm civilians,” but it has not explicitly targeted that condemnation at Hamas, nor named the group in its statements.

During a flurry of diplomatic calls in recent days, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Israel’s actions have “gone beyond the scope of self-defense.”

Both countries’ statements stand in contrast to that of the US, which has made clear its staunch support for Israel – and signaled it does not feel this is the appropriate moment for a ceasefire.

Xi and Putin are expected to discuss the conflict in their upcoming meeting – where Russia’s war in Ukraine will also likely feature.

In that conflict, too, China has tried to position itself as a potential mediator.

But when its comes China’s interest in pushing the Russian leader to end his invasion, Xi may be cautious not to take any step that could damage relations.

That’s especially as he is likely watching a potential shift in global positions on the conflict, amid signs of changing attitudes at least in some parts of Europe – and an upcoming election in the United States next year could trigger a significant shift in the level of US support for Ukraine.

“So far we don’t see any sign that China is keen to use its upper-hand (to put pressure on Russia),” said Li in Singapore.

“Chinese policymakers don’t want to see even the slightest level of distrust between Beijing and Moscow.”

Spiro, a startup looking to eliminate fuel-guzzling motorbikes and scooters from the roads by trading them in for electric two-wheelers, is expanding to Kenya.

Ahead of the first Africa Climate Summit, which kicked off in Kenya’s capital Nairobi today, the host government announced on Friday that the e-bike and battery-swapping startup would be entering the East African country with its biggest deployment yet: 1.2 million electric vehicles.

This marks a major milestone for the company founded in the West African country of Benin in 2022, says CEO Jules Samain – vastly increasing its fleet from the 10,000 bikes currently in operation across Benin, Togo and Rwanda. This autumn, the company will also begin its five-year rollout of 140,000 bikes in Uganda.

Crushing polluters

The process for drivers differs between countries. In Kenya, they will be offered 50,000 Kenyan shillings (about $344) – around a third of the price of a new electric bike – to swap their existing bike for an electric one. They can then pay a daily subscription of around 255 Kenyan shillings (about $2) which repays the outstanding balance and gives drivers access to battery-swap stations, where they can quickly switch out depleted batteries for fully charged ones.

Not only does the scheme reduce the number of petrol and diesel vehicles on the road and associated air pollution, but it also cuts costs for drivers in both fuel and maintenance, according to the company. The startup notes that some of its motorbike taxi drivers have reported profits rising from around $6 to $11 a day since joining the scheme.

A 2022 report from the FIA Foundation, an international transport and road safety charity, found that while the purchase price of electric motorcycles is currently greater than that of petrol-powered motorcycles, the operating costs are cheaper. It says that in many African countries, one liter of petrol will power a bike for about the same distance as one kilowatt-hour of electricity but will cost five to 10 times more.

The report adds that battery-swapping initiatives are key in making electric two-wheelers more affordable, because when an electric motorcycle is sold without the battery, it significantly reduces the initial purchase price.

But for battery-swapping to work, there needs to be “reliable and accessible charging infrastructure,” says Samain. “Before distributing the first bike, we build a network of swapping stations, and they aren’t placed randomly: we carefully study the terrain and position our swapping stations in both urban and rural areas, ensuring extensive coverage.”

Spiro has committed to building 3,000 of these stations across Kenya, meaning that drivers can rid themselves of range anxiety, while also contributing to building up the nation’s electric vehicle infrastructure. The company, which currently manufactures most of its bikes and scooters in China, has also agreed to establish a manufacturing base in Kenya to generate local jobs.

Kenya’s president William Ruto, speaking in the coastal city of Mombasa at the launch of the initiative, said: “It creates jobs and transfers knowledge, technology and skills to our market in a very sustainable way.”

Charging forward

According to the FIA Foundation, there were 27 million motorbikes registered in sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, rising from just 5 million in 2010, with around 80% of them used in the motorcycle taxi industry. The demand for two-wheelers is expected to grow even further, with a report from management consulting firm McKinsey estimating that electric and petrol motorbikes will make up over 45% of sub-Saharan Africa’s overall vehicle fleet by 2040.

McKinsey warns that with increased demand, second-hand motorized vehicles that don’t meet emission standards in other countries around the world might end up being sold in Africa, where there is weak regulation. To avoid the continent becoming a “dumping ground” for unwanted polluting vehicles, enabling affordable and reliable electrification will be key, it says.

Spiro, formerly known as M-Auto, is just one of the startups fueling this transition. Swedish-Kenyan startup Roam (formerly Opibus), which converts old vehicles to run off electric motors, opened East Africa’s largest electric motorcycle assembly plant earlier this year, while Ampersand has a fleet of around 1,000 bikes as well as a small network of battery-swap stations across Kenya and Rwanda. Last week, US company Uber also launched an electric motorbike service in Kenya, promising to roll out 3,000 bikes within six months.

But the scale of Spiro’s Kenya expansion dwarfs all existing fleets. “We’re surpassing the symbolic but significant milestone of one million electric bikes signed with a government,” says Samain. The startup has its foot on the accelerator, and by 2030, he wants it to be operating in at least 10 African countries.

Africa is widely considered the birthplace of coffee, and today, beans from Ethiopia and Kenya are renowned as some of the best in the world. But there’s an emergent player from the continent looking to make a name for itself: Mozambique.

This year, the country joined the International Coffee Organization, pledging to produce coffee in an environmentally friendly and ethical way.

Mozambique’s efforts to become a coffee powerhouse are thanks in part to the Gorongosa Coffee Project. Founded in 2013, it began with the objective of reforesting the national park it is situated in – a 1,500 square-mile (4,000 square-kilometer) area in the center of the country. It is home to around 200,000 people, as well as iconic African elephants and lions. Now, the coffee is also providing an extra source of income for the communities living there.

Juliasse Sabao, supervisor of the Gorongosa Coffee Project, says that before coffee came to the national park, many people there were subsistence farmers growing just enough maize, beans, and peas to feed their family, with little surplus to sell. But through the project, residents in the park were incentivized to grow coffee, and taught how to cultivate and harvest the crop in their fields. They were also given indigenous tree seedlings to plant alongside the crop, offering shade and windbreak to the coffee, while also helping to reforest the park.

Now, the coffee generates enough income for workers to “pay school fees, buy new uniforms, and buy basic necessities for their families,” Sabao says. “Their lifestyle is changing very fast.”

The project started with only 10 families, but in the 10 years it has been running, it has grown to have around 1,000 families working as farmers, roasters, pickers, and tasters. Sabao says that communities were initially hesitant about being involved: coffee was a new crop in the country, and not much was known about it. He noted a big change after the first successful crop was sold and the farmers turned a profit; word spread, and many more people joined the initiative.

Reforestation, coffee and communities

Sofia Molina, head of the Coffee Project notes that over time the coffee outputs “have slowly increased, not only in terms of volume, but also in terms of quality.”

Whilst the Gorongosa Coffee Project is a for-profit venture, Molina is certain about one thing: “production for the sake of profit is not sustainable for the future.” She believes that other motivations, such as reforestation and community participation, are vital.

Sabao shares this belief. “There was a program to grow native plants here in 2018, but it wasn’t successful because the community didn’t understand the importance. ‘For what benefit?’ was the question,” he says.

“So, we sat down and brought coffee as a catalyst for reforestation. They are happy now because they know if they grow coffee, they’ll get money and at the same time, the forest will come back.”

Reforestation is much needed. The park has faced severe degradation from natural disasters, human conflict and development, affecting the wildlife that lives there. Some creatures, like the Mount Gorongosa pygmy chameleon, endemic to the region, are threatened by habitat destruction, and regrowth and protection of the natural environment will help to protect the park’s biodiversity.

Growing education

“Coffee is a noble crop,” says Molina, adding that she has seen some communities’ annual revenue increase threefold since joining the project. “Done hand in hand with conservation, we have become the largest coffee producer in Mozambique,” and that, she says, is “a source of pride for the country itself.”

Some of the profits from the coffee sales go towards building new schools and training teachers in the park. Many of these schools have a particular focus on creating a safe space for the local girls, encouraging them to finish their studies and helping to prevent child marriages. After-school programs are also offered, which, as well as teaching the girls to respect the ecosystem they live in, give them time to play – something that was lacking before, as girls would go straight home after school to complete chores.

Vasco Galante, the national park’s director of communications, believes the revival of Gorongosa National Park is one of Africa’s greatest wildlife restoration success stories. He says that coffee production has helped to achieve this, adding that sales of the product have allowed buyers to become “part of the self-sustaining system that helps to restore and protect the park, creates jobs and provides healthcare, training and education for its people.”

Cross-border impact

Gorongosa coffee is exported mainly within Africa, with South Africa its biggest market. The company has plans to expand to neighboring Zimbabwe, as well as Tanzania, Malawi and Kenya.

The Coffee Project is also facilitating the exchange of ideas by inviting farmers from other countries to see the park model, as well as sending its own people abroad.

Wana Chipoya, a Zambian agronomist working with coffee, recently visited the national park and was very impressed. “I’ve taken a lot of these techniques back with me,” he says.

Molina’s message for the end consumer is to think about where their coffee comes from before drinking it: “If it is at a low price, why is that price so low? Think about the families on the field that are actually doing the hard labor – they depend on the income from that coffee.” 

Gaza’s humanitarian crisis deepened Thursday as Israeli jets continued to pound the densely populated enclave in response to Hamas’ brutal terror attacks, while Israel’s government formed an emergency war cabinet and ordered hospitals to prepare for an expected escalation of violence.

The decades old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians entered uncharted territory this week after Israel suffered its worst attack by Palestinian militants since its founding 75 years ago.

Israel has stepped up its offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 onslaught, when armed militants poured over the heavily-fortified border into Israel.

The gunmen killed more than 1,200 people, wounding thousands more in a coordinated rampage through farms and communities where they also took as many as 150 hostages.

The atrocities have sparked international revulsion and vows by Israel’s government to destroy Hamas, which has continued to fire rockets at Israeli towns over the last five days.

At least 1,354 people have since been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

More than 6,000 have been wounded, the ministry said, as Israeli air strikes continue to pummel the densely populated strip, decimating buildings, reducing entire streets to rubble and trapping residents.

Israel has ordered a “complete siege” on the enclave of 2 million people, including halting supplies of electricity, food, water and fuel.

On Thursday, Israel’s Energy Minister Israel Katz said supplies would remain cut off until hostages being held by Hamas are freed. “No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened, and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home. Humanitarian for humanitarian. And no one will preach us morals,” Katz said on social media.

More than 330,000 people have been displaced in Gaza, according to a statement by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) early Thursday.

Hospitals are expected to run out of fuel on Thursday, leading to “catastrophic” conditions, the Palestinian Health Ministry warned.

A surge in injured people seeking treatment has pushed Gaza’s health infrastructure close to breaking point, Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said on Thursday. “Even after expansion, all beds are occupied, leaving no room for new patients in critical condition,” he said.

Palestinian Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila has called for urgent international assistance to help set up field hospitals in the Gaza Strip and to provide medicines and medical supplies.

Video and photo from the besieged enclave depict scenes of tragedy and heartbreak.

“There are body parts scattered everywhere. There are still people missing,” one man in the northern neighborhood of Al-Karama said. “We’re still looking for our brothers, our children. It’s like we’re stuck living in a nightmare.”

‘Possible escalations’

In response to Hamas’ assault Israel has massed some 300,000 reservists near the Gaza border, according to the Israel Defence Force (IDF), a huge mobilization given the country’s 9 million population.

On Thursday, the IDF said it was continuing “large scale strikes on terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza strip,” as speculation of a possible ground incursion into Gaza grows.

“We have sent our infantry, armored soldiers, our artillery corps and many other soldiers from the reserves. 300,000 in numbers in different brigades,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Wednesday.

“They are now close to the Gaza Strip, getting ready to execute the mission that they have been given,” he added.

Israel’s government also said it was preparing its hospitals and healthcare system for “possible escalations in the security situation,” its health ministry said.

Hamas’ attack has also sparked some political unity in Israel after months of domestic friction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz jointly announcing an emergency government and war management cabinet on Wednesday.

Gantz, a former defense minister, will join Netanyahu and current defense minister Yoav Gallant in a wartime cabinet.

“There is time for war and time for peace. This, now, is the time for war,” Gantz said during a televised address.

A diplomatic push is being made to try and bring about some sort of mediation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday and met with Netanyahu.

Blinken is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan on Friday, according to a US official.

Abbas leads the Palestinian Authority (PA), which was established in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 1993 through the Oslo Accords, a peace pact between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It stipulated the PLO give up armed resistance against Israel in return for promises of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The PA are rivals to Hamas.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman received a call from Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday in which they discussed the “military escalation in Gaza,” Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Horror stories

The scale and nature of Hamas’ attacks have horrified Israelis with each day bringing new testimonies of both atrocities committed as well as astonishing tales of survival and bravery amidst the carnage.

Tom Hand, a resident of the Be’eri, a kibbutz where Hamas gunmen left at least 120 dead, learned his daughter Emily, 8, was among the murdered.

The fact that Hamas has taken an unprecedented number of hostages now complicates Israel’s response.

“Reason dictates that they are underground,” he said. “Reason also dictates that Hamas, since they planned to launch this attack and they planned to take these people hostage, reason dictates that they planned in advance locations to hide these hostages and keep them safe from Israeli intelligence, and efforts to get them out.”

He said even though Israel has had “some experience” with hostage situations they have never dealt with anything like this.

“There were many calls made by Arab and non-Arab states to Hamas leadership abroad asking about the possibility of exchanging Israeli captives with Hamas prisoners,” al-Risheq said from Doha, Qatar.

“But we told everybody that it’s now too early to discuss it while Israel continues to pound Gaza and kill Palestinian civilians indiscriminately.”

‘Everything started falling on us’

That bombardment has taken an increasing toll on Gaza.

More than 2 million Palestinians – including over a million children – live in the Gaza Strip, an area that has been under a land, sea and air blockade, enforced by Israel since 2007.

It has been almost completely cut off from the rest of the world for nearly 17 years, when Hamas seized control, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a land, air and naval blockade, which has continued ever since.

On Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said hospitals in the enclave “risk turning into morgues” following Israel’s siege.

“As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk,” ICRC regional director for the Near and Middle East, Fabrizio Carboni, said in a statement.

He added the organization is in touch with Hamas and Israeli officials to address the release of the dozens of hostages held by the Islamist militant group.

“As a neutral intermediary we stand ready to conduct humanitarian visits; facilitate communication between hostages and family members; and to facilitate any eventual release,” Carboni said.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Wednesday it is urgently seeking $104 million to provide with its humanitarian response to the civilians impacted by the escalation of violence in Gaza.

Hospitals are already overrun with injured patients, many of whom are children.

“Someone came and helped me out, they took me straight to the hospital. But I don’t know what happened to all of my sisters.”

“There have been cases of Hamas militants carrying out beheadings and other ISIS-style atrocities. However, we cannot confirm if the victims were men or women, soldiers or civilians, adults or children,” the official said.

Tal Heinrich, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Wednesday that babies and toddlers had been found with their “heads decapitated” in Kfar Aza.

US President Joe Biden appeared to confirm that information. In a roundtable with Jewish community leaders on Wednesday, he said: “I have been doing this a long time, I never really thought that I would see… have confirmed pictures of terrorist beheading children.”

An IDF spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, later in the day said terrorists had likely carried out decapitations of babies in the Be’eri kibbutz.

“We got very very disturbing reports that came from the ground that there were babies that had been beheaded… I think we can now say with relative confidence that unfortunately this is what happened in Be’eri,” he said.