Trump everywhere
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- May 6, 2026
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Trump everywhere
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Three people have died in an outbreak of hantavirus aboard a luxury cruise ship, with another five confirmed or suspected cases reported, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the wider threat to public health remains low. There have been eight known and suspected hantavirus cases linked to the cruise ship, the MV Hondius, the WHO said yesterday, including the three deaths. Three people were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday, two of them seriously ill, said the vessel’s operator Oceanwide Expeditions. Another patient remains in intensive care in South Africa, and a man who returned to Switzerland after being a passenger on the ship is being treated in Zurich. There are nearly 150 people still on board the ship, which has been marooned off Cape Verde since Sunday and was expected to set off for Spain’s Canary Islands. Passengers who are not showing symptoms — currently all of those still on the ship — will be allowed to disembark when they reach the Canary Islands. Spain said the 14 Spanish passengers would be quarantined in a military hospital, while all other passengers will be repatriated and quarantined in line with their own countries’ guidance. Hantaviruses are rodent-borne viruses that can infect people and cause illness. The WHO estimates there are 10,000 to 100,000 human cases globally each year, with severity varying by strain. The strain identified on the ship is the Andes hantavirus, which typically circulates in Argentina and Chile. The Hondius set off from Argentina on April 1. Hantavirus spreads primarily through rodents, infecting people via contact with rats or mice, or their urine, droppings, or saliva — often when the virus becomes airborne during cleaning of infested areas. Less commonly, it spreads through contaminated surfaces. The Andes virus is the only known hantavirus that can spread through close, prolonged human-to-human contact. The WHO said on Wednesday it had not been informed of any changes in the virus that could have made it more transmissible in this way, but it believes there has been some human-to-human spread on board the Hondius. Studies have shown that the virus tends to transmit in the early stages of a patient’s sickness, when they have symptoms. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, told Reuters in an interview that close contact meant something like sharing a cabin or bunk room on board the ship. She said experts were working to establish which passengers were high-risk or low-risk, based on their contacts with passengers who were unwell. Hantaviruses common in different parts of the world cause different symptoms or diseases - and some cause none at all. Symptoms typically begin one to eight weeks after exposure and may include fever, muscle aches and gastrointestinal issues, according to the WHO, although a typical incubation period would be closer to around two to three weeks, said Andrew Pollard, a professor at Oxford University’s Pandemic Sciences Institute. The Andes hantavirus and other hantaviruses in the Americas can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, which progresses quickly and leads to fluid buildup in the lungs along with heart complications. Fatality rates from hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome are up to 50%, the WHO says, compared to 1-15% from the infections common in Asia and Europe. There is no specific treatment for infection from hantavirus, so current therapy focuses on supportive care, including rest and fluids. Patients may need breathing support such as a ventilator. Prevention focuses on limiting contact with rodents through measures like keeping areas and surfaces clean. During outbreaks, contact tracing can give others potentially exposed to the virus earlier access to hospital care, improving outcomes and preventing further spread. The cruise ship outbreak is unusual, although disease outbreaks of illnesses such as influenza are more common on ships due to proximity of people on board, experts said. The current outbreak is being investigated by experts from the WHO and various countries but the risk to the public remains low, the UN health agency says.
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The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent description of Qatar as a “model of resilience” reflects something that is increasingly visible on the ground, but not always fully understood. The label itself is not new. What is changing is what sits behind it. The resilience Qatar is demonstrating today is fundamentally different from what defined it ten or even five years ago. For a long time, resilience here was essentially shorthand for hydrocarbon strength. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) insulated the economy, underpinned fiscal stability, and provided a reliable buffer against external shocks. That remains true. But it is no longer the full story, and it is certainly not the defining one. What is emerging now is a different kind of resilience, built less on resources and more on structure. Spend time with businesses operating in Qatar and a clear pattern emerges. The conversation is no longer about entering the market, but about how deeply companies are embedded within it. That is borne out in day-to-day conversations with business owners, leaders and investors, where the focus has shifted towards licence stability, compliance frameworks, workforce continuity, and internal governance. At Sovereign PPG, roughly a third of all our corporate activity now sits in these operational and regulatory areas rather than expansion. That tells you something important. That companies are not testing the market, they are committed to building around it. And in a more uncertain global environment, that behaviour says more about economic durability than headline growth ever will. This is where the IMF’s assessment starts to carry real weight. It reflects an economy that is being shaped from within, not just measured from above. That shift is often described as diversification, but the term is used too loosely. The focus tends to be on sectors such as finance, tourism, and logistics – and yes, those are expanding. The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) is playing a growing role in attracting international firms. Tourism has moved beyond the one-off surge of the World Cup into something more sustained. And logistics infrastructure – from Hamad Port to Hamad International Airport – is steadily reinforcing Qatar’s position as a regional connector. But diversification is not really about what grows. It is about how it is built. This is where Qatar is beginning to stand out. In a Gulf context often associated with speed – rapid scaling, fast capital, quick wins – it is taking a different path, prioritising structure over speed. That may sound less exciting, but it is far more durable. And increasingly, it is becoming a key competitive advantage. The regulatory environment is central to that. Clearer licensing pathways, foreign ownership frameworks, and internationally aligned platforms like the QFC have reduced the friction that typically comes with entering emerging markets. More importantly, they make companies easier for global investors to understand and trust. That reduces many of the structural concerns that tend to shape “emerging market” perceptions in the first place. For investors, predictability matters as much as opportunity – and Qatar is offering both. The result is a business environment that is easier to assess, easier to understand, and ultimately easier to invest in. Companies are structured to be globally legible from the outset, rather than treated as exceptions. This has practical consequences. Capital moves with greater confidence, due diligence becomes more straightforward, and businesses can scale without repeatedly reworking their foundations. Over time, that shifts the balance of the economy towards a more capable and confident private sector that plays a greater role in driving growth. This is where infrastructure comes back into the picture, though not in the way it is often discussed. Much of Qatar’s pre-World Cup investment cycle was once criticised as excessive or overly ambitious. But that framing misses what is becoming clear on the ground – that they legacy is not sitting idle, it is actively shaping how the economy functions. Take the Doha Metro. It is not just a visible marker of development, it is changing day-to-day business conditions in ways that are easy to overlook but hard to ignore once you are in the market. Commutes are shorter, cross-city access is easier, and the day-to-day challenges of doing business across the city has been reduced. For companies operating here, those are not abstract efficiencies. They show up in staffing decisions, logistics planning, and how quickly teams can scale across locations. And over time, they compound. That is why Qatar’s resilience looks different today. It is no longer simply about absorbing shocks. It is about whether the underlying system allows businesses to keep operating smoothly when conditions shift. Seen from that perspective, the shift is less about protection and more about preparedness. None of this diminishes the role of hydrocarbons. LNG will remain central to Qatar’s economy for years to come. But its role is changing. It is no longer the only pillar holding the system up, it is one of several. As the private sector deepens and the economy becomes more structurally mature, dependence on hydrocarbons becomes less defining of the whole system. There are still gaps to close. Diversification needs greater scale. Regional competition is intensifying. And building the human capital required for a more complex economy will take time. But Qatar’s trajectory is deliberate, and more coherent than it is often given credit for. The IMF has recognised Qatar’s resilience. But the more useful lens is not the label itself, but what sits behind it. This is no longer an economy defined primarily by what it produces, but by how it is organised. And what is increasingly evident on the ground is that Qatar is not redefining its foundations. It is reinforcing the structure built around them. Neil Wilson is the MD of Sovereign PPG Qatar, part of the Sovereign Group, a leading corporate service provider across the GCC.
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If a Labour prime minister leads his party into the worst set of elections possibly ever, should he be allowed to carry on? The answer is less obvious than it might appear, according to The
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Elizabeth Shackelford, Tribune News ServiceSuddenly, artificial intelligence is everywhere we look. Three years ago, I had no exposure to it personally, but now it tries to auto-populate my emails, shows up at the top of
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Stories about the impact of climate change can be told from across the world, yet despite greater awareness, global emissions keep rising, as the World Economic Forum (WEF) website explains. This gap between awareness and
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The decision to include Demi Moore on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival is truly commendable (“Demi Moore joins Cannes Festival jury,” May5, Gulf Today website). With a career spanning more than four decades,
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The IPL-26 is turning out to be a lacklustre show. Two of the top stars MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are not playing. They are being missed. Only Virat Kohli is mesmerising the crowds with
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I didn’t expect, when I walked into the new headquarters of QBC for a field visit, that the scene would be quite this intense.Screens streaming live numbers from New York, London, Tokyo and Frankfurt — all at once. An editorial team tracking opening bells minutes apart. Correspondents reporting from some twenty-one financial capitals around the world. And cameras carrying all of it in 4K HDR — said to be a first in the world for economic broadcasting.In that moment, I understood that what was happening was not simply the launch of a new channel. It was a statement: Qatar is taking its seat at the table where the global economy is discussed — not as a subject written about, but as a voice that writes.When I asked about the names behind the achievement, one of the leaders smiled quietly and said: “Don’t mention our names. Don’t mention the officials. You are free to write about the achievement — but we are not the story.”I respected his decision, and the decision of those with him. I will not name them here, even though everyone — near and far — already knows who they are, and even though naming them would add nothing to what is already known.But what does deserve to be named is the culture behind that quiet refusal: work in silence, and let the work serve the country, not your name. This is an authentic Qatari ethic — one that an entire generation of leaders was raised on, and one that today’s young Qataris and Arabs in this newsroom are inheriting. I watched them moving cameras, drafting bulletins, tracking markets minute by minute. Behind every shot on a QBC screen, someone has chosen to stay behind it.It is no accident that this is happening here.Qatar did not stumble into media through a back door. It built its presence one institution at a time, one specialty at a time.The story began with Qatar Radio, broadcasting on shortwave in the 1960s. Then came Al Jazeera, which redefined Arab news and made Doha a capital no global media conversation could afford to skip. Then Al Kass Sports, offering the Arab world a model of specialized sports journalism. Then beIN Sports, which turned Qatar into a global player in broadcasting rights stretching from European stadiums to Asia and the Americas.And now QBC completes the arc — Qatar’s first economic channel speaking to the world in the world’s language. It is the product of years of patient work by the Qatar Media Corporation, which once again demonstrates that investing in media is not a luxury that comes after development. It is one of its pillars.But many will still ask: Why an economic channel? Why now? And why from Qatar?The answer needs no theory. It only needs you to look around.When the summer heat in Madrid climbs past 40°C, and air conditioners hum in every home from Lisbon to Berlin, the gas cooling those homes begins its journey from our fields. When a cargo plane lifts off from Frankfurt, when a container ship transits the Strait of Hormuz, when a fuel truck rolls along a highway in Asia — in every one of those moments, what happens in the Gulf has a direct effect on price, on speed, on access.This is not exaggeration. This is daily life, lived:The Gulf is an energy source no global economy can breathe without. Its sovereign wealth funds are an investment engine in the world’s major financial capitals. Its ports and airports are arteries of maritime, air and overland transport.Those who live this reality are the ones with the most right to tell its story. Not the ones to have the story told about them.This is the role QBC steps in to play. Not just another channel on the menu, but a serious effort to bring the economic narrative back to its natural home. Because the one who produces the energy has the right to explain its price. The one who manages sovereign wealth has the right to speak about its destination. And the one who sits along one of the world’s most strategic energy corridors has the right to be heard in any reading of that corridor.At the end of my visit, I watched the ringing of the bell.That ritual every market in the world knows, from New York to Tokyo, announcing the start of a new session. It was not a passing gesture. It was an announcement that Doha has decided to take its place in this global rhythm — not as a listener, but as part of its sound.I left the building that day certain that what I had seen was not a passing experiment. This is a channel born at the right moment, in the capital of media, from an institution that knows what it is doing and why.From Doha, the story begins. And the world will be listening.
