On 2 April, the United States and Israel bombed the 106-year-old Pasteur Institute, targeting one of Iran’s oldest and most critical public health institutions. Established in 1920, the institute has long been central to vaccine production, infectious disease surveillance, and epidemiological research in the Middle East and beyond.
Organised by US anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ personality Brian Brown, the annual gathering of Christian nationalist campaigners, political figures, think tanks and academics pulled off its biggest coup yet: welcoming Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán to the stage as a keynote speaker.
On 31 December last year, my family gathered with our closest friends and relatives in a former clothing store in Gaza City. The space had been repurposed into an event hall. We were there not just to bring in the New Year but to celebrate my sister Noor’s wedding.