Dr Alaa al-Najjar, a 36-year-old paediatrician and mother of 10, spent the morning of Friday, May 23, doing what she had devoted her life to: Saving children at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital. By nightfall, she was no longer a healer but a mourner, cradling the charred, dismembered remains of her own children – Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Sayden, Luqman, and Sidra. Seven were confirmed dead. Two remain buried beneath the rubble, including her youngest, six-month-old Sayden, still asleep in his crib when Dr al-Najjar kissed him goodbye that morning.
Under former President Bill Clinton, there was a federal surplus – the result of favourable economic conditions such as the dot-com boom, as well as tax increases which raised more revenues.What are Treasury bills, notes and bonds?
When the US wants to borrow money, it turns to the Treasury – the finance department of the federal government.To borrow money, the Treasury sells various types of debt securities, such as Treasury bills, Treasury notes and Treasury bonds to investors.These securities are essentially loans made by investors to the US government, with a promise to repay them with interest.
US Treasuries have long been considered a safe asset because the risk of the US failing to repay its investors has been very low.Different debt securities mature over different times – this is when the debt is repaid to the investor.
Three-quarters of the $36.2 trillion US debt, approximately $27.2 trillion, is held domestically, of which:
Among individuals, Warren Buffett, through his company Berkshire Hathaway, is the single largest non-government holder of US Treasury bills, valued at $314bn.Candidates also had to pass evaluation committees, comprised of representatives from the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.
And yet, some of the final candidates have nevertheless raised eyebrows. One was arrested for trafficking methamphetamine. Another is implicated in a murder investigation. Still more have been accused of sexual misconduct.Arias suspects that some candidates slipped through the screening process due to the limited resources available to organise the election.
She noted that the National Election Institute had less than 10 months to arrange the elections, since the reforms were only passed in September.“The timing is very rushed," she said.