The move is part of Trump’s plan to overhaul federal bureaucracy, aiming to slash regulations, cut wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies in what he calls a “Save America” initiative.

In a statement from his transition team, Trump praised Musk and Ramaswamy as “two wonderful Americans” chosen to spearhead efforts to streamline government operations.

The DGE, shortened to “Doge” by Trump, is positioned as a radical solution to address what the president-elect views as rampant inefficiency and waste in government.

“This will send shockwaves through the system,” Musk is quoted as saying in the statement. He added that the department’s mission includes targeting those “involved in government waste, which is a lot of people”.

The DGE aims to be, in Trump’s words, “potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time,” emphasising the scope of the restructuring effort.

The plan involves Musk and Ramaswamy working closely with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to instigate large-scale structural reforms. Trump’s vision includes leveraging private-sector expertise to foster what he calls “an entrepreneurial approach to government”.

The initiative comes as part of a broader commitment from Trump to reduce the federal government’s annual $6.5 trillion expenditure.

According to Trump’s statement, the DGE’s work is set to conclude by July 4, 2026, aligning with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Trump described this goal as a “gift” to the American people, aimed at creating a leaner, more efficient government that is directly accountable to the public.

The president-elect also announced via X that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee would be made the US ambassador to Israel. Trump said Huckabee “loves Israel, the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work about tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East!”

Other selections include Fox news co-host Pete Hegseth as secretary of defence, former National Intelligence director John Ratcliffe as CIA director, and GOP lawyer William McGinley as White House Counsel.

“I look forward to continuing the close and mutually beneficial partnership between our two nations across all domains of our co-operation,” Ramaphosa wrote on X.

“In the global arena, we look forward to our Presidency of the G20 in 2025, where we will work closely with the US, which will succeed us in the G20 Presidency in 2026.”

Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in a fiercely contested election marks one of the most remarkable comebacks in modern US history, particularly considering an unprecedented criminal conviction, a near-assassination attempt, and warnings from a former chief of staff labelling him a “fascist”.

“It’s a political victory that our country has never seen before,” Trump declared at a victory celebration in Florida. Trump, now the first US president in over a century to secure a non-consecutive second term, campaigned on an assertive platform that resonated with many voters despite its divisive tone.

Surrounded by his family and team on stage, Trump said “History has been made in America”.

“Frankly, this was I believe the greatest political movement of all time. There hasn’t been anything like this in this country and maybe beyond.

“Now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal. We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We’re going to fix our borders and fix everything about our country.”

Vice President Harris, who joined the race in July following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal, ran a centrist campaign that sought to counter Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, emphasising his frequent use of openly racist and sexist tropes.

Nonetheless, Trump’s messaging proved influential with key voting blocs, leading him to victory.

The global response has been mixed, with leaders extending cautious congratulations while stressing the importance of co-operation.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “ready to work together as we have done for four years … with respect and ambition, for more peace and prosperity”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump “on history’s greatest comeback”.

Brazil’s President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, wrote on X:

“My congratulations to President Donald Trump on his electoral victory and return to the presidency of the United States. Democracy is the voice of the people and must always be respected.”

China conveyed a diplomatic response, expressing hopes for “peaceful coexistence” with the US.

“We will continue to approach and handle China-U.S. relations based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win co-operation,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a press briefing.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Trump to continue strengthening the transatlantic alliance, emphasising shared values and economic ties between Europe and the US “Together we can achieve much more than against each other,” Scholz said.

The EU and USA are two similarly large economic areas, linked by the closest economic relations in the world.

Scholz added, “Germany and the United States are bound together in a partnership of friendship that has grown over decades.

“Our people-to-people ties to the United States are closer than to any other country outside Europe. Millions of American citizens have German roots.”

Afghanistan’s Taliban government expressed hope for a fresh start in its relations with the US.

“The government hopes the future Trump administration will take realistic steps toward concrete progress in relations between the two countries and both nations will be able to open a new chapter of relations,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi on X.

• Additional reporting by AFP

Trump won the popular vote and received enough swing state votes to surpass the 270 needed for the Electoral College.

In front of an enthusiastic crowd at his campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump framed the moment as the start of a “golden age of America”.

His running mate, JD Vance, joined him at the campaign headquarters, alongside high-profile supporters like former Democrat RFK Jr, right wing podcaster Tucker Carlson, and British MP Nigel Farage.

As Trump and his family walked onto the stage, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” played to a cheering crowd that chanted, “USA, USA,” as Trump approached the podium.

“Frankly, I believe this was the greatest political movement of all time. There’s never been anything like this in our country or beyond,” Trump said, drawing applause.

He said the movement would “reach a new level” as America began to “heal”.

“Our country needs this very badly,” he added, pledging to “fix our borders and everything about our country”.

Trump described his campaign as a historic achievement, saying, “We overcame obstacles no one thought possible”.

He thanked voters, calling his re-election a “political victory the United States had never seen before”.

“I want to thank the American people for the honour of being elected as your 47th president and as your 45th president,” he said.

“To every citizen, I will fight for you, your family, and your future. I will not stop until we’ve delivered the strong, safe, and prosperous America that your children and you deserve.”

North Carolina — which Trump and Democrat candidate Kamala Harris visited repeatedly while campaigning — became the first swing state to lean red.

The result had been a “magnificent victory”, he said.

Republicans have also taken the Senate and appear to be in line to retain control of the House.

Harris gave a concession speech in Washington DC, telling the audience she had phoned Trump, conceded, and told him she would assist with a “peaceful transfer of power”.

“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for, but hear me when I say…the light of America’s promise will always burn bright, as long as we never give up, and as long as we keep on fighting,” she said.

Both candidates are vying for the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim victory. Early on Wednesday, results from key swing states remain inconclusive, leaving the outcome too close to call in a number of battleground states crucial to each candidate’s path to the White House.

Harris has secured several Democratic strongholds in the Northeast, including states such as Maine, Massachusetts, and New York, while Trump has made significant gains in Republican-leaning areas, capturing much of the South and Midwest, including states like Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Indiana.

The race is expected to hinge on seven swing states — Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada.

High early voter turnout, both in-person and by mail, has added to the unpredictability, with over 83 million Americans casting ballots ahead of election day, according to data from the University of Florida’s Election Lab.

Experts caution that early vote counts may offer a misleading picture; in 2020, Trump initially led in key states on election night, only to be overtaken by Biden as mail-in votes were tallied in the following days.

Polling stations closed at staggered times, with most concluding on Tuesday evening.

But results in states like Pennsylvania and Arizona may not be finalised until later on Wednesday or even later in the week, as officials process mail ballots that continue to arrive.

Nevada, in particular, has provisions to count mail-in votes postmarked by election day until November 9, potentially prolonging the suspense.

The tight race has also stirred excitement in the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin surging to over $75,000 as early returns appeared favourable for Trump on Tuesday night.

Crypto investors are closely watching the outcome, as Trump has promised to ease regulatory pressures on the industry, contrasting sharply with the Biden administration’s restrictive stance.

Some investors speculate that a Trump win could push Bitcoin even higher, surpassing $80,000.

As Americans and global observers await definitive results, both campaigns are bracing for the possibility of extended counting and the potential for either candidate to question the legitimacy of late-arriving mail ballots—a scenario that could heighten post-election tensions.

Rogan took to X on Tuesday, saying Space X founder and X owner Elon Musk — who has also endorsed Trump and has appeared with him at rallies — had made “the most compelling case for Trump you’ll ever hear, and I agree with him every step of the way”.

“For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump,” said Rogan, whose The Joe Rogan Experience is the most listened to podcast in the United States.

Musk and Rogan are just two of scores of influencers and celebrities that have thrown their weight behind the candidates, with Democrat Kamala Harris having been endorsed by Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Jennifer Lopez, among others.

On the eve of the election, Trump and Harris delivered closing arguments in a heated final push across battleground states, their messages of stark contrast and highlighting the contentious nature of an election that has been defined by divisive rhetoric, political theatre, and high stakes for America’s future.

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Trump doubled down on his hardline immigration stance, making a call for the death penalty for migrants who kill US citizens or law enforcement officers.

“I am hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer,” the 78-year-old told supporters.

His speech took aim at migration flows at the southern border, framing them as a national security threat.

Amplifying his characteristic tough-on-immigration rhetoric, Trump suggested college athletes could confront incoming migrants, a vision that he shared with the crowd.

“Oh, those Penn State guys. I wanted them to wrestle the migrants,” he joked, before proposing a new “migrant league” in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Trump implied that such a league would be tough enough to rival the established fighters, saying, “I think the migrant (league) might actually win. That’s how nasty some of these guys are.”

In Philadelphia, Kamala Harris, 60, called for unity. Addressing a crowd on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where an iconic scene from the film Rocky was shot, Harris cast herself as the underdog, prepared to “climb to victory”.

She likened herself to boxer Rocky Balboa, the resilient fighter, as she rallied supporters in what she called “the most consequential election of our lifetimes.”

“The momentum is on our side. We will win,” Harris told her audience, saying that every vote mattered in what she predicted could be “one of the closest races in history”.

Throughout her campaign, Harris has positioned herself as an advocate for affordable healthcare, promising to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and provide additional support for low-income families.

She has also been vocal in her criticism of Trump’s immigration policies, arguing they “foster division and do not reflect American values”.

Harris’s message was amplified by celebrity endorsements, with Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, and Jon Bon Jovi attending her events and urging Americans to vote.

Winfrey’s endorsements are known to hold particular weight among voters, with two University of Maryland economic students finding that following her endorsement of Barack Obama, she helped him garner about one million primary votes.

This story was produced by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Valerie Huber has had a busy couple of years. Since leaving her senior post in the US government, the former Trump official has spent months travelling across Africa, from Burkina Faso to Uganda, meeting officials and heads of state from at least nine countries. Social media posts show her gladhanding ambassadors and smiling with politicians, making public her commitment to promote women’s wellbeing and health. 

At the heart of her latest project is the Protego Women’s Optimal Health Framework, a public health initiative that was the subject of an agreement signed in May by Janet Museveni, Uganda’s first lady and minister for education. The programme’s launch was attended by doctors, women’s groups, politicians, even groups of schoolchildren. And it was heralded as an exciting opportunity for Uganda’s public health.

Protego is run by Huber’s charity, the Institute for Women’s Health (IWH), which says the project aims to offer, “evidence-based interventions to support the health and wellbeing of women and their families”. One of its more ambitious goals, according to a senior source in the Ugandan health ministry, is to roll out clinics that deliver a significant range of reproductive health services to women, as well as cancer screenings. 

The background, however, is that Protego is Huber’s latest project in a 25-year career spent promoting ineffective abstinence-focused sex education and so-called “natural” contraceptive methods. 

As a senior adviser in Donald Trump’s department of health and human services, Huber made sweeping changes that led to the closure of some evidence-based family planning programmes. She was also the driving force behind the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a statement signed by 34 countries saying that there is “no international right to abortion”. 

Now The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) can reveal that Huber and her charity, the IWH, have entered into a secretive agreement with the Ugandan government to find public money to spend on her Protego programme. 

What’s more, key documents relating to the project are being kept away from the public eye in a manner described by one lawyer as “unconstitutional”.   

Rolling back progress

In Uganda, women’s health rests on shaky foundations. Teen pregnancies are high. Girls and young women between 15 and 24 account for almost a third of all new HIV infections. And for every thousand babies born, around three of the mothers die.

It is also a country where the issues of contraception and sex education remain deeply controversial. Religious leaders and conservative politicians have pushed back against increasing access to contraception, focusing instead on abstinence and “purity”. 

But the scale of HIV-related deaths and unplanned pregnancies have forced the government’s hand. Recent pledges have been made to increase the use of modern contraceptives, including for young people. But any advances on this front are fragile, and in constant danger of regressing.

Huber, meanwhile, has spent almost three decades promoting schemes that teach young people that the best way to avoid infections and unwanted pregnancies is to forego sex. After running abstinence initiatives in Ohio, she took over the state’s abstinence-only education programme, which was found by one study to contain “false and misleading information” under her tenure. She then spent a decade leading the not-for-profit National Abstinence Education Association (later renamed Ascend) before Trump appointed her into government.

In a statement, Huber said the IWH and the Protego project drew on “science-based concepts”. She cited a number of studies which showed people undergoing abstinence education delayed their “sexual debut”, were “no less likely to use a condom” and had “improved academic success”.

Extensive research supported by major medical institutions has found abstinence-only education does not significantly delay the initiation of sexual activity in young people — it simply leaves them ill-informed and unprepared. Some previous research has shown some young people in abstinence-based programmes are similarly likely to use condoms. But leading experts have criticised them for both withholding accurate information and including inaccurate information, as well as promoting harmful gender stereotypes.

While the full details of the Uganda agreement are unknown, Huber has met with representatives of at least one women’s hospital in the run-up to Protego’s implementation.

And her track record suggests abstinence-focused education is likely to be at the forefront of the scheme. A copy of the project’s framework and accompanying document seen by TBIJ mentions abstinence and “natural family planning” (having unprotected sex while trying to avoid the fertile part of a woman’s cycle) as well as modern evidence-based methods. It also states any discussion of contraception should include education about avoiding “sexual risks”, terminology used by Huber to describe abstinence-based education.

Gillian Kane, director of global policy at the reproductive rights charity Ipas, told the TBIJ: “There are existing programmes [in Uganda] that are vetted, they’re implemented by professionals in the field,” she said. “There are technicians who know how to provide health services.”

She said that Huber’s project “really raises a lot of questions [about] their area of expertise and what they’re replacing.”

Uganda’s ministry of health told the TBIJ that Protego will supplement, not replace, existing services. It also said the concept of abstinence is “integral to Uganda’s moral fabric” and has been used in the past to combat HIV transmission, as part of a strategy also involving contraception. 

Huber’s charity, the IWH, told the TBIJ the Protego framework is “culturally sensitive” to local populations and “does not force beliefs, values, or doctrines upon a country and its people”.

The TBIJ has repeatedly asked the relevant ministries, the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development and Huber’s IWH to see the agreement and has made formal requests for information about what it contains. But with no success.

Kane said that people she has spoken to with access to Huber have been met by a “vacuum of detail about what it is”.

Sources in ministries working on the project, as well as via those providing reproductive health services in Uganda, have told the TBIJ that Protego is being coordinated by the office of the first lady — which is also where key documents relating to the project are being held. The office has no formal standing in the constitution.

A constitutional lawyer familiar with the situation, and who did not want to be named for fear of backlash, explained that the first lady’s office does not have the same status in Uganda law as a government ministry and therefore cannot be scrutinised or challenged in the same way. He described the situation as “unconstitutional”.

Finding the money

Although official details on the project are scarce, it seems clear that Museveni, Uganda’s first lady and minister of education, has thrown her full weight behind it. A commissioner in the health ministry and a member of parliament who helped set up the project have confirmed to the TBIJ that there is an agreement to find the Protego money in some form from within the existing budgets of three government ministries.

The IWH said no money would be exchanged between the charity and other parties.

Dr Richard Mugahi, assistant commissioner at Uganda’s ministry of health, told the TBIJ that not all aspects of the plan may be able to go ahead within existing budgets. But asked whether there was a path to money coming in the future, he said: “Of course. Our chief mobiliser is the first lady, who is very passionate about this.”

Museveni took up the cause after Huber was introduced to government figures by Sarah Opendi, a member of parliament and chair of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association. Opendi, who also attended an early meeting about the project, is a backer of Uganda’s extreme anti-LGBT Bill.

She told the TBIJ she believes Protego should advocate abstinence for adolescents, rather than contraceptives, as a way to address the country’s high teen pregnancy rate.

Dr Sabrina Kitaka, a paediatrician who attended the launch event in May, seemed cautiously optimistic about the programme. Kitaka told the TBIJ she “did appreciate their vision and goal to support the girl child, to empower her, to make sure she doesn’t become pregnant before she finishes school and also to promote women’s health in general”. 

But she added that “we have to not put our head in the sand” when it comes to the burden of teenage pregnancy and that contraception should be given to “those who need [it]”. 

“The data shows that abstinence-only programmes do not work,” said Ophelia Kemigisha, an activist and human rights lawyer. “A return to this strategy will lead to a loss of the progress made.”  

Project 2025

Huber’s ideas on the subject, however, appear unwavering. When she was appointed to the US department of health and human services in June 2017, she promptly cancelled the contracts for all 81 providers of teen pregnancy prevention programmes, which had been independently judged as effective. She then issued various funding opportunities that favoured both providers advocating abstinence-only education and “natural” family planning over medically-approved contraception. One of the results was almost a million fewer people serviced by federal family planning programmes.

Now Huber is listed as a contributor to Project 2025, a radical 900-page blueprint for the next US government, drawn up by the ultra-conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. It says the next administration should remove all references to “gender equality”, “abortion” and “sexual and reproductive rights” from foreign aid policies, contracts and grants. It also recommends the removal of references to “controversial” sexual education materials. 

When the US makes changes to its aid policies, for example excluding abortion from funding, it has a direct effect on the availability of wider reproductive health services in countries receiving US funding, including Uganda.

Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, co-founder of the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, told the TBIJ Huber’s career and involvement in Project 2025 appeared to “point to her true agenda — to limit the sexual health and rights of girls, women and young people”. 

“The outcome of her activities on the health and well-being of young people are dire.” — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

The arrival of South African delegates was delayed because the airport was briefly closed after a drone attack warning, while the summit was stage-managed to cast President Vladimir Putin as a global statesman whose power has not waned despite sanctions and an international arrest warrant over the war in Ukraine.

Putin on Wednesday said up to 30 nations have expressed interest in joining the bloc, which now counts nine members after Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined earlier this year. This is an overstatement of the popularity of the club, which increasingly serves as his answer to Western isolation over the invasion of Ukraine. 

Rapid further Brics expansion is not realistic — South Africa and Brazil will not support it — and the shadow the war has cast over the first major summit on Russian soil since it began could not be conjured away. 

The European Union on Wednesday called for Brics to use the opportunity to urge Putin to “immediately end the war on the Ukrainian people”, shortly before United Nations secretary general António Guterres arrived in Kazan for security talks with the Russian head of state. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping all raised the conflict in Ukraine ahead of the leaders’ session on Wednesday, but sources said every approach on the subject was met with silence.

Modi, after greeting Putin on arrival in Kazan, told reporters: “We have been in constant touch over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability.”

Putin said nothing. 

Like Modi, who visited Ukraine two months ago, Ramaphosa has cast himself as one of few world leaders who could be an honest broker in peace talks. He held a one-on-one meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the summit on Tuesday.

In published remarks Ramaphosa, at pains since the invasion of Ukraine not to alienate Putin, gave reassurances that South Africa’s historic friendship with Russia remained intact.

“We continue to see Russia as a valued ally, as a valued friend, who supported us right from the beginning: from the days of our struggle against apartheid, right through to now.”

Ramaphosa had hoped to extract a commitment from Putin to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time since he sent tanks into Ukraine in 2022, but it is understood that the conversation did not get that far. 

Officially, the South African presidency said that there was agreement “on the urgent need to resolve the conflict with Ukraine peacefully”.

For his part, Putin said Russia’s relationship with South Africa was a strategic, equal partnership and stressed that Russia attached particular importance to expanding ties with the African continent. 

After an earlier bilateral meeting with Xi, Putin called him a dear friend and cooperation between China and Russia “one of the main stabilising factors in the world”. 

Xi concurred that the friendship would endure in a world in flux, and added a call for a de-escalation in the conflict in Ukraine. 

​​The formal summit declaration released on Wednesday spoke to several conflicts around the world. It called for a ceasefire and respect for international law in Gaza and expressed “alarm over the situation in southern Lebanon”. 

On Ukraine, the text stressed that all nations should act in line with the UN Charter and added: “We note with appreciation relevant proposals of mediation and good offices, aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.” 

It then went on to recall, in paragraph 23, the UN General Assembly’s annual resolution to combat “the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism” and other forms of racism and xenophobia. 

It was Putin’s revenge, a delegate said, because though members could but only agree with the principle the reference was plainly inserted as a reminder of his claim that Ukraine is a “neo-Nazi regime”. 

A South African official said the common perception that Russia, China and, of late, Iran were intent on using the bloc as an axis to challenge US dominance was a misreading that chose to interpret the forum’s raison d’etre in light of global shifts that happened long after it was formed, initially to optimise investment opportunities.

“Besides, Brics is simply too diverse, and this characterisation fails to take into account the tension between members. Not only the deep long-standing tension between China and India but the strife within Latin America, for example around Venezuela,” the source said.

“And it completely ignores the fact that India and the UAE are very comfortable having close ties with the US and will strive to maintain those. So it can never be that. Brics is not anti-Western, and perhaps those who chose to define it as such do so because they insist on seeing the world through the prism of the West.” 

For South Africa, Brazil and India, membership is not a matter of belonging to a camp in a battle for dominance but rather of arguing collectively for reform of multilateral institutions to allow the Global South more leverage. 

It is a point Ramaphosa has argued consistently in the run-up to South Africa’s presidency of the G20, and repeated in Kazan.

It was well-received and reflected in the declaration, which called “for a more equitable, just, democratic and balanced multipolar world order”.

Members reaffirmed “our support for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including its security council, with a view to making it more democratic, representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries in the council’s memberships”.

This would allow the security council not only to respond to global challenges but to “support the legitimate aspirations of emerging and developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including Brics countries, to play a greater role in international affairs, in particular in the United Nations, including its security council”. 

South Africa managed to convince members to endorse the aspirations of African countries for at least two permanent seats in the council, as formalised in the African Union’s Ezulwini Consensus in 2005.

Political analyst Sanusha Naidoo said the summit marked a moment of reflection among nations who diverge on many burning issues as to their place and possible common purpose in a shifting world order.

“Brics is, in some way, not seen as an alliance, but as a forum. It is about this consensus underpinned by the right to agree to disagree. At the point where we are now, the international system is in this unpredictable spectrum and what do you do?

“So the question would be: how do countries utilise this space? There is also a fear of not wanting to be caught in the crosswinds of what could become a serious global debt crisis.”

The nine current members account for 35% of global economic output and increased trade among member states remains one of the bloc’s aims. Early talk of a common currency to counter the dominance of the dollar has made way, though, for the more muted though still complex goal of promoting global acceptance of local currency. 

The summit did not deal with this in any detail, although the ambition is reflected in its resolutions.

“The presidency of Brazil will deal with that exclusively. They will take forward the issue of a payment system that will deal with trading in local currencies,” a South African official said.

Brazil will also steer the next round of talks on expanding membership, which is likely to leave it with the delicate issue of neighbouring Venezuela’s aspirations to join the bloc

But the wind instrument is slowly growing silent as demand dwindles and machine-made bagpipes replace traditionally crafted ones, consigning their use to largely ceremonial occasions.

Just off Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile, which sweeps down from the city’s imposing castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, is a faded storefront sign for artisan bagpipe maker Kilberry Bagpipes.

Inside, Ruari Black is one of only a few remaining craftsmen in Edinburgh who knows how to make the instrument by hand.

“At Kilberry, we’re one of the last artisan bagpipe makers — certainly in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland — but probably all around the world,” Black said as he shaped a pipe with a lathe.

“It’s got a big sound, it’ll fill a room,” said Black, describing the nine stages it takes to make the intricate instrument.

After boring and shaping the pipes, they are fitted with mounts and ferrules before adding the finishing touches and setting up the components.

The whole process takes around a week, with the craftsmen working on multiple bagpipes at the same time.

The finished product has “our distinct sound”, according to Black. “Every set, we’re striving to have that consistency across, to make sure they’re sounding the same.”

Each handmade set also has “its own character, in terms of looks, in terms of feel”, making it attractive to customers from around the world, he added.

The current wait time for an artisan Highland bagpipe is two years on Kilberry’s website.

Best-known form

“Customers are coming to us for a set of handmade pipes, they’re generally coming for the handmade aspect,” Black said.

“They’re wanting the sound we strive to produce — the thing we want to be known for.”

Clients include experienced pipers as well as newcomers looking to buy their “first practice chanter” — the part of the bagpipe with finger holes, where the melody is played.

While bagpipes have been recorded in Scottish history for some 600 years, the origins remain unclear.

Different variations found around the world include the Irish bagpipe, the Northumbrian smallpipes and the Turkish tulum.

In Brittany, northwest France, a band called a bagad is composed of Breton bagpipes, or biniou, and drums.

However, the Highland bagpipe remains the best-known form, and has had significant influence in the military music of Britain and Commonwealth countries.

Every year, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo — a series of military musical performances with massed pipe bands — takes place at the top of the Royal Mile.

The last song played at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022 was a rendition of the lament “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep”, played by her personal piper.

‘Means a lot’

Despite its enduring cultural significance, the traditionally handmade Highland bagpipe is vanishing. Unlike Kilberry, most other producers now use machinery.

However, Black said it is easy to differentiate the instruments, with machine-made ones missing the “hand-turned” shapes and decorative designs that his bagpipes have.

Despite having fewer workers and taking longer to make each bagpipe, they “try and keep the cost down for customers to still have a handmade instrument”, said Black.

“So it’s kind of up to the customer to choose us over mass-produced.”

Some mass-manufactured bagpipes can also be told apart by their use of imitation ivory for the mounts, according to Black.

The artisans are trying to be more sustainable without compromising on quality.

For Black, there is no alternative to making bagpipes by hand.

“Keeping it handmade means a lot to me — it’s the way it’s always been done. It just feels right,” he added.

“For something that’s completely dying out, it’s not nice to be one of the last… but it’s nice to be carrying that on.”

© Agence France-Presse

Titled “Gibbet Hill”, the story was uncovered by Brian Cleary in a Christmas supplement of the Dublin edition of the Daily Mail newspaper from 1890 and had remained undocumented for more than 130 years.

The rare find, which has never been referenced in any Stoker bibliography or biography, is now being brought to the public for the first time at an exhibition in the Irish capital.

“Dracula”, the Gothic, mysterious and supernatural vampire novel from 1897 may have been set in Transylvania and England but its author, Stoker, was a Dubliner.

“I read ‘Dracula’ as a child and it stuck with me, I read everything from and about Stoker that I could get my hands on,” said Cleary, 44, a writer and amateur historian who lives in the Marino neighbourhood of Dublin where the author grew up.

Thanks to “Dracula”, Stoker “had a massive impact on popular culture, but is under-appreciated”, Cleary told AFP in the Casino at Marino, an opulent 18th-century building near the writer’s birthplace that is hosting the exhibition.

‘Flabbergasted’

Cleary’s journey of discovery began in 2021 when a sudden onset of deafness changed his life.

While on leave to retrain his hearing after having cochlear implant surgery, Cleary visited the National Library of Ireland to indulge his interest in historical literature and the works of Stoker.

There, in October 2023, he chanced upon the hidden literary gem, the “Gibbet Hill” story which he had never heard of before.

“I sat in the library flabbergasted, that I was looking at potentially a lost ghost story from Stoker, especially one from around the time he was writing ‘Dracula’, with elements of ‘Dracula’ in it,” said Cleary.

“I sat looking at the screen wondering, am I the only living person who had read it? Followed by, what on earth do I do with it?”

Cleary did extensive literary searches to verify the find and consulted Stoker expert and biographer Paul Murray who confirmed the story was unknown, lost and buried in the archives for more than 130 years.

“‘Gibbet Hill’ is very significant in terms of Stoker’s development as a writer, 1890 was when he was a young writer and made his first notes for ‘Dracula’,” Murray told AFP.

“It’s a classic Stoker story, the struggle between good and evil, evil which crops up in exotic and unexplained ways, and is a way station on his route to publishing ‘Dracula’.”

Illustrations

The macabre tale tells of a sailor murdered by three criminals whose bodies were strung up on a gibbet or hanging gallows on a hill as a ghostly warning to passing travellers.

To celebrate the discovery, “Gibbet Hill” has been captured in a book that features cover art and illustrations inspired by the story by respected Irish artist Paul McKinley.

“It’s quite surreal now to be standing next to a picture inspired by three of the characters in the story,” said Cleary.

“When Brian sent me the ‘Gibbet Hill’ there was so much I could work with,” said McKinley.

His eery, sometimes sinister illustrations include a “juicy, wet, oily painting” of worms inspired by a young character in the story who has a bunch of earthworms in his hands.

“Making new images for an old story that has been buried for so long” was a “fascinating challenge” said the artist.

© Agence France-Presse

The killing of Sinwar, the mastermind of the deadliest attack in Israeli history, had raised hopes of a turning point in the war, including for families of the Israeli hostages and Gazans enduring a dire humanitarian crisis.

However as Qatar-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya mourned Sinwar in a video statement on Friday, he reiterated the Palestinian group’s position that no hostages would be released “unless the aggression against our people in Gaza stops”.

And Israeli forces pummelled Gaza with air strikes on Friday, with rescuers recovering the bodies of three Palestinian children from the rubble of their home in the north of the territory, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.

“We always thought that when this moment arrived the war would end and our lives would return to normal,” Jemaa Abou Mendi, a 21-year-old Gaza resident, told AFP.

“But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is quite the opposite. The war has not stopped, and the killings continue unabated.”

Sinwar was Israel’s most wanted man, and his death — announced by the Israeli military on Thursday — deals a major blow to the already weakened group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sinwar’s killing an “important landmark in the decline of the evil rule of Hamas”.

He added that while it did not spell the end of the war, it was “the beginning of the end”.

‘Opportunity’

Some hailed the news of Sinwar’s death as a sign of better things to come.

“It feels like we’ve finished what we set out to do, and I hope this will also lead to an end,” Dolev, a 29-year-old Tel Aviv resident, told AFP, asking to use only a single name.

US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel’s top arms provider, said Sinwar’s death was “an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas”.

In a joint statement, Biden and the leaders of Germany, France and Britain emphasised “the immediate necessity to bring the hostages home to their families, for ending the war in Gaza, and ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians”.

Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged Israel’s government and international mediators to leverage “this major achievement to secure hostages’ return”.

In August, Netanyahu called Sinwar “the only obstacle to a hostage deal”.

Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of killed hostage Yoram Metzger, said with Sinwar dead it is “unacceptable” that the hostages would “stay in captivity even one more day”.

But she added: “We (are) afraid that Netanyahu does not intend on stopping the war, nor does he intend to bring the hostages back.”

‘Hell on Earth’

Hamas sparked the war in Gaza by staging the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

During the attack, militants took 251 hostages back into Gaza. Ninety-seven remain there, including 34 who Israeli officials say are dead.

Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas and bring back the hostages has killed 42,500 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures which the UN considers reliable.

A “conservative” estimate puts the death toll among children in Gaza at over 14,100, said James Elder, spokesman of the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF.

For the one million children currently in the besieged territory, “Gaza is the real-world embodiment of hell on Earth,” Elder said.

Criticism has been mounting over the civilian toll and lack of food and aid reaching Gaza, where the UN has warned of famine.

‘Devastation’ in Lebanon

Israel is also fighting a war with Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. The two sides had exchanged rocket fire since the October 7 attack, with Israel sending ground troops across the Lebanese border last month.

On Friday, the Israeli military said in a statement that “over the past day, approximately 60 terrorists were eliminated” in southern Lebanon.

In a separate statement, the military said it had destroyed Hezbollah’s regional command centre with an air strike.

Also on Friday, Hezbollah said it fired a salvo of rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa and areas to its north.

It later said it launched “a swarm of explosives-laden drones” at an “air missile defence base” east of the central Israeli city of Hadera.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon warned that the escalating war “is causing widespread destruction of towns and villages” in the country’s south.

Since late September, the war has left at least 1,418 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.

The war has also drawn in other Iran-aligned armed groups, including in Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

Iran conducted a missile strike on Israel on October 1, for which Israel has vowed to retaliate.

Iran, Hezbollah, Afghanistan’s Taliban government and Yemen’s Huthi rebels all mourned the death of Sinwar, vowing continued support for their Palestinian ally Hamas.

At a demonstration in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, resident Mutahhar al-Khatib said Sinwar’s death “was shocking news”.

“But if Sinwar is martyred, there will be 10 more in his place,” he told AFP.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation also expressed its condolences over the “martyrdom of the great national leader Yahya Sinwar”.

© Agence France-Presse