A Saudi prince on Wednesday pledged to give away his entire US$32 billion fortune to charitable causes in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the world.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said the funds would go to his charity, Alwaleed Philanthropies, for causes like disease eradication, intercultural understanding, women’s empowerment, disaster relief and the electrification of isolated areas.
The new pledge by one of the world’s richest men follows moves by other hugely wealthy individuals to shift their fortunes into philanthropy. In a statement released online, Prince Alwaleed said his group had worked with the foundation established by Bill and Melinda Gates that had channeled billions of US dollars into similar causes.
The prince, a nephew of Saudi King Salman, holds no official position in government and is often seen as an outsider. He is known for giving relatively frank interviews on financial and political issues that sometimes rankle officials in the normally tight-lipped kingdom. And in the only country in the world where women are barred from driving, Prince Alwaleed employs many women, who dress as they wish.
The prince’s pledge came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and he described the move as guided by his Islamic faith.
“With this pledge, I am honoring my lifelong commitment to what matters most — helping to build a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable world for generations to come,” he said.
He did not give a time frame during which the funds would be disbursed, but said he had formed a board of trustees to choose projects and oversee them.
Most of the prince’s wealth is in the investment firm Kingdom Holding, of which he owns 95 percent of shares. His investments include stakes in Twitter, Apple, Citigroup, Euro Disney and the News Corp.
In the past 35 years, his charity has invested in US$3.5 billion worth of projects in more than 92 countries and has supported study centers at a number of top universities, the statement said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS