How Islamic charitable giving during Ramadan provides a vital social safety net

A picture taken on November 12, 2018, shows Maareb (3rd-L) sitting with her family in their tent at a (UNHCR) camp for displaced people in Hammam al-Alil, south of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. (AFP/File Photo)
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Updated 23 April 2021
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How Islamic charitable giving during Ramadan provides a vital social safety net

  • Zakat schemes help ease suffering in Muslim-majority countries as the COVID-19 crisis deepens economic hardship
  • Donor agencies, including UNHCR, are tapping into Islamic charitable giving to help fund their response in conflict zones 

BERNE, Switzerland: Charitable giving is part and parcel of the holy month of Ramadan for any Muslim who can afford it. Zakat, which is one of the five pillars of Islam, is levied on the property of those who meet minimum wealth standards (nisab).

In most Muslim-majority countries, zakat is voluntary, but in six (Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan Libya and Yemen) it is collected by the state.

When the state is well organized and zakat is applied systematically, it has the potential to become a fiscal policy instrument at the macroeconomic level, enhancing institutional capability in the social and welfare sectors. At the microeconomic level, its allocation to the needy serves income (re)distribution, reducing overall indebtedness alongside it.

However, in many countries the state lacks the institutional capability to perform this function, and in others zakat duties are performed on a voluntary basis.

Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem, chief economist of the Islamic Development Bank’s (IsDB) Islamic Research and Training Institute, says where the prevalent zakat channels are well organized and enjoy public trust, they can work well to alleviate poverty. Where this is not the case, informal philanthropic schemes automatically take precedence.

An IsDB study on charitable Islamic finance in North Africa found that “worsening social inequality and the governments’ need for additional financial resources in the region have created great opportunities for the zakah and waqf institutions” — a trend which is supported by civil society advocacy.

Well-developed laws pertaining to zakah and charitable giving are furthermore seen as an enabling factor for the sector and its ecosystem. These observations are general in nature and apply well beyond North Africa, going hand in hand with the greater need for charitable donations as poverty levels increase.

Some observers fear that zakat schemes can be opaque, lacking transparency. Al-Suwailem puts great store in blockchain and fintech applications to bring more transparency to the sector, enable more straightforward administration of charitable donations, and render the money transfer to recipients more efficient. These technologies are also helpful in raising additional finance.

The average wealth or income level in a country matters a great deal, because it will determine how much charitable giving comes from within and what comes from abroad. In a country such as Bangladesh, it would be impossible to raise sufficient funds, because the socioeconomic segment that meets nisab standards is too small to meet the huge requirements for social spending. This is where internationally active charities come in.




Indonesian women display their coupons as they queue to receive ‘zakat,’ a donation to the poor by wealthy Muslims, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jakarta. (AFP/File Photo)

Multilateral organizations such as the UNHCR, UNICEF, UNDP and IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) have recently started to tap into the generosity of Islamic charitable giving in an organized fashion. Indeed, these organizations play a vital role in many countries where the state has ceased to function due to conflict.

In those countries, charitable giving is one of the very few ways of distributing food, health care, shelter and income to the destitute.

The UNHCR has been able to instrumentalize zakat giving for its purposes. The numbers of zakat beneficiaries rose from 34,440 in the period 2016-2018 to 1.03 million in 2020, which represents a multiple of nearly 30 times within just four years.

The purpose of zakat is to support the truly needy. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased inequalities between rich and poor within countries and also between countries. Nowhere is that more evident than in the poorest segments of the population and in the poorest and most conflict-ridden countries, which lack institutional capabilities, be it in the health care, finance or any other sector.

In its report “COVID-19 and Islamic Finance” the IsDB has recommended that zakat, waqf and other methods of Islamic social finance should be coordinated with the fiscal efforts of governments to provide a social safety net. They had the potential to play an increasing role when governments started to unwind their COVID-19-related spending programs.

ZAKAT: THE NUMBERS

* 25% OIC member states’ share of the global population.

* 54% Share of displaced people hosted by OIC member states.

Source: UNHCR

These countries are where institutions that are able to deliver zakat to the end user, be it in-country or at the international level, become very important. In order to understand the needs, we should look at the suffering and how populations in Muslim-majority countries are affected.

Refugees and displaced people rank very high on that agenda. They make up roughly 1 percent of the world’s population. According to the UNHCR, OIC member states are host to 43 million, or 54 percent, of the world’s displaced people. This stands against their share in the global population of 25 percent.

The league table for “people of concern” (refugees and internally displaced people) is led by Syria, followed by Turkey and Yemen. Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia are in places 5, 6 and 7 while Iraq and Bangladesh rank number 9 and 10.




A Muslim man offers ‘zakat,’ given to poor people during Ramadan, to an indigent man living under a plastic cover along the railway-line in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, on April 23, 2020. (AFP/File Photo)

We can see similar trends looking at food security: Zero Hunger is after all the UN SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) number 2. Yemen tops that list with 15.9 million people facing food insecurity or outright hunger. All in all, five of the top 10 countries are OIC member states.

The UNHCR report highlighted the adverse effect of COVID-19 on food security in countries affected by the crisis of refugees and internally displaced people. In Syria the number of people struggling for survival increased by 1.4 million, bringing the total to 9.3 million.

In Pakistan, those suffering from food insecurity rose by 2.45 million people to 42.5 million. In Yemen, 9.6 million people potentially face starvation and 11.2 percent of all children in Bangladesh are severely malnourished. These numbers are shocking.

The countries listed above have neither the institutional capability nor sufficient ability to generate tax revenues or charitable donations in-country. They will rely on multilateral aid from organizations such as UN agencies and multilateral development institutions to finance part of the social expenditure required. However, given the enormous hardship and need, charitable donations become pivotal to lessen the suffering.




A displaced Yemeni family are pictured next to their makeshift shelter on a street in the Yemeni coastal city of Hodeidah. (AFP/File Photo)

The uses and sources of zakat funds at the UNHCR are telling: Yemen receives 55 percent of the organization’s zakat money, followed by Bangladesh and Lebanon — all countries where there is a huge need for funds from whatever source.

The UNHCR receives 97 percent of its zakat funds from the MENA region and 3 percent from elsewhere. This makes sense given the religious composition in the Middle East, which is predominantly Muslim, as well as its culture. MENA countries also have the ecosystems of charities that raise funds via zakat and other avenues of social Islamic finance.

Eighty seven percent of funds are received from institutional partners and philanthropists, and 13 percent are raised through digital channels. We can expect digital giving to become more prominent in the future.

The above information leaves us with four key takeaways:

* The needs for charitable funds are high in many Muslim-majority countries, particularly among less developed ones, for example, Bangladesh, and regions in conflict such as Yemen or Syria.

* The global refugee crisis is a case in point as OIC countries are disproportionately affected.

* Charitable Islamic finance is an important sector providing funds to development and potentially the redistribution of income on a regional basis.

* With the COVID-19 pandemic worsening inequalities both between countries and within them, the need for charitable funding has increased, necessitating the cooperation between state, multilateral and charitable actors.

Several donor agencies, including the UNHCR, have started to tap into the zakat system to widen their access to funding, which is a growing trend.

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the pressing need to fund the poorest in the weakest countries. Indeed, the needs are so great, we should all give generously.

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* Cornelia Meyer is a Ph.D.-level economist with 30 years of experience in investment banking and industry. She is chairperson and CEO of business consultancy Meyer Resources. Twitter: @MeyerResources


Philippine president calls for all Cabinet secretaries to resign after election setbacks

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Philippine president calls for all Cabinet secretaries to resign after election setbacks

  • At least 21 Cabinet secretaries either immediately submitted their resignations or expressed their readiness to do so
  • Ferdinand Marcos Jr.: ‘This is not about personalities – it’s about performance, alignment and urgency’
MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked all of his Cabinet secretaries to submit resignations on Thursday in a “bold reset” of his administration following last week’s mid-term elections, which saw more opposition candidates win crucial Senate seats.
Marcos, the 67-year-old son of a late Philippine dictator overthrown in 1986, won the presidency in the deeply divided Southeast Asian country by a landslide in 2022 in a stunning political comeback as he made a steadfast call for national unity. But his equally popular vice presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, later broke from him in a falling out that has sparked intense political discord.
With support from treaty ally the United States and other friendly countries, Marcos emerged as the most vocal critic of China ‘s growing aggression in the disputed South China Sea while contending with an array of longstanding domestic issues, including inflation — and delayed fulfillment of a campaign promise to bring down the price of rice — as well as many reports of kidnappings and other crimes.
“This is not business as usual,” Marcos was cited as saying in a government statement. “The people have spoken and they expect results — not politics, not excuses. We hear them and we will act.”
Marcos called for the “courtesy resignation of all Cabinet secretaries in a decisive move to recalibrate his administration following the results of the recent elections,” the government statement said.
“The request for courtesy resignations is aimed at giving the president the elbow room to evaluate the performance of each department and determine who will continue to serve in line with his administration’s recalibrated priorities,” the government said.
At least 21 Cabinet secretaries led by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin either immediately submitted their resignations or expressed their readiness to do so.
“This is not about personalities — it’s about performance, alignment and urgency,” Marcos said. “Those who have delivered and continue to deliver will be recognized. But we cannot afford to be complacent. The time for comfort zones is over.”
Government services will remain uninterrupted during the transition, the government said, adding that “with this bold reset, the Marcos administration signals a new phase — sharper, faster and fully focused on the people’s most pressing needs.”
Five out of the 12 Senate seats contested in the mid-term elections were won by allies of Sara Duterte or her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been arrested and detained by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands. The elder Duterte, a staunch critic of Marcos, was accused of committing crimes against humanity over a brutal anti-drugs crackdown he launched that left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.
Marcos-endorsed senatorial candidates won five Senate seats while two other seats were unexpectedly won by two liberal democrats associated with the late former President Benigno Aquino III, whose family has long been at odds with the Marcoses.
Voting for half of the 24-member Senate is crucial because the government body will hold an impeachment trial for Sara Duterte in July over an array of criminal allegations, including corruption and a public threat to assassinate Marcos, his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez. She made those threats in an online news conference in November but later issued a vague denial that she wanted the president killed.
Sara Duterte is facing a separate criminal complaint for her threats against the Marcoses and Romualdez.
Most of the seats in the House were won by candidates allied with Marcos and his cousin, Romualdez, in the May 12 elections, which many saw as a preview to the presidential elections scheduled for 2028.

Two Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington shooting, suspect held

Updated 17 min 10 sec ago
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Two Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington shooting, suspect held

  • Staff members were shot ‘at close range’ while attending a Jewish event at the museum
  • US President Donald Trump condemns the ‘horrible’ killings

Two Israeli embassy staff were killed in a shooting outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night, and a suspect is in custody, according to officials and media reports.

WASHINGTON: A man and a woman were shot and killed in the area of 3rd and F streets in Northwest which is near the museum, an FBI field office and the US attorney’s office, according to the reports.

Washington police chief Pamela Smith said a single suspect who was seen pacing outside the museum before the event was in custody. The suspect chanted “Free Palestine, Free Palestine,” in custody, she said.

Tal Naim Cohen, a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington, said two of its staff members were shot “at close range” while attending a Jewish event at the museum.

The Israeli embassy did not immediately respond to questions about the shooter, the victims or the motive for the attack.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed two Israeli embassy staff members were killed.

“We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share,” Noem wrote in a post on X.

“We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice.”

Trump condemns ‘horrible D.C. killings’ based on ‘antisemitism’

US President Donald Trump condemned on Thursday the “horrible” killings of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.

“Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said he and his team had been briefed on the shooting.

“While we’re working with [Metropolitan Police Department] to respond and learn more, in the immediate, please pray for the victims and their families,” he wrote on X.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called the shooting “a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”

“Harming diplomats and the Jewish community is crossing a red line,” Danon said in a post on X. “We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi and US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro were on the scene of the shooting.

The Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment, saying a press conference would be held shortly.


State Department refugee office to assume USAID’s disaster aid role, says cable

Updated 22 May 2025
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State Department refugee office to assume USAID’s disaster aid role, says cable

  • US overseas missions told to consult with the bureau, called PRM, on foreign disaster declarations
  • Trump’s dismantling of USAID has seen thousands of contractors fired and billions of dollars in programs canceled

WASHINGTON: The State Department office that handles refugee issues and works to cut illegal migration will lead the US response to overseas disasters, according to excerpts from an internal department cable, a role for which experts say it lacks the knowhow and personnel.
The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, known as PRM, is assuming that function from the US Agency for International Development, the main US foreign aid agency that the Trump administration has been dismantling, say the excerpts reviewed by Reuters.
USAID’s gutting — largely overseen by billionaire Elon Musk as part of US President Donald Trump’s drive to shrink the federal government — has already led to what many experts called the administration’s late and inadequate response to a serious earthquake in Myanmar on March 25.
The excerpts come from a cable known as an ALDAC, which stands for “All Diplomatic and Consular Posts,” sent this week to US embassies and other diplomatic posts worldwide.
Reuters could not learn the precise date of the ALDAC.
Under the new arrangement, all US overseas missions should consult with PRM on foreign disaster declarations, said the cable.
“With approval from PRM based on established criteria for international disaster assistance, up to $100,000 can be issued to support the initial response,” it continued. “Additional resources may be forthcoming based on established humanitarian need” in consultation with other State Department offices.
The State Department did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed on condition of anonymity the authenticity of the excerpts.
Only 20 experts out of the roughly 525 who did the work at USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance and its Office of US Foreign Disaster Relief are being hired by PRM, the source said.
But, the source continued, the number is far from adequate and the PRM leadership has “no concept of how to” mount responses to major overseas disasters.
“They do not understand disaster response,” said the source.
“It’s a joke. It’s ridiculous,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former director of the Office of US Foreign Disaster Relief who serves as president of Refugees International, an advocacy organization. “PRM is not an operational entity. They do important stuff but this is not what they do.”
In past years, the US has regularly deployed some of the world’s most skilled rescue workers quickly to save lives in response to tsunamis, earthquakes and other disasters.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has rejected criticism of the administration response to the earthquake in Myanmar. He said it was a difficult place to work, the military junta does not like the US and it was unfair that the US has provided most international humanitarian aid.
Konyndyk warned that with the approaching Caribbean hurricane season the US can no longer mobilize the world-leading Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) it once could to help with serious disasters on this side of the globe.
“The mechanics of how DARTs work cannot be replicated in PRM,” Konyndyk said. “They are just trying to create a Potemkin DART.”
The Trump administration’s dismantlement of USAID has seen thousands of contractors fired, most of the 10,000 staff placed on administrative leave and facing termination, and billions of dollars in life-saving programs for tens of millions of people canceled. One cable excerpt said that in the event of an overseas disaster, PRM may call on what’s left of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance to mobilize the remnants of its staff “to provide the most efficient and effective response.”


 


The Ambush Office: Trump’s Oval becomes test of nerve for world leaders

Updated 22 May 2025
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The Ambush Office: Trump’s Oval becomes test of nerve for world leaders

  • Trump has turned what were staid diplomatic “photo sprays” into punishing, hour-long tests of nerve in the heart of the US presidency

WASHINGTON: For world leaders an invitation to the Oval Office used to be a coveted prize. Under Donald Trump it’s become a ticket to a brutal political ambush.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa became the latest victim in a long line that started with Trump’s notorious row with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in February.
Trump has turned what were staid diplomatic “photo sprays” under his predecessor Joe Biden into punishing, hour-long tests of nerve in the heart of the US presidency, played out on live television.

The sight has become all too familiar — a world leader perched nervously on the edge of their gold-upholstered chair in front of the famed fireplace, waiting to see what happens.
Will the 78-year-old Republican lay on the charm? Will he show off the new gold-plated decor he has been proudly installing in the Oval? Will he challenge his guest on tariffs or trade or US military assistance?
Or will he simply tear into them?
Nobody knows before they get there. All they know is that when the cameras are allowed into the most exclusive room in the White House, they will be treading the most perilous of political tightropes.
And the hot, confined space of the Oval Office adds to the pressure-cooker environment as the unpredictable billionaire seeks to wrongfoot his guests and gain the upper hand.

Trump set the benchmark when he hosted Zelensky on February 28.
Tensions over Trump’s sudden pivot toward Russia spilled into the open as a red-faced US president berated the Ukrainian leader and accused him of being ungrateful for US military aid against Russia.

US President Donald Trump berating Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Oval Office in Washington on February 28, 2025. (AFP)

Many wondered if it was a deliberate ambush — especially as Vice President JD Vance appeared to step in to trigger the row.
Whether or not it was on purpose, the goal in foreign capitals ever since has been to “avoid a Zelensky.”
But Ramaphosa’s visit to the Oval on Wednesday was the closest yet to a repeat — and this time it was clearly planned.
Ramaphosa arrived with top South African golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen in tow, hoping to take the edge off the golf-mad Trump’s unfounded claims of a “genocide” against white South African farmers.
But his face was a picture of bemusement when after a question on the issue, Trump suddenly said to aides and said: “Turn the lights down, and just put this on.”
A video of South African politicians chanting “kill the farmer” began to play on a screen set up at the side of the room. A stunned Ramaphosa looked at the screen, then at Trump, and then back at the screen.
Yet unlike Zelensky, who argued back with an increasingly enraged Trump, the South African president largely stayed calm as he argued his case.
Nor was he asked to leave the White House as Zelensky was, causing the Ukrainian to miss lunch.

Other leaders have also done their homework. Some have emerged mostly unscathed, or even with some credit.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, despite some nervous body language, stood his ground against Trump’s calls for his country to become the 51st US state and insisted that his country was “never for sale.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer won over Trump with a letter from King Charles III, while French President Emmanuel Macron kept up his touch-feely bromance with the US president.
Trump’s ideological allies have often fared even better. El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele had a major Oval Office love-fest after agreeing to take migrants at a mega-prison in the Central American country.
But even some close allies have been wrongfooted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a warm welcome as the first foreign guest of Trump’s second term, but it was a different story when he returned in April.

During their second meeting at the Oval Office on April on April 7, 2025, US President Donald Trump surprised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he announced that Washington was starting direct talks with Iran. (AFP)

Cameras in the Oval Office caught his stunned face when Trump announced that Washington was starting direct talks with Iran.
For Trump, though, it’s all part of a presidency that he increasingly treats like a reality show.
Trump himself quipped after the Zelensky meeting that it was “going to be great television,” and one of his advisers was just as explicit after the Ramaphosa meeting.
“This is literally being watched globally right now,” Jason Miller said on X, along with a picture of the encounter on multiple screens. “Ratings GOLD!“
 


Fire at historic Black church in Memphis was intentionally set, investigators say

Updated 22 May 2025
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Fire at historic Black church in Memphis was intentionally set, investigators say

  • The church was undergoing aenovation when flames engulfed it in the early hours of April 28
  • Investigators are searching for a person suspected of being involved with the blaze

MEMPHIS, Tennessee: A fire that severely damaged a historic Black church that served as the headquarters for a 1968 sanitation workers’ strike, which brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, was intentionally set, investigators said Wednesday.
The fire at Clayborn Temple, which was undergoing a yearslong renovation, was set in the interior of the church, the Memphis Fire Department said in a statement. Investigators are searching for a person suspected of being involved with the blaze.
Flames engulfed the downtown church in the early hours of April 28. Later that day Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat said the inside of the building was a total loss but there was still hope that some of the facade could be salvaged.
The fire department said on May 14 that the building had been stabilized and investigators would use specialized equipment to study the fire’s cause.
“Clayborn Temple is sacred ground — home to generations of struggle, resilience and creativity,” Anasa Troutman, executive director of Historic Clayborn Temple, said Wednesday. “This act of violence is painful, but it will not break our spirit.”
Located just south of the iconic Beale Street, Clayborn Temple was built in 1892 as the Second Presbyterian Church and originally served an all-white congregation. In 1949 the building was sold to an African Methodist Episcopal congregation and given its current name.
Before the fire it was in the midst of a $25 million restoration project that aims to preserve the architectural and historical integrity of the Romanesque revival church, including the revival of a 3,000-pipe grand organ. The project also seeks to help revitalize the neighborhood with a museum, cultural programing and community outreach.
King was drawn to Memphis in 1968 to support some 1,300 predominantly Black sanitation workers who went on strike to protest inhumane treatment. Two workers had been crushed in a garbage compactor in 1964, but the faulty equipment had not been replaced.
On Feb. 1 of that year, two more men, Echol Cole, 36, and Robert Walker, 30, were crushed in a garbage truck compactor. The two were contract workers, so they did not qualify for worker’s compensation, and had no life insurance.
Workers then went on strike seeking to unionize and fighting for higher pay and safer working conditions. City officials declared the stoppage illegal and arrested scores of strikers and protesters.
Clayborn Temple hosted nightly meetings during the strike, and the movement’s iconic “I AM A MAN” posters were made in its basement. The temple was also a staging point for marches to City Hall, including one on March 28, 1968, that was led by King and turned violent when police and protesters clashed on Beale Street. One person was killed.
When marchers retreated to the temple, police fired tear gas inside and people broke some of the stained-glass windows to escape. King promised to lead a second, peaceful march in Memphis, but he was shot by a sniper while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4.
After King was assassinated and the strike ended with the workers securing a pay raise, the church’s influence waned. It fell into disrepair and was vacant for years before the renovation effort, which took off in 2017 thanks to a $400,000 grant from the National Park Service.
Clayborn Temple was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. A memorial to the sanitation workers, named “I AM A MAN Plaza,” opened on church grounds in 2018.
About $8 million had been spent on the renovations before the fire, and the exterior had been fully restored, Troutman said.
She said in a recent interview that two chimneys had to be demolished before investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could safely work on the property, but the church organ had been removed before the fire.
As the fire was burning, she said, people went to the “I AM A MAN” memorial and stood at a wall where the names of the striking sanitation workers are listed.
“I watched that wall turn into the Wailing Wall, because people were literally getting out of their cars, walking up to that wall and wailing, staring at the building on fire,” she said.