From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
The Duchess of Sussex was left with bragging rights when she scored a penalty and her husband’s shot was saved when they joined Syrian children at a refugee camp.
Meghan looked triumphant and threw her hands in the air after her right-footed strike beat a girl in goal when the couple visited a camp in Jordan, home to tens of thousands of displaced Syrians.
The couple have begun a two-day visit to learn more about humanitarian efforts by the Jordanian authorities and a range of agencies supporting the health and wellbeing of Syrians and Palestinians who have sought sanctuary in Jordan over the decades.
They travelled north of the capital, Amman, to the sprawling Za’atari Refugee Camp, where families live in semi-permanent homes with a few shops available.
Harry and Meghan toured a youth centre run by the social development organisation Questscope, which provides a number of activities from art and photography classes to music and sport, to engage the youngsters and help alleviate any mental health issues.
When they joined a group of young girls in an outdoor football class, a little girl came up to the duchess, who crouched down to speak to her through an interpreter asking her age and was told she was seven-years-old.
A member of Questscope staff said to the little girl, “You know Meghan?” but she promptly walked off and the duchess said with a smile: “So sweet, so confident – that’s what you’re instilling.”
Meghan seemed eager to give the football drills a go and tried passing the ball before she was joined by Harry for shooting practice, where she triumphed.
The couple visited a number of classrooms, watching teenage girls playing traditional Arabic instruments and in another space, more musicians performed with violins and guitars.
Conversations were conducted through an interpreter but when Harry asked the violinists if made friends through the lessons, 15-year-old Siham, a refugee who arrived in the country aged two, said “yes we’re friends” in perfect English and impressed the Sussexes by saying she was a black belt in the martial art taekwondo.
Jordan has received wave after wave of refugees beginning with Palestinians more than 80 years ago, who now number around 2.5 million, and Syrians who fled conflict in their country until recently ruled by President Bashar al-Assad.
The latest wave of displaced people flowed into the country following the Israeli government’s Gaza war against Hamas, which followed Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians during the October 7 attacks.