PARIS (AP) — The Aga Khan, who became the spiritual leader of the world’s millions of Ismaili Muslims at age 20 as a Harvard undergraduate and poured a material empire built on billions of dollars in tithes into building homes, hospitals and schools in developing countries, died Tuesday. He was 88.
His Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili religious community announced that His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, the Aga Khan IV and 49th hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims, died in Portugal surrounded by his family.
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FILE - The Aga Khan, left, and author J.K. Rowling, right, clap during Harvard University commencement exercises, Thursday, June 5, 2008, in Cambridge, Mass. Both received honorary degrees during the exercises. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)
FILE - The Aga Khan, left, and author J.K. Rowling, right, clap during Harvard University commencement exercises, Thursday, June 5, 2008, in Cambridge, Mass. Both received honorary degrees during the exercises. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)
FILE - The Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, is greeted by the Aga Khan, right, during a visit to the Ismaili Centre to join a reception to help celebrate their 25th anniversary, in London, Nov. 18, 2010. (Anthony Devlin/PA via AP, File)
FILE - Indian President Pranab Mukherjee confers the Padma Vibhushan to the Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, left, during a civil investiture ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, April 8, 2015. The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in India. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual leader to millions of Muslim, addresses an audience, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, at the Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - The owner of Zarkava his highness Aga Khan, center, his daughter Zahra Aga Khan, left, and French jockey Christophe Soumillon hold their trophies after winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race at Longchamp race track in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
FILE - Queen Elizabeth II and The Aga Khan at a dinner at Buckingham Palace, in London, July 7, 2008, to mark the Aga Khan's Golden Jubilee. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP, File)
FILE - Lt. Governor Casey Cagle welcomes His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary Imam (spiritual leader) of the world's Shia Ismaili Muslim Community, as he arrives at Fulton County Airport to celebrate with his Georgia followers his 60th anniversary as their leader Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, leaves after the inauguration of the restored 16th century Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, right, walks with the Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, as he arrives to inaugurate the restored 16th Century Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - The Aga Khan addresses an audience about the challenges to a pluralistic society Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, at the Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, listens to a speech during the inauguration of the Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, India, Friday, Sept. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)
FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, listens to a speech during the inauguration of the restored 16th century Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi, India, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
On Wednesday, his son Rahim was named the Aga Khan V, the 50th hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims, in accordance with his father’s will.
The Ismaili community’s website said the late Aga Khan's burial will be held in the coming days, followed by an homage ceremony.
Considered by his followers to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and treated as a head of state, he was a student when his grandfather named him as successor to lead the diaspora of Ismaili Muslims, passing over his playboy father and saying his followers should be led by a young man “who has been brought up in the midst of the new age.”
Over decades, the Aga Khan evolved into a business magnate and a philanthropist, moving between the spiritual and the worldly with ease.
Ceremonies were held in Ismaili communities in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world on Tuesday and Wednesday.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called him “a symbol of peace, tolerance and compassion in our troubled world." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called him a very good friend and ”an extraordinarily compassionate global leader."
Condolences poured in online from charity groups he supported, as well as the equestrian world, where he was a well-known figure.
The Aga Khan was given the title of “His Highness” by Queen Elizabeth in July 1957, two weeks after his grandfather the Aga Khan III unexpectedly made him heir to the family’s 1,300-year dynasty as leader of the Ismaili Muslim sect.
He became the Aga Khan IV on July 11, 1957, in Geneva, Switzerland and later that year had an installation ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the spot where his grandfather once had his weight equaled in diamonds in gifts from his followers.
He had left Harvard to be at his ailing grandfather’s side, and returned to school 18 months later with an entourage and a deep sense of responsibility.
“I was an undergraduate who knew what his work for the rest of his life was going to be,” he said in a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair magazine. “I don’t think anyone in my situation would have been prepared.”
A defender of Islamic culture and values, he was widely regarded as a builder of bridges between Muslim societies and the West despite — or perhaps because of — his reticence to become involved in politics.
The Aga Khan Development Network, his main philanthropic organization, deals mainly with issues of health care, housing, education and rural economic development. It says it works in over 30 countries and has an annual budget of about $1 billion for nonprofit development activities.
A network of hospitals bearing his name are scattered in places where health care had lacked for the poorest, including Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, where he spent tens of millions of dollars for development of local economies.
The extent of the Aga Khan’s financial empire is hard to measure. Some reports estimated his personal wealth to be in the billions.
Ismailis lived for many generations in Iran, Syria and South Asia before also settling in east Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as Europe, North America and Australia more recently. They consider it a duty to tithe up to 12.5% of their income to the Aga Khan as steward.
“We have no notion of the accumulation of wealth being evil,” he told Vanity Fair in 2012. “The Islamic ethic is that if God has given you the capacity or good fortune to be a privileged individual in society, you have a moral responsibility to society.”
The Ismaili community’s website said he was born on Dec. 13, 1936, in Creux-de-Genthod, near Geneva, the son of Joan Yarde-Buller and Aly Khan, and spent part of his childhood in Nairobi, Kenya — where a hospital now bears his name.
He became well-known as a horse breeder and owner, and he represented Iran in the 1964 Winter Olympics as a skier. His eye for building and design led him to establish an architecture prize, and programs for Islamic Architecture at MIT and Harvard. He restored ancient Islamic structures throughout the world.
The Aga Khan lived at length in France and had been based in Portugal for the past several years. His development network and foundation are based in Switzerland.
He is survived by three sons and a daughter and several grandchildren.
FILE - The Aga Khan, left, and author J.K. Rowling, right, clap during Harvard University commencement exercises, Thursday, June 5, 2008, in Cambridge, Mass. Both received honorary degrees during the exercises. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)
FILE - The Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, is greeted by the Aga Khan, right, during a visit to the Ismaili Centre to join a reception to help celebrate their 25th anniversary, in London, Nov. 18, 2010. (Anthony Devlin/PA via AP, File)
FILE - Indian President Pranab Mukherjee confers the Padma Vibhushan to the Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, left, during a civil investiture ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, April 8, 2015. The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in India. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual leader to millions of Muslim, addresses an audience, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, at the Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - The owner of Zarkava his highness Aga Khan, center, his daughter Zahra Aga Khan, left, and French jockey Christophe Soumillon hold their trophies after winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race at Longchamp race track in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
FILE - Queen Elizabeth II and The Aga Khan at a dinner at Buckingham Palace, in London, July 7, 2008, to mark the Aga Khan's Golden Jubilee. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP, File)
FILE - Lt. Governor Casey Cagle welcomes His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary Imam (spiritual leader) of the world's Shia Ismaili Muslim Community, as he arrives at Fulton County Airport to celebrate with his Georgia followers his 60th anniversary as their leader Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, leaves after the inauguration of the restored 16th century Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, right, walks with the Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, as he arrives to inaugurate the restored 16th Century Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - The Aga Khan addresses an audience about the challenges to a pluralistic society Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, at the Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, listens to a speech during the inauguration of the Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, India, Friday, Sept. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)
FILE - The Aga Khan, spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims, listens to a speech during the inauguration of the restored 16th century Humayun's Tomb in New Delhi, India, Sept. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
Several Middle Eastern allies of the United States have urged the Trump administration to hold off on strikes against Iran for the government’s deadly crackdown on protesters, according to an Arab diplomat familiar with the matter.
Top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have raised concerns in the last 48 hours that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region, said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive conversations.
Oil prices fell Thursday as the markets appeared to take note of President Donald Trump’s shifting tone as a sign that he’s leaning away from attacking Iran after days of launching blistering threats at Tehran for its brutal crackdown.
Nevertheless, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday maintained that “all options remain on the table” for Trump as he deals with Iran.
Here's the latest:
Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi told reporters Friday in Washington that he still believes Trump’s promise that “help is on the way” for the Iranian people still stands despite lack of action by the U.S.
Asked if he’s lost faith in the U.S. president, Pahlavi said, “I believe the president is a man of his word. As I said before, how many days it may take? Who knows? Hopefully sooner than later. But as I said before, regardless of whether action is taken or not, we as Iranians have no choice to carry on the fight.”
There had been reports that Pahlavi met over the weekend with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, but Pahlavi refused to discuss any meetings with U.S. officials, including whether he’ll directly meet Trump.
“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland,” the president said, without providing details. “We need Greenland for national security.”
Trump for months has insisted the U.S. should control Greenland, a self-governing territory that’s part of the kingdom of Denmark.
But he’d not previously mentioned using tariffs to try and force the issue.
European leaders have joined Denmark in saying the U.S. can’t control the world’s largest island.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened fewer than 10 sexual violence investigations nationwide since it was hit by mass layoffs last March, according to internal data obtained by The Associated Press.
Previously, it had been opening dozens of such investigations a year.
The layoffs last year left half as many lawyers to investigate complaints of discrimination based on race, sex or disability in schools.
At the same time, the administration has doubled down on sexual discrimination cases of another kind. Trump officials have used Title IX, a 1972 gender-equality law, against schools that make accommodations for transgender students and athletes. The Office for Civil Rights has opened nearly 50 such investigations since Trump took office.
▶ Read more about Education Department sexual violence investigations
The president quickly turned his health care forum into a grievance session against Democrats and a bragging session on the votes he’s gotten in rural America.
“I’m all about the rural community. … We’re taking care of those great people,” he said, arguing that former President Barack Obama “didn’t care about the rural community, to be totally blunt.”
“The Democrats are so horrible toward the rural community,” Trump added. He asked voters to “remember ... in the midterms” that Democrats did not back his “Big Beautiful Bill” that included $10 billion for rural healthcare this year.
Trump effectively blamed Obama’s “Un-Affordable Care Act” for rural hospital closures and financial struggles. In truth, KFF has found that rural hospitals closed at a higher rate in states that did not expand Medicaid under Democrats’ 2010 health care overhaul than in states that did expand to take in more federal money.
“I actually want to keep you where you are, if you know the truth,” Trump told Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council.
Trump made the comment at a White House event on rural health, drawing laughter in the room. But it wasn’t clear the president himself was joking.
It comes as Trump is believed to be in final interviews with potential replacements for the Fed’s current chair, Jerome Powell, a frequently target of Trump’s public attacks.
“We don’t want to lose him Susie,” Trump said of Hassett to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who also at the health event. “We’ll see how it all works out.”
The White House is touting health care spending across small-town America intended to transform how care is delivered in places that have lost many hospitals and providers.
A look at some numbers:
That makes him the highest ranking U.S. official to visit the country following the U.S. military strike which captured former leader Nicolás Maduro.
Thursday’s meeting, first reported by The New York Times, was confirmed Friday by a U.S. government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The official said the meeting in Caracas came at President Trump’s direction and was intended to demonstrate the U.S. desire for a better relationship with Venezuela. The official said Ratcliffe discussed potential economic collaboration with the U.S. and warned that Venezuela can never again allow the presence of American adversaries, including drug traffickers.
— David Klepper
As Attorney General Pam Bondi approaches her first year on the job, the firings of Justice Department attorneys have defined her turbulent tenure. The terminations and a larger voluntary exodus of lawyers have erased centuries of combined experience and left the department with fewer career employees to act as a bulwark for the rule of law at a time when President Trump, a Republican, is testing the limits of executive power by demanding prosecutions of his political enemies.
Interviews by The Associated Press of more than a half-dozen fired employees offer a snapshot of the toll throughout the department. The departures include lawyers who prosecuted violent attacks on police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, environmental, civil rights and ethics enforcers, counterterrorism prosecutors, immigration judges and attorneys who defend administration policies. They continued this week, when several prosecutors in Minnesota moved to resign amid turmoil over an investigation into the shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
▶ Read more about firings at the Justice Department
The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are pressuring the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to take urgent steps to boost energy supply and curb price hikes, holding a Friday event aimed at addressing a rising concern among voters about the enormous amount of power used for artificial intelligence ahead of elections later this year.
The White House said its National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, want to try to compel PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants.
The Trump administration and governors will sign a statement of principles toward that end Friday.
▶ Read more about the administration and AI-driven power shortages
The Justice Department’s investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has brought heightened attention to a key drama that will play out at the central bank in the coming months: Will Powell leave the Fed when his term as chair ends, or will he take the unusual step of remaining a governor?
Powell’s term as Fed chair ends May 15, but because of the central bank’s complex structure, he has a separate term as one of seven members of its governing board that lasts until January 31, 2028. Historically, nearly all Fed chairs have stepped down from the board when they’re no longer chair. But Powell could be the first in nearly 50 years to stay on as a governor.
Many Fed-watchers believe the criminal investigation into Powell’s testimony about cost overruns for Fed building renovations was intended to intimidate him out of taking that step. If Powell stays on the board, it would deny the White House a chance to gain a majority, undercutting the Trump administration’s efforts to seize greater control over what has for decades been an institution largely insulated from day-to-day politics.
▶ Read more about Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
Trump on Thursday announced the outlines of a health care plan he wants Congress to take up as Republicans have faced increasing pressure to address rising health costs after lawmakers let subsidies expire.
The cornerstone is his proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can handle insurance and health costs as they see fit. Democrats have rejected the idea as a paltry substitute for the tax credits that had helped lower monthly premiums for many people.
Trump’s plan also focuses on lowering drug prices and requiring insurers to be more upfront with the public about costs, revenues, rejected claims and wait times for care.
Trump has long been dogged by his lack of a comprehensive health care plan as he and Republicans have sought to unwind former President Barack Obama’s signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act. Trump was thwarted during his first term in trying to repeal and replace the law.
▶ Read more about Trump’s health care plan
Most American presidents aspire to the kind of greatness that prompts future generations to name important things in their honor.
Donald Trump isn’t leaving it to future generations.
As the first year of his second term wraps up, his Republican administration and allies have put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships.
That’s on top of the “Trump Accounts” for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website soon to offer direct sales of prescription drugs, the “Trump Gold Card” visa that costs at least $1 million and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a transit corridor included in a deal his administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On Friday, he plans to attend a ceremony in Florida where local officials will dedicate a 4-mile (6-kilometer) stretch of road from the airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach as President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
▶ Read more about Trump’s renaming efforts
Nearly a year into his second term, Trump’s work on the economy hasn’t lived up to the expectations of many people in his own party, according to a new AP-NORC survey.
The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds a significant gap between the economic leadership Americans remembered from Trump’s first term and what they’ve gotten so far as he creates a stunning level of turmoil at home and abroad.
Just 16% of Republicans say Trump has helped “a lot” in addressing the cost of living, down from 49% in April 2024, when an AP-NORC poll asked Americans the same question about his first term.
At the same time, Republicans are overwhelmingly supportive of the president’s leadership on immigration — even if some don’t like his tactics.
There is little sign overall, though, that the Republican base is abandoning Trump. The vast majority of Republicans, about 8 in 10, approve of his job performance, compared with 4 in 10 for adults overall.
▶ Read more about the poll’s findings
Several Middle Eastern allies of the United States have urged the Trump administration to hold off on strikes against Iran for the government’s deadly crackdown on protesters, according to an Arab diplomat familiar with the matter.
Top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have raised concerns in the last 48 hours that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region, said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive conversations.
Oil prices fell on Thursday as the markets appeared to take note of President Donald Trump’s shifting tone as a sign that he’s leaning away from attacking Iran after days of launching blistering threats at Tehran for its brutal crackdown.
Nevertheless, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday maintained that “all options remain on the table” for Trump as he deals with Iran.
▶ Read more about Trump and Iran
— Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani and Ben Finley
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to honor the 2025 Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
