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US admits Qatar into visa waiver program

US admits Qatar into visa waiver program
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State said in a statement that Qatar is the first Gulf country to be admitted to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, commending Doha for meeting the strict security requirements to join. (Shutterstock/File)
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Updated 24 September 2024
Reuters
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US admits Qatar into visa waiver program

US admits Qatar into visa waiver program
  • Qatar is the first Gulf country to be admitted to the US Visa Waiver Program
  • “Qatar’s fulfillment of the stringent security requirements to join the Visa Waiver Program will deepen our strategic partnership,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said
Updated 24 September 2024
Reuters
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WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday announced it was admitting Qatar into its visa waiver program, allowing visa-free travel by Qatari citizens for up to 90 days starting no later than Dec. 1.
The US Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State said in a statement that Qatar is the first Gulf country to be admitted to the US Visa Waiver Program, commending Doha for meeting the strict security requirements to join.
The tiny Gulf state has played a key role in mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials in relation to the war in Gaza and the release of hostages captured by the Palestinian Islamist group in its Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel.
An administration official told reporters the US has a strong defense relationship with Qatar and praised Doha for taking the lead on pressing the Taliban on human rights and providing assistance in Sudan, among other issues.
“Qatar’s fulfillment of the stringent security requirements to join the Visa Waiver Program will deepen our strategic partnership and enhance the flow of people and commerce between our two countries,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
For admission to the program allowing visitors traveling for tourism or business purposes to stay up to 90 days without a visa, Washington requires countries to meet requirements on issues such as counterterrorism, law enforcement, immigration enforcement, document security, and border management.
Qatar put forth a “significant whole-of-government effort to meet all program requirements,” including on partnering to share information on terrorism and serious crimes, according to the statement.
Qatar is the 42nd member of the program, with nations added infrequently. Croatia was added in 2021 and Israel last year. The program requires countries to allow US citizens similar visa-free travel.
US citizens can currently travel to Qatar without a visa, but starting on Oct. 1 they will be allowed to stay for up to 90 days instead of 30.

Topics: Qatar US Visa Waiver Program

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UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall

UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
Updated 20 sec ago
AP
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UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall

UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
  • The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the US, EU and others
  • Rebuilding has been stymied by sanctions in the absence of a political solution
Updated 20 sec ago
AP

DAMASCUS: The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Sunday called for a quick end to Western sanctions after the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the United States, European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and later spiraled into a civil war.
The conflict has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Rebuilding has been stymied to a large degree by sanctions that aimed to prevent rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and property in government-held areas in the absence of a political solution.
“We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria,” UN envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters during a visit to Damascus.
Pedersen came to the Syrian capital to meet with officials of the new interim government set up by the former opposition forces, led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), who toppled Assad.
HTS is designated a “terrorist group” by the US, which could also complicate reconstruction efforts, but officials in Washington have indicated that the Biden administration is considering removing the designation.
The interim government is set to govern until March, but it has not yet made clear the process under which a new permanent administration would replace it.
“We need to get the political process underway that is inclusive of all Syrians,” Pedersen said. “That process obviously needs to be led by the Syrians themselves.”
He called for “justice and accountability for crimes” committed during the war and for the international community to step up humanitarian aid.

Israel approves plan aiming to double annexed Golan population: statement

Israeli military vehicles ride through Syria close to the ceasefire line between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria.
Israeli military vehicles ride through Syria close to the ceasefire line between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria.
Updated 5 min 31 sec ago
AFP
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Israel approves plan aiming to double annexed Golan population: statement

Israeli military vehicles ride through Syria close to the ceasefire line between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria.
  • Government had “unanimously approved” the 40 million shekel ($11 million) “plan for the demographic development of the Golan,” Netanyahu said
Updated 5 min 31 sec ago
AFP

JERUSALEM: The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to double the population of the occupied and annexed Golan Heights, following the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria, the prime minister’s office said.
The government had “unanimously approved” the 40 million shekel ($11 million) “plan for the demographic development of the Golan... in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. Israel has occupied most of the Golan Heights since 1967 and annexed that area in 1981 in a move recognized only by the United States.
“The immediate risks to the country have not disappeared and the latest developments in Syria increase the strength of the threat — despite the moderate image that the rebel leaders claim to present,” Defense Minister Israel Katz told officials examining Israel’s defense budget, according to a statement.
The Golan is home to 24,000 Druze, an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam, Levine said. Most identify as Syrian.

Topics: Fall of Assad Golan Heights

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Israeli troops kill 22 in Gaza, attack school sheltering displaced Palestinians

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir Al-Balah.
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir Al-Balah.
Updated 15 December 2024
Reuters
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Israeli troops kill 22 in Gaza, attack school sheltering displaced Palestinians

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in Deir Al-Balah.
  • Residents said clusters of houses were bombed and some set ablaze in three towns
  • Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing to depopulate the areas at the northern edge to create a buffer zone
Updated 15 December 2024
Reuters

CAIRO: Israeli troops killed at least 22 Palestinians, most of them in the northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday in airstrikes and other attacks on targets that included a school sheltering displaced Gazans, medics and residents said.
They said at least 11 of the dead were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City houses, nine were killed in the towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia camp and two were killed by drone fire in Rafah.
Residents said clusters of houses were bombed and some set ablaze in the three towns. The Israeli army has been operating in the towns for over two months.
The Israeli military said the three Gaza City houses belonged to militants planning imminent attacks. It said steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians beforehand, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.
The military issued a photo showing the weapons it said were seized in Beit Lahiya that included explosives and dozens of grenades.
In Beit Hanoun, Israeli forces besieged families sheltering in Khalil Aweida school before storming it and ordering them to head toward Gaza City, the medics and residents said.
Medics said several people were killed and wounded during the raid on the school while the army detained many men. The number killed was not immediately clear.
The military said it struck down dozens of militants from the air and on the ground and captured others in Beit Hanoun.
Separately, Israel said its air force struck a command and control center in a compound in the Abu Shabak clinic in northern Gaza used by Hamas to store weapons and plan attacks. The Gaza health ministry said the medical center, which also included a mental health clinic, was destroyed.
Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing to depopulate the areas at the northern edge to create a buffer zone. Israel denies it and says the campaign targets Hamas militants and aims to prevent them from regrouping. The military says it has instructed civilians to evacuate battle zones for their own safety.
The war began when the Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel then launched an air, sea and land offensive that has killed almost 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins.
A bid by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a truce has gained momentum in recent weeks, yet there has been no news of a breakthrough.

Topics: War on Gaza Palestinians

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Hoping for religious harmony, Christians in a Syrian town attend Mass

Christians attend the first Sunday mass after the fighters of the ruling Syrian body took control of the city, at Zaitoun Church
Christians attend the first Sunday mass after the fighters of the ruling Syrian body took control of the city, at Zaitoun Church
Updated 15 December 2024
Reuters
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Hoping for religious harmony, Christians in a Syrian town attend Mass

Christians attend the first Sunday mass after the fighters of the ruling Syrian body took control of the city, at Zaitoun Church
  • Syria’s population includes historic ethnic and religious minority communities including Christians, Armenians, Kurds and Shiite Muslims
Updated 15 December 2024
Reuters

LATAKIA: In Syria’s northwestern port town of Latakia, Christian worshippers attending Mass on Sunday at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral were hopeful that the country’s new largely Sunni Muslim leadership would respect their religion.
Like other Christians around the country, they were attending the first Mass since militants overthrew President Bashar Assad a week ago
Last Sunday, Church authorities warned people to stay away from worship amid the upheaval as militants — led by former al Qeada offshoot Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham — swept into Damascus and ended 50 years of brutal rule by the Assad family.
Athanasios Fahed, the Metropolitan of Latakia and its dependencies for the Greek Orthodox Church, led Sunday’s service in Latakia and the cathedral filled with people in brisk morning weather.
“Last Sunday, we were surprised just like all Syrian people, of the change that happened. Of course, we had many fears, especially for those who are called minorities,” Fahed told Reuters, although he added he did not consider Christians minorities since they were “part of this country.”
“But of course, a lot of questions rose because obviously there was chaos in the street due to the fall of the state and its security, military, official and civil institutions,” Fahed said.
Fahed said that while many Christians were displaced to other regions under Assad’s rule, the coastal regions such as areas around Latakia were unaffected. Latakia was a stronghold of Assad’s rule.
Syria’s population includes historic ethnic and religious minority communities including Christians, Armenians, Kurds and Shiite Muslims, who like many other Syrian Muslims had feared during the 13-year civil war that any future Islamist rule would imperil their way of life.
Lina Akhras, a parish council secretary at the church, said Christians had been “comfortable” under Assad in terms of their freedom of belief.
“It happened all of a sudden, we didn’t know what to expect. So in order to protect everybody, we stopped (worship) until we saw how it will develop,” she told Reuters.
“Thank God, we received a lot of assurances and we saw that members of the (HTS) committee reached out to our priest... God willing we will return to our previous lives and live in our beautiful Syria,” she told Reuters.
“Your religion is yours, but our country is for all of us.”

Topics: Fall of Assad Christians Mass

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Paramilitary attack in North Darfur kills 3: activists

Paramilitary attack in North Darfur kills 3: activists
Updated 15 December 2024
AFP
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Paramilitary attack in North Darfur kills 3: activists

Paramilitary attack in North Darfur kills 3: activists
Updated 15 December 2024
AFP

PORT SUDAN: Three civilians have been killed and 20 wounded in a drone attack by paramilitaries in the western Sudanese town of El-Fasher in North Darfur, activists said on Sunday.
The local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating aid across Sudan, said in a statement the attack took place on Saturday night.
It said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been battling the regular army since mid-April 2023, targeted “Awlad Al-Reef neighborhood in the center of the city with four high-explosive missiles, killing three civilians and injuring more than 20 others with serious wounds.”
El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, has been under paramilitary siege since May.
The city has seen fierce clashes as both sides fight to secure a last foothold in the Darfur region.
Nearly all of Darfur is now controlled by the RSF, which has also taken over swathes of the southern Kordofan region and central Sudan, while the army holds the north and east.
Both are battling for full control of the war-torn capital Khartoum, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of El-Fasher.
The army-aligned health ministry said another drone attack on Friday killed nine people and wounded 20 at the main hospital in El-Fasher, forcing it to halt operations.
The RSF targeted the facility known as the Saudi Hospital with “four drone-guided missiles,” a health ministry statement said.
It said the attack “struck areas where patients’ companions were gathered as well as key locations of the hospital.”
In a post on X Saturday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described continued attacks on health care facilities across Sudan as “deplorable.”
“We urge for the protection of all patients and health professionals, and for all attacks on and around health facilities to stop,” he added.
The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million, creating what the United Nations calls one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of indiscriminately targeting civilians and medical facilities, as well as deliberately bombing residential areas.
Sudan’s army launched one of its deadliest air strikes last week on a market in North Darfur, killing more than 100 people, according to a pro-democracy lawyers’ group.

Topics: Sudan Unrest

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