Category: 2. World

🔊 Listen with AI



Cancel Voice

Published On: Fri, 22 Aug 2025

12:48:39 PKT

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – A US State Department official on Thursday said that continuous vetting applies to “all of the more than 55 million foreigners who currently hold valid United States visas”, including those who have already been admitted to enter the country.

“The State Department revokes visas any time there are indications of a potential ineligibility, which includes things like any indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organisation,” the official said.

In a written comment to The Associated Press, the official said that if a visa holder presents these indications, their visa will be revoked and they will be subject to deportation if they are already in the US.

US President Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a focus of his presidency, boosting resources to secure the border and arresting people in the country illegally.

Earlier this month, the US government announced that it could require bonds of up to $15,000 for some tourist and business visas under a pilot programme to crack down on visitors who overstay their visas.

The programme gives US consular officers the discretion to impose bonds on visitors from countries with high rates of visa overstays, according to a Federal Register notice, which adds that bonds could also be applied to people coming from countries where screening and vetting information is deemed insufficient.

In July, US broadcaster CNN reported that the US would soon require international visitors to pay a “visa integrity fee” of at least $250, a new addition to existing visa application costs, according to a provision in the Trump administration’s domestic policy bill.

The fee is to be paid at the time visas are issued. Although there will be no fee waivers for the payment, the provision states that travellers who comply with the terms of their visa can have the fee reimbursed after their trip.

In June, United States consulates in Karachi and Lahore requested that all applicants for F, M or J nonimmigrant visas make their social media accounts public for vetting.

US consular officers are now required to conduct a “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of all student and exchange visitor applicants to identify those who “bear hostile attitudes toward our citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles”, said a US diplomatic cable.

Rorey Bosotti
Live page editor

Image source, Reuters

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classifications (IPC)
will release an update later this morning on famine in the Gaza Strip.

The UN-backed body responsible for monitoring food security, which does not itself officially declare famine, said
last month that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was “playing out in
Gaza”.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 271 people
have died of “famine and malnutrition” since on 7 October 2023 – including 112 children.

Humanitarian agencies have called on Israel to
facilitate the access of more aid into the Strip, warning food and water
shortages could develop into a famine.

Israel denies there’s starvation in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying earlier this
month that Israel’s “policy throughout the war has been to prevent a
humanitarian crisis while Hamas’s policy has been to create it”.

The new report comes less than 24 hours after Netanyahu said he’s approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City, despite widespread international and domestic opposition.

We’ll bring you all the key lines from the report once it’s
released.

The Iranian Navy on Thursday launched the two-day major naval missile exercise –codenamed Sustainable Power (Authority) 1404 (2025) — across the northern Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman.

As part of the main stages of the military exercise, various types of naval cruise missiles with different ranges successfully hit their targets in the northern Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman after firing from the surface vessels of the Navy.

Iran’s Nasir, Qadir, Qader ant-ship cruise missiles detonated their targets successfully in the drill.

According to coverage of the military exercise by Arab media in the region, including the UAE’s Al-Arabiya 24, Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar, Yemen’s al-Masirah, and Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, Iran has sought to communicate its military preparedness to counter any potential threats by displaying its deterrence might.

Reports citing Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh indicated that Iran has now deployed missiles significantly more advanced than those used in the recent 12-day war, with the capability to penetrate enemy defense systems at a 90% success rate.

Arab media analysts interpret this military exercise as Iran’s first major drill since the 12-day war with Israel, reflecting Tehran’s commitment to enhancing its defensive preparedness against potential future threats.

Iranian officials have consistently emphasized that the country will not hesitate to enhance its military capabilities, including missile power, which is intended solely for defense. Furthermore, Iran’s defense capabilities will never be a topic of negotiation.

Earlier today, Iran’s Navy simultaneously launched several cruise missiles from both coastal batteries and surface vessels, successfully destroying a designated surface target during “Sustainable Power 1404” missile exercise.

The Israeli regime backed by the United States attacked Iran on June 13. The regime assassinated a number of Iranian nuclear scientists and senior military commanders and bombarded some military bases inside the country. After that, on June 22, 2025, the US Air Force and Navy carried out airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities in an attempt to relieve pressure on the Israeli regime.

The following day, June 23, Iranian forces retaliated with over 30 drones and missiles against the US base in Qatar, under the codename Operation Glad Tidings of Victory, damaging multiple parts of the facility.

Finally, on June 24, after suffering heavy losses at the hands of Iran’s Armed Forces, both the Israeli regime and the US were forced to agree to a cessation of hostilities.

MNA

– Advertisement –

BEIJING, Aug 22 (APP):Leaders from more than 20 countries and heads of 10 international organizations will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2025, which will be held in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1, Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin said on Friday.

This will be the fifth time that China has hosted the SCO Summit and the largest since the establishment of the organization, he said at a press briefing.

Leaders will draw up a blueprint for the SCO’s development, build consensus on cooperation within the “SCO family,” and push forward towards building a closer SCO community with a shared future, Liu said.

The foreign leaders invited to attend the summit include Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao president Thongloun Sisoulith, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, etc., Liu announced.

Leaders of international organizations and multilateral mechanisms invited to attend the summit include UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Ularbek Sharsheev, Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergey Lebedev, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Imangali Tasmagambetov, Secretary-General of the Economic Cooperation Organization Asad Khan, Secretary-General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia Kairat Sarybay, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Bakytzhan Sagintayev, and President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Jin Liqun, he said.

Chinese ambassador to India Xu Feihong has said that Beijing “firmly opposes” Washington’s steep tariffs on Delhi and called for greater co-operation between India and China.

Xu likened the US to a “bully”, saying that it had long benefitted from free trade but was now using tariffs as a “bargaining chip” to demand “exorbitant prices” from other nations.

“US has imposed tariffs of up to 50% on India and even threatened for more. China firmly opposes it. Silence only emboldens the bully,” Xu said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 25% penalty on India in addition to 25% tariffs for buying oil and weapons from Russia. The new rate will come into effect on 27 August.

Delhi’s increased imports of cheap Russian crude since the Ukraine war has caused a strain in its ties with the US and impacted negotiations on a trade deal.

India has defended its purchases of Russian oil, arguing that as a major energy importer, it must buy the cheapest available crude to protect millions of poor Indians from rising costs. It has also pointed out that the Biden administration had told India to buy Russian oil to stabilise world energy markets.

In the backdrop of Delhi’s shaky trade relations with Washington, there appears to be a rapid thawing of ties between India and China.

Relations between the neighbours plunged after the 2020 clashes in Galwan in Ladakh. Since then Beijing and Delhi have been gradually working towards normalising ties.

Earlier this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a two-day trip to Delhi during which he said that India and China should view each other as “partners” rather than “adversaries or threats”.

On Thursday, Xu made statements along similar lines while speaking at an event in the Indian capital.

He called the two countries “double engines” of economic growth in Asia and added that unity between India and China benefits the world at large.

He also invited more Indian enterprises to invest in China and added that Beijing hoped that India would provide a “fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment” for the Chinese enterprises in India to benefit the people of both countries.

“At present, tariff wars and trade wars are disrupting the global economic and trade system, power politics and the law of the jungle are prevalent and international rules and order have suffered severe impacts,” he said, alluding to Washington’s tariff measures against India and other countries.

“China will firmly stand with India to uphold the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core,” he added.

He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit would give “new impetus to China-India relations”.