Visitors who are eligible to enter the United States without a visa may soon be required to provide the Department of Homeland Security with significantly more personal information, including details about their social media activity, email accounts and family background.
According to a notice published on Wednesday in the Federal Register, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is proposing to collect up to five years of social media data from travellers from certain visa-waiver countries.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The proposed requirement would apply to travellers using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) under the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of 42 countries – including the United Kingdom, Germany, Qatar, Greece, Malta, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Israel and South Korea – to travel to the US for tourism or business for up to 90 days.
Currently, the ESTA automatically screens applicants and grants travel approval without requiring an in-person interview at a US embassy or consulate, unlike standard visa applications.
At present, ESTA applicants are required to provide a more limited set of information, such as their parents’ names, current email address, and details of any past criminal record.
A question asking travellers to disclose their social media information was first added to the ESTA application in 2016, though it has remained optional.
New rules also target metadata, email history
The new notice also states that the CBP plans to request additional personal information from visitors, including telephone numbers used over the past five years and email addresses used over the last 10 years.
Authorities also said they plan to add what they describe as “high-value data fields” to the ESTA application “when feasible”. These would include metadata from electronically submitted photographs, extensive personal details about applicants’ family members, such as their places of birth and telephone numbers used over the past five years, as well as biometric information, including fingerprints, DNA and iris data.
The announcement did not say what the administration was looking for in the social media accounts of visitors or why it was asking for more information.
But the CBP said it was complying with an executive order that US President Donald Trump signed in January that called for more screening of people coming to the US to prevent the entry of possible national security threats.
Travellers from countries that are not part of the Visa Waiver Program system are already required to submit their social media information, a policy that dates back to the first Trump administration. The policy remained during US President Joe Biden’s administration.
The United States House of Representatives has voted forward a bill that would end the restrictive Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, originally imposed during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad.
The bid to repeal the sanctions was passed on Wednesday as part of a larger defence spending package, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“With this NDAA, as many know, we are repealing sanctions on Syria that were placed there because of Bashar al-Assad and the torture of his people,” Representative Brian Mast of Florida said. “We’re giving Syria a chance to chart a post-Assad future.”
Mast had previously been opposed to dropping the sanctions. In his statement on the House floor on Wednesday, he warned that, under the bill, the White House could “reimpose sanctions if the president views it necessary”.
The bill now heads to the Senate and is expected to be voted on before the end of the year.
If passed, the NDAA would repeal the 2019 Caesar Act, which sanctioned the Syrian government for war crimes during the country’s 13-year-long civil war.
It would also require the White House to issue frequent reports confirming that Syria’s new government is combating Islamist fighters and upholding the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.
Human rights advocates have welcomed the easing of heavy sanctions that the US and other Western countries imposed on Syria during the war.
They argue that lifting those economic restrictions will aid Syria’s path towards economic recovery after years of devastation.
The Caesar Act was signed into law during President Donald Trump’s first term.
But in December 2024, shortly before Trump returned to office for a second term, rebel forces toppled al-Assad’s government, sending the former leader fleeing to Russia.
Trump has since removed many sanctions on Syria and met with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the push that ousted al-Assad.
But some sanctions can only be removed by Congress, a step that Trump has encouraged lawmakers to take.
This month, Syrians celebrated the one-year anniversary of al-Assad’s overthrow with fireworks, prayer and public displays of pride. But the country continues to face challenges as it recovers from the destruction and damage wrought by the war.
Syrian officials have urged the repeal of remaining sanctions, saying that it is necessary to give the country a fighting chance at economic stability and improvement.
Syrian central bank Governor Abdulkader Husrieh called US sanctions relief a “miracle” in an interview with the news service Reuters last week.
Noni Madueke scored two goals, and Gabriel Martinelli netted another as Arsenal kept up their 100 percent run in the Champions League to stay top of the standings with a comfortable 3-0 triumph at Belgium’s Club Brugge.
Arsenal’s sixth win in as many games all but confirms a top-eight finish, meaning they will skip the knockout phase playoffs in February and move straight into the round of 16 in March. Brugge remain on four points and in stark danger of missing out on the knockouts.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
It was a satisfying night on Wednesday at the Jan Breydelstadion for the under-strength Gunners, who lost at Aston Villa at the weekend and made five changes to freshen up an injury-stricken squad, including a first run-out in almost a year for Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus, who got half an hour of action as a second-half substitute.
Madueke got matters going with a thunderous strike in the 25th minute, collecting possession on the halfway line and swiftly weaving his way upfield before unleashing a powerful effort that flew into the top corner.
The home side went close to an equaliser in the 39th minute, when some swift passing saw Aleksandar Stankovic curl a shot narrowly wide, and continued to probe up to half-time with David Raya making two key saves, from Christos Tzolis and Stankovic.
But that momentum looked to have been left in the changing room at half-time as they were caught two minutes into the second half when Madueke headed home his second goal.
A cross from the left from Martin Zubimendi found Madueke unmarked at the back post, with the home defence caught ball watching and hopelessly out of position.
“I feel like we can win this competition and win the league,” said an elated Madueke.
Arsenal’s Noni Madueke scores their first goal with a thunderbolt into the top corner [Yves Herman/Reuters]
Martinelli keeps up Champions League scoring streak
Nine minutes later, Martinelli added the third, cutting in off the left wing and hammering a right-footed shot into the net for a fifth goal in as many Champions League appearances this season, having missed one of Arsenal’s matches.
Jesus struck the crossbar in the 79th minute, inches away from a dream return after his lengthy layoff due to a knee injury, and Arsenal still had time to give 16-year-old Marli Salmon a debut at right back in the last seven minutes. He is the fourth youngest player to feature for the Gunners.
Brugge went into the match in some turmoil after Monday’s surprise sacking of coach Nicky Hayen, with his replacement, Ivan Leko, in charge on his return for a second spell at the club.
PSG held in Bilbao, while Napoli shocked in Benfica
Paris St Germain played out their first goalless draw of the season at Athletic Bilbao but stayed in the driving seat for direct qualification for the Champions League last-16 after a string of fine saves by home goalkeeper Unai Simon denied the defending champions.
Luis Enrique’s side had the clearest chances after being under pressure in the first half, but Simon produced several superb saves, and Ousmane Dembele’s absence was once again felt up front by the visitors.
The result left PSG in third place in the 36-team league with 13 points from six games, while Bilbao are 28th on five points, two points from the playoff places.
PSG next travel to Sporting, and Bilbao visit Atalanta.
“We have to do more. We were not at our maximum to leave here with a win. Sometimes we’re not at our level – we have to keep working,” PSG fullback Nuno Mendes said.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Warren Zaire-Emery, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz applaud fans after the match [Albert Gea/Reuters]
Bilbao threatened first when Alex Berenguer curled a right-footed free kick towards the far post in the 31st minute, forcing PSG goalkeeper Matvey Safonov to fingertip the ball behind for a corner.
The Basque side enjoyed their best spell around the half-hour mark, pressing high and testing PSG’s defensive organisation without finding a breakthrough.
PSG, who had to deal with the absence of Dembele after the France forward fell ill, had their best opening earlier on a swift counterattack in the 19th minute when Fabian Ruiz, after controlling well on his chest, fired his effort over the crossbar.
The Ligue 1 side emerged with renewed intensity after the break and went close in the 49th minute when Simon denied them twice in quick succession.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia burst down the right on a rapid counter and delivered a low cross that evaded Joao Neves before Senny Mayulu pounced, only for Simon to react brilliantly and push the close-range effort away.
The pressure continued from a corner on 53 minutes as Warren Zaire-Emery collected a clearance on the edge of the area and unleashed a powerful half-volley towards the far corner, forcing another sharp save from the Bilbao keeper.
The clearest chance came in the 65th minute when Bradley Barcola raced into the area for a one-on-one with Simon and saw his powerful attempt rattle the crossbar.
Newcastle United’s Lewis Miley scores their second goal at Leverkusen [Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters]
Leverkusen fight back to deny Newcastle
Bayer Leverkusen’s Alex Grimaldo bagged an 88th-minute goal to rescue a 2-2 draw for the hosts against Newcastle United in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Newcastle, who also hit the woodwork twice, thought they had done enough to get back into the top eight after coming from a goal down to lead 2-1 with a strong second-half performance and goals from Anthony Gordon and Lewis Miley, before Spain international Grimaldo charged into the box to level with two minutes left.
The result left Newcastle in 12th on 10 points, while Leverkusen dropped to 20th on nine. The top eight teams qualify directly for the knockout stage. Teams who finish ninth to 24th will enter a playoff round to reach the last 16.
Alex Grimaldo of Bayer 04 Leverkusen scores his team’s second goal past Aaron Ramsdale of Newcastle United [Lars Baron/Getty Images]
The hosts went in front when Robert Andrich headed on at the far post, and the ball bounced off Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes for an own goal in the 13th minute, with the visitors struggling with the German defence for much of the first half.
Newcastle equalised with a Gordon penalty in the 51st after Leverkusen keeper Mark Flekken dallied on the ball, allowing Nick Woltemade to snatch it before being brought down.
They kept up the pressure, and Gordon, who had rattled the post with a fierce low shot in the 63rd, turned provider in the 74th, floating a cross in the box for substitute Miley to head in his maiden Champions League goal.
With Leverkusen now firmly on the back foot, Eddie Howe’s team created several more scoring chances, with Flekken coming to the rescue with a superb save to stop Malick Thiaw’s point-blank header.
Flekken was beaten by substitute Jacob Murphy’s shot a little later, but the ball bounced off the post once more. Instead, it was Leverkusen who scored again, with Grimaldo popping up in the box to bury the equaliser, scoring for the second consecutive Champions League game.
Napoli shocked in Benfica, while Dortmund jeered
Italian champion Napoli lost 2-0 at Benfica, while Weston McKennie was on target for Juventus in a 2-0 win at Pafos.
Jeers rang out at full time at Borussia Dortmund after Norway’s Bodo/Glimt sealed a 2-2 draw, equalising twice after Julian Brandt’s goals for Dortmund.
The result helps neither team, with Dortmund’s chances of direct qualification for the round of 16 taking a dent. Bodo/Glimt has three draws but no wins in its debut Champions League season.
Ajax scored three goals late in the game to deny Qarabag a surprise win in one of the early kickoffs.
Four-time European champion Ajax twice trailed against its Azerbaijani opponent, but fought back to win 4-2 in Baku.
Sao Paulo, Brazil – The lower house of Brazil’s Congress has passed a bill that could reduce former President Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup.
The contentious vote came in the early hours of Wednesday, after a protest by a left-wing congressman triggered a fight involving lawmakers, police and journalists.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The bill, which the Senate must now approve, aims to reduce the sentences of more than 1,000 people involved in the attacks on January 8, 2023, which saw Bolsonaro’s supporters storm government headquarters in Brasilia.
Its beneficiaries would include Bolsonaro and several ministers and military officials who were convicted alongside the ex-president for plotting to hold onto power after losing the 2022 elections.
The bill was brought to a vote late on Tuesday night, prompting outrage from its opponents. The scene inside the Chamber of Deputies quickly devolved into chaos, with pushing and shoving between lawmakers.
Glauber Braga, a left-wing congressman opposed to the bill, attempted to block the vote by sitting in the chamber president’s chair, before being forcibly removed by police.
Congress members in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies consider a bill to alter sentencing guidelines for certain crimes, including those involving coups d’etat, on December 9 [Eraldo Peres/AP Photo]
Tulio Amancio, a Brazilian reporter from the network TV Band, witnessed the scuffle. He told Al Jazeera that journalists were forcibly expelled from the chamber, and the live television signal was cut.
When Braga was removed, Amancio said journalists rushed towards the congressman to film the scene. Police started shouting — “Open up! Open up!” — as they pushed their way through the crowd of reporters.
Amancio added that “colleagues were assaulted” by police in the hubbub.
“There’s always pushing and shoving. There’s always some kind of confusion. It’s part of political coverage involving authorities, but physical aggression in the way it happened this Tuesday, unfortunately, will be remembered as a sad chapter in this story here in Congress,” Amancio said.
Maria do Rosario, a congresswoman from the left-wing Workers’ Party, voted against the bill. She criticised the chamber president, Hugo Motta, for his handling of the protest, including his decision to call congressional police to remove Braga.
“He was treated with profound violence,” she told Al Jazeera. “He was dragged out, and at the same time, this agenda that President Hugo Motta has put forward is a disgrace that undermines democracy.”
In a statement shared over social media, Motta argued that Braga’s actions disrespected the legislative branch.
He also appeared critical of the police reaction, saying he has ordered an “investigation into possible excesses regarding press coverage”.
“We must protect democracy from shouting, from authoritarian gestures, from intimidation disguised as a political act,” Motta wrote.
Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019 to 2023, was found guilty in September on five charges, including one count of seeking the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.
He and his supporters have refused to acknowledge his defeat in the 2022 presidential race, which saw the election of current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Since November, the popular far-right president has been held in the federal police headquarters in Brasilia.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the jailed president’s eldest son, announced on December 5 he will run for president in 2026.
Days later, he suggested he would renounce his candidacy if his father were freed from prison and called on Motta to hold a vote on Wednesday’s sentence-reduction bill. The senator later retracted his offer to drop out of the race.
“The price was his father’s freedom,” said Rosario, echoing widespread speculation about Flavio Bolsonaro’s comments.
Storm Byron is threatening to heap new miseries on Palestinians in Gaza, with families making distress calls from flooded tents and hundreds of others fleeing their shelters in search of dry ground as the fierce winter storm lashes heavy rains on the besieged territory.
Officials warned Wednesday that the storm was forecast to bring flash floods, strong winds and hail until Friday, conditions expected to wreak havoc in a territory in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in tents, temporary structures, or damaged buildings after two years of Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Humanitarian workers said Israeli restrictions on the entry of tents, tools to repair water and sewage systems have left Gaza poorly equipped to respond to the storm, and called on the international community to pressure the Netanyahu government to urgently allow in supplies.
In the southern city of Rafah, the Palestinian Civil Defence said its teams had already received distress calls from displacement camps, with families reporting “flooded tents and families trapped inside by heavy rains”.
“Despite limited resources and a lack of necessary equipment, our teams are working tirelessly to reach those in need and provide assistance,” the rescue agency said on Telegram.
Footage posted on social media and verified by Al Jazeera showed Palestinians shovelling a ditch around tents in a desperate attempt to create barriers that would prevent them from flooding.
Displacement camps at risk
Nearly 850,000 people sheltering in 761 displacement sites face the highest risk of flooding, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Flooding has previously been recorded at more than 200 of the highest-risk sites, affecting more than 140,000 people, the office said.
Previous storms had contaminated displacement sites with sewage and solid waste, swept away families’ tents and driven them out of makeshift shelters.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said that UN agencies and local authorities were warning that any significant rainfall could have devastating consequences for Gaza’s population, with the displacement camps built on barren, open terrain that would be highly susceptible to flooding.
The tents available to people were typically flimsy, unreinforced and often torn, he said, offering negligible protection from heavy rains, which were likely to seriously damage whatever possessions families had left.
Risk of water contamination, disease
Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs network, said Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid and equipment had left Gaza ill-equipped to deal with the storm.
He said only 40,000 tents, out of a needed 300,000, had been allowed in, while tools that would likely be needed to repair sewage systems and water networks were also restricted.
Flooding would bring a serious risk of sewage and solid waste contaminating drinking water or food supplies, raising the risk of diseases in the densely populated Strip, where 2.2 million people are crammed into just 43 percent of the territory, while the remaining 57 percent remains under Israeli military control.
“If Israel were to allow the entrance of supplies, things would be different. But for now, it has done all it can to make life more complicated for Palestinians,” Shawa said.
Oxfam humanitarian response adviser Chris McIntosh agreed, telling Al Jazeera that the people of Gaza were bracing for a “very tragic situation”.
“Persistent bureaucracy prevented us from bringing in adequate dwellings for people in Gaza,” McIntosh said. “The Israelis have not permitted tents to enter Gaza for many months. The only thing they’re allowing at this point is some tarpaulin, which isn’t going to do much for people who need proper shelter.”
He said Palestinians were being forced to live in “deplorable conditions”, with well more than 50 percent of the population living in tents.
He anticipated many would attempt to find dry ground inside bombed-out buildings that were at heightened risk of collapse amid the forecast heavy rains and winds.
Families flee flooding risk
Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, warned that vulnerable groups, including newborn children, are at particular risk from the incoming winter storm.
About 200 families were expected to arrive at a new displacement site in eastern Khan Younis in the south of the Strip, fleeing a heightened risk of flooding in their present location, he said.
“These households made the decision to move given the impact of the frequent rains and the risk of flooding,” he said.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, told Al Jazeera that about 288,000 Palestinian families were without shelter as Storm Byron bore down on the enclave, and issued a call to the international community to pressure Israel to allow in supplies to help respond to the storm.
“We are issuing an urgent appeal to the world, [United States] President Trump and the [United Nations] Security Council to pressure the Israeli occupation,” he said.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, condemned global inaction as families in Gaza braced for the storm.
“Palestinians in Gaza are literally left alone, freezing and starving in the winter storm,” she posted on X.
