
Trump Travel Ban Review: Why Egypt Stands Out
Trump previously singled out Egypt as a country that wouldn't be on a travel ban list. Two weeks later, amid regional tensions, things may change.
The U.S. travel ban – currently blocking nationals from a dozen countries – may get bigger with 36 additional countries under review by the State Department.
Among the countries on the new list reported this weekend by Reuters and the Washington Post, Egypt stands out. The North African nation is the second-largest inbound travel market in the group after Nigeria, and one of the largest outbound markets as well.
The U.S. received around 78,000 visitors from Egypt last year, according to the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office. For

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Post
19 minutes ago
- New York Post
With airports in Israel closed, Jewish New Yorkers are desperate to find ways in
Despite a current US State Department advisory against travel to Israel 'due to armed conflict, terrorism and civil unrest' and closed airspace, some determined New Yorkers want to be in the Holy Land to show their solidarity with and support for the Jewish state. 'I feel guilty that I'm not there with my brothers and sisters being subjected to these missiles,' said Todd Richman, a Long Islander whose flight to Israel was canceled last Thursday as news broke of Israel's preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear sites. 'I feel guilty. It's hard to explain.' Since airports are shuttered, the 55-year-old, who works in finance, said he's looked into alternate means to get into the Jewish state, including a ship, to no avail. The minute flights open up, Richman declared, 'I'm there.' 4 Amidst Israel's conflict with Iran, some New Yorkers say they would like to be in the Holy Land showing solidarity with Israelis. ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The married dad-of-three added, 'It's hard to explain how you can want to be in a war zone right now, but there's something you feel in your heart.' With friends and family running into bomb shelters every night amidst a barrage of ballistic missiles launched from Iran, there's a sense of powerlessness. 'I'm watching it through their eyes and I wish I was there with them,' he said. 'There's something unique about the Jewish ruach (spirit) about being together during such a situation.' With 24 Israelis killed and hundreds injured in the days-long Iranian missile barrage, people are determined to stay resilient and strong in the face of evil. 'They're having bar mitzvahs in the shelters, singing in the shelters, celebrating life in the shelters,' Richman said, adding, 'I still feel safe there. In some ways you feel safer being in Israel with ballistic missiles landing than you do in most other parts of the world.' Chava Blivaiss, a 36-year-old trauma surgeon, feels similarly. 'People think I'm crazy, [but] I just feel the need to be there,' she told The Post. 4 'I feel guilty that I'm not there with my brothers and sisters being subjected to these missiles,' said Todd Richman.' Courtesy of Todd Richman The Long Islander is on standby with a fully packed bag, passport and medical IDs sitting by the door. 'I'm always ready to run into the fire — and if I could be there right now, I would,' she said. 'Even if I wasn't a trauma surgeon, I'd want to be there just as much. I'd go shopping there and help the economy, buying falafels.' While she's had no shortage of rockets and close calls before in Israel over the past year — sometimes having a mere 30 seconds to run to the bomb shelter in places like Ashkelon — Blivaiss asserted, 'it still feels safer there than it does here … you get used to the rockets and the running and the sirens.' Yocheved 'Kim' Ruttenberg, the American founder of Sword of Iron – Israel Volunteer Corp, a grassroots initiative that began as a modest Facebook group after October 7, said she's been inundated with messages from would-be volunteers from all over the world trying to reach Israel now. 4 'People think I'm crazy, [but] I just feel the need to be there,' said trauma surgeon Chava Blivaiss. Courtesy of Dr. Chava Blivaiss 'It doesn't make logical sense. It's something you can't explain, you just feel it,' Ruttenberg, 24, told The Post. It's a sentiment that David Harris, former longtime CEO of the American Jewish Committee, understands. The 75-year-old longtime Jewish activist, who lives in Manhattan, told The Post that he is planning to go to Israel as soon as he can. He's gone against the grain before. During the first Gulf War, when missiles started flying from Iraq to Israel, he said he was on the 'first plane to Israel.' He got a flight with legendary comedian Jackie Mason, with virtually no one else on board. 'We wanted to show solidarity and sit in the sealed rooms simply because there was nowhere else we wanted to be,' he said. 4 Yocheved 'Kim' Ruttenberg said her organization has been inundated with requests from people wanting to volunteer in Israel. Courtesy of Yocheved "Kim" Ruttenberg During the 2006 Lebanon War, he never thought twice about running to the Holy Land to 'sit in bomb shelters and tell Israelis they're not alone,' he said. 'And to tell myself that I wouldn't simply be a bystander rooting from far … There's no way to simply say that's their war and my place is here. My place is there.' Richman noted that people feeling this way is unique to Israel and the Jewish people. He said, 'Tell me what other country that's at war that has people scrambling to get back into the country.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration demands action from 36 countries to avoid travel ban
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has given 36 countries, most of them in Africa, a Wednesday deadline to commit to improve vetting or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States. A weekend diplomatic cable sent by the State Department instructs embassies and consulates in the 36 countries to gauge their host countries' willingness by Wednesday to improve their citizens' travel documentation and take steps to address the status of their nationals who are in the United States illegally. The cable, which was described to The Associated Press, asks the countries to take action to address the U.S. concerns within 60 days or risk being added to the travel ban, which now includes 12 nations. Of the 36 new countries targeted, 25 are in Africa. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce declined to comment on the specifics in the cable. She confirmed that the administration wanted nations to improve their own vetting processes for passport holders, accept their nationals deported from the U.S. and take other steps to ensure their citizens are not a threat to the U.S. 'We're looking at providing a period of time, (where if countries) don't get to that point where we can trust them and they've got to change the system, update it, do whatever they need to do to convince us that we can trust the process and the information they have,' she said. The 36 countries identified in the cable are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Washington Post first reported on the cable.


Entrepreneur
2 hours ago
- Entrepreneur
Bezos-Sánchez Wedding Draws Business, Protests to Venice
The wedding is expected to take place next week in Venice. The lavish wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and book author and helicopter pilot, Lauren Sánchez, is expected to take place next week in Venice. Most reports say the event will host 200 guests and last three days, from June 24 to June 26, though the couple has not confirmed. But Venice residents have been protesting against overcrowding and mass tourism, something that they say is negatively affecting the small (the main island is about 2 square miles) city that receives about 20 million visitors yearly. The overcrowding has become so bad that the city charges a 5 Euro daily entrance fee on some high-season dates. (It's also not just Venice — in Spain, tourists are being shot with water guns on crowded streets.) Related: Jeff Bezos' Neighbors Just Sold Their Land. Here's How Much It Costs to Live Next to the Amazon Founder. And now the Bezos-Sánchez wedding is in the crosshairs. People gather to protest against the wedding of Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice on June 13, 2025. ANDREA PATTARO/AFP | Getty Images For the past few days leading up to the wedding, protesters have been making signs and chanting, "No space for Bezos," in an obvious play on words regarding the space company Bezos founded, Blue Origin. However, the AP reports that, despite the protests, the betrothed have used local vendors for about 80% of the provisions, and the businesses they spoke to were happy about the extra orders. The 6th-generation owner of Rosa Salva, a bakery that has been making pastries since 1876, told the AP that his business made a selection of items for the goody bags for the wedding and was happy to see the city in the national spotlight. "Events like this bring quality tourism to Venice," he said. "I don't see how an event with 200 people can create disruptions. It's responsible tourism. It's prestigious that a couple like this, who can go anywhere in the world, are getting married in the city." The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, is also excited for the event. Brugnaro told the AP this week that it was "an honor" that Bezos and Sánchez chose Venice. "Venice once again reveals itself to be a global stage," he said. Related: Jeff Bezos Is Selling Billions Worth of Amazon Stock, According to a New Filing