U.S. vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate Gaza ceasefire
A Palestinian woman mourns as she embraces the body of her daughter Mayar Abu Odeh, 8, who was killed in an Israeli army strike on Gaza. at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
What you need to know after Trump banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the U.S.
An Afghan person passes in front of an air travel agency in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) DAKAR, Senegal -- U.S. President Donald Trump has banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States and restricted access for those from seven others, citing national security concerns in resurrecting and expanding a hallmark policy of his first term that will mostly affect people from Africa and the Middle East. The ban announced Wednesday applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The heightened restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don't hold a valid visa. The policy takes effect Monday at 12:01 a.m. and does not have an end date. Here's what to know about the new rules: How Trump justified the ban Since returning to the White House, Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him. The travel ban stems from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on 'hostile attitudes' toward the U.S. The aim is to 'protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes,' the administration said. In a video posted on social media, Trump tied the new ban to a terrorist attack Sunday in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. The man charged in the attack is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump's restricted list. U.S. officials say he overstayed a tourist visa. Who is exempt from the ban Green card holders Dual citizens, including U.S. citizens who also have citizenship of one of the banned countries Some athletes: athletes and their coaches travelling to the U.S. for the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the U.S. secretary of state Afghans who worked for the U.S. government or its allies in Afghanistan and are holders of Afghan special immigrant visas Iranians belonging to an ethnic or religious minority who are fleeing prosecution Certain foreign national employees of the U.S. government who have served abroad for at least 15 years, and their spouses and children People who were granted asylum or admitted to the U.S. as refugees before the ban took effect People with U.S. family members who apply for visas in connection to their spouses, children or parents Diplomats and foreign government officials on official visits Those travelling to UN headquarters in New York solely on official UN business Representatives of international organizations and NATO on official visits in the U.S. Children adopted by U.S. citizens. Which countries are affected Trump said nationals of countries included in the ban pose 'terrorism-related' and 'public-safety' risks, as well as risks of overstaying their visas. He also said some of these countries had 'deficient' screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their citizens. His findings rely extensively on an annual Homeland Security report about tourists, businesspeople and students who overstay U.S. visas and arrive by air or sea, singling out countries with high percentages of nationals who remain after their visas expired. 'We don't want them,' Trump said. The inclusion of Afghanistan angered some supporters who have worked to resettle its people. The ban makes exceptions for Afghans on special immigrant visas, who were generally the people who worked most closely with the U.S. government during the two-decade war there. The list can be changed, the administration said in a document, if authorities in the designated countries make 'material improvements' to their own rules and procedures. New countries can be added 'as threats emerge around the world.' Reactions to Trump's order Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro's government condemned the travel ban, characterizing it in a statement as a 'stigmatization and criminalization campaign' against Venezuelans, who have been targeted by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Chad President Mahamat Deby Itno said his country would suspend visas for U.S. citizens in response to the ban. Aid and refugee resettlement groups also denounced it. 'This policy is not about national security -- it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,' said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, called the order 'unnecessary, overbroad and ideologically motivated.' And the National Immigration Law Center said it was 'outraged' and that the ban is 'laced with unsubstantiated legal justifications.' 'The impact of this new ban will be deeply racialized, as it will effectively bar hundreds of millions of Black and Brown people from entering the United States,' the group said in a statement. But reactions to the ban ran the gamut from anger to guarded relief and support. In Haiti, radio stations received a flurry of calls Thursday from angry listeners, including many who said they were Haitians living in the U.S. and who accused Trump of being racist, noting that the people of many of the targeted countries are Black. In Miami, restaurant owner Wilkinson Sejour said most of his employees and customers are from Haiti and that the ban will hurt his business in a 'domino effect.' He suggested that Haiti was targeted because most Haitians vote Democrat. Jaylani Hussein, who heads CAIR's Minnesota chapter, said his compatriots in the Twin Cities' large Somali American community had been expecting Trump's order, but didn't know the details until its release. 'It's a lot better than maybe some of the worst fears of what we initially thought could come out. But it significantly impacts the Somali community, there's no way around it,' he said. William Lopez, a 75-year-old property investor who arrived from Cuba in 1967, supports the travel ban. 'These are people that come but don't want to work, they support the Cuban government, they support communism,' Lopez said at a restaurant near Little Havana in Miami. 'What the Trump administration is doing is perfectly good.' How the ban is different from 2017 Early in Trump's first term, he issued an executive order banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. It was one of the most chaotic and confusing moments of his young presidency. Travelers from those nations were either barred from getting on flights to the U.S. or detained at U.S. airports after they landed. They included students and faculty, as well as businesspeople, tourists and people visiting friends and family. The order, often referred to as the 'Muslim ban' or the 'travel ban,' was retooled amid legal challenges until a version was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. The ban affected various categories of travelers and immigrants from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Libya, plus North Koreans and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. ------ By Monika Pronczuk Associated Press reporters Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
CTV National News: Body of Canadian hostage recovered by Israeli soldiers
Watch The bodies of two Hamas hostages, one of them Canadian, were recovered by Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Abigail Bimman reports.
CTV News
6 hours ago
- CTV News
Netanyahu says Israel has ‘activated' some Palestinian clans opposed to Hamas
The sun sets as smoke from Israeli bombardment billows over buildings in the northern Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has 'activated' some clans of Palestinians in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas, though it was not immediately clear what role they would play. His comments on social media were the first public acknowledgment of Israel's backing of armed Palestinian groups within Gaza, based around powerful clans or extended families. Such clans often wield some control in corners of Gaza, and some have had clashes or tensions with Hamas in the past. Palestinians and aid workers have accused clans of carrying out criminal attacks and stealing aid from trucks. Several clans have issued public statements rejecting cooperation with the Israelis or denouncing looting. An Israeli official said that one group that Netanyahu was referring to was the so-called Popular Forces, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a local clan leader in Gaza's southernmost city, Rafah. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. In recent weeks, the Abu Shabab group announced online that its fighters were helping protect shipments to the new, Israeli-backed food distribution centers run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the Rafah area. But some Palestinians say the group has also been involved in attacking and looting aid convoys. Netanyahu did not specify what support Israel was giving to the clans, or what specifically their role would be. His announcement came hours after a political opponent criticized him for arming unofficial groups of Palestinians in Gaza. In a video posted to his X account, Netanyahu said the government made the move on the advice of 'security officials,' in order to save lives of Israeli soldiers. Though it was known in southern Gaza throughout the war, the Abu Shabab group emerged publicly the past month, posting pictures of its armed members, with helmets, flak jackets and automatic weapons. It declared itself a 'nationalist force' protecting aid. The Abu Shabab family renounced Yasser over his connections with the Israeli military in a recent statement, saying he and anyone who joined his group 'are no longer linked' to the family. The group's media office said in response to emailed questions from the Associated Press that it operates in Israeli military-controlled areas for a 'purely humanitarian' reason. It described its ties with the Israel military as 'humanitarian communication to facilitate the introduction of aid and ensure that it is not intercepted.' 'We are not proxies for anyone,' it said. 'We have not received any military or logistical support from any foreign party.' It said it has 'secured the surroundings' of GHF centers in Rafah but was not involved in distribution of food. It rejected accusations that the group had looted aid, calling them 'exaggerations' and part of a 'smear campaign.' But it also said, 'our popular forces led by Yasser Abu Shabab only took the minimum amount of food and water necessary to secure their elements in the field,' without elaborating how, and from whom, they took the aid. Abu Shabab and around 100 fighters have been active in eastern parts of Rafah and Khan Younis, areas under Israeli military control, according to Nahed Sheheiber, head of the private transportation union in Gaza that provides trucks and drivers for aid groups. He said they used to attack aid trucks driving on a military-designated route leading from the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, the main entry point for aid. 'Our trucks were attacked many times by the Abu Shabab gang and the occupation forces stood idle. They did nothing,' Sheheiber said, referring to the Israeli military, 'The one who has looted aid is now the one who protects aid,' he said sarcastically. An aid worker in Gaza said humanitarian groups tried last year to negotiate with Abu Shabab and other influential families to end their looting of convoys. Though they agreed, they soon reverted to hijacking trucks, the aid worker said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk the media. The aid worker said he saw Abu Shabab's men operating in Israeli-controlled areas near the military-held Morag Corridor in southern Gaza in late May. They were wearing new uniforms and carried what appeared to be new weapons, he said. Jonathan Whittall, head of the U.N. humanitarian office OCHA for the occupied Palestinian territory, said Thursday that 'criminal gangs operating under the watch of Israeli forces near Kerem Shalom would systematically attack and loot aid convoys. .... These gangs have by far been the biggest cause of aid loss in Gaza.' The war between Israel and Hamas erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-linked militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has decimated Gaza, displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people and caused a humanitarian crisis that has left the territory on the brink of famine. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, more than half of them women and children. The ministry, which is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. Hamas is still holding 56 hostages. Around a third are believed to be alive, though many fear they are in grave danger the longer the war goes on. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. Julia Frankel, Samy Magdy And Sam Mednick, The Associated Press
