tag

Starting February 1, Qatar will roll out the MSAR E-system, a new digital platform that allows visitors entering the country through the Abu Samra border crossing to obtain vehicle insurance entirely online.  The move marks a major step in Qatar’s ongoing digital transformation of government services. The Qatar Unified Insurance Office (QUIO), in collaboration with the Standing Committee for the Management of the Abu Samra Border Crossing, announced that the new system will replace manual insurance services for short-term visitors.  Beginning next month, on-site border services for short-term insurance — ranging from one week up to less than one month — will be suspended. However, services for long-term coverage periods of one month or more will continue to be offered at the border.  The MSAR platform will be accessible via a dedicated mobile app and web portal, enabling travelers to complete all procedures electronically before arrival. The system allows users to issue insurance documents digitally, make payments securely online, and receive instant confirmation and continuous 24-hour technical support.  Ali Ibrahim al-Abdalghani, Chairman of the QUIO Board of Directors, said the MSAR E-system was designed according to advanced technology and strict data security standards to protect users’ information and ensure quick processing of applications.  He highlighted that users can purchase insurance directly through the app or website and will retain the ability to cancel and receive refunds should their travel plans change. Al-Abdalghani added that the system accommodates a wide variety of vehicle types — private, commercial, and tourist —and offers flexible coverage options, including weekly, biweekly, and monthly policies valid for multiple trips. Furthermore, insured vehicles using the system will benefit from a dedicated lane at the Abu Samra crossing, significantly reducing wait times during peak travel seasons.  Colonel Khalid Ali al-Misshal al-Buainain, Chairperson of the Permanent Committee for Abu Samra Border Management, emphasised that the initiative will enhance traffic movement and improve the traveler experience at the country’s main land entry point.  He added that visitors without prior electronic insurance can still finalise their coverage through designated counters at the border for longer-term policies. Through this initiative, Qatar seeks to simplify border procedures, bolster security, and raise public service efficiency, while offering travelers a faster and more convenient entry experience. 

QIIB has once again been awarded the 'Excellence Award' for Straight Through Processing (STP) in international payments by Citibank New York, reaffirming the bank’s consistent operational strength and its ability to maintain superior performance standards in cross-border payment processing.The award was received by QIIB Chief Operations Officer Mohammed Khair Barhoumeh from Seemanti Borkotoky, Head of FI sales Middle East at Citibank, during a ceremony held at QIIB’s headquarters in Doha.The event was attended by Sammy Yassin at Citibank, and Mahmoud al-Ahmad, Head of Treasury and Investments at QIIB and Najeeb Ahmed Nasiruddin, Head of Payments and International Operations at QIIB.Citibank stated that renewing this recognition reflects QIIB’s sustained excellence in executing international payments, its adherence to stringent global standards, and its continued enhancement of technological infrastructure to ensure seamless, accurate, and efficient processing without manual intervention.Commenting on the occasion, Barhoumeh said: “Receiving this award once again from Citibank New York underscores the strength and consistency of QIIB’s operational framework. It highlights our commitment to delivering reliable, high-quality payment services through continuous investment in technology and people.”He added: “Straight Through Processing plays a vital role in ensuring speed, accuracy, and reliability in international payments. Our focus on this area enables us to provide our customers with efficient services that meet the highest expectations of the global banking industry.”Barhoumeh further noted that QIIB continues to advance its digital transformation strategy, emphasising that ongoing technological enhancements have contributed to improved operational efficiency and elevated customer satisfaction.He concluded by reaffirming QIIB’s commitment to strengthening its long-standing partnership with Citibank, aiming to deliver mutual value and ensure the consistent provision of international payment services in line with the highest industry standards. 

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an "immediate" ceasefire Saturday, the two countries said in a joint statement, pledging to end border clashes that killed dozens of people.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the announcement "as a positive step towards alleviating the suffering of civilians... and creating an environment conducive to achieving lasting peace", spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.At least 47 people were killed and more than a million displaced in three weeks of fighting with artillery, tanks, drones and jets, according to official tallies.The conflict spread to nearly every border province on both sides, shattering an earlier truce for which US President Donald Trump took credit.Cambodia and Thailand agreed to the ceasefire that took effect at 12pm (0500 GMT), said the declaration signed by the Southeast Asian neighbours' defence ministers at a border checkpoint on the Thai side.The truce applies to "all types of weapons, including attacks on civilians, civilian objects and infrastructures, and military objectives of either side, in all cases and all areas".Both sides agreed to freeze all troop movements and allow civilians living in border areas to return home as soon as possible, the statement said.They also agreed to co-operate on demining efforts and combatting cybercrime, while Thailand was to return 18 captured Cambodian soldiers within 72 hours.Thai Defence Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit said the initial three-day window would be an "observation period to confirm that the ceasefire is real".He called the truce "a door to a peaceful resolution" in a speech earlier.The ceasefire was holding, Thai defence ministry spokesperson Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri told Reuters about two ⁠hours after it went into effect."So far there's been no report of gunfire," he said.Cambodia's ministry of national defence did not report any clashes after what it said had been a Thai airstrike early on Saturday before the ceasefire announcement.Displaced Cambodian Oeum Raksmey told AFP that she was "very happy that people can return home" if the fighting stops."But I dare not return home yet. I am still scared," said the 22-year-old, who has sheltered with her family in Cambodia's Siem Reap province.On the other side of the border, 55-year-old Thai village head Khampong Lueklarp was similarly cautious."I personally think the ceasefire won't really happen," said the head of Ban Ta Sawang Samakkee village in Sisaket province, adding that he hoped for "a real peace".The ceasefire followed three days of border talks convened following a crisis meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).EU foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni, in a post on X, thanked "Asean for playing a positive part" and called on Cambodia and Thailand to implement the agreement "in good faith".The European bloc was ready to provide any needed support, he added.The United States and China also pushed for an end to the fighting.Beijing's foreign ministry said the ceasefire "demonstrates that dialogue and consultations are a realistic and effective way of resolving complex disputes", offering support moving forward.China's top diplomat Wang Yi will host the Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers for talks in Yunnan province on January 28-29, the countries said.The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of the 800km (500-mile) Thai-Cambodian border, where both sides claim ancient temples.Five days of fighting in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and Asean chair Malaysia.Trump witnessed the signing of an expanded agreement between Thailand and Cambodia in October, but it was broken within months, with each side blaming the other for instigating the fresh fighting.At least 25 Thai soldiers and one Thai civilian were killed in the latest round of clashes, officials said.Cambodia, outgunned and outspent by Bangkok's military, said 21 civilians were killed.Phnom Penh has reported no military deaths, even though an official Facebook post showed first lady Pich Chanmony, the wife of Cambodia's leader Hun Manet, at a funeral for troops killed in the fighting.The violence was still raging while this week's border talks were underway.On Friday, Cambodia accused Thailand of intensifying its bombardment of disputed border areas, and Thai media reported Cambodian attacks overnight.While both sides agreed to halt the fighting, they will still need to resolve the demarcation of their border following the ceasefire.The contested temples are claimed by both nations because of a vague demarcation made by Cambodia's French colonial administrators in 1907."War and clashes don't make the two countries or the two people happy," Thailand's Air Chief Marshal ⁠Prapas Sornjaidee told reporters. "I want to stress that the Thai people and the Cambodian people are not in conflict with each other."UN human rights chief Volker Turk said he hoped the ceasefire "will pave the way for confidence building & peace". 

Lebanon said three people were killed Monday in a strike near Sidon that Israel said targeted Hezbollah operatives, days ahead of a deadline for Lebanon’s army to disarm the group near the border. Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah, despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the fighter group, which it accuses of rearming. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Monday’s strike on a vehicle was carried out by an Israeli drone around 10 kilometres from the southern coastal city of Sidon and “killed three people who were inside”. The health ministry reported the same toll. Under heavy US pressure and amid fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting with the south. The Lebanese army plans to carry out the task south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometres from the border with Israel — by year’s end. The latest strike came after Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives on Friday took part in a meeting of the ceasefire monitoring committee for a second time, after holding their first direct talks in decades earlier this month, also under the committee’s auspices. The committee comprises representatives from Lebanon, Israel, the US, France and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil). Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that the goal of the negotiations was to “stop the hostilities, achieve Israel’s withdrawal, return prisoners held in Israel and return southern residents to their villages”. Israel has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas that it deems strategic. “Lebanon awaits positive steps from the Israeli side,” Aoun told visiting Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto Monday, a presidency statement said. 

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in several south Lebanon towns Wednesday, and accused the group of rebuilding its capabilities close to the border. The Israeli military has kept up frequent air strikes in Lebanon in spite of a ceasefire sealed last November that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah.The latest raids came a day after 13 people were killed in a strike that Israel said had targeted Hamas members in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon — the deadliest attack since the truce came into effect. Israel's military said Wednesday that it had struck "several weapons storage facilities belonging to Hezbollah's rocket unit in southern Lebanon", calling such sites "a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon". It had previously warned residents to evacuate the area around sites in the southern Lebanese towns of Deir Kifa, Shehur, Ainata and Tayr Felsay.Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) later said raids hit all four locations. In Deir Kifa, Lebanese soldiers deployed near the targeted building, which collapsed after the strike, an AFP correspondent saw. An AFP journalist in Tayr Felsay saw fireballs and smoke erupt after the raid there. In its evacuation warnings on X, the Israeli military had said it would strike Hezbollah "military infrastructure... in response to Hezbollah's prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the area".In a subsequent statement, the military singled out the town of Beit Lif, just a few kilometres from the Israeli border. It accused Hezbollah of rebuilding "dozens of fighter infrastructure sites in the area of the village, including headquarters and weapons storage facilities", some inside civilian homes.Lebanon says Israel is violating the truce with its strikes, and by maintaining troops in five areas of the country's south. Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli attacks, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, but the fighter group has rejected the idea of handing over its weapons.Earlier Wednesday, Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed and 11 others wounded in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in south Lebanon's Tiri that Israel said killed a Hezbollah fighters. The NNA reported that the man killed worked for the local municipality, and said the strike took place as a university bus carrying students passed by, wounding some on board. On Tuesday, Israel said it struck a Hamas training compound in south Lebanon's Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp. The Palestinian fighter group denied it had military installations in Lebanon's refugee camps and called Israel's claims "lies".

Poland said Wednesday it would close the last Russian consulate in its territory and deploy thousands of soldiers to protect infrastructure in response to a railway explosion it blames on Moscow. Poland, a major ally in Kyiv's fight against Russia's invasion, says two Ukrainians collaborating with Moscow perpetrated the weekend blast on the Warsaw-Lublin line, which connects Warsaw to the Ukrainian border.Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said at a news conference that the first response would be to close Russia's last operating consulate in the northern city of Gdansk. Warsaw has previously closed Russian consulates in Krakow and Poznan over sabotage acts. "It was not only an act of sabotage but also an act of state terrorism," Sikorski told lawmakers.Moscow denies responsibility for sabotage, citing "Russophobia", and said it would likewise limit Poland's diplomatic and consular presence in Russia. Sikorski said he would ask other EU nations to limit Russian diplomats' travel in the 25-nation Schengen free-travel area. There has been a wave of arson, sabotage and cyberattacks in Poland and other European nations since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said up to 10,000 soldiers will be deployed to help protect critical infrastructure such as railways. The Polish army chief of staff, Wieslaw Kukula, speaking to reporters alongside the defence minister, warned that the upcoming long winter nights and Christmas period could be perceived by Poland's enemies as a good time for sabotage.A special app is planned for citizens to report suspicious situations. Jacek Dobrzynski, spokesperson for Poland's minister in charge of intelligence services, said that in addition to the two main Ukrainian suspects who have fled to Belarus, several other people had been detained over the railway blast. A spokesperson for Polish prosecutors, Przemyslaw Nowak, said a prosecutor signed a decision to charge in absentia the two Ukrainian men — named as Oleksandr K and Yevhenii I — for sabotage on November 15 and 16 on orders of Russian intelligence.Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about the threat and agreed on cooperation between special services and state railways, plus the need to identify collaborators. The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the attack highlighted risks to European rail infrastructure essential to move military equipment and troops fast.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he thought Thailand and Cambodia were "going to be fine" after he sought to mediate a flare-up in their border dispute, but the Thai leader continued to demand an apology from Phnom Penh. Thailand this week suspended a US-brokered ceasefire deal and demanded an apology over allegations that Cambodia had laid fresh landmines that injured Thai soldiers, which Cambodia denies.Long-running tensions over a disputed border between the two Southeast Asian nations erupted into five days of fighting in July, when at least 48 people were killed and an estimated 300,000 temporarily displaced, before Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim brokered the ceasefire."I spoke to the prime ministers of both countries and they’re doing great. I think they’re going to be fine," Trump told reporters on Friday evening. But Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Saturday that Bangkok would not adhere to the agreement until Cambodia admitted its violation and issued an apology for the latest incident.Anutin posted on Facebook after speaking to Trump and Malaysia's Anwar that Thailand has the right to take any action necessary to protect its sovereignty and ensure the safety of its people and property from foreign threats. He said he asked Trump and Anwar, who has been a mediator in the dispute, to tell Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet to abide by the agreement and not to interfere in the removal of mines.Hun Manet said in a Facebook post on Saturday that Phnom Penh would continue to implement the deal and hoped both sides would continue to work together in accordance with the agreed principles and mechanism. Trump also engaged with Malaysia on Friday, a White House official said.Anwar posted on X that Cambodia and Thailand were ready to "continue choosing the space for dialogue and diplomatic efforts as an effective path to resolution."

Qatar Charity has announced the arrival of a new batch of Qatari relief aid to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, in support of the brotherly Palestinian people.In a statement, Qatar Charity said the shipment includes 2,790 shelter tents in addition to essential humanitarian supplies, provided by the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), Qatar Charity, and the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS).**media[379092]**The organisation explained that this batch comes as part of the ongoing aid efforts previously dispatched under the maritime bridge established by Qatar. It reflects Qatar's swift response to urgent humanitarian needs and its continued commitment to alleviating the suffering of civilians in Gaza.

Thailand and Cambodia on Sunday signed a joint declaration on a peace deal, marking a formal step toward halting hostilities and restoring peace along their disputed border. The agreement was signed by Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and his Cambodian counterpart, Hun Manet, on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, which began today, according to the Malaysian news agency (BERNAMA). The signing was witnessed by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, in his capacity as ASEAN Chair, and United States President Donald Trump, BERNAMA reported. The declaration reinforces the ceasefire understanding reached in July following talks between the two countries. It also formalises the establishment of an ASEAN Observer Team to monitor compliance and prevent renewed clashes in the border zones. The peace deal marks a milestone in ASEAN's regional diplomacy, reflecting the bloc's commitment to conflict prevention, stability and cooperation under Malaysia's 2025 Chairmanship, with its theme of "Inclusivity and Sustainability". Malaysia, as this year's ASEAN Chair, is hosting the 47th ASEAN Summit from Oct. 26 to 28 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

EU Entry/Exit System to be rolled out over six monthsPassport stamping to be replaced by digital recordsEU seeks tighter border controls amid immigration pressuresEuropean Union member countries began rolling out a new entry and exit system on Sunday at the bloc's external borders, electronically registering non-EU nationals' data.The Entry/Exit System (EES), an automated system that requires travellers to register at the border by scanning their passport and having their fingerprints and photograph taken, will be introduced over six months.The move is aimed at detecting overstayers, tackling identity fraud and preventing illegal migration amid political pressure in some EU countries to take a tougher stance."The Entry/Exit System is the digital backbone of our new common European migration and asylum framework," European Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner said in a statement.Non-EU citizens will have to register their personal details when they first enter the Schengen area - all EU member countries apart from Ireland and Cyprus, but including Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.Subsequent journeys will only require facial biometric verification.The system should be fully operational, with passport stamping replaced with electronic records, on April 10, 2026."Every third country national who arrives at an external border will undergo identity verification, security screening, and registration in the EU databases," Brunner said.At the Bajakovo border crossing between Serbia and neighbouring Croatia, a EU member state, hundreds of people, many of them Serbians, queued in their cars on Sunday for around 20 minutes before entering booths for fingerprinting and face scanning."There are five lanes open, so it took us about 20 minutes in line and about two minutes (in the booth) for each of the five of us from the car," said Dalibor Vranic, from Serbia.For British travellers using the Port of Dover, the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone or Eurostar terminal at London's St Pancras International, the process takes place at the border before they leave the UK.At Dover and the Eurotunnel terminal, only freight and coach traffic was subject to EES checks from Sunday.Passenger vehicle checks will follow in November at Dover and by the end of the year at Eurotunnel, while the Eurostar at St Pancras was gradually introducing the new process, starting with some business travellers from Sunday."The UK and EU have a shared objective of securing our borders and these modernisation measures will help us protect our citizens and prevent illegal migration," British Minister for Border Security and Asylum Alex Norris said.

Saudi Arabia expressed concern over the tensions and clashes taking place in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan.In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for restraint, avoiding escalation, and embracing dialogue and wisdom, which would help reduce tensions and maintain the security and stability of the region.The ministry affirmed its support for all regional and international efforts aimed at promoting peace and stability, and its continued commitment to ensuring security in order to achieve stability and prosperity for the Pakistani and Afghan people.