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 @ISIDEWITHNewsMiddle EastSaudi ArabiaSyriaReconstructionQatarWorld BankDebt reliefBashar al-Assad•••1yr ago

Saudi Arabia and Qatar Step In to Clear Syria's World Bank Debt, Paving Way for Reconstruction Aid

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have announced they will jointly pay off Syria's outstanding $15 million debt to the World Bank.

This move is expected to unlock access to crucial funding for Syria, which has been struggling to rebuild after years of civil war. The debt repayment will allow the World Bank to approve grants for reconstruction projects and support the country's public sector, which has been paralyzed by conflict and economic hardship. The decision was made during recent meetings in Washington involving the World Bank and IMF.

This marks a significant step in regional efforts to help stabilize and rebuild Syria's economy.

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 @ISIDEWITHlinked…1yr1Y

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to repay Syria’s debts to World Bank

https://ft.com

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have said they will settle Syria’s outstanding debt to the World Bank, in a step that will help the war-ravaged country access funding for postwar reconstruction and public-sector salaries.

 @ISIDEWITHlinked…1yr1Y

Saudi Arabia, Qatar To Settle Syria's $15 Million World Bank Debt: Report

https://ndtv.com

Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced on Sunday that they would settle Syria's debt to the World Bank totalling roughly $15 million, according to a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency.

 @ISIDEWITHlinked…1yr1Y

Saudi Arabia, Qatar to settle Syria’s World Bank debt

https://guardian.ng

Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced on Sunday that they would settle Syria’s debt to the World Bank totalling roughly $15 million, according to a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency. Both Gulf

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2yrs2Y

Dixville Notch 2024: Trump and Harris in a Tie

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2yrs2Y

Jack Smith files to drop Jan. 6 charges against Donald Trump

Special counsel Jack Smith has filed a motion to drop all four felony charges against President-elect Donald Trump in connection with his effort to overturn his 2020 presidential election in the lead-up to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S Capitol.Trump was first indicted on four felonies in August 2023: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. The case was then put on hold for months as Trump’s team argued that Trump could not be prosecuted.The indictment marked an extraordinary moment in American history — the first-ever accusation that a president sought illegally to cling to power.The dismissal also marks a historic moment. Fifty years after Richard Nixon was forced by lawmakers from both parties to resign the presidency amid allegations of criminal conduct, half of American voters will return Trump to the presidency despite his own serious charges of criminal misconduct in office.“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed. But the circumstances have," Smith’s office wrote in Monday’s filing, adding that it is seeking to dismiss the charges ahead of Trump's inauguration, in line with the Justice Department’s longstanding position that it can’t charge a sitting president.“That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind," the special counsel added.The Supreme Court handed Trump an early victory in the case in July with its ruling on presidential immunity. But a new federal grand jury indicted Trump on the same four charges again in August, alleging that Trump’s false claims about mass voter fraud during the 2020 election were “unsupported, objectively unreasonable, and ever-changing” and that Trump “knew that they were false.”

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2yrs2Y

Trump's Deportation Storm: America Braces for Mass Exodus of Immigrants

For months, immigration advocates have been planning for the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Now, their worst fears have arrived.Immigrants’ rights groups have spent the last year preparing for a second Trump term and an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, analyzing Trump’s proposals, drafting legal briefs, coordinating messaging and organizing aid for immigrants and asylum seekers. They responded to Trump’s victory with alarm and vowed to put up a fight, setting the stage for four more years of contentious court battles with his administration.Some are already preparing to push current leadership at the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to stymie the incoming Trump team, particularly on immigrant detention and the use of AI in enforcement.“We should expect to see the devastation of immigrant communities all over the country. We should expect to see family separation,” said Kica Matos, the president of the National Immigration Law Center. “It is entirely possible that he will try to use the military to carry out deportations, so that means that Americans all over the country will see the military engaging in enforcement against civilian populations, which is horrifying.”Trump, after winning a historic victory on a platform of turbo-charged immigration enforcement, has said he will conduct mass deportations at a scale never before seen. Immigrant advocates have warned this would be expensive and inhumane, separating families and wrecking communities. The president-elect has also vowed to build huge detention camps, hire thousands more border agents, funnel military spending toward border security and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel suspected members of drug cartels and criminal gangs without court hearings.He has also said he would end “catch-and-release” — allowing migrants to remain free, often with monitoring, while they await immigration court hearings — and restore a policy from his first term requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are processed. And he has dodged questions about whether he would try to bring back family separation.

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