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new york — The Gulf nation of Qatar on Tuesday became just the second Muslim-majority country to be admitted into a program that allows its citizens to travel to the United States without first obtaining a U.S. visa. The departments of State and Homeland Security jointly announced that Qatar had met stringent eligibility requirements to join the visa waiver program. Those requirements include a low visa refusal rate, a low rate of visa overstays and a demand of reciprocal treatment of American travelers, who are already allowed to visit Qatar without a visa for up to 30 days. "Qatar has been an exceptional partner for the United States, and our strategic relationship has only grown stronger over the past few years," the departments said in a statement. "This is further evidence of our strategic partnership and our shared commitment to security and stability." Qatar, which has played a key role in trying to negotiate a cease-fire deal in Gaza and was an instrumental U.S. partner before and during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, is the 42nd country to be admitted to the program. Most countries whose citizens can visit the U.S. without a visa are longstanding allies in Europe and Asia. The only other Muslim-majority country in the program is the tiny Southeast Asian nation of Brunei. Although Qatar's population is just over 3 million people, only a small percentage of those — about 320,000 — are actually Qataris who would be eligible for the program if they hold valid passports. The vast majority of people who live in Qatar are foreign workers and other expatriates who do not hold Qatari passports. The program allows citizens of qualifying nations to enter the U.S. for business or tourism without a visa for up to 90 days, although they must still obtain approval through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, which is done online and doesn't require an in-person interview as visa applications do. After Oct. 1, U.S. citizens will be allowed to stay in Qatar without a visa for 90 days. Israel was the last country admitted to the program in 2023, and it was allowed in despite significant concerns that it does not treat Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans or Muslim Americans the same as other U.S. passport holders.

Gaborone, Botswana — Botswana is hosting delegates from 33 African elephant range states for talks on the trade in live elephants. They are also seeking a common position as Africa battles increasing elephant populations in some areas, while the numbers decline elsewhere on the continent. Botswana’s environment and tourism minister, Nnaniki Makwinja, said Africa must speak with one voice despite the peculiar challenges each region faces.  "We are cognizant that the challenges that we face are diverse and there is no silver bullet to address these challenges,” Makwinja said Monday during the opening of the four-day meeting. “We call upon these countries to engage with us before they adopt measures that may undermine our efforts to conserve our wildlife heritage and sustainable development goals.”   In 2022, delegates from Africa attended talks in Panama on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. They were divided over elephant management.  Southern African nations want CITES to relax measures on elephant trade, but some parts of the continent, particularly the eastern and western areas, want stricter controls.  Dan Challender, a conservation scientist on the wildlife trade based at the University of Oxford, said this week’s meeting in Botswana might not address all concerns given the uneven distribution of the animals across the continent.  “The meeting provides an opportunity for African countries to come together and discuss trade in African elephants. I would expect them to find common ground on some issues but not all, recognizing the different status of the species and policy environments across the continent,” Challender said.  The meeting is open to governments, but non-profit conservation organizations are not invited.  Local conservationist Isaac Theophilus of the Botswana Wildlife Producers Association said delegates from countries that oppose trade in elephants should get a chance to see the impact of human-wildlife conflict.  “We have two opposing blocks that will be seated around the same table to look at issues relating to elephant management,” Theophilus said. “My hope and wish is that those states attending would have an opportunity to interact with people in the (wildlife) area and get firsthand information relating to problems associated with living with an increasing elephant population.”  Veterinarian and wildlife management expert Dr. Eric Verreynne said trade in live elephants poses logistical challenges.  "Transporting elephants from one country to another brings with it some challenges. Most of these challenges relate to logistics,” Verreynne said. “They are bulk animals; it's very, very expensive to transport. When you talk about females and calves, you have to take your family groups in one. The capacity to transport large numbers of elephants is limited."  Africa’s elephant population is estimated at 415,000, with more than half of the number living in southern Africa.

As Hezbollah’s conflict with Israel draws Lebanon into war, the militant political group claims to be defending the interests of all Lebanese people. Jacob Russell in Beirut looks at how much support the group really has among the general population.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Tuesday it believes the remaining workers trapped by an explosion at a coal mine in the country's east have died, bringing the death toll in one of its worst industrial disasters to at least 49. A provincial emergency official, Mohammad Ali Akhoundi, gave the death toll in a report carried by Iranian state television from the mine in Tabas. Figures for the numbers of miners inside the mine at the time have fluctuated since a methane gas leak on Saturday sparked an explosion at the coal mine in Tabas, about 540 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran. Around 70 people had been working at the time of the blast. Bodies recovered so far showed no signs of blast injuries, suggesting many of the workers died from the gas before the blast. Such gases are common in mining, although modern safety measures call for ventilation and other measures to protect workers. It wasn't immediately clear what safety procedures were in place at the privately owned Tabas Parvadeh 5 mine, operated by Mandanjoo Company. The firm could not be reached for comment. On Tuesday, a lawmaker and member of parliament's mine committee said the safety system of the mine was not working and "even the central alarm system was broken or did not exist." Lawmaker Zahra Saeedi added that workers learned of the safety issue just before the disaster but couldn't leave in time. Two of the dead were health and safety experts at the mine, she said. Iran's new reformist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, has said he ordered all efforts be made to rescue those trapped and aid their families. He also said an investigation into the explosion was underway. Iran's mining industry has been struck by disasters before. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people. Then-President Hassan Rouhani, campaigning ahead of winning reelection, visited the site in Iran's northern Golestan province and angry miners besieged the SUV he rode in, kicking and beating the armored vehicle in a rage. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas were often blamed for the fatalities.

NEW YORK — The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa on Tuesday, alleging that the financial services behemoth uses its size and dominance to stifle competition in the debit card market, costing consumers and businesses billions of dollars. The complaint says Visa penalizes merchants and banks who don't use Visa's own payment processing technology to process debit transactions, even though alternatives exist. Visa earns an incremental fee from every transaction processed on its network. According to the DOJ's complaint, 60% of debit transactions in the United States run on Visa's debit network, allowing it to charge over $7 billion in fees each year for processing those transactions. "We allege that Visa has unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market," said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement. "Merchants and banks pass along those costs to consumers, either by raising prices or reducing quality or service. As a result, Visa's unlawful conduct affects not just the price of one thing — but the price of nearly everything." The Biden administration has aggressively gone after U.S. companies that it says act like middlemen, such as Ticketmaster parent Live Nation and the real estate software company RealPage, accusing them of burdening Americans with nonsensical fees and anticompetitive behavior. The administration has also brought charges of monopolistic behavior against technology giants such as Apple and Google. According to the DOJ complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Visa leverages the vast number of transactions on its network to impose volume commitments on merchants and their banks, as well as on financial institutions that issue debit cards. That makes it difficult for merchants to use alternatives, such as lower-cost or smaller payment processors, instead of Visa's payment processing technology, without incurring what DOJ described as "disloyalty penalties" from Visa. The DOJ said Visa also stifled competition by paying to enter into partnership agreements with potential competitors. In 2020, the DOJ sued to block the company's $5.3 billion purchase of financial technology startup Plaid, calling it a monopolistic takeover of a potential competitor to Visa's ubiquitous payments network. That acquisition was later called off. Visa previously disclosed the Justice Department was investigating the company in 2021, saying in a regulatory filing it was cooperating with a DOJ investigation into its debit practices. Since the pandemic, more consumers globally have been shopping online for goods and services, which has translated into more revenue for Visa in the form of fees. Even traditionally cash-heavy businesses such as bars, barbers and coffee shops have started accepting credit or debit cards as a form of payment, often via smartphones. Visa processed $3.325 trillion in transactions on its network during the quarter ended June 30, up 7.4% from a year earlier. U.S. payments grew by 5.1%, which is faster than U.S. economic growth. Visa, based in San Francisco, did not immediately have a comment.

Israel's military said it launched airstrikes against Hezbollah sites in Lebanon on Monday, which Lebanese authorities said had killed nearly 500 people, and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety. Joe Biden makes his final address to the UNGA on Tuesday morning and Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke on Monday. Plus, journalism students navigate Taliban media suppression in Afghanistan.

A new school year begins in Russia, the third that is starting with Moscow's war in Ukraine as a backdrop. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina on what critics say are Russia's moves to militarize education by introducing new subjects that explain and justify its full-scale assault on Ukraine.

GENEVA — Police in northern Switzerland said Tuesday that several people have been detained and a criminal case opened in connection with the suspected death of a person in a "suicide capsule." The "Sarco" capsule is presumably designed to allow a person sitting in a reclining seat inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall asleep and die by suffocation in a few minutes. Exit International, an assisted suicide group based in the Netherlands, said it is behind the 3D-printed device that cost over $1 million to develop. Swiss law allows assisted suicide so long as the person takes his or her life with no "external assistance" and those who help the person die do not do so for "any self-serving motive," according to a government website. A law firm informed prosecutors in Schaffhausen canton that an assisted suicide involving the Sarco had taken place Monday near a forest cabin in Merishausen, regional police said in a statement. They said that "several people" were taken into custody and that prosecutors opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide. Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported Tuesday that police had detained one of its photographers who wanted to take pictures of the use of the Sarco. It said Schaffhausen police had indicated the photographer was being held at a police station but declined to give a further explanation. The newspaper declined to comment further when contacted by the Associated Press.  In an email, the Dutch Foreign Ministry told the AP that it was in contact with the newspaper and Swiss officials.  "As always, we cannot interfere in the legal process of another country. At the same time, the Netherlands stands firmly for press freedom. It is very important that journalists worldwide can do their work freely," it said.  Exit International, the group behind the Sarco, said in a statement a 64-year-old woman from the U.S. Midwest — it did not specify further — who had suffered from "severe immune compromise" had died Monday afternoon near the German border using the Sarco device. It said Florian Willet, co-president of The Last Resort, a Swiss affiliate of Exit International, was the only person present and described her death as "peaceful, fast and dignified." Dr. Philip Nitschke, an Australian-born trained doctor behind Exit International, has previously told the AP that his organization received advice from lawyers in Switzerland that the use of the Sarco would be legal in the country. In the Exit International statement on Tuesday, Nitschke said he was "pleased that the Sarco had performed exactly as it had been designed ... to provide an elective, non-drug, peaceful death at the time of the person's choosing." The claims of Nitschke and Exit International could not be independently verified. On Monday, Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider was asked in Swiss parliament about the legal conditions for the use of the Sarco capsule. She suggested its use would not be legal. "On one hand, it does not fulfill the demands of the product safety law, and as such, must not be brought into circulation," she said. "On the other hand, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the article on purpose in the chemicals law." In July, Swiss newspaper Blick reported that Peter Sticher, a state prosecutor in Schaffhausen, wrote to Exit International's lawyers saying any operator of the suicide capsule could face criminal proceedings if it was used there — and any conviction could bring up to five years in prison. Prosecutors in other Swiss regions have also indicated that the use of the suicide capsule could lead to prosecution. Over the summer, a 54-year-old U.S. woman with multiple health ailments had planned to be the first person to use the device, but those plans were abandoned. Switzerland is among the only countries in the world where foreigners can travel to legally end their lives and has organizations that are dedicated to helping people kill themselves. But unlike others, including the Netherlands, Switzerland does not allow euthanasia, which involves health care practitioners killing patients with a lethal injection at their request and in specific circumstances. Some lawmakers in Switzerland have argued that the law is unclear and have sought to close what they call legal loopholes.

rome — Despite suffering a mild flu Monday, Pope Francis still plans to travel later this week to Luxembourg and Belgium to visit a once-solid bastion of Roman Catholic culture that now has decreasing church attendance and increasing use of euthanasia. Michele Dillon is a sociologist and the dean of the University of New Hampshire’s College of Liberal Arts. She is also the author of the book, Postsecular Catholicism: Relevance and Renewal. Dillon told VOA that while Pope Francis engages in interreligious dialogue in Asia, Europe and places like Belgium and Luxembourg remain very important to him and the Roman Catholic Church. “Secularization has sort of really accelerated certainly in the last 20 years. Euthanasia legislation is a good example of that,” she said. Both countries have legalized euthanasia, ending the life of a patient suffering a serious physical or mental illness. “They have a lot of sex abuse issues there [meaning Belgium] at the highest level to the Church hierarchy. It’s his commitment to really go to where the people are. He is very clear-eyed about what the problems are, the problems within the Church, what the problems of society at large are.” Veteran Vatican observers in Rome, like Francis X. Rocca, formerly of The Wall Street Journal, point out that Belgium was the second country to legalize euthanasia, after the neighboring Netherlands, in 2002. Twelve years later, it legalized euthanasia for minors, with no minimum age specified. Rocca told VOA that Belgium, once historically staunchly Catholic, is seeing a drop in church attendance, while putting in place laws like euthanasia, against its teaching. “After 22 years of legalization of euthanasia in Belgium, the practices increased steeply, and it’s become much more popular and that’s in direct contradiction with the teachings of the Catholic Church,” Rocca said. “So, there is a broader question of how welcome his message will be, his presence. There have been some complaints by people in the media there. “But the question of euthanasia is probably the starkest one because the Church itself has had to figure out ways of ministering to people who have chosen euthanasia.” Rocca added that there are people in the church who approve of euthanasia or think at least it can be justified. He said that includes at least one bishop, the bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny. Rocca said that even some Catholic institutions in Belgium, including hospitals, have accommodated the use of euthanasia. But he questions whether the pope will address concerns over euthanasia explicitly or only allude to it. “He’s condemned euthanasia as being part of what he calls a ‘throwaway’ culture,” Rocca said. “It’s a question whether he will speak about this when he goes on his trip because Francis doesn’t generally confront these controversial or cultural questions head on when he’s in a country.” The University of New Hampshire’s Dillon said Francis is “not necessarily going to change things in Belgium and Luxembourg.” “I think it’s important to what he would call evangelization — being with the people, whether they are first world or third world,” she said. “He wants to go to countries and show people that he wants to engage with them, talk with them about the challenges and the circumstances of their lives.” Still, Rocca says the sight of 87-year-old Pope Francis in a wheelchair, defying his infirmities, while taking his mission to the world, speaks volumes about his commitment to life.

One of the more confusing parts of the U.S. electoral system is that presidents are not elected through direct popular vote but through a mechanism called the Electoral College. Here’s how it works.

WASHINGTON — The son of the man suspected in the assassination attempt in Florida against former President Donald Trump has been arrested on federal charges of possessing child sexual abuse images.  Oran Alexander Routh was arrested this week after authorities searched his Greensboro, North Carolina, home "in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation," and found hundreds of files depicting child sexual abuse, an FBI agent said in court papers.  Investigators who seized multiple electronic devices found videos sent to Oran Routh in July as well as chats from a messaging application commonly used by people who share child sexual abuse material, the FBI agent said.  He faces two charges of possessing and receiving child sexual abuse material and is expected to appear later Tuesday in federal court in North Carolina.  There was no attorney listed for Oran Routh in court papers. Phone messages left for relatives of Oran Routh were not immediately returned.  Oran Routh's father, Ryan Wesley Routh, has been charged with federal gun offenses in connection to the attempted assassination at Trump's Florida golf course earlier this month. Prosecutors have indicated much more serious attempted assassination charges are coming.  Oran Routh's arrest was first reported Tuesday by ABC News.  A federal judge on Monday agreed with Justice Department prosecutors that Ryan Routh should remain locked up while he awaits trial in his case.  Prosecutors have said Ryan Routh left behind a note detailing his plans to kill the former president and kept in his car a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was to appear. The note describing Routh's plans was placed in a box that he dropped off months earlier at the home of an unidentified person who did not open it until after Ryan Routh's arrest, prosecutors said.  Ryan Routh is currently charged with illegally possessing his gun in spite of multiple felony convictions, including two charges of possessing stolen goods in 2002 in North Carolina, and with possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.  But a prosecutor said in court Monday that they would pursue additional charges before a grand jury, accusing him of having tried to "assassinate a major political candidate" — charges that would warrant life in prison in the event of a conviction.  It is common for prosecutors to file more easily provable charges as an immediate placeholder before adding more significant allegations as the case proceeds.  Ryan Routh was arrested September 15 after a Secret Service agent who was scoping the Trump International Golf Club for potential security threats saw a partially obscured man's face and the barrel of a semiautomatic rifle, aimed directly at the former president.  The agent fired at Routh, who sped away before being stopped by officials in a neighboring county, leaving behind a loaded rifle, digital camera, a backpack and a reusable shopping bag that was hanging from a chain-link fence.

A man from India-administered Kashmir says he was deceived into working for the Russian military and recounts the ordeal he went through with several others from his homeland. Muheet Ul Islam has more for VOA from Srinagar in India-administered Kashmir. Videographer: Wasim Nabi

Bangkok — Thailand's landmark marriage equality bill was officially written into law Tuesday, allowing same-sex couples to legally wed. The law was published in the Royal Gazette after endorsement by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and will come into effect in 120 days. This means LGBTQ+ couples will be able to register their marriage in January next year, making Thailand the third place in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, to allow same-sex marriage. The bill, which grants full legal, financial and medical rights for marriage partners of any gender, sailed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate in April and June respectively. "Congratulations to everyone's love," Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra wrote on X, adding the hashtag #Love Wins. Thailand has a reputation for acceptance and inclusivity but struggled for decades to pass a marriage equality law. Thai society largely holds conservative values, and members of the LGBTQ+ community say they face discrimination in everyday life. The government and state agencies are also historically conservative, and advocates for gender equality had a hard time pushing lawmakers and civil servants to accept change. Bangkok Deputy Governor Sanon Wangsrangboon said last week that the city officials will be ready to register same-sex marriages as soon as the law gets enacted. The legislation amended the country's Civil and Commercial Code to replace gender-specific words such as "men and women" with gender-neutral words such as "individual." The government led by the Pheu Thai party has made marriage equality one of its main goals. It made a major effort to identify itself with the annual Bangkok Pride parade in June, in which thousands of people celebrated in one of Bangkok's busiest commercial districts. The organizers of Bangkok Pride announced on Facebook that it will organize a wedding for couples who wish to register their marriage on the very first day that the law becomes effective.

GENEVA — Investigators at the United Nations accuse Russia of using torture and sexual violence with impunity against Ukrainian citizens and prisoners of war in occupied Ukrainian territories and in the Russian Federation. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine submitted its latest update on the situation in Ukraine on Monday to the U.N. Human Rights Council, which continued a review of its findings during an interactive dialogue on Tuesday. In his oral presentation, commission chair Erik Mose told the council that men were most of the victims subjected to torture, and that new evidence shows that sexual violence is used as a means of torture “mainly against male victims in detention, and of rapes targeting women in villages under Russian control.” “The wide geographic spread of locations where torture was committed, and the prevalence of shared patterns, demonstrate that torture has been used as a common and acceptable practice by Russian authorities, with a sense of impunity,” Mose said, adding that the latest findings reaffirm previous reports that torture committed by Russian authorities has been “widespread and systematic.” “Our recent investigations show that Russian authorities have committed torture in Ukrainian regions where they have taken control of territories. This reinforces the finding that torture has been widespread,” Mose said. The commission has identified several common elements in the use of torture by Russian authorities, “reinforcing its earlier finding that this was systematic.” It notes that similar forms of torture were practiced in detention centers where detainees from Ukraine have been held in the Russian Federation, as well as in large penitentiary centers in occupied areas of Ukraine. Another common element emerging from the evidence points toward a coordinated use of personnel from specific services of the Russian Federation “who are involved in torture in all the detention facilities” investigated by the commission. “A further common feature is the recurrent use of sexual violence as a form of torture in almost all these detention centers,” Mose said. Russia boycotted the meeting, refusing to respond to the commission’s report as a concerned country. Russia had its supporters, however, several of whom disproved of the report. Belarus called the commission’s accusations “false and unsubstatiated by facts” and invited specialized national organizations “to study the situation on the ground for themselves.” Eritrea, Syria and Venezuela echoed these sentiments, as did the representative of North Korea, who described “the Ukraine incident” as one of the big geopolitical crises facing the world today and “a direct product of the confrontation of the West against the Russian Federation.” Most of the other countries participating in the interactive dialogue condemned Russia’s blatant defiance of the U.N. Charter and international law. They demanded that Russia “cease its illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression,” including the relentless airstrikes against Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure. Michele Taylor, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, thanked the commission for its detailed work in “documenting Russia’s violations of international law in Ukraine.” “Since Russia’s brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we have seen over and over again credible reports that Russia targets civilian objects in violation of international humanitarian law. “The effects of Russia’s brutal attacks in Putin’s war of choice are severe,” she said, adding that more must be done “to hold those who commit any such acts accountable and ensure justice for the victims.” Ukrainians personally involved in Putin’s “war of choice” welcomed the commission’s findings. Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, underscored the importance of ensuring justice and accountability for torture, sexual violence and other “atrocities that Russia has brought to Ukraine’s soil” 10 years after Russia invaded Ukraine, and over two years after its full-scale aggression on Ukraine. “Thousands of Ukrainian captives, including civilians and particularly children, are forcibly detained by Russia in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia in particular,” Kostin said. “I am grateful to the U.N. Commission of Inquiry for maintaining an investigative focus on the systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian captivity and increasing reports of their summary execution,” which he said “amount to war crimes and potentially other crimes under international law.” Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights, also expressed his gratitude to the commission for its work in preparing evidence for international judicial bodies and paving the way “for bringing the perpetrators” of crimes against his people to justice. “Unfortunately, due to the unprovoked Russian invasion, Ukraine has become a country where brutal crimes continue to be committed,” including the murder of civilians, deportation of children, executions of prisoners of war and massive missile attacks and destruction of civilian infrastructure. “I urge you to continue your work despite all the difficulties,” Lubinets said, noting that the documentation of crimes, victims’ testimonies and facts are the basis “for ensuring the proper international justice that Ukraine needs.”

Through its “debt trap diplomacy,” China became the major shareholder controlling most of African natural resources, infrastructure and other assets. Beijing-owned businesses in Africa practice child labor, fund violent insurgency, and sustain corruption, illegal trade and money laundering.

Egypt’s second-largest city, Alexandria, lies in the Eastern Mediterranean, a top climate change hotspot that has dealt with record global air and ocean temperatures this year. Egypt-based photojournalist Hamada Elrasam presents scenes of everyday life that have been impacted by the changing climate phenomenon in the low-lying metropolis that has survived over two millennia, only to find itself on this century’s climate frontlines. Written in collaboration with Elle Kurancid.