Asian Cup

Kabul: The Taliban government said Tuesday they had released American citizens from prison in return for an Afghan fighter held in the United States. Discussions about the prisoner exchange were confirmed last year, but the swap was announced after outgoing US president Joe Biden handed over to Donald Trump, who was inaugurated on Monday. "An Afghan fighter Khan Mohammad imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for American citizens and returned to the country," the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement. The ministry said Mohammad had been serving a life sentence in the state of California after being arrested "almost two decades ago" in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. Asked by AFP, the foreign ministry declined to provide further details or the number of American prisoners. US media named the Americans as William McKenty and Ryan Corbett, the latter in Taliban custody since 2022. 'New chapter' After Trump's election win in November, the Taliban government had said it hoped for a "new chapter" in ties with the United States. Taliban authorities have repeatedly said they want positive relations with every country since sweeping back to power in 2021. The Taliban government on Tuesday called the exchange "a good example of resolving issues through dialogue, expressing special gratitude for the effective role of the brotherly country of Qatar in this regard". "The Islamic Emirate views positively those actions of the United States that contribute to the normalisation and expansion of relations between the two countries," it added, using the Taliban authorities' name for their government.

Qatar 2022

Doha: The volume of real estate trading in sales contracts registered with the Real Estate Registration Department at the Ministry of Justice during the period from December 1-5, reached QR174,826,707, while the total sales contracts for the real estate bulletin for residential units during the same period reached QR64,763,879. The weekly bulletin issued by the Department stated that the list of properties traded for sale included vacant lands, residential homes, apartment buildings, a commercial building, and residential units. The sales operations were concentrated in the municipalities of Doha, Al Rayyan, Al Dhaayen, Al Wakrah, Umm Salal, Al Khor and Al Dhakira, and Al Shamal, in addition to the Pearl, Lusail 69, and Dafna 60. The volume of real estate trading in sales contracts registered with the Real Estate Registration Department at the Ministry of Justice during the period of November 24-28 reached more than QR343m.

Covid 19

New York: Countries from around the world are stepping up measures to shield their populations from the Covid-19 outbreak in China that comes as a more transmissible variant of the virus boosts infections globally. Portugal has joined the roster of European nations that will require a negative Covid-19 test for passengers from China, while Germany is discouraging all non-essential travel to the country. Thailand, bracing for a wave of Chinese tourists, will reintroduce entry requirements for foreigners arriving by airplane. Read Also Germany discourages non-essential travel to Covid-hit China South Africa has its first case of most transmissible Covid variant Netherlands to require covid tests from China arrivals China hotels, travel bookings perk up in boon for COVID-hit services sector The response comes as China tackles a surge in virus cases triggered by the dismantling of its strict Covid Zero restrictions in recent weeks. At the same time, the emergence of a highly transmissible variant - already on track to become the dominant strain in the US - is fanning concerns over new mutations. So far there haven’t been significant differences in severity identified between cases caused by the new XBB.1.5 and those from other variants. The World Health Organization is planning an updated assessment on its risks in the coming days. China has yet to report any domestic cases of the variant that’s been found in at least 28 other nations. South Africa was among the latest to join the list. In Europe, countries including Belgium, Sweden and the UK have announced new requirements on travelers from China. The European Union on Wednesday "strongly encouraged” members to adopt pre-departure Covid testing, recommended masking on flights and urged wastewater checks. Portugal’s testing requirement will take effect from Sunday. In addition, passengers and crew traveling to and from China must use a face mask during the flight, and Lisbon’s airport will undertake wastewater monitoring to identify the virus and carry out genomic sequencing. In Thailand, adults must show proof of at least two vaccinations or recovery from the virus since July from Monday. India introduced mandatory Covid-19 tests this month for fliers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand.