U.S. setting up expedited processing hub in Qatar for some at-risk Afghans
CBSN
The Biden administration is establishing a system based in Qatar designed to fast-track the processing of at-risk Afghans overseas and ensure they can arrive in the U.S. with permanent legal status and a resettlement destination already selected, senior government officials announced Tuesday.
The U.S. has already received and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans who were deemed to be at risk of being harmed by the Taliban following the rapid collapse of the U.S.-aligned government in Kabul last summer.
But most of those evacuees entered the U.S. through a temporary humanitarian process known as parole that could leave them in legal limbo unless they qualify for asylum or visas for those who assisted American forces — or Congress legalizes them. Most also spent weeks or months at U.S. military sites undergoing immigration processing and vaccination while officials worked to resettle them.
A cybercriminal group claims it stole personal data belonging to more than 500 million Ticketmaster customers. Although the event ticketing service, owned by Live Nation Entertainment, hasn't confirmed the attack, security experts warn that it could put users of the platform at risk for a range of scams.
Two climbers were waiting to be rescued near the peak of Denali, a colossal mountain that towers over miles of vast tundra in southern Alaska, officials said Wednesday. Originally part of a three-person team that became stranded near the top of the mountain, the climbers put out a distress call more than 30 hours earlier suggesting they were hypothermic and unable to descend on their own, according to the National Park Service.