An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country by foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago.Travis Timmerman appears to have been among thousands of people released from the country’s notorious prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar Assad and ending his family’s 54-year rule.As video emerged online of Timmerman on Thursday, he was initially mistaken by some for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago.In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home.There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials traveling with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Aqaba, Jordan.Timmerman later gave an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV network, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago, before being detained.He said he was treated well in detention but could hear other young men being tortured.It was OK. I was fed. I was watered. The one difficulty was that I couldnt go to the bathroom when I wanted to, he said. He said he was only allowed to go three times a day.I was not beaten and the guards treated me decently, he added.The U.S. governments top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, traveled to Lebanon earlier this week in hopes of collecting information on the whereabouts of Tice.President Joe Biden has said his administration believed Tice was alive and was committed to bringing him home, though he also acknowledged on Sunday that we have no direct evidence of his status.Tice, who has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus in August 2012 as the Syrian civil war intensified.A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men. He has not been heard from since. Assad’s government had denied that it was holding him.
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The housing minister insisted that the Government would not be easing visa restrictions to bring in foreign builders to meet new homes targets
The premier of Canada’s most populous province said Wednesday he will cut off energy to the United States if President-elect Donald Trump imposes sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products.Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the flow of migrants and drugs.We’re going to put our list together, and I’m sure the other provinces will as well. But we will go to the full extent, depending on how far this goes. We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said after meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other provincial premiers.Ford said he didn’t want this to happen but wasn’t optimistic Canada could avoid tariffs.This fight is 100% coming on Jan. 20 or Jan. 21, he said, referencing to the date of Trumps inauguration.We will use every tool in our tool box to fight back. We cant sit back and roll over. We just wont as a country. And isnt this a shame, our closest friends and allies.”About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.It wasn’t immediately clear if Ford was talking about all Canadian provinces cutting off energy exports to the U.S. or just his province. But a spokeswoman for Ford, Grace Lee, said it was raised in the call between Trudeau and the provincial premiers.Premier Ford can only speak on behalf of Ontario, but its an area of provincial jurisdiction that we would certainly look at, Lee said in an email.Lee noted Ontario powered 1.5 million homes in the U.S. in 2023 and is a major exporter of electricity to Michigan, Minnesota and New York.Trumps transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the threat.Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing for national security.Canada, of course, will respond to unjustified tariffs, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said after the meeting.Freeland said a number of provincial premiers voiced support for a robust response to the tariffs and said that included critical minerals that are exported to the U.S.She didn’t specifically mention oil but said obviously other ideas were discussed as well when asked if Canada is considering cutting off oil exports to America.About a third of Canada’s trade to the U.S. is energy.Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US $2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states.Canada has promised more border security spending to address Trump’s concerns. Ford said that will include more border and police officers as well as drones and sniffer dogs.A priority will be to share details of this plan with the incoming Trump administration and with Canadians in the coming days, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.Trudeau said this week tariffs would be absolutely devastating for the Canadian economy, but it would also mean real hardship for Americans.Economists say companies would have little choice but to pass along the added costs, dramatically raising prices for food, clothing, automobiles, alcohol and other goods.The Produce Distributors Association, a Washington-based trade group, has said tariffs will raise prices for fresh fruit and vegetables and hurt U.S. farmers when the countries retaliate.Canada imposed duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.Canadas central bank, meanwhile, lowered its key interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday and called Trumps threat to impose sweeping new tariffs on Canada a major source of new uncertainty.We did underline that the threat of new tariffs on Canadian exports, particularly at the level suggested, that is a major source of new uncertainty, Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem said at a press conference. But the reality is we don’t know if those tariffs are going to be implemented.”We don’t know if exemptions are going to be agreed on some parts, we don’t know at what level, we don’t know if Canada will take retaliatory measures.Trudeau, meanwhile, got the attention of billionaire Elon Musk, a big supporter of Trump, with comments he made Tuesday lamenting that U.S. voters selected Trump over Kamala Harris as president.We were supposed to be on a steady if difficult sometimes march toward progress. And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president, Trudeau said at a event sponsored by Equal Voice, an organization dedicated to improving gender representation in Canadian politics. Everywhere, womens rights and womens progress is under attack overtly and subtly.Musk called Trudeau insufferable” in a post on X. Won’t be in power for much longer, he wrote.Ford also criticized Trudeau for the remarks.They are not helpful at all. It was brought up a couple of times in our meeting, Ford said. Donald Trump was elected democratically. If you like him or you dont like him thats not our issue. We elect Canadians and it was not helpful whatsoever. Im sure the prime minister got the message loud and clear.
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