China to provide Myanmar with 100 million yuan in emergency humanitarian aid
BEIJING, March 29, (Xinhua): China has decided to provide Myanmar with 100 million yuan (approximately 13.9 million US dollars) in emergency humanitarian aid to support earthquake relief efforts, a spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency said on Saturday.
At the request of the Myanmar government, China will also send two rescue teams and supply tents, blankets, first-aid kits, food and drinking water -- items that are urgently needed in affected areas, said spokesperson Li Ming.
The first batch of supplies is scheduled for delivery on Monday, according to the agency. China will offer further assistance based on Myanmar's needs, it added. A 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on Friday. The information team of Myanmar's State Administration Council said 1,002 people have been killed, 2,376 were injured, and 30 remain missing.
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Kuwait Times
8 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Taleban hang up Kalashnikovs to pen war memoirs
KABUL: Since trading the battlefield for Afghanistan's halls of power, some Taleban members have also swapped their weapons for pens to tell their version of the 20-year conflict with Western forces, who they accuse of distorting 'reality'. A flood of books has been written, mostly from a Western perspective, about the war between the US-led forces that invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks until the Taleban's return to power in 2021. But in the years since, a proliferation of writings by Taleban figures - praising their exploits and the achievements of the 'Islamic Emirate' - is now the reigning narrative in Afghanistan. 'No matter what foreigners have written... they have largely ignored the reality of what happened to us and why we were forced to fight,' author Khalid Zadran told AFP. A member of the Haqqani network - long viewed as one of the most dangerous militant factions in Afghanistan - he now serves as the spokesman for the capital's police force. In his 600-page tome in Pashto published in April, he recounts US incursions in his home province of Khost, his childhood steeped in stories of soldiers' 'atrocities', and his desire to join the Taleban in the name of his country's 'freedom'. 'I witnessed horrific stories every day - mangled bodies on the roadside,' he writes in '15 Minutes', a title inspired by a US drone strike he narrowly escaped. Muhajer Farahi, now a deputy information and culture minister, penned his 'Memories of Jihad: 20 Years in Occupation' to 'state the facts', he said. 'America, contrary to its claims, has committed cruel and barbaric acts, destroyed our country with bombs, destroyed infrastructure, and has sown discord and cynicism between nations and tribes,' he told AFP from his office in central Kabul. Little attention is paid in either book to the thousands of civilians killed in Taleban attacks - many of them suicide bombings that entrenched fear across the country for nearly two decades. Farahi insists the Taleban 'were cautious in saving civilians and innocent' lives, while criticizing fellow Afghans who collaborated with the pro-Western police as a 'stain' on the country. Rights groups accuse the current Taleban authorities of widespread abuses - particularly against women and girls, who the United Nations say are victims of what amounts to 'gender apartheid'. In his book published in 2023, Farahi claims the Taleban attempted to negotiate - in vain, he insists - with the United States over the fate of Osama bin Laden, whose capture or death Washington demanded after his plane hijackers killed around 3,000 people in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, who had been based in Afghanistan, was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011. American 'bloodthirsty dragon' 'It was clear... that the Americans had already planned the occupation of Afghanistan,' writes Farahi in the English version of his book, which has been translated into five languages. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Afghans thought it would 'have nothing to do with our country', he continues, but soon realized that Afghanistan would face 'punishment'. For 20 years, the war pitted Taleban militants against a US-led coalition of 38 countries supporting the Afghan Republic and its forces. Tens of thousands of Afghans died in the fighting and in Taleban attacks, as did nearly 6,000 foreign soldiers, including 2,400 Americans. For Farahi, the war reflects the West's desire to 'impose its culture and ideology on other nations'. His disjointed journal mixes battlefield memories with polemical chapters railing against the American 'bloodthirsty dragon'. The book 'reveals the truths that were not told before because the media, especially the Western media, presented a different picture of the war,' he said. According to him, the Mujahideen, or holy warriors, despite being far less equipped, were able to rely on their unity and God's aid to achieve victory. New front Only a few of the new wave of Taleban books have been autobiographies, which appeal to an audience seeking to understand the war 'from the inside', according to Zadran. His book, initially 2,000 copies in Pashto, sold out quickly and another 1,000 are in the works - along with a Dari-language version, he said. Many chapters mention Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier held hostage for five years by the Haqqani network. He recounts treks through the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to move him between hideouts, efforts to convert him to Islam and conversations about his girlfriend back in the US. Both accounts end in 2021, before the transformation of the fighters who moved from remote mountain hideouts to the carpeted offices of the capital. There, their battle has turned diplomatic: The Taleban are now fighting for international recognition of their government. 'The war is over now,' Farahi said, 'and we want good relations with everyone' - even with the 'bloodthirsty dragon'. — AFP
Kuwait Times
8 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Marines arrive in LA; Kuwaitis urged to lie low
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Arab Times
17 hours ago
- Arab Times
US Embassy in Kuwait fully staffed
KUWAIT CITY, June 12: The US Embassy in Kuwait has announced that there has been no change in its staff and the embassy is operating at full capacity. This clarification comes after the US administration announced a reduction in the size of its diplomatic mission in Iraq. The Embassy's statement noted that President Donald Trump remains committed to the safety of American citizens and routinely reviews conditions at all US embassies. As a result of such assessments, the decision was made to downsize the mission in Iraq. Late Wednesday, Trump confirmed moving American personnel from the Middle East amidst report the Israeli occupation may launch a strike against Iran, as Washington and Tehran get ready for a 6th round of nuclear talks. US personnel 'are being moved out because it could be a very dangerous place,' Trump told reporters. 'We have given notice to move out and we will see what happens,' he said. The Israeli occupation and Iran exchanged military strikes last year amidst heightened tension in the region because of the Israeli occupation's genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza Strip, as well as attacks on Syria and Lebanon. An Iraqi government official confirmed Tuesday non-essential staffers of the US Embassy in Baghdad were evacuated as part of safety procedures related to the US presence not only in Iraq but in some countries of the Middle East region. The US Embassy in Kuwait affirmed Wednesday night that no changes have been made to its staffing levels and that it continued to operate normally. The United States is drawing down the presence of staffers who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East and their loved ones due to the potential for regional unrest, the State Department and military said. The State Department said it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad based on its latest review and a commitment 'to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad.' The embassy had already been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of personnel. The department, however, also is authorizing the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. That gives them the option of leaving those countries at government expense and with government assistance. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 'has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations' across the region, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The command 'is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East.' Speaking at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump said, 'They are being moved out, because it could be a dangerous place, and we'll see what happens. We've given notice to move out, and we'll see what happens.' Tensions in the region have been rising in recent days as talks between the U.S. and Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program appear to have hit an impasse. The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions that the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. The next round of talks - the sixth - had been tentatively scheduled for this weekend in Oman, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic matters. However, those officials said Wednesday that it looked increasingly unlikely that the talks would happen. Trump, who has previously said Israel or the U.S. could carry out airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations failed, gave a less-than-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran, telling the New York Post's 'Pod Force One' podcast that he was 'getting more and more less confident about' a deal. 'They seem to be delaying, and I think that's a shame. I'm less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them,' he said in the interview recorded Monday and released Wednesday. Iran's mission to the U.N. posted on social media that 'threats of overwhelming force won't change the facts.' 'Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and U.S. militarism only fuels instability,' the Iranian mission wrote. Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh separately told journalists Wednesday that he hoped talks with the U.S. would yield results, though Tehran stood ready to respond. 'If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent's casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach,' he said. 'We have access to them, and we will target all of them in the host countries without hesitation.' Meanwhile, the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency was potentially set to vote on a measure to censure Iran. That could set in motion an effort to snap back United Nations sanctions on Iran via a measure in Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that's still active until October. Trump withdrew from that agreement in his first term. Earlier Wednesday, a statement from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, a Mideastbased effort overseen by the British navy, issued a warning to ships in the region that it 'has been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners.' It urged caution in the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. It did not name Iran, though those waterways have seen Iranian ship seizures and attacks in the past. The top U.S. military officer for the Middle East, Gen. Erik Kurilla, was scheduled to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, but that testimony has now been postponed, according to the committee's website. The Pentagon has not commented on the postponement. Meanwhile, Iraq's state-run Iraqi News Agency said in a statement attributed to an unnamed government official that the evacuation of some nonessential employees from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was part of 'procedures related to the U.S. diplomatic presence in a number of Middle Eastern countries, not just Iraq' and that Iraqi officials 'have not recorded any security indicators that warrant an evacuation.' 'We reiterate that all security indicators and briefings support the escalating assessments of stability and the restoration of internal security,' the statement said.
