RAWALPINDI, Pakistan: The Pakistan Army is sending a contingent of troops to Saudi Arabia on a training and advice mission, the media wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces said in a statement on Thursday.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said it is part of the ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
“Troops already there will not be employed outside KSA. The Pakistan army maintains bilateral security cooperation with many other GCC/regional countries,” the statement said.
Before the announcement, Nawaf Saeed Al-Maliki, ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, met Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, chief of army staff (COAS), on Thursday at Pakistan Army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi.
“Matters of mutual interest including the regional security situation were discussed during the meeting,” the ISPR press release said.
“Pakistan and Kingdom have decades-long ties and cooperation in the field of defense, so it is important for the continuation of strategic relations,” Zafar Jaspal, professor at the school of politics and international relations in Quaid-e-Azam University, told Arab News.
“This development will not have an impact on Islamabad’s relations with any other country because the army clarified that these troops will only be on a training and advice mission,” Jaspal said.
Hasan Askari, a leading Pakistani political analyst, told Arab News that the announcement of sending more troops “reaffirms the policy of military cooperation between the two countries that has a long and positive history.”
“Pakistani troops already stationed in Kingdom work just within the limits of Saudi Arabia, so it should not be matter of concern for any other country,” Askari said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy close cooperation in diverse fields including defense cooperation. Armed forces of both countries regularly conduct military exercises; defense officials from Pakistan and the Kingdom also travel to each other’s county and share their experiences.
On Dec. 12, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Aysh, Saudi deputy defense minister, visited Pakistan and met with the Pakistani defense minister and military officials.
During the visit, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Pakistani defense minister, proposed an all-encompassing strategic cooperation agreement to deepen defense ties between the two countries.
Pakistan to send more troops to Saudi Arabia: ISPR
Pakistan to send more troops to Saudi Arabia: ISPR
Trump says ‘couldn’t care less’ if auto prices rise
- Trump has imposed a blanket 25 percent import tariff on cars and light trucks made outside the United States
- “I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars,” he said
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump declared on Saturday that he “couldn’t care less” if automakers increase car prices for Americans in the wake of his imposition of import tariffs.
There have been reports that Trump threatened auto executives with reprisals if prices jump, but he told NBC News that increasing prices would simply help US-based manufacturers.
“I couldn’t care less. I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars. We have plenty,” he told NBC host Kristen Welker.
On Thursday, Trump imposed a blanket 25 percent import tariff on cars and light trucks made outside the United States, due to take effect on April 3.
Tariffs will be delayed for car parts from countries covered by US trade pact with Mexico and Canada as officials try to disentangle the mixed supply chain.
But otherwise Trump intends for the import levy to be permanent, in order to boost US production and, in his view, save the American auto industry.
Despite his boosterism, however, share prices of the biggest US automakers have suffered and experts have warned that price rises will hit American consumers.
Asked by NBC News what his message would be to worried auto executives, Trump said: “The message is ‘congratulations.’“
“If you make your car in the United States, you’re going to make a lot of money.”
US defense chief Hegseth says ‘warrior’ Japan indispensable to deter China
TOKYO: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that Japan was indispensable in tackling Chinese aggression by helping Washington establish a “credible” deterrence in the region, including across the Taiwan Strait.
“We share a warrior ethos that defines our forces,” Hegseth told Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani at a meeting in Tokyo.
Calling Japan a “cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific,” the Pentagon indicated that suggested President Donald Trump’s government would, like past administrations, continue to work closely with its key Asian ally.
Japan hosts around 50,000 US military personnel, squadrons of fighter squadrons and Washington’s only forward deployed aircraft carrier strike group along a 3,000-km (1,900-mile) archipelago that helps hem in Chinese military power.
Hegseth’s praise of Japan contrasts with the criticism he levelled at European allies in February, telling them they should not assume the US presence there would last forever.
Hegseth, who is in Asia on his first official visit, traveled to Japan from the Philippines. On Saturday he attended a memorial service on Iwo Jima, the site 80 years ago of fierce fighting between US and Japanese forces during World War Two.
Ukraine accuses Russia of ‘war crime’ with military hospital strike
- Ukrainian army statement said among the casualties were military personnel undergoing treatment at the medical center
- Moscow has rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire, stepping up instead its offensive
KYIV: Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of committing a “war crime” during a massive attack on the city of Kharkiv, which included strikes on a military hospital that wounded personnel undergoing treatment.
“The hospital building and nearby residential buildings were damaged by a Shahed drone,” the Ukrainian army said in a statement.
“According to preliminary reports, there are casualties among the military personnel who were undergoing treatment at the medical center,” it added.
Kyiv does not typically reveal data on military casualties and did not say how many soldiers were wounded.
It accused Russia of having carried out a “war crime” and “violating the norms of international humanitarian law.”
The Ukrainian emergency services said the “massive attack” on the northeastern city also destroyed residential and office buildings.
Governor Oleg Synegubov said two people were killed: a 67-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman. Another 25 people were wounded, including children, he added.
The latest deadly strikes on Kharkiv come as US President Donald Trump’s administration pushes for a speedy end to the more than three-year war, holding talks with both Russia and Ukraine.
Moscow has rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire, while Ukraine has accused Russia of dragging out talks with no intention of halting its offensive.
According to Kyiv, a ceasefire agreeing to halt strikes in the Black Sea came into effect last week, but the Kremlin said the agreement will come into force only after the lifting of restrictions on its agriculture sector.
The science behind the powerful earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand
SINGAPORE: A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.7 centered in the Sagaing region near the Myanmar city of Mandalay caused extensive damage in that country and also shook neighboring Thailand on Friday.
How vulnerable is Myanmar to earthquakes?
Myanmar lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates and is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, although large and destructive earthquakes have been relatively rare in the Sagaing region.
“The plate boundary between the India Plate and Eurasia Plate runs approximately north-south, cutting through the middle of the country,” said Joanna Faure Walker, a professor and earthquake expert at University College London.
She said the plates move past each other horizontally at different speeds. While this causes “strike slip” quakes that are normally less powerful than those seen in “subduction zones” like Sumatra, where one plate slides under another, they can still reach magnitudes of 7 to 8.
Why was Friday’s quake so damaging?
Sagaing has been hit by several quakes in recent years, with a 6.8 magnitude event causing at least 26 deaths and dozens of injuries in late 2012.
But Friday’s event was “probably the biggest” to hit Myanmar’s mainland in three quarters of a century, said Bill McGuire, another earthquake expert at UCL.
Roger Musson, honorary research fellow at the British Geological Survey, told Reuters that the shallow depth of the quake meant the damage would be more severe. The quake’s epicenter was at a depth of just 10 km (6.2 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey.
“This is very damaging because it has occurred at a shallow depth, so the shockwaves are not dissipated as they go from the focus of the earthquake up to the surface. The buildings received the full force of the shaking.”
“It’s important not to be focused on epicenters because the seismic waves don’t radiate out from the epicenter — they radiate out from the whole line of the fault,” he added.
How prepared was Myanmar?
The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program said on Friday that fatalities could be between 10,000 and 100,000 people, and the economic impact could be as high as 70 percent of Myanmar’s GDP.
Musson said such forecasts are based on data from past earthquakes and on Myanmar’s size, location and overall quake readiness.
The relative rarity of large seismic events in the Sagaing region — which is close to heavily populated Mandalay — means that infrastructure had not been built to withstand them. That means the damage could end up being far worse.
Musson said that the last major quake to hit the region was in 1956, and homes are unlikely to have been built to withstand seismic forces as powerful as those that hit on Friday.
“Most of the seismicity in Myanmar is further to the west whereas this is running down the center of the country,” he said.
Protesters rebelling against Elon Musk’s purge of US government swarm Tesla showrooms
- A growing number of consumers who bought Tesla vehicles before Musk took over DOGE have been looking to sell or trade them in, while others have slapped on bumper stickers seeking to distance themselves from him
SAN FRANCISCO: Crowds protesting billionaire Elon Musk’s purge of the US government under President Donald Trump began amassing outside Tesla dealerships throughout the US and in some cities in Europe on Saturday in the latest attempt to dent the fortune of the world’s richest man.
The protesters are trying to escalate a movement targeting Tesla dealerships and vehicles in opposition to Musk’s role as the head of the newly created Department of of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, where he has gained access to sensitive data and shuttered entire agencies as he attempts to slash government spending. The biggest portion of Musk’s estimated $340 billion fortune consists of his stock in the electric vehicle company, which continues to run while also working alongside Trump.
After earlier demonstrations that were somewhat sporadic, Saturday marked the first attempt to surround all 277 of the automaker’s showrooms and service centers in the US in hopes of deepening a recent decline in the company’s sales.
By early afternoon crowds ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of protesters had flocked to Tesla locations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the automaker’s home state of Texas. Pictures posted on social media showed protesters brandishing signs such as ” Honk if you hate Elon ” and ” Fight the billionaire broligarchy.”
As the day progressed, the protests cascaded around the country outside Tesla locations in major cities such as Washington, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Seattle, as well as towns in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Colorado. Smaller groups of counterprotesters also showed up at some sites.
“Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go!” several dozen people chanted outside a showroom in Dublin, California, about 35 miles (60 miles) east of San Francisco, while a smaller cluster of Trump supporters waved American flags across the street.
A much larger crowd circled another showroom in nearby Berkeley, chanting slogans to the beat of drums.
“We’re living in a fascist state,” said Dennis Fagaly, a retired high school teacher from neighboring Oakland, “and we need to stop this or we’ll lose our whole country and everything that is good about the United States.”
Anti-Musk sentiment extends beyond the US
The Tesla Takedown movement also hoped to rally protesters at more than 230 locations in other parts of the world. Although the turnouts in Europe were not as large, the anti-Musk sentiment was similar.
About two dozen people held signs lambasting the billionaire outside a dealership in London as passing cars and trucks tooted horns in support.
One sign displayed depicted Musk next to an image of Adolf Hitler making the Nazi salute — a gesture that Musk has been accused of reprising shortly after Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. A person in a Tyrannosaurus rex costume held another sign with a picture of Musk’s straight-arm gesture that said, “You thought the Nazis were extinct. Don’t buy a Swasticar.”
“We just want to get loud, make noise, make people aware of the problems that we’re facing,” said Cam Whitten, an American who showed up at the London protest.
Tesla Takedown was organized by a group of supporters that included disillusioned owners of the automaker’s vehicles, celebrities such as actor John Cusack, and at least one Democratic Party lawmaker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett from Dallas.
“I’m going to keep screaming in the halls of Congress. I just need you all to make sure you all keep screaming in the streets,” Crockett said during an organizing call this month.
Another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Pramila Jaypal, showed up at a protest in Seattle, which she represents in Congress.
Musk backlash has included some vandalism
Some people have gone beyond protest, setting Tesla vehicles on fire or committing other acts of vandalism that US Attorney General Pam Bondi has decried as domestic terrorism. In a March 20 company meeting, Musk indicated that he was dumbfounded by the attacks and said the vandals should “stop acting psycho.”
Crockett and other Tesla Takedown supporters have been stressing the importance of Saturday’s protests remaining peaceful.
But police were investigating a fire that destroyed seven Teslas in northwestern Germany in the early morning. It was not immediately clear if the blaze, which was extinguished by firefighters, was related to the protests.
In Watertown, Massachusetts, local police reported that the side mirror of a black pickup struck two people at a protest outside a Tesla service center, according to the Boston Herald. The suspect was promptly identified by police at the scene, who said there were no serious injuries.
Musk maintains that the company’s future remains bright
A growing number of consumers who bought Tesla vehicles before Musk took over DOGE have been looking to sell or trade them in, while others have slapped on bumper stickers seeking to distance themselves from him.
But Musk did not appear concerned about an extended slump in new sales in the March meeting, during which he reassured the workers that the company’s Model Y would remain “the best-selling car on Earth again this year.” He also predicted that Tesla will have sold more than 10 million cars worldwide by next year, up from about 7 million currently.
“There are times when there are rocky moments, where there is stormy weather, but what I am here to tell you is that the future is incredibly bright and exciting,” Musk said.
After Trump was elected last November, investors initially saw Musk’s alliance with the president as a positive development for Tesla and its long-running efforts to launch a network of self-driving cars.
That optimism helped lift Tesla’s stock by 70 percent between the election and Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, creating an additional $560 billion in shareholder wealth. But virtually all those gains have evaporated amid investor worries about the backlash, lagging sales in the US, Europe and China, and Musk spending time overseeing DOGE.
“This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis moment and get onto the other side of this dark chapter for Tesla,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a recent research note.
