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Saudi Gazette
5 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
British couple held by Taliban 'may die in prison,' son warns
LONDON — The son of a British couple detained by the Taliban five months ago has told the BBC that he fears they may die in prison. Peter Reynolds, 80, and Barbie, 76, were arrested on 1 February while returning to their home in central Bamiyan province, Afghanistan. Their son Jonathan Reynolds said their health was rapidly deteriorating, with his father suffering serious convulsions and his mother "numb" from anaemia and malnutrition. It is not known exactly why they were detained, and a Taliban official told the BBC in February that the group planned to release the couple "as soon as possible". The UN has also warned that they could perish "in such degrading conditions" if they do not receive medical care at once, calling their detention "inhumane". Reynolds said it had been a "harrowing and surreal" five months waiting for the release of his parents, who lived in Afghanistan for 18 years, where they had citizenship and ran education projects. One of these projects involved training women and children and had apparently been approved by local authorities, despite the Taliban banning education for girls over 12-years-old and not allowing women to work. Reynolds said his parents had been held in harsh conditions — including a maximum security prison — despite being "deemed innocent" by a judge and facing no charges. "My dad was chained to murderers and criminals," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, adding that they had at one point been held in a basement for six weeks without sunlight, and not allowed out. The couple revealed "just how bad their health is" when they last had contact with their children on 15 June, Reynolds said. "My dad's health is deteriorating fast in particular," he said of the 80-year-old, who has a history of minor heart attacks. "Now he's maybe got something like early Parkinson's — tremors and shakes down the right side of his body, his arms and face," he told BBC Breakfast. He added that his father spent "half an hour convulsing on the prison floor" before his wife called for a prison guard to move him onto a "mattress pad on the floor" serving as a bed. Mrs Reynolds "has blue hands and feet to do with anaemia, malnutrition, just not getting the right healthcare," he added. Reynolds said he did not know his parents' exact location — and that he was unsure "that the demand has been made for their immediate release". "Every week it seems like we're told 'just wait two or three more days now... just hang tight'. "Week after week we're told that — and they're still in prison." However, he said he was grateful to the Foreign Office (FCDO) for the level of communication with the family. The couple have both had birthdays in prison, and last week marked their 55th wedding anniversary; they married in Kabul in 1970. Reynolds said: "I'm thankful they were together, but they're certainly not free." The UN likewise warned on Monday that the pair's health was quickly declining, and questioned why they were being held at all. "Without access to adequate medical care, they are at risk of irreparable harm or even death," read a statement by the UN's human rights body, which called for their immediate transfer to a civilian hospital. "We see no reason why this older couple should be detained at all, and have requested an immediate review of the grounds of their detention. "It is inhumane to keep them locked up in such degrading conditions and more worrying when their health is so fragile." It added that it had raised the couple's case with the Taliban and the UK. Taliban official Abdul Mateen Qani said in February: "A series of considerations is being taken into account, and after evaluation, we will endeavour to release them as soon as possible." The FCDO has been approached for a response. The UK shut its embassy in Kabul and withdrew its diplomats from the country after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. The FCDO says support for British nationals in Afghanistan is therefore "severely limited" and advises against all travel to the country. — BBC
Saudi Gazette
5 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Philippines goods to face 19% tariff, Trump says
WASHINGTON — The US will levy a 19% tax on imports from the Philippines, US President Donald Trump has announced after meeting with the country's president at the White House. Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday that the new tariff was part of a wider pact, in which the Philippines would remove duties on US goods and the two countries would cooperate militarily. "It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal," he wrote on social media, offering no further details about the apparent agreement. The plan, which was not immediately confirmed by the Philippines, would leave the country facing a tax even higher than what Trump had threatened when he first announced sweeping global tariffs in April. BBC has contacted the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC for comment. Trump said his goal with instituting tariffs was to push countries to drop policies he saw as unfair to the US. His plans set off a flurry of trade talks with countries around the world. He has since announced a handful of deals, including with the UK, China and Indonesia. But the agreements so far have kept in place high tariffs, with key issues unresolved or unconfirmed by both parties. With Trump now threatening a new round of higher duties to go into effect 1 August, some of America's biggest and most important trade partners, including the European Union and Canada, remain in limbo. As hopes for a deal dim, officials in Europe are increasingly rallying around plans for potential retaliation. In Canada on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that "complex negotiations" were continuing but was noncommittal on the prospect of reaching a deal by Trump deadline next week. "We'll see," he told reporters after meeting with premiers in Ontario. "The Americans objectives are multiple, they change over time ... but what is clear is that the Canadian government will not accept a bad agreement. The objective is not to have an agreement at any cost." Trump's tariff plans sparked widespread financial turmoil when he announced them originally in April, putting forward a plan that would leave the US with its highest duties since the early 1900s. He subsequently suspended some of the plan's most aggressive measures, while leaving in place a universal 10% tariff on most goods and separately hitting certain items, such as cars, copper, steel and aluminium, with higher duties. But in recent weeks, as markets have calmed and the US economy held steady, Trump has returned to plans for higher duties, sending letters to countries outlining plans for new tariffs that he says will go into force on 1 August. In a letter to leaders in the Philippines this month, he had said he would charge a 20% tariff on the country's goods. That was up from 17% rate he had threatened in April. The Philippines is a relatively small trade partner with the US, sending about $14.2bn worth of goods to the America last year. That included car parts, electric machinery, textiles and coconut oil. Meanwhile for companies, the cost of the new tariffs is increasing. General Motors on Tuesday said tariffs had cost it more than $1bn over three months. That followed an earlier disclosure from rival Stellantis, maker of Jeep, which said the measures had cost it €300m (£259.6m, $349.2m). — BBC
Saudi Gazette
5 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Trump says US agrees trade deal with Japan
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says the US has agreed to a "massive" trade deal with Japan, one of the country's largest trading partners. Japan has agreed to invest $550bn (£407bn) in the US while its goods sold to America would be taxed at 15% when they reach the country - below the 25% tariff Trump had threatened. Trump said on social media that Japan would open its economy to US goods, including cars, trucks, rice and certain agricultural products. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba welcomed the announcement, saying it was "the lowest figure to date among countries with trade surpluses with the US". "I just signed the largest trade deal in history, I think maybe the largest deal in history with Japan," Trump touted at a White House event on Tuesday evening. "They had their top people here, and we worked on it long and hard. And it's a great deal for everybody. I always say it has to be great for everybody. It's a great deal," he said on Wednesday the agreement would mean US tariffs on vehicles and parts would be cut to 15% from 25%.However, the tax is above the 10% Trump levied on Japan and other countries when he suspended higher so-called reciprocal tariffs between April and said: "We were the first in the world to reduce tariffs on cars and auto parts without any quantity restrictions."UK cars sent to the US are taxed at a lower 10% rate when they reach American shores but this is limited to 100,000 vehicle added: "The agreement does not include any reduction of tariffs on the Japanese side."The BBC has contacted the White House and Japan's embassy in Washington for more details of the trade its main tariff rate down to 15% is Japan's "best compromise at this stage", Shigeto Nagai from research firm Oxford Economics told BBC planned investment in the US by Japan included in the announcement "will be a huge boost to restore the US, fitting in with Trump's story of reviving US manufacturing with more jobs," he a letter sent to Japan this month, Trump threatened a 25% tariff on the country's exports to the US if there wasn't a new trade deal struck before 1 August, just above the rate he announced during his so-called Liberation Day on 2 April tariffs plan, which included duties on many US trading partners across the globe, were paused for 90 days following worldwide market turmoil. It allowed Tokyo's trade representatives time to negotiate with their counterparts in benchmark share index, the Nikkei 225, was more than 3% higher on Wednesday in Tokyo, with strong gains for shares in motor industry giants - including Toyota, Nissan and apparent deal comes as Ishiba is under pressure to step down after his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost its majority in the country's upper house in elections over the LDP had already lost its majority in Japan's more powerful lower house last year. — BBC
