Saudi team trains Indonesian doctors in child heart surgery

Saudi team trains Indonesian doctors in child heart surgery
Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin welcomes KSrelief's team of cardiac surgeons in Medan, North Sumatra. (Indonesian Ministry of Health)
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Updated 29 June 2024
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Saudi team trains Indonesian doctors in child heart surgery

Saudi team trains Indonesian doctors in child heart surgery
  • Surgeons, support staff sponsored by KSrelief arrived in Medan last month
  • Only 50% of Indonesian children born with heart disease receive treatment

RIYADH: Saudi doctors are training their Indonesian colleagues in child heart surgery and helping expand access to pediatric cardiac care in the country’s northwest, the Indonesian Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

The 22-member surgical team arrived at Adam Malik Central General Hospital in Medan, North Sumatra province last month under a residence program arranged by Saudi aid agency KSrelief.

They began by performing free heart procedures on adult patients and last week switched focus to children with congenital heart disease, which in Indonesia often remains untreated due to a shortage of specialist wards.

An estimated 12,000 Indonesian children are born with heart disease each year. Only half of them are treated for it.

“The capacity of our doctors and hospitals is only 6,000 of the 12,000 each year. So, every year 6,000 children cannot be served and many of them die,” Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.

“We’ve been collaborating with foreign institutions willing to send their doctors to Indonesia to, in the first place, provide services that we have not been able to provide in certain regions and, in the second place, to speed up the specialist training of our doctors to carry out the much needed procedures.”

The Saudi team comprises surgeons, nurses, perfusionists and respiratory therapists from the King Faisal Cardiac Center in Jeddah and the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center in Riyadh.

The transfer of knowledge program sponsored by KSrelief supports Indonesia’s health system transformation plan, under which all regional government hospitals should become capable of carrying out open-heart surgery and pediatric heart surgery. Until now, cardiac procedures on children have been referred to hospitals in the capital, Jakarta, which is nearly 2,000 km away from Medan.

For many parents, like Rominu Marpaung, the cost of travel is impossible to bear.

Marpaung’s 15-year-old son, Binsar, was diagnosed with a leaky heart valve five years ago and referred for surgery in Jakarta, but the family could not afford to send him.

On Tuesday, he was operated on by the visiting Saudi team.

“Up until now, I was taking Binsar only for outpatient treatment. I took him to so many hospitals,” Marpaung said.

“Thank you to the team of doctors for helping my child.”


Kremlin signals Russia-US talks on Ukraine not immediate

Kremlin signals Russia-US talks on Ukraine not immediate
Updated 5 sec ago
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Kremlin signals Russia-US talks on Ukraine not immediate

Kremlin signals Russia-US talks on Ukraine not immediate
  • Donald Trump has upended US policy swiftly to open talks with Moscow
  • Last week, Russia said it was sending a new ambassador to Washington
The Kremlin said in remarks published on Tuesday that the next round of Russia-US talks on ending the war in Ukraine is unlikely to happen before the embassies of both countries resume normal operations.
“Unlikely,” Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of President Vladimir Putin, told RIA state news agency in response to a question whether the negotiations could start before the two countries’ embassies fully reopen. Operations have been curtailed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine after his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, deepening the fissure that has opened between the two allies.
Before Trump began his second term as US president in January, ties between the two nuclear superpowers of Russia and the United States had plummeted to their lowest in decades following Russia’s invasion.
Trump, who has promised a quick end to the war, has upended US policy swiftly to open talks with Moscow, including calls and meetings that have alarmed Washington’s European allies and Kyiv.
At the end of February, Russia and US teams held hours of talks in Turkiye, narrowly focusing on restoring normal functioning of their embassies, and Putin said initial contacts with Trump’s new administration had inspired hope.
Last week, Russia said it was sending a new ambassador to Washington, the latest sign of a thaw between the two countries, but it remains unclear when the full work of both embassies will resume.
Peskov also told RIA that it was too early say where the next round of talks between Russia and the United States might take place.

‘Impossible’ for US to give up Indo-Pacific, Taiwan defense minister says

‘Impossible’ for US to give up Indo-Pacific, Taiwan defense minister says
Updated 6 min 5 sec ago
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‘Impossible’ for US to give up Indo-Pacific, Taiwan defense minister says

‘Impossible’ for US to give up Indo-Pacific, Taiwan defense minister says
  • ‘I think it is impossible for the United States to retreat from the Indo-Pacific because it is its core national interest’
  • The US is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties

TAIPEI: The United States cannot abandon the Indo-Pacific because the region is part of its “core national interests,” Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo said amid concerns about US security commitments to Taiwan.
The White House clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, which plunged ties between Kyiv and its top military backer to a new low, has renewed concerns in Taiwan about Washington’s security commitment at a time when China is ramping up its military pressure to assert its sovereignty claims over the democratic island.
“We indeed noticed the fast-changing and tricky international situation and deeply understand that we can’t just talk about values but not national interests,” Koo told reporters at a briefing on Monday when asked whether the US is still a reliable security partner for Taiwan.
“So we must ask: keeping the peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region including the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, is that a core US national interest?” Koo asked.
“I think it is impossible for the United States to retreat from the Indo-Pacific because it is its core national interest.”
Koo said “using deterrence and strength to achieve peace” has been the long-standing consensus between Taipei and Washington, and that stability in the region is important for the United States, both economically and geopolitically.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei.
Taiwan, which strongly rejects China’s sovereignty claim, enjoyed support from the first Trump administration. But Trump unnerved Taiwan on the campaign trail by calling for it to pay more for US security guarantees.


How Trump’s history with Russia and Ukraine set the stage for a blowup with Zelensky

How Trump’s history with Russia and Ukraine set the stage for a blowup with Zelensky
Updated 04 March 2025
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How Trump’s history with Russia and Ukraine set the stage for a blowup with Zelensky

How Trump’s history with Russia and Ukraine set the stage for a blowup with Zelensky
  • Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation wrapped up in 2019 and left no doubt that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election in sweeping and criminal fashion and that the Trump campaign had welcomed the help

WASHINGTON: As his White House meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart devolved into a stunning blowup, President Donald Trump leaned on a familiar refrain to explain his unique kinship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said Friday, raising his voice and gesturing with his hands as he recounted the long-since-concluded saga of a federal investigation in which both he and the Russian president played starring roles.
“He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia, ever hear of that deal?” Trump said.
The pointed reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election underscored the extent to which Trump’s lingering fury over an inquiry he has misleadingly branded a “hoax” remains top of mind more than eight years after it began.
It also made clear that Trump’s view of a war Russia launched against Ukraine three years ago is colored not only by his relationship with Putin and the alliance he believes they share but also by his fraught past with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was a central player in the first of two impeachment cases against Trump during his first four years in office.
Here’s a look at what the American president means when he says “Russia, Russia, Russia“:
Investigations tied to Putin connections
Questions over Trump’s connections to Putin followed him into his first presidency and hung over him for most of his term, spurring investigations by the Justice Department and Congress and the appointment of a special counsel who brought criminal charges against multiple Trump allies.
While running for office, Trump cast doubt on the idea that Russian government hackers had stolen the emails of Democrats, including his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, and orchestrated their public release in an effort to boost his candidacy and harm hers.
Then, as president, he broke with his own intelligence community’s firm finding that Russia and Russia alone was to blame for the hack. Even when he begrudgingly conceded that Russia might be responsible, he also suggested the culprit might be a “400-pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.”
In July 2018, while standing alongside Putin in Helsinki, Trump appeared to embrace the Russian leader’s protestations over the conclusions of US intelligence officials by saying, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
He added that “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia.
All the while, he memorably raged against the investigation, calling it a “hoax” and “witch hunt” and, as he did at the White House last week, repeatedly deriding all the “Russia, Russia, Russia” attention.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation wrapped up in 2019 and left no doubt that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election in sweeping and criminal fashion and that the Trump campaign had welcomed the help. But the inquiry did not find sufficient evidence to prove that the two sides had illegally colluded to tip the outcome of the election.
‘Do us a favor’
If Trump’s history with Russia appears to have contributed to his worldview of the current conflict, so too has his past with Ukraine.
He held a call in 2019 with Zelensky and pushed him to investigate corruption allegations against Democratic rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter ahead of the 2020 election, which Joe Biden went on to win.
The call — which included Trump’s memorable line: “I would like you to do us a favor, though” — was reported by a CIA officer-turned-whistleblower who alleged that the president appeared to be soliciting interference from a foreign country in the US election.
After Trump’s call with Zelensky, the White House temporarily halted US aid to the struggling ally facing hostile Russian forces at its border. The money was eventually released as Congress intervened.
Trump was subsequently impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate.
The president’s skepticism of Ukraine went beyond the call. During his first term, he also seemingly bought into a long-discredited conspiracy theory that connects Ukraine, not Russia, to the 2016 political interference and the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and repeatedly accused the FBI of a lackluster investigation that led to the blaming of the Kremlin.
What happens next?
The long-term repercussions of the Oval Office spat, in which Trump called Zelensky “disrespectful” in the most hostile public exchange in memory between world leaders at the White House, remain to be seen.
But the immediate consequences are clear, with Trump on Monday directing a “pause” to US assistance to Ukraine as he seeks to pressure Zelensky to engage in peace talks with Russia. Earlier, the US president again blasted the Ukrainian leader after Zelensky noted that a deal to end the war “is still very, very far away.”
Zelensky, meanwhile, left Washington without signing a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia. He’s not welcome back, Trump said on social media, until he’s “ready for Peace.”
With the US-Ukraine relationship now in jeopardy, Zelensky has used a series of posts on X to express his thanks to the American people, Trump and Congress for “all the support.”
European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have embraced Zelensky in the aftermath of the White House fight.
In Russia, officials are relishing the conflict, sensing an opportunity to move closer to the US That window seemed to open last month when the US, in a dramatic reversal in position, split from European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on UN resolutions seeking an end to the war.
In an interview with a Russian state TV reporter that aired Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the new US administration is “rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations.”
“This largely coincides with our vision,” he added.

 


Trump halts all US military aid to Ukraine, White House official says

Trump halts all US military aid to Ukraine, White House official says
Updated 04 March 2025
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Trump halts all US military aid to Ukraine, White House official says

Trump halts all US military aid to Ukraine, White House official says
  • The move comes after Trump upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia upon taking office in January, adopting a more conciliatory stance toward Moscow

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has paused all military aid to Ukraine following his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, a White House official said on Monday.
“President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Zelensky’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside office hours.
The move comes after Trump upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia upon taking office in January, adopting a more conciliatory stance toward Moscow — and after an explosive confrontation with Zelensky at the White House on Friday in which Trump criticized him for being insufficiently grateful for the Washington’s backing in the war with Russia.
On Monday Trump again said Zelensky should be more appreciative of American support after earlier responding angrily to an Associated Press report quoting Zelensky as saying the end of the war is “very, very far away.”
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, using an alternative spelling of the Ukrainian leader’s name.
But Trump also suggested on Monday that a deal to open up Ukraine’s minerals to US investment could still be agreed despite his frustration with Kyiv, as European leaders floated proposals for a truce in Russia’s war with its neighbor.
The Trump administration views a minerals deal as America’s way of earning back some of the tens of billions of dollars it has given to Ukraine in financial and military aid since Russia invaded three years ago.
When asked on Monday if the deal was dead, Trump said at the White House: “No, I don’t think so.”
Trump described it as a “great deal for us” and said he would give an update on the situation on Tuesday night when he addresses a joint session of Congress.


Russia ‘categorically’ against deploying European troops to Ukraine, Russian senior diplomat says

Russia ‘categorically’ against deploying European troops to Ukraine, Russian senior diplomat says
Updated 04 March 2025
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Russia ‘categorically’ against deploying European troops to Ukraine, Russian senior diplomat says

Russia ‘categorically’ against deploying European troops to Ukraine, Russian senior diplomat says
  • “Firstly, the European Union is not impartial, and peacekeepers must be impartial,” Ulyanov said on the Telegram messaging app

MOSCOW: Russia is categorically against the idea of potential deployment of European troops to Ukraine, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s envoy in Vienna to international organizations said on Tuesday.
“Firstly, the European Union is not impartial, and peacekeepers must be impartial,” Ulyanov said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Secondly, Russia is categorically against it.”