Kuwait

BAGHDAD - Even as Iraqis celebrated the departure of the last American troops yesterday, the dangers left behind after nearly nine years of war were on full display. Politicians feuded along the country's potentially explosive sectarian lines, and the drumbeat of deadly violence went on. The last US convoy rumbled out of Iraq across the border into Kuwait around sunrise under a shroud of secrecy to prevent attacks on the departing troops. When news reached a waking Iraqi public, there was joy at the end of a presence that many Iraqis resented as a foreign occupation.

A United Nations panel has approved another $1 billion in compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The U.N. Compensation Commission said in a statement that the money will go to four companies and two government, or international, bodies. It did not disclose their identities Thursday, but said all are in Kuwait. The commission has so far paid out $36.4 billion for governments and international organizations to distribute among 1.5 million claimants. A further $16 billion is earmarked for unidentified claimants in Kuwait.

Kuwait media report that authorities have issued nearly 50 arrest warrants in connection with a protest mob that stormed parliament earlier this month. The Kuwait Times reports Thursday that defense lawyers expect even more arrests linked to the Nov. 16 storming by dozens of protesters, angered by allegations of high-level corruption against government officials. Kuwait's ruler has ordered tighter security measures across the oil-rich state. The parliament melee came as opposition lawmakers called for the prime minister to be questioned over accusations that officials transferred...

Kuwait is promoting the central bank's deputy governor to the institution's top job following the resignation of its long-serving leader last month, the finance minister announced Sunday. The appointment of Mohammed Yusef al-Hashel as central bank governor comes as Kuwaiti labor groups, emboldened by Arab Spring protests elsewhere in the region, press for higher wages and perks from the country's rulers. Mustafa al-Shimali, the Gulf nation's deputy prime minister and minister of finance, said the Cabinet approved al-Hashel's appointment, according to the official Kuwait News Agency.

Kuwait's Cabinet says parliamentary elections in the Gulf nation will be held on February 2. The official KUNA news agency said government ministers, headed by Prime Minister Sheik Jaber al-Hamad Al Sabah, approved the election date during their weekly meeting Sunday. The decision comes less than two weeks after Kuwait's ruler dissolved the previous parliament during a political showdown related to allegations of high-level corruption. That move on December 6 started the process for new elections, which must be held within 60 days of parliament's dissolution.

CHANTILLY, Va. — A Virginia teenager who asserts he was beaten and tortured while stuck in Kuwait for a month after apparently being placed on the US government’s no-fly list was reunited with his family near Washington yesterday. Gulet Mohamed of Alexandria, 19, greeted family members at Dulles International Airport after a 14-hour flight from Kuwait. Mohamed said it felt great to be back in the United States and expressed concern for others in the same situation he was in. “There are probably people out there being tortured like I was, whose voices are not being heard,’’ he said.

Kuwait's oil minister says the country aims to boost its crude production capacity to 4 million barrels a day by 2020, up from 3 million barrels now. Oil Minister Hani Hussein made the comments Monday at the start of an energy forum in the Gulf nation, according to a report by state news agency KUNA. Hussein says the International Energy Forum is being held amid "very critical circumstances," citing concerns about Iranian threats to shut the key Strait of Hormuz waterway, the Eurozone crisis and rising oil prices.

BAGHDAD - Kuwait named its first ambassador to Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War yesterday, a major step toward healing the two countries' painful past. The announcement came as the Sunni leader of Lebanon's parliamentary majority met with Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's Shi'ite prime minister - which also reflected Iraq's efforts to reconcile with aloof Arab neighbors and tamp down sectarian tension across the region. Sunni Arab leaders suspect Shi'ite power Iran has strong influence over Maliki, who has made some diplomatic gains in the region but has struggled to win over...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- At a time some US troops in Iraq are protesting they have to scrounge for equipment, six Ohio-based reservists were court-martialed for taking Army vehicles abandoned in Kuwait by other units so they could carry out their own unit's mission to Iraq. The soldiers say they needed the vehicles and parts stripped from one to deliver fuel to Iraq, but their former battalion commander said yesterday the troops should at least have returned the vehicles to their original units.

WINSLOW, Maine - When the last American troops left Iraq in December, the war began anew for Nancy Chamberlain. Her son, Marine helicopter pilot Jay Aubin, had crashed and died in a sandstorm on the first night of the 2003 invasion. Eleven siblings rushed to comfort her. Tom Brokaw called to interview her. Later, the attention that came with being one of the first American mothers to lose a child in the war helped distract her. But her cocoon of self-protection shattered last month when the news media, usually more focused on Afghanistan, redirected...

Kuwait's oil minister says the country aims to boost its crude production capacity to 4 million barrels a day by 2020, up from 3 million barrels now. Oil Minister Hani Hussein made the comments Monday at the start of an energy forum in the Gulf nation, according to a report by state news agency KUNA. Hussein says the International Energy Forum is being held amid "very critical circumstances," citing concerns about Iranian threats to shut the key Strait of Hormuz waterway, the Eurozone crisis and rising oil prices.

In Kuwait, what is not talked about must be bad. So twin sisters at Northeastern University are trying to talk about something few in their country want to discuss: mental illness. "You have to talk about mental illness because when you talk about it, it becomes something that's more accepted," Alaa Alhomaizi said. "People with mental illness deserve respect. They don't deserve to be locked up. " She and her identical twin, Dalal Alhomaizi, launched an aggressive public health campaign called SPEAK - Standing for Psychological Education and Awareness in Kuwait - more than a year ago...

KUWAIT - In this ancient crossroads of sand and sea, a fascinating mixture coexists of the 21st century and the timeless. Best known in the United States as the country liberated from Saddam Hussein by US and coalition troops in the 1991 Gulf War, and later as the staging point for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, this postage-stamp-size emirate on the Persian Gulf has undergone a dizzying building boom. Dazzling, futuristic office towers dot the downtown and waterfront boulevards of this sprawling city, while the latest Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs roam its streets in weaving, near-reckless...

Kuwait's ruler has named the Gulf nation's new government, appointing the prime minister who served in a caretaker role before parliamentary elections earlier this month. The new Cabinet announced Tuesday also has no women. It's the first time since 2005 that women are absent from Kuwait's top political affairs. No women were elected to the new parliament, which had four female lawmakers in the last assembly. Besides Prime Minister Sheik Jaber Al Hamad Al Sabah, the 16-seat Cabinet has four other members of the ruling family.

The head of Kuwait's central bank of more than 25 years has resigned, state media said Monday, in the latest shake-up among the Gulf nation's veteran policymakers as political tensions grow. The official Kuwait News Agency said Sheik Salem Abdulaziz Al Sabah, a member of the Gulf nation's ruling family, has stepped down after serving as Central Bank governor since 1986. The one-sentence announcement gave no immediate reason for his resignation. But the government-backed Al Qabas newspaper said Sheik Salem had raised objections to Kuwait's rising public spending, including substantial...

A send-off ceremony is being held for members of a Maine Army National Guard medevac unit that is being deployed to Kuwait. Friday evening's ceremony will honor about 83 soldiers from the 126th Aviation Regiment's medevac unit and their families. The event is being held at the Collins Center for the Arts at the University of Maine in Orono. The medevac unit uses medically equipped helicopters to transport injured patients and military personnel from accidents and battlefields to medical facilities.

A U.N. panel has approved more than $1 billion in compensation payments for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The U.N. Compensation Commission says the money will go to five companies and four government or international bodies. It did not disclose the identities of the claimants Thursday but said all are in Kuwait. The panel made up of the 15 U.N. Security Council member countries has so far paid out almost $33.3 billion. A further $19 billion is earmarked to go to unidentified claimants in Kuwait.

BAGHDAD - Less than two months after US troops left, the State Department is preparing to slash by as much as half the enormous diplomatic presence it had planned for Iraq, a sharp sign of declining US influence in the country. Officials in Baghdad and Washington said that Ambassador James F. Jeffrey and other senior State Department officials are reconsidering the size and scope of the embassy, where the staff has swelled to nearly 16,000 people, mostly contractors. The expansive diplomatic operation and the $750 million embassy building, the largest of its kind in the...

WINSLOW, Maine - When the last American troops left Iraq in December, the war began anew for Nancy Chamberlain. Her son, Marine helicopter pilot Jay Aubin, had crashed and died in a sandstorm on the first night of the 2003 invasion. Eleven siblings rushed to comfort her. Tom Brokaw called to interview her. Later, the attention that came with being one of the first American mothers to lose a child in the war helped distract her. But her cocoon of self-protection shattered last month when the news media, usually more focused on Afghanistan, redirected its...