LIVE
Home Blog Page 2170

UN Calls For Halt Of Flow Of Weapons To Myanmar

Zoe Maven
-
0
UN Calls For Halt Of Flow Of Weapons To Myanmar

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday called for a stop to the flow of arms to Myanmar and urged the military to respect November election results and release political detainees, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The General Assembly adopted a resolution with the support of 119 countries some four months after the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in a coup.

Belarus requested the text be put to a vote and was the only country to oppose it, while 36 abstained, including China and Russia. The remaining 37 General Assembly members did not vote.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had earlier on Friday pushed the General Assembly to act, stating that one cannot live in a world where military coups become a norm.

The military cited the government’s refusal to address what it said was fraud in a November election as the reason for the coup even though International observers have said the ballot was fair.

An initial draft UN resolution included stronger language calling for an arms embargo on Myanmar. According to a proposal seen by Reuters last month, nine Southeast Asian countries wanted that language removed.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but carry political weight. Unlike the 15-member Security Council, no country has veto power in the General Assembly.

The junta’s forces have killed more than 860 people since the February 1 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The junta claims the number is much lower.

The UN resolution calls on the Myanmar military to “immediately stop all violence against peaceful protesters” and end restrictions on the internet and social media.

Liberia’s Alieu Kosiah Convicted Of War Crimes In Swiss Court

Zoe Maven
-
0
Liberia’s Alieu Kosiah Convicted Of War Crimes In Swiss Court

Alieu Kosiah has been found guilty of war crimes in a Swiss court, becoming the first Liberian to be convicted over the country’s civil war.

Kosiah, 46, was a former rebel commander, who fled to Switzerland before being arrested there in 2014. He was sentenced to 20 years for crimes including murder and rape.

Around 250,000 people were killed in Liberia’s two conflicts between 1989 and 2003, and many thousands more fled.

Switzerland recognises the principle of universal justice, meaning suspects accused of high-profile crimes elsewhere can be tried in its courts.

The trial was the first under a 2011 Swiss law that allows prosecution for war crimes committed anywhere in the world. It also marked the first time war crimes charges have been heard by a Swiss civilian court.

The 20-year sentence includes the six years he has already served in detention.

He was detained after a civil rights group, Civitas Maxima, presented the Swiss attorney general with evidence of his involvement in war crimes, including the deliberate killing of civilians, sexual violence, abuse of corpses and acts of cannibalism.

The court in the southern Swiss city of Bellinzona found him guilty of 21 out of the 25 charges that he originally faced. These included:

The crimes took place while he was fighting with Alhaji Kromah’s United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy rebel group against Charles Taylor’s troops in the remote Lofa County in the 1990s.

Liberia endured two bouts of brutal fighting from 1989 to 1997, after which Taylor became president, and 1999 to 2003.

Chadian opposition leader Success Masra slams transitional team

Zoe Maven
-
0
Chadian opposition leader Success Masra slams transitional team

The Chadian opposition has once again condemned the decisions by the Chadian government to have a committee that is now in charge of appointing the members of the next National Transitional Council.

The body, which is supposed to replace the Chadian National Assembly for the next 16 months.

Succès Masra, who is the president of the opposition party The Transformers, has accused the military of swindling power.

He said the three people at the head of the country are people who were either members or allies of the former ruling party and who are the same people who have led Chad into the current situation.

He added there was is no doubt that the seizure of power by the National Transitional Council and Mahamat Idriss Déby following the death of Idriss Déby Itno is nothing other than a coup d’état.

Succès Masra is now calling for a majority of the 93 members of the next National Transitional Council to come from civil society, or else civil disobedience operations will resume across the country.

General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, 37, was named Chad’s president in late April.

IMF Delivers Good and Bad News On Nigerian Economy

Zoe Maven
-
0
IMF Delivers Good and Bad News On Nigerian Economy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday gave the thumbs up to the Nigerian economy that it judged as gradually recovering from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the IMF dropped the bad news about employment falling below pre-pandemic levels, while inflation remained high owing to galloping food prices.

Team lead of the IMF mission to Nigeria Ms Jesmin Rahman, who led staff virtual meetings with Nigerian authorities, dropped these submissions in a statement on Friday in Washington D. C.

The meeting, which was held from June 1 to 8, was to discuss recent economic, financial developments and outlook of the country.

Rahman commended the Federal Government’ measures to contain the transmission of COVID-19 in Nigeria, including the ongoing vaccination programme under the COVAX initiative.

She also supported the Federal Government’s efforts to acquire additional doses from countries with surplus stocks.

According to Rahman, following sharp output contractions in the second and third quarters, Gross Domestic Product growth turned positive in Q4 2020 and growth reached 0.5 percent (year-on-year) in Q1 2021.

This, she said, was supported by agriculture and services sectors.

She added that although imports were rebounding faster than exports, foreign investor appetite remained subdued resulting in continued foreign exchange shortage.

The team lead said the incipient recovery in economic activity was projected to take root and broaden among sectors, with GDP growth expected to reach 2.5 percent in 2021.

Former Justice Minister Of Japan Jailed 3 Years For Vote-Buying

Zoe Maven
-
0
Former Justice Minister Of Japan Jailed 3 Years For Vote-Buying

A former Japanese Justice Minister, Katsuyuku Kawai, was on Friday, sentenced to a three-year jail term for vote-buying in an attempt to get his wife elected to a national office.

He was fined 1.3 million yen or $11,800 in addition to the jail term.

Kawai, aged 58, was found guilty of charges that he distributed 29 million yen or $260,000 to about 100 people in 2019, to help secure an Upper House seat for his wife Anri.

Katsuyuki, a close confidant of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, had reversed his earlier claims of innocence and broadly conceded the allegations against him.

Anri, who won her seat in the July 2019 election, has already been found guilty over her role in the scheme and received a suspended sentence of 16 months earlier this year.

Katsuyuki’s sentence is not suspended, meaning he faces jail time. But the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported that he appealed.

He was named Justice Minister by Abe in 2019 but left the office after only a few weeks as the scandal emerged.

The headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party reportedly provided 150 million yen to Anri’s election campaign, an unusually large sum to boost campaign efforts. Former Japan Justice Minister, Katsuyuki Kawai Jailed For Vote-Buying.

Two Hong Kong Newspaper Executives Charged

Zoe Maven
-
0
Two Hong Kong Newspaper Executives Charged

Hong Kong police charged two executives from the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper on Friday using a powerful new security law, a day after the company’s newsroom was raided over articles it had published.

According to the Police, a 47-year-old and a 59-year-old were charged with collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.

Apple Daily said the two charged executives were chief editor Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung.Some 500 officers descended on the paper’s newsroom on Thursday, bundling computers and notepads into evidence bags.

Authorities said the operation was sparked by articles that allegedly appealed for sanctions against China.

It was the first time articles published in Hong Kong have sparked arrests under the new law that cracks down on dissent in the international business and media hub.

Police said the remaining three were still in custody and being questioned. The two charged executives would appear in court on Saturday morning.

Over 100 people have been arrested under the new security law which China imposed on Hong Kong nearly a year ago to stamp out dissent in the wake of huge pro-democracy protests.

More than 60 have been charged and the vast majority have been denied bail.

Life Imprisonment Against Rwanda’s Paul Rusesabagina

Zoe Maven
-
0
Life Imprisonment Against Rwanda’s Paul Rusesabagina

Rwandan prosecutors have called for a life sentence for Paul Rusesabagina, the man who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda,” as he faces terrorism charges.

Paul Rusesabagina, once praised for saving hundreds of Tutsis from the 1994 Rwandan genocide as a hotel manager, faces charges related to attacks by an armed group inside Rwanda in 2018 and 2019.

The nine counts include “forming an irregular armed group,” “belonging to a terrorist group” and “financing terrorism.”

Prosecutors seek to link him to activities that killed at least nine people.

Paul Rusesabagina, a Belgian citizen and U.S. resident, has denied the charges, saying his case is politically motivated in response to his criticism of Rwanda’s longtime president, Paul Kagame.

He claims he was abducted last year while visiting Dubai and taken to Rwanda, where he was charged.

But a court ruled that he was not abducted when he was tricked into boarding a chartered flight.

The Rwandan government claimed that Paul Rusesabagina was traveling to Burundi to coordinate with armed groups based in that country and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In the meantime, his family claims that Paul Rusesabagina is being mistreated had no access to food and water, which the Rwandan prison administration denied.

The case has received worldwide attention. This month, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice said it had filed a formal request to the U.S. recommending sanctions against Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye and the head of Rwanda’s Bureau of Investigation, Colonel Jeannot Ruhunga, for their role in his detention.

Iran Election: Judge Under U.S. Sanctions Set To Take Over Presidency

Elizabeth Williams
-
0
Iran Election: Judge Under U.S. Sanctions Set To Take Over Presidency

Millions of Iranians voted on Friday in a contest set to hand the presidency to a hardline judge who is subject to U.S. sanctions, though anger over economic hardship and curbs on freedoms mean many will heed calls for a boycott.

Senior officials appealed for a large turnout in an election widely seen as a referendum on their handling of the economy, including rising prices and unemployment and a collapse in the value of its currency.

“I urge everyone with any political view to vote,” judiciary head Ebrahim Raisi, the front-runner in the contest, said after casting his ballot.

“Our people’s grievances over shortcomings are real, but if it is the reason for not participating, then it is wrong.”

While state television showed long queues at polling stations in several cities, the semi-official Fars news agency reported 22 million or 37% of voters had cast ballots by 7:30 pm (1500 GMT), citing its own reporter. The interior ministry said it could not confirm turnout figures.

The interior ministry extended voting until midnight local time (19:30 GMT), Iranian media reported, citing a large number of voters waiting at polling stations.

After voting in the capital Tehran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iranians follow suit, saying “each vote counts … come and vote and choose your president”.

Raisi, 60, is backed by security hawks in his bid to succeed Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist prevented under the constitution from serving a third four-year term in the post, which runs the government day-to-day and reports to Khamenei.

Supported by the powerful Revolutionary Guards Corps, Raisi, a close Khamenei ally who vows to fight corruption, is under U.S. sanctions for alleged involvement in executions of political prisoners decades ago.

Voters expressed mixed views.

Maryam, 52, a hairdresser in Karaj near Tehran, said she would not vote because “I have lost confidence in the system.”

“Every time I voted in the past, I had hope that my living standard would improve. But I lost hope when I saw the highest official in the country wasn’t brave enough to resign when he couldn’t make things better,” she said, referring to Rouhani.

Asked which candidate he preferred, Mohammad, 32, at a polling station in a hamlet in southern Iran, replied: “To be honest none of them, but our representative in parliament says we should vote for Raisi so that everything will improve.”

Google Adtech Business To Face Formal EU Probe -Sources

Elizabeth Williams
-
0
Google Adtech Business To Face Formal EU Probe -Sources

Google could face its biggest regulatory threat, with EU antitrust regulators set to open a formal investigation into the search giant’s lucrative digital advertising business before the end of the year, according to reports.

Antitrust regulators in the European Union could open a formal probe into Google’s lucrative digital advertising business before the end of the year, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The probe would focus on Google’s position in relation to advertisers, publishers, go-betweens and rivals, one source said, and could end up targeting Google’s entire ad empire.

Last year Google took in $147 billion in online ad revenues – that’s more than any other company in the world – with sales spread across search, YouTube and gmail.

It also runs a lucrative online ad network.

Advertisers complain that so much of Google’s software is key to the online ad business that it is impossible to avoid using it, and that Google takes advantage of that by extracting high fees from ad buyers, ad sellers and everyone in between.

There are also complaints that Google uses its size to block competition. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The EU Commission declined to comment.

A probe would mark a new chapter in the saga between the EU’s competition enforcer and Google.

So far, the EU has slapped Google with nearly $10 billion in fines over the past decade for blocking rivals in online shopping, Android smartphones and online advertising.

The EU is not alone in examining Google’s business practices. Last week, France and Google reached at $268 million settlement over similar anti-competitive allegations.

In the U.S., the Justice Department and state attorneys general filed separate lawsuits last year accusing Google of violating anti-trust rules.

Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Newspaper, Increased Production After Police Arrested Top Executives

Elizabeth Williams
-
0
Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Newspaper, Increased Production After Police Arrested Top Executives

The Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper, increased its production on Friday—a day after hundreds of police raided its office and arrested top executives for breaking Beijing’s controversial national security law. 

Reuters reported that the paper increased its number of copies to 500,000 from 80,000 a day earlier. The paper ran a cover story about the raid and how police seized dozens of hard disk drives for evidence.
The paper said five of its executives were arrested for breaking Article 29 of Beijing’s national security law, which prohibits “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.”
The law has been used to arrest over a hundred pro-democracy figures since it was first implemented in June last year. Thursday’s raid will do little to temper the concerns of many in the city about their freedoms and future.

1...2,1692,1702,171...2,555Page 2,170 of 2,555
Kingschat

© 2025 LN247. All Rights Reserved