Myanmar’s military rulers have without explanation ordered all legal proceedings against deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be moved from a courtroom to a prison, a source familiar with her cases said on Wednesday.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who turned 77 on Sunday (June 19), has been charged with at least 20 criminal offences since she was toppled in a coup early last year, including multiple counts of corruption. Some media reported Suu Kyi had also been moved from house arrest into detention in Naypyidaw prison on Wednesday. Reuters could not independently verify these reports.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has so far allowed Suu Kyi to remain in detention at an undisclosed location in the capital Naypyitaw, despite convictions for incitement and several minor offences. Suu Kyi denies all charges.
The source, who declined to be identified due to sensitivities over the trial, said hearings would be shifted to a new special court in Naypyitaw’s prison. The ruling military council could not immediately be reached for comment.
Suu Kyi’s marathon court proceedings take place behind closed doors with only limited information reported by state media. A gag order has been imposed on her lawyers, whose only access to her is on trial days.
It is not clear how much Suu Kyi knows of the crisis in her country, which has been in chaos since the coup, with the military struggling to consolidate power and facing increasing resistance from militia groups. Western countries have called the convictions a sham and demanded her release. The military says she is being given due process by an independent judiciary.
The Nobel laureate was arrested during the military’s coup early last year and has been found guilty of several comparatively minor offences so far, among a multitude of charges that carry a combined prison sentence of almost 190 years.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the February 1 coup against Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government led to widespread protests and raised international concern about the end of tentative political reforms following decades of military rule.
Lack of access and communication could pose the biggest challenge to relief operations after a deadly earthquake struck Afghanistan’s southeastern city of Khost on Wednesday . a UN official said.
“The roads are poor, even in the best of times. So, having a humanitarian operation put in place is going to be immediately challenged by the lack of easy access to the area, to the region, and I think that is going to be probably one of the big challenges,” Loretta Hieber Girardet, chief of risk knowledge, monitoring and capacity development at United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) told Reuters from Geneva.
The death toll from the earthquake on Wednesday hit 1,000, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured.
The death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to collect details said interior ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi said
Houses were reduced to rubble and bodies swathed in blankets lay on the ground, photographs on Afghan media showed.
Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika, where 255 people were killed and more than 200 injured, Ayubi added.
Wednesday’s quake was the deadliest in Afghanistan since 2002. It struck about 44 km from the southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Meanwhile, The Afghan Red Crescent sent out food and medical aid to earthquake victims in eastern Afghanistan .
In the province of Khost, 25 were dead and 90 had been taken to hospital.
Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the ruling Taliban, offered his condolences in a statement.
Mounting a rescue operation will prove a major test for the Taliban, who took over the country last August and have been cut off from much international assistance because of sanctions.
The disaster comes as Afghanistan grapples with a severe economic crisis since the Taliban took over as U.S.-led international forces withdrew following two decades of war.
In response to the Taliban takeover, many nations imposed sanctions on Afghanistan’s banking sector and cut billions of dollars worth of development aid.
Humanitarian aid has continued, however, with international agencies, such as the United Nations, operating.
The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said Afghanistan had asked humanitarian agencies to help with rescue efforts, and teams were being sent to the quake-hit area.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the Taliban would welcome international help. Neighboring Pakistan said it was working to extend assistance.
The Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhand, in an extraordinary cabinet meeting, dedicated 100 million afghanis to urgently addressing the families situation of Tuesday’s night earthquake victims in Paktika and Khost provinces.
Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhand, the Afghan Prime Minister during a meeting asserted his condolences to the victims of the earthquake and tasked the relevant administrations to instantly address the situation of the victims of the earthquake. statement by Arg said.
The Prime Minister tasked the relevant department to deliver food, clothing, and spices to the quake-hit areas in any possible transportation ways.
Based on his decree a commission of high-rank delegations will travel to the quake-hit areas, monitor the situation of the families of the victims, and start the process of distribution of aid shortly.
Meanwhile, early today, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Deputy Prime Minister of Economic and Chairman of the Disaster Management Committee, authorized the relevant departments to directly address the situation of the families of the victims of Tuesday night’s earthquake in Paktika and Khost provinces.
Afghanistan has declared that it will utilize all available resources to reach out to assist the families and those who were wounded in this natural incident.
สำนักข่าวรอยเตอร์ – ธนาคารเพื่อการชำระบัญชีระหว่างประเทศ (Bank for International Settlements) หรือ กล่าวว่าการระเบิดเมื่อเร็ว ๆ นี้ในตลาดสกุลเงินดิจิตอลบ่งชี้ว่าขณะนี้มีการเตือนถึงอันตรายเกี่ยวกับอันตรายของเงินดิจิทัลแบบกระจายอำนาจที่มีมาเป็นเวลานาน ได้กลายเป็นรูปธรรมขึ้นมาแล้ว
BIS ซึ่งเป็นองค์กรหลักระดับโลกสำหรับธนาคารกลาง ได้ส่งคำเตือนในรายงานประจำปีที่กำลังจะเผยแพร่ https://www.bis.org ซึ่งได้เรียกร้องให้มีความพยายามมากขึ้นในการพัฒนาสกุลเงินดิจิทัลของธนาคารกลางที่น่าดึงดูดใจมากขึ้น
ด้าน แจ็ค วัตลิง ผู้ช่วยวิจัยจาก Royal United Services Institute เผยกับวอลล์สตรีตเจอร์นัลว่า เจ้าหน้าที่กองทัพบอกให้ทหารผ่านศึกแจ้งที่อยู่ให้กองทัพทราบ
At least 280 people have been killed and over 600 others injured in Tuesday night’s earthquake that affected the Naki, Zirok, Barmal, and Gayan districts of Paktika province, local officials said.
Officials say that helicopters and ambulances had reached affected areas to evacuate those injured in the disaster to hospitals.
Meanwhile, Shabir Ahmad Osmani, information and culture director of Khost province said that 25 people were killed and 95 others were injured in last night’s earthquake.
The quake destroyed several residential buildings in the two provinces and officials say that the death toll is expected to increase.
Indonesian immigration deported Japanese national Mitsuhiro Taniguchi on Wednesday who was accused of swindling more than US$ 7 million of government Covid-19 subsidy funds.
The 47-year-old man along with his family is suspected of fraud by submitting thousands of false applications for the government’s subsidy program and receiving more than 960 million Japanese yen, which later he used the money to start a fish farming business in Indonesia.
Taniguchi was wanted by Tokyo police after he fled the country in October 2020 and was arrested by the Indonesian authority earlier this month for violation of immigration law after the Japanese government revoked his passport.
The Japanese man appeared in front of the media during a brief news conference before being deported by Indonesian immigration.
Elvis-themed weddings will continue in Las Vegas after some chapels reached agreements with his estate. Several venues – some of which have offered the packages for decades – were left reeling last month after Authentic Brands Group sent them cease-and-desist letters ordering them to stop.
“We got a phone call. We thought it was a practical joke… It’s Vegas… Happens all the time. A week later, we got an email. Thought it was a joke. Didn’t think anything of it. And then two days later, we get the certified mail. And that’s when we were like, “Oh, boy, this is serious.”, explains Kayla Collins who owns popular Elvis wedding spot, Little Chapel of Hearts, with her Elvis-impersonator and wedding officiant husband, Chad.
“I was unable to sleep. This is everything. This is my job. This is our family business, our livelihood. So without Elvis, we don’t have a business” he adds.
The chapel took legal advice and showed the letter it received to the County Clerk before embarking on a publicity blitz with local media. It says ABG then reached out to apologize for causing alarm. Collins has since entered into a contractual agreement, which involves paying an annual “affordable” fee to be able to continue.
Authentic Brands Group tells Reuters in a statement:
“ABG is proud to be the guardian of the Elvis Presley legacy and is committed to protecting it for generations to come. We are sorry that recent communication with a small number of Las Vegas-based chapels caused confusion and concern. That was never our intention. We are working with the chapels to ensure that the usage of Elvis’ name, image and likeness are in keeping with his legacy.
Elvis is embedded into the fabric of Las Vegas, and we embrace and celebrate Elvis fandom. From tribute artists and impersonators to chapels and fan clubs, each and every one of these groups help to keep Elvis relevant for new generations of fans.”
“It’s a love-hate kind of thing with it because I’m grateful that we’re still able to. But at the same time, it’s like, why do I have to pay to do what I do? Like, it’s dumb”, Collins tells Reuters.
It’s a huge relief for the many freelance Elvis impersonators who make their living travelling around dressed as The King, visiting local chapels to offer their services to the thousands of couples who visit Vegas each year to get hitched.
“I’m not qualified for anything else, you know what I’m saying… This is all I do. So I’d have been out of a job and on the unemployment line if they’d followed through. But thank God they didn’t, man. They came to their senses” says Jesse Garon, who’s been officiating weddings armed with a jumpsuit, Cadillac and quiff for 36 years.
Like so many professions, Elvis impersonators, including Garon, have been struggling over the last few years. “2020 – the year before COVID- I did 650 weddings and then the year of COVID, I did eight. So you wanna talk about hurt, man.. Things are just starting to pick up now. But now we’re facing the economy. It’s like one punch after another man, between Graceland doing their little thing. We didn’t need it. And then you got the economy that just tanked. God bless you if you own Bitcoin… And yeah, then COVID was before that. And then another COVID”, Garon tells Reuters as he applies makeup ahead of his first blessing of the day.
Las Vegas is known as the wedding capital of the world, seeing more than 150 marriages a day, according to figures provided by the city. It touts itself as having some of the most unique venues around which include drive-thru chapels in addition to those playing homage to Elvis.
The King’s links to Sin City are what attracts the fans say Nicolas Avila and Daniela Gonzalez who travelled from Santiago, Chile two years after their official wedding was dampened by the pandemic. They’ve decided to get theirs blessed with friends in Las Vegas:
“The King is the most famous singer in the world. Elvis IS Las Vegas” they told Reuters after their service.
It’s a sentiment echoed by a groom, Robert Taylor, who’s also at the chapel to get hitched:
“A lot of people want a cheesy experience and they think that a lot of times Elvis is a cheesy experience. But ever since he passed, Vegas has been doing Elvis weddings, you know? I think that’s why they are the wedding capital of the world.”
The question of whether any lawsuit would be successful is much tougher to answer, says lawyer Jonathan Fountain, who specializes in intellectual property cases:
“The performance of an Elvis wedding, with an impersonator dressed up like Elvis performing a wedding.. there’s probably a First Amendment fair use or parody defence to that. Also under the Nevada rights of publicity statute, it exempts impersonators from liability. So I believe that there’s a pretty strong defence to simply the performance of an Elvis wedding. But that’s different than, say, using the name ‘Elvis’ or ‘Elvis Presley’ on a website to advertise wedding services. There you’re talking about using a trademark and I think ABGs got stronger claims there”, he tells Reuters, adding:
“The wedding chapels could argue something called ‘lashes’. They could argue that there has been no enforcement over several years. And at the same time, we’ve been making big investments in our businesses. It would be unfair to stop us now. That would be their argument.”
Some are expressing scepticism about the timing of the ban: all happening just weeks before a new Elvis biopic, directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, hits movie theatres:
”I thought the whole timing of everything was because they wanted the publicity for the movie. And, you know, I called them out on it and they said, “No, that’s not it”. And I go, “Well, your timing is kind of suck-ish”, muses Collins who also reveals that she’s since been invited to the movie’s premiere in Las Vegas by ABG: “It’s kinda interesting because I was going to boycott the movie”, she laughs.
As for the impersonators, they’re just happy they can stay in the job they love:
“I could have been anything: a lawyer or aeroplane pilot, whatever. I chose Elvis. You deal with people on the happiest day of their lives. How could it go wrong? You know, they’ll never forget you”, adds Garon.
“It’s great. I got the best job in the world. I just don’t wanna lose it.“
Russia’s threat to punish Lithuania over blocked rail shipments to Moscow’s enclave of Kaliningrad jangled nerves on Tuesday for residents living just across the border who put faith in Nato membership to thwart any potential military action.
Lithuania has shut the route for transport of steel and other ferrous metals, which it says it is required to do under EU sanctions that took effect on Saturday, raising the ire of Russian officials who threatened a “serious negative impact.”
Insurance worker Vitalijus Sidiskis, 59, said while he believed it was difficult to predict what Russia might do, he would remain calm because of Lithuania’s membership in the European Union and Nato.
Other residents in the border town of nearly 6,000 said the threats from Russia had overshadowed other problems, such as sky-high inflation that has hit the pocketbooks of many Lithuanians.
“We work nearby to the border and the shooting and the manoeuvres are a bit worrying,” Galina Mateikuniene, a 52-year-old seamstress said. “We are probably more afraid of war, of an invasion. The economy is the economy.”
Kaliningrad, formerly the port of Koenigsberg, capital of East Prussia, was captured from Nazi Germany by the Red Army in April 1945 and ceded to the Soviet Union after World War Two. It is wedged between Nato members Poland and Lithuania.
Nearly a million Russians live in the Baltic port city connected to the rest of Russia by a rail link through EU- and Nato-member Lithuania.
Meanwhile, The European Union’s envoy to Moscow urged Russia to refrain from “escalatory steps and rhetoric” over what Moscow calls “anti-Russian restrictions” on goods transiting between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia.
“I had the opportunity to make the EU position that there is no such thing as a banning of transit, there is no such thing as a blockade,” said Markus Ederer after leaving the Russian foreign ministry.
The ministry, which earlier on Tuesday summoned the bloc’s ambassador to Moscow, called for transit via the region to be restored “immediately” and vowed to retaliate if the situation did not improve.
EU member Lithuania has shut a rail corridor from Russia to its exclave to certain basic goods, including construction materials, metals and coal in response to new EU sanctions that came into force on Saturday.
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