BANGKOK: Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi denied the accusations in an election fraud charge against her when she testified for the first time on the case Friday at the prison court in the capital Naypyitaw, a legal official said.
The army seized power from Suu Kyi’s elected government in February last year, claiming massive voting fraud in the 2020 general election, an allegation not corroborated by independent election observers.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won that election in a landslide, while the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party did poorly.
A conviction in the election fraud case could lead to Suu Kyi’s party being dissolved and unable to participate in a new election the military has promised will take place in 2023.
Suu Kyi has already been sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted on charges of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, violating coronavirus restrictions, sedition and a corruption charge.
Suu Kyi’s supporters and independent analysts say the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military’s seizure of power while keeping her from returning to politics.
Suu Kyi is being tried for multiple charges at a new facility constructed in the prison compound in the capital Naypyitaw, including the electoral fraud charge. She was transferred from a secret detention location to a custom-built solitary facility at a prison in Naypyitaw last month.
The penalty for the offense is three years’ imprisonment. Former President Win Myint and former Union Government Office Minister Min Thu are co-defendants in the case.
The election fraud charge was filed in November by the state Election Commission, whose members were appointed by the military government. The military dismissed the commission’s previous members, who had declared there were no major irregularities in the election.
The new commission accused the defendants, including its own former chairman, of being “involved in electoral processes, election fraud and lawless actions.”
A legal official familiar with Friday’s proceedings said Suu Kyi testified in the court that she did not go beyond the country’s constitution in holding the 2020 general election, and did not influence the Union Election Commission in that election, before pleading not guilty. Further details of what she said were not available because of a gag order on her lawyers.
The legal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information, said Suu Kyi appeared to be in good health.
All of Suu Kyi’s trials in the prison court are closed to the media and the public. The prosecutors do not comment on them and the state-controlled media have not reported directly on the proceedings. Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been barred since last year from providing details of the trials under a gag order.
The judge adjourned the election fraud trial for next week, when co-defendant Min Thu will testify.
Win Myint, another co-defendant in the case, gave a courtroom testimony last week denying the accusations against him, the legal official said.
Suu Kyi is also being tried on a charge of violating the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, and 11 counts under the Anti-Corruption Law, with each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine.
The corruption cases are among a large number of charges under which the military is prosecuting her. If found guilty of all the charges, she could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.
Her lawyers are trying to overturn the two counts under the Anti-Corruption Act in an appeal to the Supreme Court on technical grounds, saying the case should not have been filed. In this corruption case, she is accused of receiving $550,000 in bribes from Maung Weik, a construction magnate.
The army’s takeover in 2021 was met with widespread non-violent protests. After security forces unleashed lethal force against peaceful demonstrators, some opponents of military rule turned to armed resistance in many areas.
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi testifies in election fraud trial
https://arab.news/y2n94
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi testifies in election fraud trial
- A conviction in the election fraud case could lead to Suu Kyi’s party being dissolved
- Suu Kyi has already been sentenced to 11 years in prison
US plans $8 billion arms deal with Israel, Axios reports
- Israel has killed at least 45,658 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable
- President Joe Biden is due to leave office on Jan. 20, when Donald Trump will succeed him
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has informally notified the US Congress of a proposed $8 billion arms sale to Israel that includes munitions for fighter jets and attack helicopters, Axios reported on Friday, citing two sources.
The deal would need approval from House and Senate committees and includes artillery shells and air-to-air missiles for fighter jets to defend against threats such as drones, the report said.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The President has made clear Israel has a right to defend its citizens, consistent with international law and international humanitarian law, and to deter aggression from Iran and its proxy organizations,” a US official was quoted by Axios as saying.
The package also includes small-diameter bombs and warheads, according to Axios.
Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to end the 15-month-old Israeli war in Gaza. President Joe Biden is due to leave office on Jan. 20, when Donald Trump will succeed him.
Mixed reactions as Biden blocks takeover of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel
- Biden cites national security as reason for blocking sale of the US' third largest steel company
UPDATE 13-Mixed reactions as Biden blocks takeover of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel
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Biden cites national security as reason for blocking sale of the US' third largest steel company
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Companies call decision a ‘violation of due process’, steelworkers union praises it as a good move
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US Steel’s path forward is unclear
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Steelworkers union praises US president’s decision
By David Shepardson, Tim Kelly, Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON/TOKYO, Jan 3 : US President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel’s proposed $14.9 billion purchase of US Steel on Friday, citing national security concerns, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the contentious plan after a year of review. The deal was announced in December 2023 and almost immediately ran into opposition across the political spectrum ahead of the Nov. 5 US presidential election. Both then-candidate Donald Trump and Biden vowed to block the purchase of the storied American company, the first to be valued at more than $1 billion. US Steel once controlled most of the country’s steel output but is now the third-largest US steelmaker and 24th biggest worldwide.
“A strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains,” Biden said. “Without domestic steel production and domestic steel workers, our nation is less strong and less secure.” Nippon, the world’s fourth-largest steelmaker, paid a hefty premium to clinch the deal and made several concessions, including a last-ditch gambit to give the US government veto power over changes to output, but to no avail.
In a statement, Nippon and US Steel blasted Biden’s decision, calling it a “clear violation of due process” and a political move, and saying they would “take all appropriate action” to protect their legal rights.
Pittsburgh-based US Steel had warned that thousands of jobs would be at risk without the deal.
US Steel CEO David Burritt said late on Friday the company planned to fight Biden’s decision, which he termed “shameful and corrupt.” He added that the president had insulted Japan and also refused to meet with the US company to learn its point of view.
“The Chinese Communist Party leaders in Beijing are dancing in the streets,” Burritt added.
The United Steelworkers union, which opposed the merger from the outset, praised Biden’s decision, with USW President David McCall saying the union has “no doubt that it’s the right move for our members and our national security.”
White House spokesperson John Kirby defended the decision.
“This isn’t about Japan. This is about US steelmaking and keeping one of the largest steel producers in the United States an American-owned company,” Kirby said, rejecting suggestions the decision could raise questions about the reliability of the US as a partner. Nippon Steel has previously threatened legal action if the deal was blocked. Lawyers have said Nippon Steel’s vow to mount a legal challenge against the US government would be tough.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States spent months reviewing the deal for national security risks but referred the decision to Biden in December, after failing to reach consensus.
It is unclear whether another buyer will emerge. US Steel has reported nine consecutive quarters of falling profits amid a global downturn in the steel industry. US-based Cleveland-Cliffs, which previously bid for the company, has seen its share price fall to the point where its market value is lower than that of US Steel.
Shares of US Steel closed down 6.5 percent at $30.47 on the New York Stock Exchange.
A spokesperson for President-elect Trump, who also vowed to block the deal, did not immediately comment on Friday.
KEY ASIA ALLY
Japanese industry and trade minister Yoji Muto expressed disappointment over Biden’s decision, saying it was both difficult to understand and regrettable.
“There are strong concerns from the economic circles of both Japan and the US, and especially from Japanese industry regarding future investments between Japan and the US, and the Japanese government has no choice but to take this matter seriously,” he said in a statement. Japan is a key US ally in the Indo-Pacific region, where China’s economic and military rise and threats from North Korea have raised concerns in Washington. In November, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba urged Biden to approve the merger to avoid marring efforts to improve economic ties, Reuters exclusively reported.
US Steel and Nippon Steel had sought to assuage concerns over the merger. Nippon Steel offered to move its US headquarters to Pittsburgh and promised to honor all agreements in place between US Steel and the USW. A source familiar with the matter said this week that Nippon Steel had also proposed giving the US government veto power over any potential cuts to US Steel’s production capacity, as part of its efforts to secure Biden’s approval.
Nippon Steel faces a $565 million penalty payment to US Steel following the deal’s collapse, which is set to prompt a major rethink of the Japanese company’s overseas-focused growth strategy.
With the acquisition of US Steel, Nippon Steel aimed to raise its global output capacity to 85 million metric tons a year from the current 65 million, nearing its long-term goal of taking capacity to 100 million tons.
“The Nippon deal would have increased the ability to have more competition for domestic steel,” said Chester Spatt, a finance professor at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University. “The deal could have potentially created a competitive advantage, and we should have encouraged it.”
Democrats in Congress praised Biden’s decision. Senator Sherrod Brown said the deal “represented a clear threat to America’s national and economic security and our ability to enforce our trade laws.”
Jason Furman, who was an economic adviser to President Barack Obama, said Biden’s claim that Japan’s investment in an American steel company was a threat to national security was “a pathetic and craven cave to special interests that will make America less prosperous and safe. I’m sorry to see him betraying our allies while abusing the law.” (Reporting by David Shepardson and Andrea Shalal in Washington and Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Devika Nair, Kanishka Singh, Alexandra Alper, Yuka Obayashi, Satoshi Sugiyama, Aatreyee Dasgupta, Yoshifumi Takemoto, Sakura Murakami, Nobuhiro Kubo and Amy Lv; Writing by Lincoln Feast and John Geddie; Editing by David Gaffen, Heather Timmons, Paul Simao and Matthew Lewis)
American soldier who died in Las Vegas explosion left note saying it was to be a wakeup for country’s ills
- The 37-year-old Green Beret also wrote in the note that he needed to “cleanse my mind”
- Police said Matthew Livelsberger apparently harbored no ill will toward President-elect Donald Trump
- Livelsberger was "struggling with PTSD and other issues," says FBI official in charge of the case
An Army soldier who died in an explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas left a note saying it was stunt to serve as “wakeup call” for the country’s ills, investigators said Friday.
Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colorado, also wrote in the note that he needed to “cleanse my mind” of the lives lost of people he knew and “the burden of the lives I took.”
Livelsberger apparently harbored no ill will toward President-elect Donald Trump, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officials said.
“Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues,” FBI Special Agent In Charge Spencer Evans said at a news conference.
The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the hotel. Authorities said Friday that Livelsberger acted alone.
“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wakeup call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives,” Livelsberger wrote in a letter found by authorities who released only excerpts of it.
Investigators identified the Tesla driver — who was burned beyond recognition — as Livelsberger by a tattoo and by comparing DNA from relatives. The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, according to coroners officials.
Pentagon officials have declined to say whether Livelsberger may have been suffering from mental health issues but say they have turned over his medical records to police.
Authorities excerpted the messages from two letters Livelsberger wrote using a cellphone note application, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said.
The letters covered a range of topics including political grievances, domestic issues and societal issues, Koren said.
Tesla engineers, meanwhile, helped extract data from the Cybertruck for investigators, including Livelsberger’s path between charging stations from Colorado through New Mexico and Arizona and on to Las Vegas, Koren said.
“We still have a large volume of data to go through,” Koren said. “There’s thousands if not millions of videos and photos and documents and web history and all of those things that need to be analyzed.”
The new details came as investigators sought to determine Livelsberger’s motive, including whether he sought to make a political point with the Tesla and the hotel bearing the president-elect’s name.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently become a member of Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas early Wednesday, the day of the explosion. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at his South Florida estate.
Musk spent an estimated $250 million during the presidential campaign to support Trump, who has named Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
Investigators suspect Livelsberger may have been planning a more damaging attack but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force from the crudely built explosive.
Investigators said previously that Livelsberger shot himself inside the Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks just before it exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.
“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle, but we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology,” Spencer Evans, the Las Vegas FBI’s special agent in charge, said Thursday.
Asked Friday about whether Livelsberger had been struggling with any mental health issues that may have prompted his suicide, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that “the department has turned over all medical records to local law enforcement.”
A law enforcement official said investigators learned through interviews that he may have gotten into a fight with his wife about relationship issues shortly before he rented the Tesla in Colorado on Saturday and bought the guns. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Among the charred items found inside the truck were a handgun at Livelsberger’s feet, another firearm, fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said. He had recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died, according to a US official.
He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor.
Authorities searched a townhouse in Livelsberger’s hometown of Colorado Springs Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and a baby.
Cindy Helwig, who lives diagonally across a narrow street separating the homes, said she last saw the man she knew as Matthew about two weeks ago when he asked her if he could borrow a tool he needed to fix an SUV he was working on.
“He was a normal guy,” said Helwig, who said she last saw the wife and baby earlier this week.
The explosion of the truck, packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters, came hours after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 14 people before being shot to death by police. The FBI says they believe Jabbar acted alone and that it is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
Mike Johnson reelected US House speaker in dramatic floor vote, overcoming hard-right Republican holdouts after a tense standoff
- A small collection of hard-line Republicans convened in the back of the House chamber, one by one declining to vote or choosing another lawmaker
- But Johnson was able to flip two remaining holdouts who switched to support him, drawing applause from Republicans. The tally was 218-215
WASHINGTON: Republican Mike Johnson narrowly won reelection Friday to the House speakership on a first ballot, overcoming hard-right GOP holdouts after a tense standoff and buoyed by a nod of support from President-elect Donald Trump.
The uneasy scene brought an ominous start to the first day of the new Congress. A small collection of hard-line Republicans convened in the back of the House chamber, one by one declining to vote or choosing another lawmaker. Johnson’s face turned grim, acknowledging fresh turmoil and signaling trouble ahead under unified GOP control of Washington.
In the end, however, Johnson was able to flip two remaining holdouts who switched to support him, drawing applause from Republicans. The tally was 218-215.
Johnson in his first speech vowed to “reject business as usual” as Republicans take charge.
“We’re going to drastically cut back the size and scope of government,” he promised.
Johnson’s weak grip on the gavel has threatened not only his own survival but President-elect Trump’s ambitious agenda of tax cuts and mass deportations as Republicans sweep to power. Even his close alliance and backing from Trump himself, usually a sure bet for Republicans, was no guarantee Johnson will stay in power.
The House Democratic leader Hakeem Jefferies attempted to push past the Republican tumult of the past two years, saying it was time to come together, put party politics aside “to get things done” for Americans.
What was once a ceremonial day with newly elected lawmakers arriving to be sworn into office, often with family, friends and children in tow, has evolved into a high-stakes vote for the office of House speaker, among the most powerful elected positions in Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris was swearing in the senators.
While the Senate is able to convene on its own and has already elected party leaders — Sen. John Thune as the Republican majority leader and Sen. Chuck Schumer for the Democratic minority — the House must first elect its speaker, a role required by the Constitution, second in the line of succession to the president.
With opposition from his own GOP colleagues, Johnson arrived at the Capitol with outward confidence after working into the night to sway hard-line holdouts. A flop by Johnson could have throw Monday’s congressional certification of Trump’s 2024 election victory into turmoil without a House speaker.
“A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party,” Trump posted ahead of the vote on social media.
Congress has been here before, when it took Republicans nearly a week and 15 rounds of voting to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker in 2023, a spectacle otherwise unseen in modern times. McCarthy was then dumped by his party, a historic first, but he was also part of a long list of GOP speakers chased to early exits.
The stakes are higher this year as Trump prepares to return to the White House with the House and Senate in GOP control and promising to deliver big on a 100-day agenda.
Johnson worked diligently to prevent losing his post, up to the final moments, spending New Year’s Day at Mar-a-Lago as he positioned himself alongside Trump. The speaker often portrays himself as the “quarterback” who will be executing the political plays called by the “coach,” the president-elect.
During the dramatic roll call, the strain on Johnson was clear as more than a half-dozen Republicans refused to vote for him, many from the conservative Freedom Caucus. He was falling short.
As the chamber stood still, a few Republican holdouts announced their support, but it was still not enough for Johnson to keep the gavel. One hard “no” was Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, who voted for a different GOP Leader, as did two other Republicans.
Johnson’s allies huddled with some lawmakers, and others took calls passing their phones to the other holdouts.
But Johnson also had warned that without a House speaker there would be a “constitutional crisis” heading into Jan. 6, when Congress by law is required to count the electoral votes for president, weeks before Trump is set to be inaugurated Jan. 20.
“We don’t have any time to waste, and I think that everybody recognizes that,” he said.
Johnson commands one of the slimmest majorities in modern times, having lost seats in the November election. With the sudden resignation of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the tally dropped to 219-215. That leaves Johnson relying on almost every Republican for support in the face of Democratic opposition.
Heading into Friday he did not have the full support needed.
Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy was among the most notable holdouts, an unflinching member of the Freedom Caucus who lashed into Republican leadership’s handling of the year-end spending bill for failing to cut spending and adhere to House rules.
“Something MUST change,” Roy posted on social media. He eventually voted for Johnson.
What’s unclear is what other concessions Johnson can make to win support. Two years ago, McCarthy handed out prime favors that appeared to only weaken his hold on power.
Already, Johnson has clawed back one of those changes, with a new House rule pushed by centrist conservatives that would require at least nine members of the majority party on any resolution to oust the speaker — raising the threshold McCarthy had lowered to just one.
“I think the holdouts are going to have to realize that, listen, Trump is right all the time,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, exiting the speaker’s office late Thursday. “Just know that Trump is right all the time, it’ll help you make a decision real simple.”
In many ways, Johnson has no choice but to endure political hazing by his colleagues, as they remind him who has leverage in their lopsided relationship. He was a last-ditch choice for the office, rising from the back bench once other leaders failed in the aftermath of McCarthy’s ouster.
The speaker’s election is set to dominate the opening of the new Congress, which also brings a roster of history-making members, as the Senate expects to quickly begin hearings on Trump’s nominees for top Cabinet and administrative positions.
In the Senate, two Black women — Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland — were being sworn in, both wearing suits in the white of the suffragettes, the first time in the nation’s history two Black women senators will serve at the same time.
Senator-elect Andy Kim of New Jersey also is making history as the first Korean American to join the chamber.
In the House, Sarah McBride is the first openly transgender person in the Congress.
And Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who recently suffered a fall overseas and underwent hip replacement surgery, will make her own return to Washington, a reminder of the power she wielded when Democrats last held the majority.
Canary Islands received record 46,843 migrants in 2024
- Sanchez government ‘maintains a transversal policy that prioritizes human rights’
MADRID: A record 46,843 migrants reached Spain’s Canary Islands illegally in 2024 via the increasingly deadly Atlantic route, the second consecutive year of unprecedented arrival numbers, official data showed.
The landmark came as the European country received 63,970 irregular migrants last year, the vast majority in the Atlantic archipelago, up from 56,852 in 2023, the Interior Ministry said.
Spain has moved to the forefront of the EU’s migration crisis as tighter controls in the Mediterranean push more migrants to attempt the perilous trip from West Africa to the Canaries.
BACKGROUND
Spain, a major gateway to Europe along with Italy and Greece, has emerged as an outlier in European migration policy.
EU border agency Frontex has said irregular crossings into the bloc from January to November 2024 fell 40 percent overall.
However, they grew 19 percent on the Atlantic route, with Mali, Senegal, and Morocco being the most common nationalities.
The latest figures confirmed data published in December that showed the record for annual migrant arrivals by boat in the Canaries had been broken for the second year running by November.
Last year’s arrivals surpassed the 39,910 migrants who reached the islands off northwestern Africa by sea in 2023, a level that had smashed the previous record from 2006.
The national figure for 2024 fell short of the record of 64,298 arrivals set in 2018 but exceeded the 56,852 migrants who reached Spain illegally in 2023.
A report last week by NGO Caminando Fronteras said at least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea from Jan. 1 to Dec. 5, 2024.
Caminando Fronteras said it was a 50-percent increase on 2023.
The highest toll since its tallies began in 2007, attributing it to the use of ramshackle boats, dangerous waters and a lack of resources for rescues.
“The loss of a single life is a cause for sadness, and we regret every one of them,” the Migration Ministry said in reaction to the report.
“This government maintains a transversal policy that prioritizes human rights and works in collaboration with other ministries and countries of origin and transit to promote regular and safe migration.”
Local authorities in the Canaries say they are overwhelmed by the waves of arrivals.
Spain’s political parties, however, have failed to agree on a plan to distribute thousands of unaccompanied minors nationwide to ease the burden.
Government minister Angel Victor Torres criticized the conservative opposition Popular Party, or PP, for the impasse.
The children would go to school, “learning our language and integrating into our society” if the PP adopted an attitude of “true solidarity,” Torres told Cadena SER radio.
Despite the crisis, Spain, a major gateway to Europe along with Italy and Greece, has emerged as an outlier in European migration policy.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defends the necessity of migration to support the welfare state and workforce needs as Europe’s population ages.
His successive leftist governments since 2018 have eased regularization rules for illegal migrants in Spain, even as far-right parties with anti-immigration platforms have surged in Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and beyond.
Sanchez last year embarked on a tour of Senegal, Mauritania, and The Gambia, the main departure points for Spain-bound boats, to promote local efforts to curb illegal migration.
PP spokesman Borja Semper slammed the government for presiding over rising immigration numbers while levels fell in other frontline countries such as Italy.
The government uses immigration “frivolously because there is no policy, and when it puts forward something, it’s behind a banner,” he said.
