Russian court upholds sentence of jailed US soldier Gordon Black

GENEVA: Myanmar’s military is limiting critically needed humanitarian aid for earthquake victims in areas where it sees opposition to its rule, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also said it was investigating 53 reported attacks by the junta against its opponents since the earthquake struck on March 28, including air strikes, of which 16 came after a ceasefire on April 2.
On Friday, the office was made aware of a further eight attacks which it was looking into, it said.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s ruling junta did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment.
The humanitarian situation in earthquake areas, especially those out of the military’s control, was catastrophic, UN rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The 7.7 magnitude quake, one of the strongest to hit Myanmar in a century, jolted areas home to 28 million people, toppling buildings, flattening communities and leaving many without food, water and shelter. Myanmar’s junta says the death toll has risen to more than 3,100.
“Limitations of aid is part of a strategy to prevent aid getting to the populations it sees as not supporting its seizure of power back in 2021,” said James Rodehaver, head of OHCHR’s Myanmar team, speaking via video link from Bangkok.
The need for aid was particularly urgent in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, and time was working against humanitarian agencies to help those in need, he added.
“Air strikes are alarming, shocking and need to stop straight away – the focus needs to be on humanitarian recovery,” Shamdasani said.
The government on state-run MRTV late on Wednesday announced a 20-day unilateral ceasefire effective immediately to support post-quake rehabilitation, but warned it would “respond accordingly” if rebels launched attacks.
Millions of people have been affected by Myanmar’s widening civil war, triggered by the coup that ousted the government of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
It has decimated the mainly agrarian economy, driven more than 3.5 million people from their homes and crippled essential services such as health care.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump unveiled the first “gold card,” a residency permit sold for $5 million each, aboard Air Force One on Thursday.
Holding a prototype that bore his face and an inscription “The Trump Card,” the Republican president told reporters that the special visa would probably be available “in less than two weeks.”
“I’m the first buyer,” he said. “Pretty exciting, huh?”
Trump previously said that sales of the new visa, a high-price version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit.
The billionaire former real estate tycoon, who has made the deportation of millions of undocumented migrants a priority for his second term, said the new card would be a route to highly prized US citizenship.
He said in February that his administration hoped to sell “maybe a million” of the cards and did not rule out that Russian oligarchs may be eligible.