The US placed a general in Myanmar on its sanctions blacklist on Tuesday for arms deals with North Korea that violated the UN Security Council embargo on buying weapons from Pyongyang.
Weeks after a landmark visit to Washington by Burmese President Thein Sein celebrated the thaw in relations, the US Treasury named Lieutenant General Thein Htay, the head of Myanmar’s Directorate of Defense Industries, for the sanctions.
The Treasury said the general was involved in buying North Korean military goods despite his government’s support for the council’s ban.
It said he acted on behalf of the directorate, a military agency that was placed on the US sanctions blacklist in July last year for arms deals with North Korea.
The Treasury stressed in a statement that the Myanmar government, which until 2011 endured years of isolation and condemnation by the international community for rights abuses, was not targeted by the sanctions.
“This action specifically targets Thein Htay, who is involved in the illicit trade of North Korean arms to Burma,” the Treasury said. “It does not target the government of Burma, which has continued to take positive steps in severing its military ties with North Korea.”
The Treasury noted that Myanmar said in November last year that it would “abide by” the UN Security Council resolution banning the purchase of military equipment and support from North Korea.
“The international community has repeatedly condemned North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile proliferation activity,” the Treasury said, adding that North Korea’s arms trade is an “important source of revenue” to build “its proscribed nuclear and missile programs.”
Myanmar has repeatedly been accused of military links with North Korea, forcing Thein Sein to deny any secret efforts to obtain nuclear weapons technology from Pyongyang.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number