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World

U.N. council demands end to Myanmar violence in first resolution in decades

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UNITED NATIONS, Dec 21 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council adopted its first resolution on Myanmar in 74 years on Wednesday to demand an end to violence and urge the military junta to release all political prisoners, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the army took power from Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1, 2021, detaining her and other officials and responding to pro-democracy protests and dissent with lethal force.

“Today we’ve sent a firm message to the military that they should be in no doubt – we expect this resolution to be implemented in full,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said after the vote on the British-drafted resolution.

“We’ve also sent a clear message to the people of Myanmar that we seek progress in line with their rights, their wishes and their interests,” Woodward told the 15-member council.

It has long been split on how to deal with the Myanmar crisis, with China and Russia arguing against strong action. They both abstained from the vote on Wednesday, along with India. The remaining 12 members voted in favor.

“China still has concerns,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told the council after the vote. “There is no quick fix to the issue … Whether or not it can be properly resolved in the end, depends fundamentally, and only, on Myanmar itself.”

He said China had wanted the Security Council to adopt a formal statement on Myanmar, not a resolution.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow did not view the situation in Myanmar as a threat to international peace and security and therefore believed it should not be dealt with by the U.N. Security Council.

Myanmar citizens who live in Thailand, hold a portrait of former Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi as they protest against the execution of pro-democracy activists, at Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, Thailand July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the resolution’s adoption. “This is an important step by the Security Council to address the crisis and end the Burma military regime’s escalating repression and violence against civilians,” he said in a statement.

‘FIRST STEP’

Until now the council had only agreed formal statements on Myanmar, where the army also led a 2017 crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that was described by the United States as genocide. Myanmar denies genocide and said it was waging a legitimate campaign against insurgents who attacked police posts.

Negotiations on the draft Security Council resolution began in September. The initial text – seen by Reuters – urged an end to the transfer of arms to Myanmar and threatened sanctions, but that language has since been removed.

The adopted resolution expresses “deep concern” at the continuing state of emergency imposed by the military when it seized power and its “grave impact” on Myanmar’s people.

It urges “concrete and immediate actions” to implement a peace plan agreed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and issues a call to “uphold democratic institutions and processes and to pursue constructive dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people”.

The only other resolution adopted by the Security Council was in 1948, when the body recommended the U.N. General Assembly admit Myanmar – then Burma – as a member of the world body.

Myanmar’s U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who still holds the U.N. seat and represents Suu Kyi’s government, said while there were positive elements in the resolution the National Unity Government – comprised of remnants of the ousted administration – would have preferred a stronger text.

“We are clear this is only a first step,” he told reporters. “The National Unity Government calls on the UNSC (to build) on this resolution to take further and stronger action to ensure the end of the military junta and its crimes.”

Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Alex Richardson and Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council, Yoel Roth flees home

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Twitter on Monday night abruptly dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the latest sign that Elon Musk is unraveling years of work and institutions created to make the social network safer and more civil.

Members of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council received an email with the subject line, “Thank You,” that informed them the council was no longer “the best structure” to bring “external insights into our product and policy development work.”

The email dissolution arrived less than an hour before members of the council were expecting to meet with Twitter executives via Zoom to discuss recent developments, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.

Dozens of civil rights leaders, academics and advocates from around the world had volunteered their time for years to help improve safety on the platform.

“We are grateful for your engagement, advice and collaboration in recent years and wish you every success in the future,” said the email, which was simply signed “Twitter.”

In less than two months, Musk has undone years of investments in trust and safety at Twitter — dismissing key parts of the workforce and bringing back accounts that previously had been suspended. As the body unravels, Musk is tightening his grip on decisions about the future of content moderation at Twitter, with less input from outside experts.

The move is just throwing away “years of institutional memory that we on the council have brought” to the company, said one council member, who asked to remain anonymous due to concern about harassment on the platform. “Getting external experts and advocates looking at your services makes you smarter.”

The Trust and Safety Council unraveled after Musk himself had pitched the creation of a content moderation council that would have weighed in on key content moderation decisions, but later appeared to change his mind about introducing such a body.

Many members were already on the verge of resigning, said Larry Magid, chief executive of ConnectSafely, a Silicon Valley nonprofit that advises consumers about children’s internet use.

“By disbanding it, we got fired instead of quit,” he said. “Elon doesn’t want criticism, and he really doesn’t want the kind of advice he would very likely get from a safety advisory council, which would likely tell him to rehire some of the staff he got rid of, and reinstate some of the rules he got rid of, and turn the company in another direction from where he is turning it.”

Twitter first formed the Trust and Safety Council in 2016, as social networks were coming under greater scrutiny for their role in amplifying hate, terrorism, child exploitation and other problematic content online. The council convened a wide range of civil society groups, think tanks — and even some of Silicon Valley’s biggest critics. Twitter executives would regularly brief the council on new products in development and policies.

“I don’t understand the logic of doing this when many of these relationships were hard fought to develop,” said another member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the council’s dissolution.

Twitter lawyer long weighed safety, free speech. Then Musk called her out.

Twitter told Trust and Safety members that their “regional points of contact will remain the best people to contact to escalate concerns.” However, Twitter’s Trust and Safety and policy teams have been gutted by recent layoffs, as well as employee departures following an ultimatum from Musk.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which was a member of the council, will be “keeping a lookout for how they restructure,” said Gavin Portnoy, the center’s vice president.

“For the moment, we’ll continue to encourage reporting to the CyberTipline and hope to continue to have a seat at the table to address child safety on Twitter,” he said.

Last week, three members of the Trust and Safety Council resigned, warning that the “safety and wellbeing of Twitter’s users are on the decline.”

Musk responded to replies to their tweet announcing their resignation, writing, “It’s a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!”

Jack Dorsey, the company’s former CEO, responded to Musk, calling the claim “false.” But Musk’s comment nonetheless prompted a wave of threats and harassment at the board members who left the council, as well as some who remained.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit that was a member of the council and has received funding from tech companies, said in a statement that it was “dismayed by Twitter leadership’s irresponsible actions to spread misinformation about the Council, which have endangered Council members and eroded any semblance of trust in the company.”

Musk’s treatment of the board mirrored a wave of attacks that enveloped a former top executive at the company over the weekend.

Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, and his family were forced from their home after Elon Musk’s tweets misrepresented Roth’s academic writing about sexual activity and children. The online mob also sent threats to people Roth had replied to on Twitter, forcing some of Roth’s family and friends to delete their Twitter accounts, according to a person familiar with Roth’s situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concerns about Roth’s safety.

Musk’s followers also directed harassment at professors who reviewed the dissertation that Roth wrote in 2016, as well as at his graduate school, the University of Pennsylvania, the person said. The university did not respond to a request for comment.

As head of trust and safety at Twitter, Roth was involved in many of the platform’s decisions about what posts to remove and what accounts to suspend. His communications with other Twitter officials have been posted in recent days as part of what Musk calls the Twitter Files, a series of tweets by conservative journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.

Musk’s tweets to his tens of millions of followers have for years prompted his supporters to deluge the targets of his ire with online threats — famously, a participant in the rescue of a boys soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand, whom Musk branded “pedo guy.” But now that Musk owns one of the most powerful social networks in the world and has gutted the company division that previously policed online harassment, the stakes are even higher.

Musk tweets about Roth recalled the QAnon conspiracy movement, which claims incorrectly that Democratic Party leaders direct a child sex abuse network.

“Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis,” Musk tweeted Saturday, attaching a screenshot of Roth’s dissertation.

Elon Musk boosts criticism of Twitter executives, prompting online attacks

In the text, Roth suggested that services like the gay dating app Grindr should adopt safety strategies to accommodate teenagers using their platforms, rather than drive them out entirely. Musk also commented on a 2010 tweet in which Roth wrote, “Can high school students ever meaningfully consent to sex with their teachers?” Roth then linked to an article about a Washington State Supreme Court ruling about what age students can consent to having sex with their teachers.

Musk’s critical comments about Roth are something of an about-face from his early days at the company, when Roth appeared to be one of the few high-level Twitter executives Musk supported. On Oct. 30, the billionaire tweeted, “I want to be clear that I support Yoel. My sense is that he has high integrity, and we are all entitled to our political beliefs.”

And Roth appeared measured in his comments on Twitter’s new owner, seeking to reassure the public about company efforts to fight hate and protect elections. He even appeared alongside Musk in a call intended to reassure advertisers.

Even after he left Twitter in November, Roth was muted in his criticism. He warned in an op-ed in the New York Times that there was “little need” for a trust and safety function at a company where “policies are defined by edict.” But he also said publicly that it wasn’t accurate to depict Musk as the “villain of the story” in his takeover of the company.

“I think one of the things that is tricky about Elon, in particular, is that people really want him to be the villain of the story, and they want him to be unequivocally wrong and bad, and everything he says is duplicitous,” Roth said during an interview at the Knight Foundation conference. “I have to say … that wasn’t my experience with him.”

Musk’s ‘free speech’ agenda dismantles safety work at Twitter, insiders say

Still, Roth is the most visible former Twitter executive assessing Musk’s actions, and his role at the company has been highlighted in the Twitter Files.

Twitter employees have long been wary of Musk’s ability to stoke online criticism. Shortly after he announced his plans to take over the company in April, he tweeted a meme to his tens of millions of followers with the face of Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, that appeared to suggest the company’s decisions are affected by a “left wing bias.”

Twitter users quickly piled on — calling on Musk to fire Gadde or using racist language to describe her. Gadde was born in India and immigrated to the United States as a child. One user said she would “go down in history as an appalling person.”

Such harassment is part of a years-long pattern for Musk, with few legal consequences to date. Musk ultimately was not held liable in a defamation suit brought after he made his “pedo guy” remarks.

Joseph Menn and Naomi Nix contributed from San Francisco.



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US

“I failed:” Kevin de León tells CBS2 he is refusing to resign from LA City Council

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Councilmember Kevin de León told Tom Wait today in an exclusive interview that he is refusing to resign from LA City Council, but rather hopes to work towards repairing relationships that have been damaged in recent weeks. 

“I have to do the hard work. I have to repair. I have to help heal. I have to help restore,” the councilman said.

CBSLA


Despite rampant calls for resignation in the nearly two weeks since the leaked audio, de León does not follow the steps of Councilmember Nury Martinez who resigned last Wednesday afternoon.

De León said he refused to resign so he can ensure that his constituents in District 14 continue to be represented on City Council.

“It’s about City District 14,” he said. “A district that’s been underrepresented and has gone through much difficulty in the past without political representation… They do deserve political representation.”

The leaked audio recorded de León, Martinez and Councilmember Gil Cedillo as well as L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera. The racist comments were made during an October 2021 conversation about the redistricting process. During the hour-long conversation, the group discussed the redistricting process while also making racist comments about residents and Councilmember Mike Bonin’s Black 2-year-old son.

“I failed in my leadership,” he said. “I didn’t step up and intervene. I didn’t put a stop to it.”

In the discussion, Martinez referred to Bonin’s son as a “little monkey” in Spanish while de León compared the 2-year-old child to one of Martinez’s handbags. He later said he was “shocked” by Martinez’s comments and said his “joke” was directed toward Martinez’s “penchant for having luxury goods.” Nonetheless, he apologized for his comments.

“I shouldn’t have made that flippant remark,” he said.

De León claims to have apologized “profusely” to Bonin and his family over voicemail when he didn’t answer his phone call in the wake of the audio leak. He also said that he had planned to publicly apologize at the first City Council meeting since the leak last Tuesday, but was unable to do so.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry to my constituents,” he said. “I’m sorry to my colleagues. I’m sorry to the family of Mike Bonin — to my family, to all those who have supported me.”

CBSLA


Herrera was the first of the bunch to resign, doing so a day after the audio was released. 

De León and Cedillo both have yet to step down, despite passionate protests calling for their resignation. Senior politicians such as President Joe Biden, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Eric Garcetti have denounced the trio and joined the public’s calls for their resignation.

“I accept my responsibility for a lot of that pain that exists today,” de León said Wednesday, noting that he’s reached out to various city leaders and organizations to have “hard conversations” with about his involvement in the incident.

“It’s not going to be easy,” he said. “It’s gonna be hard, as it should be. I know it’s going to be hard. That’s why I don’t I’m not going to mince words or I’m not going to deflect blame.”

He also said he hasn’t had a chance to speak to Martinez, Cedillo or Herrera since the audio leak.

Councilman Bonin issued a statement via Twitter moments after the interview first aired. 

“He cannot be part of the healing as long as he refuses to resign,” the tweet said. “His stubborn refusal to do what everyone else knows is necessary is deepening the wound he has inflicted on Los Angeles.”



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US

Los Angeles council president steps down after audio leak of racist comments

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Oct 10 (Reuters) – A Los Angeles city councilwoman resigned as president of the council on Monday after the release of an audio recording in which she makes racist and other disparaging comments, including remarks about the Black son of a colleague.

Nury Martinez, a Democrat, apologized to fellow Democratic Councilman Mike Bonin and his family in a statement announcing that her resignation would be effective immediately. She continues to represent Los Angeles’ sixth district.

Martinez came under fire after the Los Angeles Times reported comments she made during a recorded October 2021 meeting, in which she said Bonin, who is white, treated his Black son as if he were an “accessory” and compared him to a “changuito,” which translates as “little monkey.” Bonin was not present.

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Martinez also disparaged Mexicans from Oaxaca and voiced her displeasure with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, saying “he’s with the Blacks,” the Times reported.

“I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. I’m so sorry,” Martinez said in the statement. “As someone who believes deeply in the empowerment of communities of color, I recognize my comments undercut that goal.”

Two other Democratic members of the council – Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León – and labor leader Ron Herrera, who resigned on Monday night, were present during the conversation, according to the Times.

It reported that De León accused Bonin of not supporting Latinos and likened him to being the council’s “fourth Black member.”

The three issued statements acknowledging that inappropriate remarks were made at the meeting, according to the Times.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor did not respond to a request for comment on Herrera’s resignation.

Bonin issued a statement on Sunday calling for the city council to remove Martinez as president and for her to resign from the legislative body.

“Any parent reading her comments will know she is unfit for public office,” Bonin said.

The local chapter of activist group Black Lives Matter said Martinez, Cedillo, de León and Herrera should resign from their posts.

Martinez was the first Latina to become president of the city’s council in January 2020, according to her office website. She was first elected to city council in 2013.

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Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York. Additional reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh. Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Gerry Doyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Crimea bridge explosion: Putin to chair Russia Security Council meeting after humiliating blast on strategic crossing

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CNN
 — 

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold an operational meeting of his Security Council on Monday, just two days after a massive explosion on a key strategic bridge linking Crimea and Russia.

The meeting itself isn’t out of the ordinary – Putin regularly holds operational meetings with the Security Council, usually on a weekly basis, according to TASS. However, it comes just days after a major humiliation for the Russian President, when an explosion severely damaged parts of the road and rail bridge between annexed Crimea and the Russian Federation early Saturday.

And while the agenda has not been made public, the meeting comes at a strategic crossroads for the Kremlin, which must make a series of unenviable choices after Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has faltered after a month of military setbacks.

Some road traffic and train traffic has resumed on the estimated $3.7 billion bridge. On Saturday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said repair works on the bridge would be carried out around the clock, with a damage survey to be completed within a day and divers scheduled to check all the supports of the bridge.

The first passenger services resumed travel across the bridge on Saturday, traveling from the Crimean Peninsula to Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia, Russia’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement.

Car traffic on the bridge has also restarted in two lanes, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Marat Khusnullin said on Sunday. “Traffic has already been launched along two lanes on the Crimean bridge,” he wrote in a Telegram post, adding that earlier, one lane was being used for cars traveling in alternate directions, slowing down traffic. Heavy trucks, vans and buses have been traveling by ferry since the blast.



Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the blast on the enormous 19-kilometer (about 12-mile) bridge, which was built after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, an annexation regarded by the West as illegal.” The crossing was opened by Putin himself in 2018, and Ukrainian reaction to the explosion has been gleeful and triumphant.

Putin called the explosions on the Crimean bridge a “terrorist attack” and said the organizers and executors were “Ukrainian special services.”

“Here, as reported, we have no doubts that this is a terrorist attack aimed at the destruction of the critical infrastructure of Russian Federation. And authors, executors, and masterminds are the secret services of Ukraine,” Putin said during a meeting with Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin on Sunday.

In a possible act of retaliation, a round of Russian missile strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed 13 people early Sunday, including one child, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

At least 89 civilians, including 11 children, were injured, Oleksandr Starukh, head of Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said Sunday.

According to Tymoshenko, the rescue and search operations are still ongoing, they continue to get people out from under the rubble.

Ukraine’s military has been making dramatic advances in a counteroffensive – the Ukrainian military has recaptured 2,400 square kilometers of territory in Kherson region in the south of the country “since the beginning of the full-scale war,” a senior Ukrainian official said Friday, and Ukrainian troops are preparing for further advances into Russian-held Luhansk in the east, according to Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region’s Ukrainian military administration.

Hayday acknowledged photographs of Ukrainian troops outside the Luhansk village of Stelmakhivka, less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of the crucial post of Svatove.

But with a sudden and successful Ukrainian offensive comes concerns Putin will escalate Russia’s war in Ukraine, with US President Joe Biden expressing fears of the possible use of weapons of mass destruction.

“First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use (of a) nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” Biden warned during remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in New York on Friday.

He added: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”

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US

Fort Myers Beach council member says most homes are gone

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Tropical Storm Ian threatens another blow to air travel as it moves up the east coast and away from the Florida panhandle, where airports are assessing conditions and determining when service can safely resume.

Flight cancelations are about to surpass those of Wednesday — the worst day for US flight cancelations of the last six months, FlightAware data shows Thursday. As of 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, airlines have canceled more than 2,000 flights in the US and have already canceled more than a thousand flights on Friday.

“Tropical storm Ian is moving off of Florida into the Atlantic and is expected to turn northwest and make landfall again in the Carolinas tomorrow,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement, saying passengers should check on the status of their flights with the airlines. 

Here’s a look at how some airlines are impacted:

  • American Airlines — which canceled more than 600 flights on Wednesday and another 348 on Thursday — says operations at its fourth largest hub in Miami are recovering.
  • Southwest Airlines, which typically operates a high number of routes to and from Florida airports, canceled more than 525 flights.
  • United Airlines says it has proactively canceled more than 392 flights to and from Florida airports since Tuesday.

Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport anticipates reopening by late Friday, CEO Rick Piccolo told CNN. He watched from his office as the storm pulled apart the airport’s roof. “While we won’t look as pretty as we used to because the ceiling’s all gone, we’ll be functional,” he said.    

Tampa International Airport officials said an inspection Thursday morning “determined TPA did not sustain any serious damage during the storm.” It expects “high passenger volumes” when it reopens at 10 a.m. on Friday. The airport is “very lucky to have come out on the other side of this largely unscathed,” airport CEO Joe Lopano said in a statement.  

Melbourne Orlando International Airport – one of the smaller commercial airports in Florida with service from Allegiant, American and Delta — said it plans to reopen Friday morning.

CEO James Parish said Punta Gorda Airport experienced “extensive” damage to hangars at the airport and does not have power in the passenger terminal. Once power is restored, the airport will make plans to restore service from Allegiant Air, he added.

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World

US introduces resolution condemning Russia over so-called referendums in Ukraine at UN Security Council meeting

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CNN
 — 

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield introduced a resolution condemning Russia over the so-called referendums being carried out in four regions of Ukraine and declaring that the UN Security Council does not support the use of force to redraw borders during a security council meeting on Tuesday, a US official told CNN.

The resolution – introduced by the US and Albania jointly – is expected to be largely symbolic as Russia will almost certainly veto it. But Thomas-Greenfield said the US will look to bring the vote to the UN General Assembly if Russia “chooses to shield itself from accountability.” The resolution would also obligate Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, Thomas-Greenfield said.

Behind the scenes US diplomats will engage with all nations in the security council, including diplomats from China and India, in an effort to get them to vote in favor, the official said.

Thomas-Greenfield said that Russia intends to annex the territories in an effort to take the territory of another UN member country by force, which the UN charter was designed to prevent, according to the US official.

“Instead of attending high-level week, Putin announced a renewed conscription effort in Russia and instructed areas under Russia’s military control to prepare for illegitimate snap referenda. He did send an emissary – who threatened the use of nuclear weapons, on a non-nuclear country, to secure Russia’s illegitimate military gains. The purpose of all this is clear: Russia intends to try to annex these territories and Russia does not respect this body,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

She also asked the members of the security council to join the US in confronting the challenge before Russia moves ahead with annexations.

“Russia’s sham referenda, if accepted, will open a pandora’s box that we cannot close. We ask you to join us in reaffirming our commitment to the UN Charter and meeting this challenge head-on,” she said.

Thomas-Greenfield said the stakes are high.

“This is about defending the UN Charter. This is about defending our collective rights. And this is about peace and security for us all,” she said.

US officials have repeatedly said they will not accept the outcome of the “sham” referendums, which they believe Russia will use as a pretext to annex those parts of Ukraine. The Biden administration is also preparing a response once Russia annexes the regions, CNN reported Monday.

The introduction of this resolution comes after both President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Joe Biden called for changes to the UNSC during the UN General Assembly last week. Zelensky called into question why Russia is a permanent member and called on the council to punish Russia.

“Reject the right to vote. Deprive delegation rights. Remove the right of veto – if it is a Member of the UN Security Council. In order to punish the aggressor within the institutions,” Zelensky said.

This story has been updated with additional details Tuesday.

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World

Russian council faces dissolution after call for Putin’s removal

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  • Local councillors demanded Putin be removed for ‘treason’
  • One member fined $780 for discrediting authorities
  • Rare act of public dissent by elected deputies

Sept 13 (Reuters) – A group of St Petersburg local politicians who called for President Vladimir Putin to be sacked over the war in Ukraine faces the likely dissolution of their district council following a judge’s ruling on Tuesday, one of the deputies said.

Nikita Yuferev said the judge decided that a series of past council meetings had been invalid, paving the way for it to be broken up by the regional governor.

Another council member, Dmitry Palyuga, said the same court then fined him 47,000 roubles ($780) for “discrediting” the authorities by calling for Putin’s removal. Court officials could not be reached by telephone for comment.

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Four more members of the Smolninskoye local council are due to appear in court in the next two days.

Last week, a group of deputies from the council appealed to the State Duma to bring charges of state treason against Putin and strip him of power, citing a series of reasons including Russia’s military losses in Ukraine and the damage to its economy from Western sanctions.

Another local deputy said 65 municipal representatives from St Petersburg, Moscow and several other regions had signed a petition she published on Monday calling for Putin’s resignation.

While posing no current threat to Putin’s grip on power, the moves mark rare expressions of dissent by elected representatives at a time when Russians risk heavy prison sentences for “discrediting” the armed forces or spreading “deliberately false information” about them. read more

Palyuga told Reuters before Tuesday’s hearing that the group’s appeals were aimed not only at liberal Russians but also at “people loyal to the authorities who are starting to have doubts when they see the lack of success of the Russian army”.

He said he expected the numbers of such people to increase after last week’s lightning counter-offensive in which Ukraine drove Russian forces out of dozens of towns and recaptured a large swathe of territory in its northeast Kharkiv region. read more

“Of course, what is happening now has successfully coincided with our agenda. Many people who liked Putin are starting to feel betrayed. I think the more successfully the Ukrainian army operates, the more such people will become,” he said.

‘VERY, VERY THIN’ LINE

Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said the greater risk to the Kremlin lay not in the councillors’ protest itself but in the danger of responding too harshly to it.

“The reaction, or overreaction, may cause more political damage to the regime than this petition. But I have no doubts that all those who signed the petition will (come) under political pressure,” said Stanovaya, founder of the independent analysis project R.Politik.

Thousands of legal cases have been launched against people accused of discrediting the army, usually leading to fines for first-time offences, but a Moscow district councillor was jailed for seven years in July after being convicted of spreading false information. Several other journalists and opposition figures have been charged and face potential prison terms. [ read more

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that critical points of view were tolerated, within the limits of the law. “As long as they remain within the law, this is pluralism, but the line is very, very thin, one must be very careful here,” he said. read more

Ksenia Thorstrom, a St Petersburg local councillor who published Monday’s petition calling for Putin’s resignation, said it was too early to say how the campaign would turn out.

“To call for a politician to resign is absolutely normal. There can be nothing criminal about it,” she told Reuters.

“Of course there is a certain risk, but to show solidarity with our colleagues – independent politicians who still remain in Russia – is much more important.”

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Additional reporting by Filipp Lebedev; Editing by Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Mark Trevelyan

Thomson Reuters

Chief writer on Russia and CIS. Worked as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from 40+ countries, with postings in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Covered the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Security correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Speaks French, Russian and (rusty) German and Polish.

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World

King Charles III formally proclaimed Britain’s new monarch in centuries-old Accession Council ceremony

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King Charles III, the world’s newest monarch, was officially proclaimed sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Saturday morning in a constitutional ceremony that dates back hundreds of years. Almost 700 members of the current Accession Council, the oldest functioning part of Britain’s government, were called to convene Saturday at St James’s Palace in London, the official residence of the U.K.’s kings and queens for centuries.

The council is comprised of Privy Counsellors, a select group of senior politicians, including new Prime Minister Liz Truss, religious figures from the Church of England, the Lord Mayor of London and a bevy of other top civil servants from across British society and the 14 other “realms,” or nations, for which the monarch serves as the official head of state.

From left, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, former prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Theresa May and John Major ahead of the Accession Council ceremony at St James’s Palace, London, September 10, 2022, where King Charles III is formally proclaimed monarch.

Kirsty O’Connor/AP


While King Charles III immediately became the king upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday after a record 70 years on the throne, it was the council’s role to formally acknowledge the passing of one monarch and to then proclaim the new one on behalf of the British government. It is part of Britain’s constitutional process.

Around 200 of the current Privy Counsellors attended the proceedings in London on Saturday, including many former prime ministers and other senior politicians. The Privy Council is the oldest functioning part of Britain’s government, dating back almost 1,000 years. For the first time in the Accession Council’s long history, the two-part ceremony was aired live on television Saturday.  

William, Prince of Wales (left), Queen Consort Camilla (2nd left), Penny Mordaunt, Lord President of the Accession Council,  and Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss (4th from left), look on as other members of the Accession Council sign a formal proclamation confirming the beginning of King Charles III’s reign.  

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In the first part of the ceremony, British lawmaker Penny Mordaunt, the Lord President of the council, announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II and then clerk of the council, Richard Tilbrook, read out loud a proclamation of accession.

The proclamation was then signed by members of the council.

For the second part of the council, King Charles joined the gathering at St James’s. The Privy Counsellors watched as the new monarch read out declarations relating to his mother’s death, and then swore an oath vowing to serve his kingdom. 

Pledging to follow his mother’s “inspiring example,” Charles said he was “deeply aware of this great inheritance and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty which have now passed to me.” 
 
“I know how deeply you and the entire nation, and I think I may say the whole world, sympathize with me in this irreparable loss we have all suffered,” he said of the queen’s passing.
    

From right, King Charles III, Camilla, the Queen Consort and Prince William during the Accession Council at St James’s Palace, London, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, where King Charles III is formally proclaimed monarch. (Victoria Jones/Pool Photo via AP)

Victoria Jones / AP


The new king then vocally approved a number of orders, including declaring the still-unconfirmed date of his mother’s funeral a national holiday. It is expected to be held on or around September 19. 

As required by Britain’s constitution, Charles also declared to serve loyally the Church of Scotland, of which he is also the formal leader. He was then first to sign two copies of that declaration, followed by his son and heir, William, Prince of Wales, and other witnesses. 

Following the Accession Council proceedings, the proclamation of King Charles as the monarch was read out loud from the Proclamation Gallery, a balcony of St James’s Palace, by the Garter King of Arms, accompanied by other officials — all wearing traditional clothing. 

Trumpets blared as the Garter King of Arms prepared to read the proclamation.

The Garter King of Arms reads out the formal proclamation declaring King Charles III the new sovereign of of the monarchy of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on the Proclamation Gallery of St James’s Palace in London, England, September 10, 2022.

Reuters


The proclamation, as read out to the world by the Garter King of Arms, saw the assembled Privy Counsellors and other members of the Accession Council formally declare that they “do now hereby with one voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart, publish and proclaim that the Prince Charles Philip Arthur George is now, by the death of our late Sovereign of happy memory, become our only lawful and rightful liege lord, Charles the III, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of all His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, to whom we do acknowledge all Faith and Obedience with humble Affection, beseeching God by whom Kings and Queens do reign, to bless his majesty with long and happy Years to reign over us.”

Afterward, another trumpet salute followed a cry of “God save the king!” by those gathered in the courtyard under the Proclamation Gallery. The assembled crowed then sang the British national anthem, with its newly revised lyrics of “God save the king.” 

The ceremony was to be followed later in the day by gun salutes, and public repetitions of the proclamation at other locations in London and then in the capital cities of the United Kingdom’s other home nations, in Edinburgh, Scotland; Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Cardiff, Wales, among other locations across the 14 nations where Charles is the formal head of state.


The world pays respects to Queen Elizabeth II

41 photos

The rest of King Charles’ third day on the job will involve a range of formal meetings — or “audiences,” as they’re referred to by Buckingham Palace — with officials including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the prime minister and other members of the cabinet, and then leaders of Britain’s political opposition parties.


Proclamation of King Charles III as British monarch read

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Tucker Reals

Tucker Reals is the CBSNews.com foreign editor, based at the CBS News London bureau.

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Sports

Non-NFLPA-certified agent has been contacting clubs on behalf of linebacker Roquan Smith, NFL management council memo says

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The standoff between the Chicago Bears and linebacker Roquan Smith over contract negotiations took another turn Monday when the NFL management council sent a memo to all 32 teams stating that a non-NFLPA-certified agent has been contacting clubs on behalf of the 2018 first-round pick.

According to a copy of the memo obtained by ESPN, the management council was informed by the NFL Players Association “that a person by the name of Saint Omni, who is not an NFLPA certified agent, is contacting clubs indicating that he is representing Roquan Smith, who is under contract to the Chicago Bears.”

The memo states that “Mr. Omni is prohibited from negotiating player contracts or discussing potential trades on behalf of any NFL player or prospective player or assisting in or advising with respect to such negotiations.”

On Tuesday, Smith released a statement via NFL Media stating that he had requested a trade after failing to work out a contract extension with the Bears. The linebacker said the offer extended from Chicago “is one that would be bad for myself, and for the entire LB market if I signed it.”

That same day, Bears general manager Ryan Poles reiterated his desire to work out a deal with Smith and said the front office had bestowed an offer with “record-setting pieces.”

Smith is not registered as a client of any NFLPA-certified agent.

The linebacker was not seen at practice Monday. After reporting to training camp on time, Smith was put on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list for the first 12 practices. He passed a physical and was activated from the PUP list Wednesday but did not participate in practice the following day or in the Bears’ preseason win over Kansas City despite being present at both.

The management council’s memo referenced Article 48 of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, which states that player contracts are to be negotiated only with the player, if he is acting on his own behalf, or with his NFLPA-certified agent.

The memo ended with a reminder of the league’s anti-tampering policy, which states that “no club is permitted to negotiate with a player under contract to another club, or with his certified agent, or to discuss a potential trade without the direct written permission of the player’s employer club.”

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