YANGON: An American journalist detained for months by Myanmar’s junta has been denied bail and hit with a third criminal charge, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Danny Fenster, managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, was held in May as he attempted to leave the country.
He is currently on trial for allegedly encouraging dissent against the military and unlawful association, and faces six years in jail if convicted on both counts.
At his latest hearing inside Yangon’s Insein prison on Wednesday, “he was told another charge was added” for allegedly breaching immigration law, his lawyer Than Zaw Aung said.
The charge carries a maximum of five years in jail and the trial was expected to begin on Friday, he said.
“We do not know the exact reason for adding (the) immigration charge,” he said, adding Fenster’s visa was still valid when he was detained.
The new charge comes a day after former US diplomat and hostage negotiator Bill Richardson met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw, handing the increasingly isolated junta some rare publicity.
Richardson is in the country on a “private humanitarian mission,” his organization said in a statement announcing the trip that did not mention whether he would seek Fenster’s release.
The former governor of New Mexico has negotiated “the release of hostages and American servicemen in North Korea, Cuba, Iraq and the Sudan,” according to his center’s website.
Fenster, 37, “is in good health physically but he’s upset because of increased charges,” Than Zaw Aung said.
He is believed to have contracted Covid-19 during his detention, family members said during a conference call with American journalists in August.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power in a February 1 coup and ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.
More than 1,200 people have been killed by security forces in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.
The press has also been squeezed as the junta tries to tighten control over the flow of information, throttling Internet access and revoking the licenses of local media outlets.
US journalist detained in Myanmar hit with third charge – lawyer
https://arab.news/b6rar
US journalist detained in Myanmar hit with third charge – lawyer
- Danny Fenster, managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, was held in May as he attempted to leave the country
Meta to charge Arab advertisers extra fee for reaching European audiences
- US tech giant told advertisers it will add fees ranging from 2 to 5 percent on image and video ads delivered on its platforms to offset digital service taxes
- Charges are determined by where the audience is located, not where the advertiser is based
LONDON: Meta will from July 1 impose location-based surcharges on advertisers targeting audiences in six European countries, a move that will directly affect Arab businesses that run campaigns across the continent.
The US tech giant announced it will add fees ranging from 2 to 5 percent on image and video ads delivered on its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to offset digital service taxes imposed by individual governments.
Crucially, the charges are determined by where the audience is located, not where the advertiser is based.
That means Saudi, Emirati, Egyptian or other Arab companies paying to reach consumers in the UK, France or Italy will face the additional costs regardless of their own country’s tax arrangements with Meta.
Fees will apply at 2 percent for ads reaching UK audiences, 3 percent for France, Italy and Spain, and 5 percent for Austria and Turkiye.
“If you deliver $100 in ads to Italy, where there is a 3% location fee, you will be charged $100 (ad delivery), plus $3 (location fee), for $103 total,” the company wrote in an email to an advertiser initially reported by Bloomberg. “Note that any applicable VAT will be calculated on top of the total amount.”
The taxes have been introduced at different points, starting with France in 2019, though not the EU as a bloc.
Many tech companies report substantial sales in Europe and millions of users but pay minimal tax on profits. The goal is to claw back locally derived economic value, Bloomberg reported.
The move follows similar decisions by Google and Amazon, which have also begun passing European digital tax costs on to advertisers.
For Arab brands with growing European footprints, particularly in fashion, travel, hospitality and media, the new fees add another layer of cost to campaigns already subject to currency and targeting complexities.
Digital services taxes, levied as a percentage of revenues earned by major tech platforms in individual countries, have drawn criticism from Washington, which argues they unfairly target US companies.
Meta has been reached for comments.
