SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - The Santa Barbara County Fire department's newest chief, Garrett Huff, was sworn in Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting.

Afterwards, he called his wife and son up to the podium to be part of the important task to pin his new badge as chief on his uniform. The room was full of family members, including his parents and sister, along with friends and fellow fire personnel.

Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Garrett Huff said, "it takes a village to raise a fire chief, and I couldn't have done this journey without anyone in this room, so thank you very much for giving me this opportunity."

Huff has already had some duties in the spotlight. He was part of the ribbon cutting ceremonies for the new joint communications center near the fire headquarters on Cathedral Oaks Road. The department has 16 stations and a staff of about 245.

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Story by the Associated Press

Bangkok (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has charged more than 200 people with violating the Southeast Asian country’s voting law ahead of a general election at the end of the month, keeping up pressure on opponents of the polls.

Critics of the election — which starts on December 28 — claim it will be neither free nor fair and that it is designed to add the facade of legitimacy to military rule that began after the army in February 2021 ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The takeover triggered widespread popular opposition that has grown into a civil war, which has complicated holding the polls in many contested areas. This is one of the reasons voting will be held in three phases, with the second on January 11 and the third on January 25.

There are punishments as severe as the death penalty for opposing or disrupting the polls under an election law enacted under military rule.

Widespread arrests

Home Affairs Minister Lt.-Gen. Tun Tun Naung told a meeting on Tuesday that authorities had identified and taken action against 229 people — 201 men and 28 women — in 140 cases of attempting to sabotage election process, according to the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper.

The report did not provide details on those charged or say how many had been arrested.

The new law, enacted in July, says anyone who speaks, organizes, incites, protests or distributes letters to disrupt any part of the electoral process shall be punished with between three and 10 years’ imprisonment, as well as a fine. Other offenses carry sentences up to the death penalty.

State media has recently released the names of some of those charged, including well-known activists Tayzar San, Nan Lin and Htet Myat Aung, who led a bold December 3 protest in the country’s second-largest city of Mandalay, calling on the public to reject elections, abolish the military conscription law and release political prisoners.

The General Strike Coordination Body, the leading non-violent organization opposing army rule, said in a statement Wednesday that Htet Myat Aung, one of its members, was arrested by security forces in Mandalay and was allegedly abused during the arrest.

The statement said the life of the 24-year-old is in imminent danger. The Associated Press could not verify his condition.

State media reports say that among those charged are filmmakers, an actor and comedian, children, members of People’s Defense Forces — pro-democracy militias formed after the army takeover — and members of ethnic armed groups fighting the army.

Most were reportedly accused of actions such as destroying campaign posters, threatening or arresting election workers and posting comments on social media. According to local media repots, including the online news site Myanmar Now, some of them have received sentences of up to 49 years in prison.

A vote for Myanmar, not the international community

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the military government, told a briefing on Sunday that it does not matter whether the international community is satisfied or dissatisfied with the election because it is being held for Myanmar, not for the international community.

“Those who want to criticize can do so,” Zaw Min Tun said. “We will continue to pursue our original objective of returning to a multi-party democratic system.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KEYT) – President Donald Trump is set to deliver a live address to the Nation Wednesday evening from the White House.

The President is expected to discuss topics such as the economy, border security, and forecast upcoming plans and policies for the remainder of his term.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt teased that Trump would "be addressing the country about all of his historic accomplishments over the past year."

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By Michael Rios, CNN

(CNN) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Wednesday that his US counterpart Donald Trump had revealed his true motives toward the South American country with his claim that that it had stolen US “oil, land and other assets.”

Maduro said Trump’s claim showed the US was really seeking regime change along with ownership of Venezuela’s territory and resources. Previously, the US has characterized its build-up of naval forces near the country as being aimed at combating drug-trafficking.

“It is simply a warmongering and colonialist pretense, and we have said so many times, and now everyone sees the truth. The truth has been revealed,” Maduro said in Caracas Wednesday.

“The aim in Venezuela is a regime change to impose a puppet government that wouldn’t last 47 hours, that would hand over the Constitution, sovereignty, and all the wealth, turning Venezuela into a colony. It will simply never happen,” he continued.

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the military buildup around Venezuela would get bigger until the country returned to the US “the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.”

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Venezuela had illegally taken away “energy rights” and that the US wanted them back. “We’re getting land, oil rights, whatever we had. They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching. But they’re not going to do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out and we want it back.”

Venezuela brought its oil sector under state control in the 1970s. Prior to that, American companies had had a much larger presence in the country’s oil fields.

Maduro speaks with UN chief

Maduro also condemned Trump’s comments in a phone call with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday, Venezuela’s government said.

“President Maduro stressed that such statements must be categorically rejected by the United Nations system, as they constitute a direct threat to sovereignty, international law, and peace,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.

Maduro claimed that recent US actions against Venezuela were part of a “diplomacy of barbarism” which he said went against the principle of international coexistence.

Guterres’ office later confirmed the phone conversation had taken place, saying the secretary-general had “reaffirmed the United Nations’ position on the need for member states to respect international law, particularly the United Nations Charter, exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability.”

Earlier, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters that Guterres was focused on avoiding any further escalation between the US and Venezuela.

“Of course, as always, he believes that any difference must be resolved by peaceful means,” Haq said.

The exchanges came just a day after Trump said he would impose a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers transiting Venezuela.

Asked if a blockade would violate international law, Haq replied: “I think we are looking at what the applicable laws are at this stage and we’re studying the situation but certainly parties have to abide by the UN Charter and you can read the charter for yourself and see what that entails.”

The-CNN-Wire
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CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon and Hira Humayun contributed to this report.

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