Three Gaza fishermen killed by apparent Palestinian rocket, rights group says

Three Palestinian fishermen were killed on Sunday when their boat exploded off the Gaza Strip, a blast that a human rights group said was likely caused by errant Palestinian rocket fire. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the boat was two miles offshore when the shell hit and "completely destroyed it". "The center condemns the incident, which indications suggest mostly likely occurred as a result of resistance training," said the statement, referring to Palestinian militant groups.

Myanmar coup: Party official dies in custody after security raids

An official from Aung San Suu Kyi's party has died in custody in Myanmar after being arrested during raids by security forces in Yangon. On Sunday the body of U Khin Maung Latt was released to his family, who were reportedly told that he had died after fainting. The UN says more than 50 people have been killed since the military detained Ms Suu Kyi, Myanmar's democratically elected leader, on 1 February.

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  Myanmar protests, after death of Suu Kyi official

  Reuters Videos
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  Unions call for total strike in Myanmar; Suu Kyi party official dies in custody

  Reuters

French billionaire politician killed in helicopter crash

French billionaire Olivier Dassault was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash, a police source said, with President Emmanuel Macron paying tribute to the 69-year old conservative politician. Dassault was the eldest son of late French billionaire industrialist Serge Dassault, whose namesake Dassault Aviation, builds the Rafale war planes and owns Le Figaro newspaper. "Olivier Dassault loved France.

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  French billionaire Dassault dies in copter crash

  Reuters Videos
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  French aviation billionaire, pilot die in helicopter crash

  Associated Press

McManus: McConnell wants to use the filibuster to block Biden's agenda. Here's how Biden can outfox him

Now the measure, in all likelihood, will go to the Senate to die. Under the rules of the 100-member Senate, it takes 60 votes to end debate and move most bills to a vote. A filibuster used to mean a senator actually had to stand and speechify, refusing to give up the floor and thus keeping a bill from coming to a vote.

At Dubai airport, travelers' eyes become their passports

Dubai's airport, the world's busiest for international travel, can already feel surreal, with its cavernous duty-free stores, artificial palm trees, gleaming terminals, water cascades and near-Arctic levels of air conditioning. It's the latest artificial intelligence program the United Arab Emirates has launched amid the surging coronavirus pandemic, contact-less technology the government promotes as helping to stem the spread of the virus. Dubai's airport started offering the program to all passengers last month.

Philippine leader's order to kill rebels 'legal', spokesman says

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's order to kill armed rebels was legal, his spokesman said on Monday, as catholic leaders joined condemnation of the killings of nine activists in separate weekend raids against suspected insurgents. Human Rights groups are outraged over the deaths of what they said were legitimate activists under the guise of counter-insurgency operations, which came two days after Duterte told security forces they could kill rebels if they were holding a gun and to "ignore human rights". "The president's 'kill, kill, kill' order is legal because it was directed at armed rebels," his spokesman Harry Roque said in a briefing, adding the government would still investigate the incident.

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  Philippine police kill 9 in raids on suspected rebels

  Associated Press
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  Rights groups call for investigation into killings of Philippine activists

  Reuters

What's causing vaccine delays in some Asian countries?

In others countries however, vaccine programmes are either yet to begin or are still at a very early stage. The reasons for this have been varied - ranging from an abundance of caution to high levels of vaccine scepticism. We looked at some of the countries in this situation and the different reasons behind it.

Russia scores points with vaccine diplomacy, but snags arise

Russia's boast in August that it was the first country to authorize a coronavirus vaccine led to skepticism at the time because of its insufficient testing. Six months later, as demand for the Sputnik V vaccine grows, experts are raising questions again — this time, over whether Moscow can keep up with all the orders from the countries that want it. Slovakia got 200,000 doses on March 1, even though the European Medicines Agency, the European Union's pharmaceutical regulator, only began reviewing its use on Thursday in an expedited process.

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  EU regulator urges caution on Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine

  Reuters
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  Vaccine diplomacy: Putin seeks to leverage Sputnik V to build Russia’s global influence

  MarketWatch

Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi oil heartland with drones, missiles

Yemen's Houthi forces fired drones and missiles at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry on Sunday, including a Saudi Aramco facility at Ras Tanura vital to petroleum exports, in what Riyadh called a failed assault on global energy security. The Saudi energy ministry said there were no casualties or loss of property from the attacks. The defence ministry said it intercepted an armed drone coming from the sea prior to hitting its target at an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, site of a refinery and the world's biggest offshore oil loading facility.

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  Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi oil heartland

  Reuters Videos
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  Crude Prices Reach New High After Attack on Saudi Oil Tanks

  Barrons.com

Austria suspends AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine batch after death

Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday. "The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) has received two reports in a temporal connection with a vaccination from the same batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the district clinic of Zwettl" in Lower Austria province, it said. One 49-year-old woman died as a result of severe coagulation disorders, while a 35-year-old woman developed a pulmonary embolism and is recovering, it said.

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  Indonesia gets 1.1 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses via COVAX

  Reuters
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  Is AstraZeneca Stock A Buy After Its Covid Vaccine Appears To Tackle Brazil Variant?

  Investor's Business Daily

A Trump appointee who was arrested over the Capitol riot asked a judge if he could be transferred to a cell with no cockroaches

A former State Department aide arrested over the Capitol riot has complained of his cell conditions. The former aide, Federico Klein, told a judge he felt "cockroaches crawling" all over him. Klein is believed to be the first Trump appointee arrested in connection to the Capitol riot.

US and South Korea agree on new cost-sharing deal for troops

The United States and South Korea have reached agreement in principle on a new arrangement for sharing the cost of the American troop presence, which is intended as a bulwark against the threat of North Korean aggression, both countries announced. The State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs said Sunday the deal includes a “negotiated increase” in Seoul's share of the cost, but it provided no details. The Bureau wrote on Twitter that the agreement, if finalized, would reaffirm the U.S.-South Korean treaty alliance as “the linchpin of peace, security and prosperity for Northeast Asia.

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  South Korea to boost funding for U.S. troops under new accord: State Department

  Reuters
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  U.S. and South Korea agree on cost-sharing deal for troops

  Politico

Biden order could change how colleges handle sex misconduct

President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order on Monday directing the Department of Education to review policies implemented by Donald Trump's administration, including changes to Title IX regulations that prohibit sex discrimination in federally funded institutions, according to administration officials. Biden focused on gender equity during his campaign and promised to strengthen Title IX if he won the White House. He also will sign a second executive order formally establishing the White House Gender Policy Council, according to two administration officials who briefed reporters on the plan.

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  On International Women's Day, Biden to sign executive orders on gender equity, Title IX policies

  USA TODAY
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  Biden to order review of changes to college sexual misconduct rules under Trump

  NBC News

English children head back to school after two months of home learning

Millions of English children and teenagers headed back to school on Monday for the first time in two months, having endured their second extended stretch of home learning because of a strict national lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19. The reopening of English schools to all pupils is the first step in a four-stage government plan to ease the lockdown while trying to prevent a new surge in infections after a devastating winter wave that severely strained hospitals. Since the start of the pandemic, Britain has recorded 124,500 deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test, the fifth highest official death toll in the world and the worst in Europe.

Prosecutor seeks life sentences for two Americans accused of killing an Italian police officer while on vacation in Rome

An Italian prosecutor on Saturday asked for life sentences for two Americans facing murder charges in the July 2019 killing of a police officer in Rome. The Americans, Finnegan Lee Elder, 21, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 20, have been accused of stabbing the officer, Mario Cerciello Rega, after a botched drug sale. They were 19 and 18 at the time of the killing.

South Korea finds no link found between deaths and coronavirus vaccine

South Korea said on Monday it had found no link between the coronavirus vaccine and several recent deaths, as it ordered nearly 100,000 foreign workers to be tested after clusters emerged in dormitories. Health officials had been investigating the deaths of eight people with underlying conditions who had adverse reactions after receiving AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, but said they found no evidence that the shots played a role. "We've tentatively concluded that it was difficult to establish any link between their adverse reaction after being vaccinated, and their deaths," Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Director Jeong Eun-kyeong told a briefing.

Sunshine State dims for Dems amid election losses, cash woes

Democrats may delight in their brightening prospects in Arizona and Georgia, and may even harbor glimmers of hope in Texas, but their angst is growing in Florida, which has a reputation as a swing state but now favors Republicans and could be shifting further out of reach for Democrats. As the jockeying begins to take on Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022, Democrats' disadvantage against Republicans is deeper than ever, as they try to develop a cohesive strategy and rebuild a statewide party deep in debt and disarray. Former President Donald Trump's brand of populism has helped power a GOP surge in Florida, where Trump defeated now-President Joe Biden by more than 3 percentage points last fall — more than doubling the lead he had against Hillary Clinton.

Biden signs executive order to expand voting rights: ‘If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide’

President Joe Biden marked the 56-year anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Alabama by signing an executive order to protect and strengthen nationwide voting access, while calling on states to expand voting rights for all eligible Americans. The order was described by the White House as an “initial step” towards securing voting rights just days after the passage of HR1, legislation focusing on expanding access to mail-in voting and making it easier for Americans to register to vote. The right to vote is sacred and fundamental — and H.R. 1 is urgently needed to protect that right, to safeguard the integrity of our elections, and to repair and strengthen our democracy.

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  On Bloody Sunday Anniversary, Biden Signs Executive Order To Promote Voting Rights

  HuffPost
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  Biden signs order to expand voting access

  Reuters Videos

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry secretly got married 3 days before their televised wedding

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married on May 19, 2018, at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, it was their second time around. During an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Sunday night, Markle revealed that the pair actually were married three days before their wedding, which was televised to millions of people around the globe. The private ceremony was conducted in their backyard by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with no one else present.

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  Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Reveal They Secretly Got Married Before The Royal Wedding

  HuffPost
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  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reveal they are expecting a girl

  Yahoo Style UK

Rohingyas in India's Jammu fear deportation after police detain over 150

Indian police have detained more than 150 Rohingya refugees found living illegally in the northern region of Jammu and Kashmir and a process has begun to deport them back to Myanmar, two officials said on Sunday. Dozens of Rohingya are in a makeshift "holding centre" at Jammu's Hira Nagar jail after local authorities conducted biometric and other tests on hundreds of people to verify their identities. "The drive is part of an exercise to trace foreigners living in Jammu without valid documents," said one of the two officials, who declined to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

'Lesson fully received': An 18-year-old charged in the Capitol riot says he was 'wrong' and begged a judge to release him

The youngest suspect charged in the Capitol riots wrote a letter begging a judge to release him. Bruno Joseph Cua, 18, previously boasted on Instagram of storming the Capitol and fighting inside. Bruno Joseph Cua, 18, faces a slew of federal charges related to the January 6 insurrection, including assault on a federal officer, engaging in physical violence, violent entry or disorderly conduct, and civil disorder.

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  ‘I will not step one foot out of line’: 18-year-old charged in Capitol riot begs for release

  The Independent
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  18-year-old Capitol rioter wants to go home to his ‘loving family’ who drove him to DC

  NY Daily News

Mississippi governor still pushing election conspiracies despite FBI and DOJ dispelling myths

More than two months after the insurrection at the Capitol in January, scores of Republican politicians are still pushing conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud swinging the 2020 election to Joe Biden – theories that have been rejected time and again by the Justice Department, the FBI, and state and federal judges. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves parroted those claims in a new interview with CNN on Sunday, while refusing to directly answer host Jake Tapper's question about whether Mr Biden is the “legitimate and lawfully” elected president. Mr Reeves, a Republican, would only go so far as to call Mr Biden the “duly elected president”, explaining the nuts and bolts of the electoral process that led to the Democratic president's certification.