WorldBBCMyanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi appears in court to face fresh charges
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has been seen by her lawyers for the first time since she was detained during a military coup a month ago. Ms Suu Kyi, who appeared in court via video link, appeared to be in "good health" and asked to see her legal team, her lawyers said. She has been held in an undisclosed location since the coup on 1 February.
WorldAssociated PressNigerian families await news of 300 kidnapped schoolgirls
Families in Nigeria waited anxiously for news of their abducted daughters after more than 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped by gunmen from a government school in the country's north last week, the latest in a series of mass school kidnappings in the West African nation. Aliyu Ladan Jangebe said his five daughters aged between 12 and 16 were at the school when the kidnappers stormed in. “We cannot imagine their situation,” he said of his missing daughters.
WorldThe TelegraphNicola Sturgeon should resign 'if even half' of Alex Salmond's claims are true, MSP says
A leading Scottish Conservative has said that “if even half” of what Nicola Sturgeon is being accused of is true she should resign as the country's First Minister. Murdo Fraser, who sits on the Scottish Parliament committee investigating the government's handling of harassment complaints against former First Minister Alex Salmond, said that if true the claims were fatal for her leadership. The Conservative MSP said: “If even half of what Alex Salmond claimed yesterday was true it's absolutely devastating for Nicola Sturgeon and her leadership of the Scottish National Party.”
WorldReutersIn Iraq, pope to visit Mosul churches desecrated by Islamic State
In Mosul, adjacent to the Biblical city of Nineveh, four churches representing different denominations occupy a small square surrounded by low-rise houses, testament to the role Iraq's once flourishing Christian community played. Today, all four churches are either damaged or destroyed after Islamic State militants occupied the city from 2014-2017, desecrated many of the buildings and used them to run its administration, including as a jail and a court. "It used to be a bit like the Jerusalem of the Nineveh plains," said Mosul and Akra's Chaldean Archbishop Najeeb Michaeel of "Church Square", the name given to the site that Pope Francis will visit on March 7 during his historic trip to Iraq.
PoliticsThe WeekBen Sasse on Matt Gaetz: 'That guy is not an adult'
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) didn't exactly pull punches in an interview with Politico, going after congressional Republicans, Democrats, former President Donald Trump, and the Biden administration all in one go. Sasse, who is facing imminent censure from the Nebraska GOP for voting to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, stands by that vote and says he's not bothered by the action his home state's Republican Party is taking against him, though he did say he thinks it's not "healthy." At one point, when asked about Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Sasse simply said "that guy is not an adult," and described Congress, generally, as "a bunch of yokels screaming."
WorldBBCMyanmar coup: UN ambassador fired after anti-army speech
Myanmar's military rulers say they have fired the country's ambassador to the United Nations, a day after he called for help to remove the army from power. In an emotional speech, Kyaw Moe Tun said no-one should co-operate with the military until it handed back power to the democratically elected government. UN sources told Reuters that as they do not recognise the junta, Kyaw Moe Tun remains Myanmar's UN ambassador.
HealthAssociated PressIndia giving COVID-19 vaccines to more people as cases rise
India is expanding its COVID-19 vaccination drive beyond health care and front-line workers, offering the shots to older people and those with medical conditions that put them at risk. Among the first to be inoculated on Monday was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Those now eligible to be vaccinated include people older than 60, as well as those over 45 who have ailments such as heart disease or diabetes that make them vulnerable to serious COVID-19 illness.
WorldReutersKremlin critic Navalny moved to penal colony outside Moscow to serve jail term
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a penal colony outside Moscow to serve his prison sentence, a public commission said on Sunday, weeks after he returned to Russia after being poisoned. Navalny's whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday when his allies learned that he was transferred out of one of Moscow's most infamous jails to an undisclosed location. He has been transferred to a penal colony in the Vladimir region, the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission that defends the rights of prisoners and has access to people in custody, said on its website.
U.S.The TelegraphWannabe-astronauts beg billionaire for spare seat on first civilian space mission
Budding American astronauts have been asked to make Dragon's Den style pitches to a billionaire tech mogul in order to win a place on the first ever civilian space mission. Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of payments technology company Shift4 Payments is offering three seats on a SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket to people who show entrepreneurial flair, generosity and hope. The venture is supporting efforts to raise $200 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to fight childhood cancer, with half the sum already donated by Mr Isaacman.
U.S.TheGrioCongresswoman’s husband takes heat for displaying decal of militia tied to Capitol riot
An Illinois state official who is the spouse of a Republican congressperson is facing backlash for displaying a symbol representing a group that was connected to the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol building last month. State Rep. Chris Miller, the husband of Congresswoman Mary Miller of Illinois, is facing backlash for having a decal of Three Percenters, an armed far-right group, on his truck the Jan. 6 day that pro-Trump supporters rioted the federal complex. He is now distancing himself and denying any association to the organization, according to USA Today.
- NewsReuters Videos
Low tide leaves Venice canals almost empty
Traditional gondolas and boats could be seen almost beached in the canals as water levels reached a peak of -48 cm, creating an unusual landscape in the lagoon city. Venice, beloved around the world for its canals, historic architecture and art, has always lived in a fragile balance between low and high tides, that usually create variations of around 50 cm in sea levels. Flooding is a constant enemy of the art city built on a collection of small islands within a saltwater lagoon off the north-eastern coast of Italy, with every new incursion damaging its medieval and Renaissance palaces.
WorldAssociated PressRooster kills Indian man during banned cockfight
A man was killed by a rooster with a blade tied to its leg during an illegal cockfight in southern India, police said, bringing focus on a practice that continues in some Indian states despite a decades-old ban. The rooster, with a 3-inch knife tied to its leg, fluttered in panic and slashed its owner, 45-year-old Thangulla Satish, in his groin last week, police inspector B. Jeevan said Sunday. Jeevan said police filed a case and were looking for over a dozen people involved in organizing the cockfight.
WorldReutersArchaeologists uncover ancient ceremonial carriage near Pompeii
Archaeologists have unearthed a unique ancient-Roman ceremonial carriage from a villa just outside Pompeii, the city buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD. The almost perfectly preserved four-wheeled carriage made of iron, bronze and tin was found near the stables of an ancient villa at Civita Giuliana, around 700 metres (yards) north of the walls of ancient Pompeii. Massimo Osanna, the outgoing director of the Pompeii archaeological site, said the carriage was the first of its kind discovered in the area, which had so far yielded functional vehicles used for transport and work, but not for ceremonies.
WorldBBCThe mystery of India’s ‘lake of skeletons’
High in the Indian Himalayas, a remote lake nestled in a snowy valley is strewn with hundreds of human skeletons. Roopkund Lake is located 5,029 metres (16,500ft) above sea level at the bottom of a steep slope on Trisul, one of India's highest mountains, in the state of Uttarakhand. The remains are strewn around and beneath the ice at the "lake of skeletons", discovered by a patrolling British forest ranger in 1942.
PoliticsReutersTrump proposes new voting limits, rails against "monster" voting rights bill
Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday laid out a variety of election proposals, such as limiting absentee voting and days when Americans can vote, in his first public speech after his stinging Nov. 3 election loss. Democrats' nationwide push to register new voters, including Black voters and young people, and Trump's refusal to urge his Republican supporters to vote by absentee ballot are believed to have been factors in his 7 million vote loss to Joe Biden. At a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, Trump said Election Day should be only one day, not a number of days leading up to the actual voting day.
- WorldAssociated Press
Girl dies after being caned during 'exorcism' in Sri Lanka
Police in Sri Lanka said Monday they have arrested two people in connection with the death of a 9-year-old girl who was repeatedly beaten during a ritual they believed would drive away an evil spirit. The two suspects — the woman performing the exorcism and the girl's mother — were to appear in court Monday to hear charges over the girl's death, which occurred over the weekend in Delgoda, a small town about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo. According to police spokesperson Ajith Rohana, the mother believed her daughter had been possessed by a demon and took her to the home of the exorcist so a ritual could be performed to drive the spirit away.
PoliticsThe IndependentRepublican congressman appears at white nationalist conference whose founder called Capitol riot ‘awesome’
Republican congressman Paul Gosar appeared at a white nationalist political conference before attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), according to reports. The Arizona Republican appeared on-stage at the "America First Political Action Conference" (AFPAC) on Friday, following the far-right conference's founder, Nicholas Fuentes. Mr Fuentes, an alleged white nationalist, said on Friday that the Capitol riot – in which five people died – was “awesome”, and that "white people are done being bullied".
WorldReutersArrival of 'sticky bombs' in Indian Kashmir sets off alarm bells
Security forces battling a decades-long insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir are alarmed by the recent arrival in the disputed region of small, magnetic bombs that have wreaked havoc in Afghanistan. "Sticky bombs", which can be attached to vehicles and detonated remotely, have been seized during raids in recent months in the federally administered region of Jammu and Kashmir, three senior security officials told Reuters. "These are small IEDs and quite powerful," said Kashmir Valley police chief Vijay Kumar, referring to improvised explosive devices.
WorldReutersAnalysis: U.S. seeks to put Saudi crown prince in his place - for now
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have been spared direct punishment after a U.S. intelligence report implicated him in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but he has not emerged unscathed. The declassified report, based on CIA intelligence, concludes that the prince approved an operation to "capture or kill" Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. President Joe Biden's decision to publish a report that his predecessor Donald Trump had set aside brings with it a broad refocusing of Washington's stance on dealing with the kingdom, on its human rights record, and on its lucrative arms purchases.
WorldAssociated PressPurim celebrations threaten fresh virus outbreak in Israel
Mass gatherings took place in Jerusalem on Sunday as Israelis celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim in violation of coronavirus restrictions. Authorities had been concerned about a repeat of last year, when Purim celebrations helped fuel an initial wave of the coronavirus in the earliest days of the global pandemic. The government urged people to celebrate at home this year, and police attempted to block traffic from entering Jerusalem and declared strict limits on public gatherings.
WorldAssociated PressIsraeli-owned ship docked in Dubai after mysterious blast
An Israeli-owned cargo ship that suffered a mysterious explosion in the Gulf of Oman came to Dubai's port for repairs Sunday, days after the blast that revived security concerns in Mideast waterways amid heightened tensions with Iran. Associated Press journalists saw the hulking Israeli-owned MV Helios Ray sitting at dry dock facilities at Dubai's Port Rashid. Although the crew was unharmed in the blast, the vessel sustained two holes on its port side and two on its starboard side just above the waterline, according to American defense officials.
U.S.TheGrioMinneapolis taps paid influencers to combat false info in trials over George Floyd death
The city of Minneapolis has planned on using such influencers to help promote accurate information and facts during a crucial time. The city is hiring six social media influencers during trials against the police officers charged in the death of George Floyd. As reported by the New York Times, their plan is to have the influencers use their platforms to post “city-generated and approved messages” for Black, Latino, East African and Native American communities in an effort to combat any spread of misinformation regarding the trial.
WorldAssociated PressSaudi Arabia says it intercepts missile attack over capital
Saudi Arabia said Saturday it intercepted a missile attack over its capital and bomb-laden drones targeting a southern province, the latest in a series of airborne assaults it has blamed on Yemen's rebel Houthis. The Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen's yearslong war announced the Iran-allied Houthis had launched a ballistic missile toward Riyadh and three booby-trapped drones toward the province of Jizan, with a fourth toward another southwestern city and other drones being monitored. No casualties or damage were initially reported.
U.S.The Daily BeastFauci Fires Back at Kristi Noem Saying He’s ‘Wrong’: ‘The Numbers Don’t Lie’
Biden's chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci hit back at South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's harsh criticism of him on Sunday, saying her comments about him at this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) were “not very helpful” and “unfortunate.” Noem, who has received praise from conservatives for largely ignoring coronavirus restrictions and guidelines, got a standing ovation from the CPAC crowd when she boasted about ignoring the medical advice of experts and called out Fauci for supposedly being “wrong.” Appearing on CBS News' Face the Nation, Fauci was asked if that sentiment was an impediment to the nation's recovery.
- WorldAssociated Press
Pakistan hopes to save $3 billion in new gas deal with Qatar
Pakistan's landmark, new deal with Qatar for liquefied natural gas at lower rates will save Islamabad a total of about $3 billion over the next 10 years, an adviser to the country's prime minister said Monday. The agreement, signed last Friday, will save the state $317 million annually due to the reduced price of the gas compared to the 2015 agreement between the two countries, according to Nadeem Babar, Prime Minister Imran Khan's adviser on petroleum. This “will result in the lowering of the overall cost of liquefied natural gas” imported from Qatar, Babar said.
“How about we skip ‘he won’t win’ cycle and not do 2016 all over again. Trump can absolutely win another presidential election.”
“With independents deserting him, there is simply no path for Trump to get back into the White House — except as a tourist.”
“They might as well cancel the 2024 primaries...because there is no way he can lose.”
“The next Republican presidential primary will be heavily shaped by Trump — whether or not he decides to run again.”
“Donald Trump will not be running for president again. He will, however, continue to tease the possibility of a 2024 run.”