WorldBBCMyanmar 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.
BusinessReutersAntivirus software pioneer McAfee charged by U.S. with cryptocurrency fraud
John McAfee, the antivirus software pioneer whose former company still bears his name, has been indicted on fraud and money-laundering conspiracy charges stemming from two cryptocurrency schemes, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. Authorities accused McAfee and his bodyguard, Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., of exploiting McAfee's large Twitter following to artificially inflate prices of "altcoins" through a so-called pump-and-dump scheme, and concealing payments McAfee received from startup businesses to promote initial coin offerings. The Justice Department said McAfee and his accomplices reaped more than $13 million from the schemes.
WorldAssociated PressIndia sets up holding center for Rohingya in Kashmir
Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir have sent at least 168 Rohingya refugees to a holding center, police said Sunday, in a process that they say is for the deportation of thousands of the refugees living in the region. The move began Saturday following a directive from the region's home department to identify Rohingya living in the southern city of Jammu, said Inspector-General Mukesh Singh. “All of them are illegally living here and we have begun identifying them,” Singh said.
PoliticsLA TimesMcManus: 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.
WorldReutersFrench 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.
BusinessAssociated PressAsian shares mixed after US stimulus bill, profit-taking
Asian shares were mixed Monday, as some indexes were lifted by hopes for a gradual global recovery after the U.S. economic relief package passed the Senate over the weekend. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was up 0.2% in early trading at 28,926.03. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped nearly 1.0% to 6,776.00, while South Korea's Kospi shed 0.2% to 3,020.40.
WorldBBCUighurs: Chinese foreign minister says genocide claims 'absurd'
China's foreign minister says allegations his country is carrying out genocide against Muslim ethnic Uighurs are "ridiculously absurd" and "a complete lie". Wang Yi made the comments during his annual news conference on Sunday. A number of nations, including the US, have used the term to describe Chinese treatment of Uighur people.
WorldReutersAustria 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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Accountant faces pressure to turn on Trump in criminal probe
When lawyers asked Donald Trump more than a decade ago to identify who estimated values on some of his signature properties, he pointed to his longtime accountant, Allen Weisselberg.
WorldAssociated PressRussia 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.
WorldAssociated PressB-52s again fly over Mideast in US military warning to Iran
A pair of B-52 bombers flew over the Mideast on Sunday, the latest such mission in the region aimed at warning Iran amid tensions between Washington and Tehran. The flight by the two heavy bombers came as a pro-Iran satellite channel based in Beirut broadcast Iranian military drone footage of an Israeli ship hit by a mysterious explosion only days earlier in the Mideast. While the channel sought to say Iran wasn't involved, Israel has blamed Tehran for what it described as an attack on the vessel.
WorldBBCWhat'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.
WorldReutersU.S. says all options on table for a decision on Afghanistan
The U.S. government said on Sunday all options remain on the table for its remaining 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, saying it has made no decisions about its military commitment after May 1. The State Department comments came after reports emerged that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made a new urgent push for a United Nations-led peace effort that included a warning that the U.S. military was considering exiting Afghanistan by May 1. Blinken in a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the United States is "considering the full withdrawal of forces by May 1st as we consider other options".
TechnologyAssociated PressAt 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.
WorldReutersYemen'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. Announcing the attacks, the Houthis, who have been battling a Saudi-led coalition for six years, also said they attacked military targets in the Saudi cities of Dammam, Asir and Jazan. The Saudi energy ministry said an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, the site of an oil refinery and the world's biggest offshore oil loading facility, was attacked with a drone coming from the sea.
ScienceBBCWhat is Elon Musk's Starship?
Starship is a rocket and spacecraft combination that could ferry more than 100 people a time to the Red Planet. The system is designed to be fully reusable, meaning the principal hardware elements are not discarded in the sea or allowed to burn up, as happens with some other launch systems, but are instead recovered from space. They can then be refurbished and flown again, reducing the cost of the whole enterprise.
PoliticsAssociated PressWith virus aid in sight, Democrats debate filibuster changes
With President Joe Biden on the verge of his first big legislative victory, a key moderate Democrat said Sunday he's open to changing Senate rules that could allow for more party-line votes to push through other parts of the White House's agenda such as voting rights. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin stressed that he wants to keep the procedural hurdle known as the filibuster, saying major legislation should always have significant input from the minority party. One example: the “talking filibuster,” which requires senators to slow a bill by holding the floor, but then grants an “up or down” simple majority vote if they give up.
WorldReutersRights groups call for investigation into killings of Philippine activists
Human rights groups called on the Philippine government to investigate what they said was the use of "lethal force" during police raids on Sunday that left at least nine activists dead. The raids in four provinces south of Manila resulted in the death of an environmental activist as well as a coordinator of left-wing group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, among others, and resulted in the arrest of four others, activist groups said. "These raids appear to be part of a coordinated plan by the authorities to raid, arrest, and even kill activists in their homes and offices," Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said in a statement.
ScienceBBCAntarctica: Close-up view of crack that made mega-iceberg
Radar images capture new Antarctic mega-iceberg West Antarctica's Getz glaciers flowing faster Polar scientists wary of impending satellite gap BAS is using all these space pictures to monitor events. The Cambridge-based agency wants to see if A74 might collide with the western part of the Brunt and initiate a second calving even closer to Halley. The base is currently unoccupied.
U.S.Associated PressAmanda Gorman says she was racially profiled near her home
Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet who captured hearts at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, posted to social media that she was followed home by a security guard who demanded to know where she lived because she “looked suspicious.” Gorman, the nation's youngest inaugural poet, lives in Los Angeles but did not specify where the encounter occurred. Gorman became an instant sensation Jan. 20 when she recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at Biden's swearing-in.
PoliticsReutersTrump demands three Republican groups stop raising money off his name
Former President Donald Trump has clashed again with his Republican Party, demanding that three Republican groups stop using his name and likeness for fundraising, a Trump adviser said on Saturday. The adviser, confirming a report in Politico, said lawyers for Trump on Friday had sent cease-and-desist letters to the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Campaign and National Republican Senate Campaign, asking them to stop using his name and likeness on fundraising emails and merchandise.
WorldReutersU.S. defence chief Austin likely to visit India soon-India govt source
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is likely to visit India next week, an Indian government source told Reuters on Sunday, as the two allies seek to deepen military ties to counter the growing power of China in the Asia-Pacific region. The first person visit by a top official of the new U.S. President Joe Biden's administration will focus on enhancing cooperation, said the source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. Austin plans to meet Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit some time in the week of March 15, the official added.
CelebrityThe TelegraphDuchess of Sussex reveals she contemplated suicide when pregnant due to 'stress' and 'isolation'
The Duchess of Sussex has revealed she had suicidal thoughts and struggled with her mental health after joining the Royal family. The Duchess, 39, said in an extraordinarily candid interview that the “stress and isolation” drove her to contemplate taking her own life while pregnant with son Archie. She claimed she told a senior Palace official that she wanted to get treatment for her depression, but was denied because it would “look bad”.
U.S.INSIDER'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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In Iraq, Pope condemns violence in name of God
Pope Francis entered a narrow alleyway in Iraq's holy city of Najaf on Saturday (March 6) to hold the first ever meeting between a pontiff and a top Shi'ite cleric. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is one of the most influential figures in Shi'ite Islam, both within Iraq and beyond, and their meeting sent a powerful signal for religious coexistence in a country torn apart by violence. That's a key theme of Francis's visit to Iraq, the first in history by a pontiff, and to underscore it he went on to the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, who is considered the father of Christians, Muslims and Jews.
“Taking humans to Mars would require an investment astronomically out of kilter with the possible benefits.”
“Can a Mars settlement be a freer society than we enjoy on Earth? Maybe.”
“What we learn...may spark the next revolution that will make life in 2071 beyond anything we can imagine right now.”
“Our presence on Mars could jeopardize one of our main reasons for being there — the search for life.”
“The future of geologic investigation of other worlds lies with highly improved versions of our Mars rovers.”