WorldBBCMyanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi appears in court to face fresh charges
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has been seen for the first time since she was detained in a military coup, after she appeared in court via video link. The ousted leader appeared to be in "good health" and asked to see her legal team, her lawyers say. Two new charges were announced against Ms Suu Kyi, who was arrested after the 1 February coup.
WorldAssociated PressHuawei daughter back in Canada court in US extradition case
A senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies was returning to a Canadian courtroom Monday to begin a series of hearings in which her lawyers will argue her extradition to the U.S. should be halted because her rights have been violated. Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's founder and the company's chief financial officer, at Vancouver's airport in late 2018. It says Meng, 49, committed fraud by misleading the HSBC bank about the company's business dealings in Iran.
WorldReutersChinese hackers target Indian vaccine makers SII, Bharat Biotech, says security firm
A Chinese state-backed hacking group has in recent weeks targeted the IT systems of two Indian vaccine makers whose coronavirus shots are being used in the country's immunisation campaign, cyber intelligence firm Cyfirma told Reuters. Rivals China and India have both sold or gifted COVID-19 shots to many countries. India produces more than 60% of all vaccines sold in the world.
WorldThe TelegraphCoronavirus latest news: Single dose of Oxford or Pfizer vaccine cuts hospitalisations in over 80s by 80pc
Health Secretary Matt Hancock hailed the "exciting" real-world data which found either vaccine is more than 80 per cent effective at preventing hospital admission for over 80s around three to four weeks after the first dose. England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the data offered a glimpse of how the vaccine programme "is going to hopefully take us into a very different world in the next few months". The study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, included more than 7.5 million people aged 70 and over in England.
WorldThe WeekNetanyahu accuses Iran of attacking Israeli-owned cargo ship in Gulf of Oman
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said it is "clear" that Iran was behind an attack in the Gulf of Oman last week that targeted an Israeli-owned cargo ship. "Iran is the greatest enemy of Israel," Netanyahu told the Israeli public broadcaster Kan. "I am determined to halt it.
PoliticsThe IndependentMyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has mic muted at CPAC for spouting vaccine and election conspiracies
MyPillow's outspoken Trump-supporting chief executive was censored during an interview at CPAC – an event branded “America Uncanceled” – after he launched into conspiracy theories linking the coronavirus vaccine with the devil. Mike Lindell was speaking on Sunday to Liz Willis, the host of conservative YouTube channel Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN), when he delivered a somewhat meandering set of conspiracy theories relating to the pandemic, the presidential election and Israel. “In Israel right now, from the prime minister on down, we don't know what happened, but obviously, he congratulated Biden, but after that, we got a little suspect,” Mr Lindell said during the segment that was edited out by RSBN on their YouTube channel.
WorldAssociated PressPakistani court grants bail to Christian in blasphemy case
A Pakistani court on Monday granted bail to a Christian man convicted in 2018 while still a teenager of insulting Islam by posting a picture of Islam's holiest site on social media, a defense lawyer said. The court order in the eastern city of Lahore came more than four years after Nabeel Masih was arrested. He was detained after a mob accused him of committing blasphemy by sharing a picture of Kaaba in Mecca on Facebook.
WorldReutersMumbai power outage could have been cyber sabotage, says minister
A power failure that crippled India's financial capital of Mumbai in western Maharashtra state last year could have been a case of cyber sabotage, a local minister said on Monday, as China denied a report that it was behind the outage. Mumbai police were investigating further after a preliminary report pointed to possible evidence of 14 "Trojan horse" programmes incorporated in the city's power system, Anil Deshmukh, a minister for Maharashtra state, told a news conference.
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.
WorldThe TelegraphMonday morning UK news briefing: Brazil variant found in Britain
Health officials are searching for a mystery Covid patient thought to be one of the first in the UK to have a Brazilian variant of the virus that may spread more rapidly and evade vaccines. Six individuals infected with the "variant of concern" have been detected in Britain. PHE is particularly concerned about this Brazilian variant because its mutations share features with a South African variant that has been found to respond less well to vaccines.
WorldReutersChina says Taiwan pineapple ban not about politics as war of words escalates
China on Monday denied accusations by Taiwan that a ban on pineapples from the island was about politics, saying it was purely a matter of biosecurity, in an escalating war of words that has added to existing tensions. China announced the ban last week, citing "harmful creatures" it said could come with the fruit, threatening China's own agriculture. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, says there is nothing wrong with its pineapples and that Beijing is using the fruit as another way to coerce the island.
PoliticsThe IndependentFact-checking the wildest claims from Trump’s CPAC speech
As state electors, Congress, over 60 unsuccessful lawsuits, Trump administration officials like former attorney William Barr, and even many (but certainly not all) state-level Republican officials have confirmed, Joe Biden won the election fair and square. The ex-president also blamed a litany of factors for his loss, from dead voters being counted to new mail-in ballot expansions during the pandemic. The Democrats used the China virus as an excuse to change all of the election rules, without the approval of their state legislators, making it therefore illegal.
WorldAssociated PressGirl 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 — appeared in court on 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.
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Iranian lawmakers visit restive southeast area after unrest
Iranian lawmakers on Monday visited an impoverished southeastern province that has been roiled by recent unrest, state-run media reported, the government's most visible step yet to address rising popular resentment in the region. Five members of parliament, including from the influential committee for national security and foreign policy, arrived in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan to investigate the turmoil, state-run IRNA news agency reported. Last week, border guards shot at fuel smugglers trying to cross into Iran from Pakistan, killing at least two and sparking protests across the city of Saravan.
WorldReuters'Please get in touch': Britain hunts mystery spreader of Brazil variant
Britain on Monday appealed for a mystery individual infected with a highly transmissible Brazilian variant of the novel coronavirus to come forward, more than two weeks after they tested positive but failed to give proper contact details. Britain said six cases had been detected of the "P.1" variant identified in the Brazilian city of Manaus, against which current vaccines appear to be less effective. Two were in South Gloucestershire in England and three in Scotland.
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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.
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Former French president Sarkozy sentenced to jail
France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of bribery on Monday (March 1) and sentenced to three years in jail, with two years suspended. Judges found him guilty of trying to bribe a judge and of influence-peddling. The former president - who led France from 2007 to 2012 - had denied any wrongdoing.
WorldAssociated PressArmenia's political tensions rise amid rival rallies
Political tensions in Armenia heightened Monday, with supporters of the embattled prime minister and the opposition each holding massive rallies at separate sites in the capital. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has faced opposition demands to resign since he signed a peace deal in November that ended six weeks of intense fighting with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Russia-brokered agreement saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that had been held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter-century.
PoliticsThe WeekRon DeSantis has strongest showing of any potential non-Trump candidate in CPAC 2024 straw poll
Unsurprisingly, former President Donald Trump won the Conservative Political Action Conference's 2024 presidential straw poll Sunday, and he did so handily, garnering 55 percent of the vote. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was the only other potential candidate to reach double digits at 21 percent. The polls, of course, come with many caveats attached.
U.S.INSIDERMinneapolis approved funding to hire social media influencers to spread information about ex cop Derek Chauvin's trial
Minneapolis city council approved funding to hire social media influencers for Derek Chauvin's trial, WCCO-TV reported. The influencers will be paid to provide the local community with information about the trial. Chauvin was charged in Floyd's death, and his trial is set to begin on March 8.
WorldAssociated PressCountries urge drug companies to share vaccine know-how
But that knowledge belongs to the large pharmaceutical companies who have produced the first three vaccines authorized by countries including Britain, the European Union and the U.S. — Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca. The factories are all still awaiting responses. Across Africa and Southeast Asia, governments and aid groups, as well as the World Health Organization, are calling on pharmaceutical companies to share their patent information more broadly to meet a yawning global shortfall in a pandemic that already has claimed over 2.5 million lives.
WorldAssociated PressChina said to speed up move to more survivable nuclear force
China appears to be moving faster toward a capability to launch its newer nuclear missiles from underground silos, possibly to improve its ability to respond promptly to a nuclear attack, according to an American expert who analyzed satellite images of recent construction at a missile training area. Hans Kristensen, a longtime watcher of U.S., Russian and Chinese nuclear forces, said the imagery suggests that China is seeking to counter what it may view as a growing threat from the United States. The U.S. in recent years has pointed to China's nuclear modernization as a key justification for investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming two decades to build an all-new U.S. nuclear arsenal.
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Myanmar's ambassador to the U.N. has been fired
BROADCAST AND DIGITAL RESTRICTIONS~** Broadcasters: NO USE MYANMAR / MUST ON SCREEN COURTESY "DAWEI WATCH" Digital: NO USE MYANMAR / MUST ON SCREEN COURTESY "DAWEI WATCH". For Reuters customers only. Myanmar's U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has been fired.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderThe Supreme Court finally rejected Sidney Powell's election-conspiracy-theory lawsuits
The Supreme Court rejected two lawsuits filed by the Trump ally Sidney Powell. It extends the extraordinary losing streak for lawsuits seeking to overturn 2020 election results. President Joe Biden was inaugurated more than a month ago.
WorldAssociated PressIsrael's high court says non-Orthodox converts are Jews
Israel's Supreme Court on Monday dealt a major blow to the country's powerful Orthodox establishment, ruling that people who convert to Judaism through the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel are also Jewish and entitled to become citizens. The landmark ruling, 15 years in the making, centered around the combustible question of who is Jewish and marked an important victory for the Reform and Conservative movements. These liberal streams of Judaism, which represent the vast majority of affiliated American Jews, have long been marginalized in Israel.
“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.”