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.
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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.
WorldReutersMexico's coronavirus czar in hospital with COVID-19, as death toll nears 186,000
Mexico's coronavirus czar has been hospitalized over the past five days for COVID-19 treatment but is recovering well, a health official said on Sunday, as the country marks the one-year anniversary of its first confirmed infection. Hugo Lopez-Gatell, the face of Mexico's response to the pandemic, has drawn criticism for downplaying the need for masks and for spearheading a strategy of limited testing. Mexico has registered 185,715 fatalities from the coronavirus, giving it the world's fourth-highest death toll from the pandemic, according to a Reuters tally.
U.S.AxiosU.S. sets weekend records for daily COVID vaccinations
Just over 2.4 million coronavirus vaccinations were reported to the CDC on Sunday, matching Saturday's record-high for inoculations as seen in Bloomberg's vaccine tracker. Why it matters: Vaccinations are ramping up again after widespread delays caused by historic winter storms. Over 75 million vaccine doses have been administered thus far, with 7.5% of the population fully vaccinated and 15% having received at least one dose.
U.S.The IndependentCPAC 2021: Pete Hegseth mocked for saying people in diners are discussing 10th amendment
Pete Hegseth has been mocked on social media after suggesting that people in diners are sitting down to have conversations about the 10th amendment. The Fox and Friends host said in his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday that teachers, construction workers and waitresses “are not talking about esoteric things” but instead are sitting down talking about the constitution. “I sit down with a school teacher, or a construction worker, or a small business owner, or a cook at a restaurant, or a waitress at the restaurant we're at and they're not talking about esoteric things that the Ivy League talks about or MSNBC talks about,” he said.
WorldAssociated PressDefying lethal shootings, Myanmar protesters back on streets
Police in Myanmar's biggest city on Monday fired tear gas at defiant crowds who returned to the streets to protest the military's seizure of power a month ago, despite reports that security forces had killed at least 18 people around the country a day earlier. The protesters in Yangon were chased as they tried to gather at their usual meeting spot at the Hledan Center intersection. In the capital, Naypyitaw, the country's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi made a court appearance Monday via videoconference, the independent Myanmar Now online news agency reported.
WorldReutersIsrael says initial assessment is Iran behind explosion on Israeli-owned ship
Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz said on Saturday his "initial assessment" was that Iran was responsible for an explosion on an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman. The ship, a vehicle-carrier named MV Helios Ray, suffered an explosion between Thursday and Friday morning. A U.S. defence official in Washington said the blast left holes above the waterline in both sides of the hull.
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.
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.
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.
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".
WorldReutersIran dismisses idea of talks with EU and U.S. to revive 2015 nuclear deal
Iran on Sunday ruled out holding an informal meeting with the United States and other major powers to discuss ways to salvage the unravelling 2015 nuclear deal, insisting Washington must first lift all its unilateral sanctions. "Considering the recent actions and statements by the United States and three European powers, Iran does not consider this the time to hold an informal meeting with these countries, which was proposed by the EU foreign policy chief," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, according to Iranian media.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
HealthReutersJ&J's COVID-19 shot gets CDC panel backing; vaccine near shipping
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 12-0 to recommend the vaccine from J&J as appropriate for Americans 18 and older. State and local public health authorities will use Food and Drug Administration and CDC guidance as they administer the first 4 million doses. CDC epidemiologist Dr. Sara Oliver said during a Sunday presentation that there are not yet any studies comparing J&J's vaccine directly to the other approved vaccines from Pfzier-BioNTech and Moderna Inc but that all vaccines were highly effective at reducing hospitalizations and deaths.
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.
WorldAssociated PressIn oil-rich Iraq, a few women buck norms, take rig site jobs
It's nearly dawn and Zainab Amjad has been up all night working on an oil rig in southern Iraq. Elsewhere in the oil-rich province of Basra, Ayat Rawthan is supervising the assembly of large drill pipes. The women, both 24, are among just a handful who have eschewed the dreary office jobs typically handed to female petroleum engineers in Iraq.
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.
BusinessAssociated PressChina manufacturing weakens for third month in February
China's manufacturing recovery weakened for a third month in February as exports and new orders declined, according to two surveys released Monday. A monthly purchasing managers' index issued by a prominent business magazine, Caixin, declined to 50.9 from January's 51.5 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity accelerating. A separate PMI issued by the Chinese statistics agency and an official industry group, the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, retreated to 50.6 from 51.3.
WorldReutersNigerian schoolboys freed as forces search for 300 abducted girls
Gunmen in Nigeria on Saturday released 27 teenage boys who were kidnapped from their school last week in the northern state of Niger, while security forces continued to search for more than 300 schoolgirls abducted in a nearby state. Schools have become targets for mass kidnappings for ransom in northern Nigeria by armed groups, many of whom carry guns and ride motorcycles. On Feb. 17, 27 students, three staff and 12 members of their families were abducted by an armed gang who stormed the Government Science secondary school in the Kagara district of Niger state, overwhelming the school's security detail.
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.
“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.”