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World Monthly Headline News March 2021
The Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar – Security forces fired on demonstrators and made mass arrests Sunday as they sought to break up protests against the military’s seizure of power. A U.N. human rights organization said it had “credible information” that 18 people were killed and 30 were wounded. That would be the highest single-day death toll among protesters demanding that the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi be restored to power after being ousted in a coup Feb. 1. “Deaths reportedly occurred as a result of live ammunition fired into crowds in Yangon, Dawei, Mandalay, Myeik, Bago and Pokokku,” the United Nations Human Rights Office said in a statement, referring to several cities. It said the forces also used tear gas, flash-bang grenades and stun grenades. “We strongly condemn the escalating violence against protests in Myanmar and call on the military to immediately halt the use of force against peaceful protesters,” office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said. more...
By Irina Reznik and Henry Meyer

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who survived a chemical poisoning last year that he called a Kremlin attempt to kill him, has begun serving his two-and-a-half-year sentence at a notorious penal camp. Navalny, who was removed from his Moscow jail cell Thursday, is being held at a detention facility in the prison in the Vladimir region, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of the Russian capital, Alexey Melnikov, secretary of the civil oversight commission of Moscow, told Bloomberg. President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic lost an appeal Feb. 20 over a court decision to convert a 2014 suspended sentence into incarceration for breaking his probation terms. That was the last obstacle keeping the 44-year-old from being sent to a prison outside Moscow. more...
Whistleblowers say they were forced out after flagging problems with e-commerce giant’s data security and compliance.
By Vincent Manancourt

YOUR ORDER HISTORY. Your credit card information. Even your intimate health data. Amazon is amassing an empire of data as the online retailer ventures into ever more areas of our lives. But the company's efforts to protect the information it collects are inadequate, according to insiders who warn the company's security shortfalls expose users' information to potential breaches, theft and exploitation. The warnings about privacy and compliance failures at Amazon come from three former high-level information security employees — one EU-based and two from the U.S. — who told POLITICO they had repeatedly tried to alert senior leadership in the company's Seattle HQ, only to be sidelined, dismissed or pushed out of the company in what they saw as professional retaliation. more...
By Eric Cheung, Jadyn Sham, Helen Regan, Ally Barnard and James Griffiths, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN) The Hong Kong authorities charged 47 opposition activists with violating the city's national security legislation on Sunday, in the biggest application of the law since it was imposed by Beijing last year. If found guilty of "conspiracy to commit subversion" they could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Those charged were among 53 people -- many prominent former lawmakers, activists and district councilors -- who were arrested last month for organizing, planning and participating in a primary election for the city's democratic opposition last July. That event was designed to identify the strongest pro-democracy candidates to field in legislative council elections planned for last September, when the opposition camp hoped to win an historic majority. more...
By Jeff Berardelli

An influential current system in the Atlantic Ocean, which plays a vital role in redistributing heat throughout our planet's climate system, is now moving more slowly than it has in at least 1,600 years. That's the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience from some of the world's leading experts in this field. Scientists believe that part of this slowing is directly related to our warming climate, as melting ice alters the balance in northern waters. Its impact may be seen in storms, heat waves and sea-level rise. And it bolsters concerns that if humans are not able to limit warming, the system could eventually reach a tipping point, throwing global climate patterns into disarray. The Gulf Stream along the U.S. East Coast is an integral part of this system, which is known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. It was made famous in the 2004 film "The Day After Tomorrow," in which the ocean current abruptly stops, causing immense killer storms to spin up around the globe, like a super-charged tornado in Los Angeles and a wall of water smashing into New York City. more...
By Zahra Ullah and Olga Pavlova, CNN

Moscow (CNN) Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been transferred from a Moscow detention center to a penal colony, state media reported on Friday. The exact location and name of the penal colony was not revealed but Alexander Kalashnikov of Russia's federal penitentiary service (FSIN) told reporters: "According to the court's decision, he left to where he currently should be. Everything is done within the framework of the law and the current legislation." Kalashnikov added Navalny will be kept in "absolutely normal conditions." more...
The release will mark a new chapter in U.S.-Saudi relations and a clear break from Trump's policy of equivocating about the Saudi state's role in the brutal murder.
By Andrea Mitchell and Ken Dilanian

The Biden administration will release an intelligence report Thursday that concludes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, three U.S. officials familiar with the matter said. The intelligence assessment, based largely on work by the CIA, is not new — NBC News was among the organizations that confirmed it in 2018. But its public release will mark a significant new chapter in the U.S.-Saudi relationship and a clear break by President Joe Biden with former President Donald Trump's policy of equivocating about the Saudi state's role in a brutal murder that was widely condemned by members of Congress, journalists and a U.N. investigator. Reuters first reported on the declassified intelligence summary scheduled for release Thursday. more...
By Sophie Lewis

Freshwater fish are in "catastrophic" decline with one-third facing extinction, report finds
Thousands of fish species are facing "catastrophic" decline — threatening the health, food security and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the world. New research shows that one-third of all freshwater fish now face extinction. According to a report published Tuesday by 16 global conservation groups, 18,075 species of freshwater fish inhabit our oceans, accounting for over half of the world's total fish species and a quarter of all vertebrates on Earth. This biodiversity is critical to maintaining not only the health of the planet, but the economic prosperity of communities worldwide. About 200 million people across Asia, Africa and South America rely on freshwater fishers for their main source of protein, researchers said in "The World's Forgotten Fishes" report. About one-third of those people also rely on them for their jobs and livelihoods. more...
By Nicola Ruotolo, David McKenzie and Ingrid Formanek, CNN

Rome, Italy (CNN) The ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo has been killed in Goma, the Italian Foreign Ministry has told CNN. Luca Attanasio died alongside an Italian soldier after their car was attacked as they traveled in a UN convoy in the eastern part of the country. "It is with deep sorrow that the Farnesina confirms the death, today in Goma, of the Ambassador of Italy to the Democratic Republic of Congo Luca Attanasio and of a soldier from the Carabinieri," the ministry said in a statement. Italy's Prime Minister, Mario Draghi has put out a statement expressing his condolences to the families of the Italian ambassador and the soldier, named as Vittorio Iacovacci. The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement that one of its drivers was killed in the attack. more...
Jason Slotkin

Seven workers with Niger's election commission were killed in a landmine explosion during a day of voting that's expected to bring the country's first democratic transition of power since becoming an independent nation. Media reports say a vehicle belonging to Niger's election commission struck a landmine in the rural community of Dargol. The vehicle was carrying election workers to polling stations in the country's southwest. "They were leaving to drop off the ballot boxes and the members of the polling station," Harouna Mounkaila, the commission's vice president, told Reuters. Three other workers were seriously wounded, Mounkaila told the news service. It was unclear if the vehicle was deliberately targeted. more...
President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, calls the matter a ‘complete and utter outrage’
Jake Sullivan, national security adviser, said on Sunday: ‘We will not accept a long-term proposition where they continue to hold Americans in unjust and unlawful manner.’
Reuters in Washington

Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday the US had begun to communicate with Iran over the detention of American citizens, calling the matter a “complete and utter outrage”. Iran has arrested dozens of dual nationals, including several Americans, in recent years, mostly on espionage charges. Human rights activists accuse Tehran of trying to use the detentions to win concessions from other countries, a charge it dismisses. Sullivan told CBS’s Face the Nation it was a “significant priority” to get those Americans “safely back home”. “We have begun to communicate with the Iranians on this issue,” he said. “We will not accept a long-term proposition where they continue to hold Americans in an unjust and unlawful manner.” more...
Cybersecurity pros are wondering what’s next
By Sean Hollister

There’s a popular stereotype that Apple’s computers are largely immune to malware. Not only is is that incorrect, it appears that sophisticated hacker(s) might have been toying with the idea of a heist or drop nasty enough they’d have needed to cover their tracks. As Ars Technica reports, security researchers at Malwarebytes and Red Canary discovered a mysterious piece of malware hiding on nearly 30,000 Macs, one designed to deliver an as-yet-unknown payload, and with a self-destruction mechanism that might remove any trace that it ever existed. They’re calling it Silver Sparrow. more...
By Zahra Ullah and Nada Bashir, CNN

(CNN) Russian authorities say they have detected what is believed to be "human infection with avian influenza H5N8," the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed to CNN. Russia notified WHO of the possible strain. "If confirmed, this would be the first time H5N8 has infected people," a WHO Europe spokesperson said in a statement Saturday. The reported cases were workers exposed to bird flocks, according to preliminary information, the statement added. The workers were "asymptomatic and no onward human to human transmission was reported," the spokesperson said. more...
Russia’s new generation of activists is turning to TikTok and Instagram to dissent against Putin’s regime and galvanize support for his targets, including Alexei Navalny.
Daria Solovieva

On Feb. 3, an influx of young Russians flooded my Instagram inbox and followers list. Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, had just reposted my recent Instagram story: a photo of Navalny in court, holding up his hands to form the shape of a heart, which had made the cover of The Wall Street Journal. My family emigrated from Russia to the U.S. in the 1990s, when I was 13 years old, but I couldn’t recall meeting Russian teenagers and young people quite like them before: an entire generation who grew up under Putin’s reign. Across their social media pages on Instagram and TikTok, they come across as purposeful, bold and creative. They made political videos on TikTok and Instagram. Some of them identified as feminists, vegan activists, dancers, musicians, and aspiring lawyers. They seemed to march to the beat of a different drum, sharing a set of universal values that differed from that of their parents and grandparents. It was like they were visitors from another planet. more...
By Alisa Odenheimer

Israel agreed to buy hundreds of thousands of doses of Russian-made coronavirus vaccine for Syria as part of a prisoner swap deal, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday, without saying where it got the information. According to the report, the vaccine purchase was stipulated in a secret clause in a Russian-brokered deal to return an Israeli woman who crossed the border into Syria. In exchange, Israel agreed to return two shepherds who crossed from Syria into Israeli territory, and pardoned a Druze woman from the Israeli-held section of the Golan Heights who had been sentenced to community service. The Ynet website said she was convicted of monitoring and photographing Israeli soldiers along the frontier. more...
By Anna Chernova and Zamira Rahim, CNN

(CNN) Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny will remain behind bars after a Russian court partially rejected his appeal over a two-and-a-half year jail sentence handed down earlier this month. Then, in a separate case also heard on Saturday, Navalny was found guilty of defaming a World War II veteran and fined 850,000 rubles ($11,480). In the morning ruling -- held at Babushkinsky District Court but handed down by Moscow City Court -- the judge shortened the activist's sentence by a month and a half, after taking into account time he spent under house arrest from December 2014 to February 2015. Navalny's lawyer Olga Mikhailova petitioned the court to release her client immediately, as demanded by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). more...
The UK Supreme Court has ruled that Uber drivers must be treated as workers rather than self-employed , a decision which means they could be entitled to a minimum wage and holiday pay. The decision marks the end of a five-year legal battle.  Uber had argued that 40,000 drivers were self-employed and in effect running their own businesses.   The court found that they were employees and Uber must pay them the benefits workers are entitled to. video...
By Sophie Lewis

Just minutes after NASA's Perseverance rover stuck its landing on Mars, it sent back two historic images — our first-ever views of the red planet from the elusive Jezero Crater. Percy, as the rover is nicknamed, got through the "seven minutes of terror" on Thursday — a series of make-or-break events to land. A successful landing was announced just before 4 p.m. ET from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. "Touchdown confirmed! Perseverance is safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the signs of past life!" Swati Mohan, a guidance, navigation and control officer monitoring telemetry at JPL, called out as the rover landed. Socially-distanced flight engineers burst into cheers and applause as they breathed a collective sigh of relief. more...
By Jonathan Chadwick For Mailonline

A reversal of the magnetic poles 42,000 years ago triggered catastrophic climate change and may have wiped out Neanderthals, a new study shows. Australian researchers have analysed the radiocarbon record from ancient trees in New Zealand that were alive when the magnetic poles flipped. The trees revealed spikes in atmospheric radiocarbon levels, caused by the collapse of Earth's magnetic field and changing solar winds. But preceding the flip was a weakening of the magnetic fields, causing electrical storms, crimson skies, widespread auroras and lethal cosmic radiation that frazzled our early ancestors and the Earth's wildlife. more...
Saheli Roy Choudhury

Facebook is trying to exert its monopoly power in Australia, by restricting publishers from posting content on Facebook Pages, according to Peter Lewis, director of the Centre for Responsible Technology at the think tank Australia Institute. He explained that the social networking giant built itself up on the offer of free access, while downplaying the collection of user data and making money off that information. “I think they are reinforcing their monopoly position in this part of the digital world,” he said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.” “It is sparking a conversation in Australia about what alternatives could look like – there’s no obvious corporate alternative,” he said. “Reimagining public digital infrastructure is a long game, not something that you can do overnight.” more...
The science mission will launch the first drone to fly on another planet, attempt making oxygen in space, and search for signs of ancient life. In the Mission Support Area at Lockheed Martin’s campus in Littleton, Colorado, masked people sat close to computers, flying three spacecraft in orbit around Mars. These three—the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Maven, and Odyssey—were all tasked, in one way or another, with downloading data from another spacecraft: the Mars Perseverance rover, which was attempting to land on the Red Planet. Information from these orbiters would help engineers learn about Perseverance’s status as it made its way through the atmosphere, and determine whether it survived. “Space is not a place to go,” read the words painted on one wall. “Space is a place to do.” more...
By ROD McGUIRK and KELVIN CHAN

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Timothy Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, says Australian plans to make digital giants pay for journalism could set a precedent that renders the Internet as we know it unworkable. “Specifically, I am concerned that that code risks breaching a fundamental principle of the web by requiring payment for linking between certain content online,” Berners-Lee told a Senate committee scrutinizing a bill that would create the News Media Bargaining Code. It’s a question dividing proponents and critics of the proposed Australian law: does it effectively make Google and Facebook “pay for clicks” and might it be the beginning of the end of free access? more...
By Brendan Cole

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny may be in a prison colony, but his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has said his exile will not hinder its push to make political gains and urge western governments to hurt Russia's elite. "The seemingly stable regime of Putin is getting weaker and weaker by the day," FBK's executive director Vladimir Ashurkov told Newsweek. It certainly appears rattled. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the European Union and the United States talk about sanctions "with maniacal persistency." more...
Aminu ABUBAKAR

Gunmen believed to members of a criminal gang stormed a school in central Nigeria, killing one student and kidnapping dozens of other pupils, teachers and relatives, a government official said Wednesday. President Muhammadu Buhari, responding to the latest abduction attack at a Nigerian school, ordered security forces to coordinate a rescue operation, his office said. Forty-two people were seized when gunmen dressed in military uniforms raided the Government Science College (GSC) in the town of Kagara in Niger state before hauling the kidnap victims into a nearby forest. The new tally came after initial reports from a government official and a security source that hundreds of students were snatched from the school, where they were staying in dormitories. more...
Jason Slotkin

After a crackdown on protests in Russia, allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny encouraged supporters to participate in a more muted form of solidarity and defiance. Supporters of Navalny gathered near their homes and in apartment courtyards for Valentine's Day vigils, an act dubbed "Love Is Stronger than Fear," for the detained opposition leader. They were encouraged to gather outside for 15 minutes and post their participation to social media. Scenes from the day showed people displaying the lights on their phones and arranging candles into hearts. Navalny's Twitter account retweeted pictures of supporters gathering across Moscow. more...
"They are doing their business at night,” said Awng Kham, a local politician about Myanmar's army rulers.
By Reuters

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Myanmar for a ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations on Sunday, as the new army rulers grappled to contain a strike by government workers that could cripple their ability to run the country. Trains in parts of the country stopped running after staff refused to go to work, local media reported, while the military deployed soldiers to power plants only to be confronted by angry crowds. As evening fell, armoured vehicles were seen in the commercial capital of Yangon for the first time since the coup, witnesses said. A civil disobedience movement to protest against the Feb. 1 coup that deposed the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi started with doctors. It now affects a swathe of government departments. The junta ordered civil servants to go back to work, threatening action. The army has been carrying out nightly mass arrests and on Saturday gave itself sweeping powers to detain people and search private property. more...
Scott Neuman

Russia said Friday that it is prepared to cut ties with the European Union if the bloc slaps economic sanctions on the Kremlin in retaliation for the detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked in an interview on the Russian YouTube channel Solovyov Live whether Moscow is moving toward severing ties with the EU. "We proceed from the fact that we're ready [for that]. In the event that we again see sanctions imposed in some sectors that create risks for our economy, including in the most sensitive spheres," he said. "We don't want to isolate ourselves from global life, but we have to be ready for that. If you want peace then prepare for war," Lavrov said in the interview which appears on a YouTube channel run by Russia's foreign ministry. The comments come on the same day that Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, appeared in court to face slander charges that he has denounced as politically motivated. more...
The jailing of Putin critic Alexei Navalny has sparked outrage and protests across Russia. But the Kremlin seems determined to put a stop to them. The police have been systematically targeting opposition activists all over the country. Even 4,000 miles east of the capital in Vladivostok critics of the Kremlin  are being put under pressure. video...
By Alex Morales and Ian Wishart

The U.K. and the European Union remain locked in a standoff over how to implement the Brexit deal in Northern Ireland, despite more than three hours of talks between top officials on Thursday. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic held a rare face-to-face meeting in London, which their teams described as “frank but constructive.” But they did not resolve the key disagreements over trade that have soured the U.K.-EU relationship in the six weeks since Brexit was completed. Gove and Sefcovic promised to “intensify” their work “with the shared objective to find workable solutions on the ground,” according to a joint statement released after Thursday’s talks concluded. Since the Brexit transition period ended on Dec. 31, tensions have flared between the two sides over a series of issues, including trade in financial services, the supply of Covid-19 vaccines, and the flow of goods between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. more...
Silvia Amaro

LONDON — Russia has said it is ready to cut ties with the European Union, according to a fragment of an interview published on Russia’s foreign ministry website Friday morning. The comments mark yet another escalation in tensions between the two sides. When asked if Russia was heading for a break with the European Union, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “We proceed from the fact that we are ready (for that). In the event that we again see sanctions imposed in some sectors that create risks for our economy, including in the most sensitive spheres,” according to a translation of the comments by Reuters. “We don’t want to isolate ourselves from global life, but we have to be ready for that. If you want peace then prepare for war,” Lavrov added. more...
MICHELLE STARR

The most distant known object in the Solar System is now confirmed. FarFarOut, a large chunk of rock found in 2018 at a whopping distance of around 132 astronomical units from the Sun, has been studied and characterised, and we now know a lot more about it, and its orbit. more...
Silvia Amaro

LONDON — A recent press conference between the EU’s top diplomat and Russia’s veteran foreign minister demonstrated diplomatic ties have plunged to a new low, prompting some analysts to question whether the “humiliating” trip could lead to further political consequences. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited Moscow on Friday to voice the EU’s opposition to the arrest of Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, Borrell failed to rebuff his Russian counterpart’s comments when standing next to him at the press conference. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had claimed the EU was an “unreliable partner.” In addition, Borrell learned via Twitter during his visit that Russia had expelled three EU diplomats for attending demonstrations in support of Navalny. more...
By Hala Gorani, Anchor

(CNN) "They're going room to room, we have to get out." A few days after the revolutionary high of the 2011 anti-regime protests in Cairo, demanding the resignation of then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the mood had shifted. Pro-government thugs were unleashed into the crowds. They started targeting demonstrators, journalists covering the events, and Westerners. Some of them had entered our hotel. We were told to pack our things, cram into cars and drive from the Hilton, overlooking Tahrir Square, to a relatively safer hotel a few kilometers away. more...
George Dvorsky

An analysis of coelacanth DNA suggests its genome has experienced some significant changes in recent evolutionary history, potentially dispelling the popular image of these iconic fish as being “living fossils.” The discovery of a live coelacanth (pronounced “see-lah-kanth”) off the coast of South Africa in 1938 was quite the shock, as these animals were believed to be extinct. The large fish were thereafter referred to as “living fossils” owing to their uncanny resemblance to near-identical species spotted in the fossil record. New research published in Molecular Biology and Evolution presents evidence showing that at least one species of coelacanth, formally known as Latimeria chalumnae, is not the living fossil it’s presumed to be, having acquired dozens of new genes in the past 23 million years—a surprising finding, and a far cry from the idea that the species has barely changed since its ancestors emerged over 300 million years ago. What’s more, the finding is further evidence that the living fossil concept is outdated and somewhat of a misnomer. more...
Mohammad Javad Zarif says if the Biden administration wants to restore the deal, it must "implement its obligations."
By DAVID COHEN

Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday that if the U.S. wanted to restore the terms of the nuclear agreement it exited, the onus was on the Biden administration to live up to the deal. “It was the United States that left the deal,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “It was the United States that violated the deal. It was the United States that punished any country that remained respectful and compliant with the deal. So it is for the United States to return to the deal, to implement its obligations.” more...
Lauren Frayer

A massive search-and-rescue operation was underway Sunday in northern India for at least 140 people missing after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off, triggering an avalanche of rock, mud, water and debris that swept away a hydroelectric dam. Video recorded by witnesses from across a valley showed a torrent of water and debris breaking through a dam that's part of the Rishiganga Hydroelectric Project, more than 300 miles north of New Delhi. "It came very fast. There was no time to alert anyone," local resident Sanjay Singh Rana told Reuters. "I felt that even we would be swept away." Many of those missing are believed to be workers at the dam. Police say that nine bodies have been recovered so far and that at least 140 people are missing. The chief minister of India's Uttarakhand state, Trivendra Singh Rawat, told reporters that the figure could rise. more...
By Carly Walsh and Akanksha Sharma, CNN

(CNN) An Australian adviser to Myanmar's recently deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained on Saturday as pro-democracy protests broke out in the country's largest city on Saturday. Thousands of people took to the streets of Yangon in the first major organized demonstration since the military seized power in a coup earlier this week. The crowd, many of whom could be seen waiving flags and holding banners, called for the military to release Suu Kyi, and other democratically-elected lawmakers, who were detained in pre-dawn raids Monday. Chants of "We demand democracy" could be heard coming from the crowd as they marched close to downtown Yangon, prompting the government to impose an internet blackout. more...
Kim Hjelmgaard, Deirdre Shesgreen | USA TODAY

MOSCOW – To his supporters, anti-corruption figure Alexei Navalny, whose detention has sparked massive protests across Russia, was sent to prison for the crime of daring to survive President Vladimir Putin's efforts to poison him. "Putin is turning his main threat into a martyr, a kind of Russian Nelson Mandela," said Jaka Bizilj, the director of the Berlin-based humanitarian group Cinema for Peace Foundation, referring to South Africa's anti-apartheid hero and former president. In August, Bizilj organized for Navalny to be evacuated by private plane to Germany after he fell into a coma in the Siberian city of Omsk. Russia says there is no evidence the longtime Kremlin critic was poisoned. But German scientists determined Navalny had been exposed to the Russian military grade nerve agent Novichok, a claim backed by the U.S. and several European countries. An investigation by Bellingcat, a digital research organization, traced the poisoning to Russian security agents. more...
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER

President Joe Biden will announce an end Thursday to U.S. support for a grinding five-year Saudi-led military offensive in Yemen that has deepened human suffering in the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. Biden sees the United States “playing a more active and engaged role” to end the war through diplomacy, Sullivan said at a White House briefing before Biden was set to speak at the State Department. Thursday’s move, which fulfills a campaign pledge, would not affect any U.S. operations against the Yemen-based al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, group, Sullivan said. Yemen, the biblical kingdom of Sheba, has one of the world’s oldest constantly occupied cities — the more than 2,000-year-old Sanaa — along with mud brick skyscrapers and hauntingly beautiful landscapes of steep, arid mountains. But decades of Yemeni misgovernment have worsened factional divisions and halted development, and years of conflict have now drawn in intervention by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, which officials say has lent increasing support to Yemen’s Houthi faction of fighters. more...
By Amanda Coletta

TORONTO — Canada on Wednesday declared the Proud Boys a terrorist entity, adding the far-right group to a list that includes al-Qaeda, ISIS and al-Shabab as part of an effort to crack down on what senior government officials called one of the country’s “most serious threats.” The announcement by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair comes less than a month after Proud Boys allegedly joined the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol after attending a rally by then-President Donald Trump in the hope of overturning the presidential election. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died in that attack. It also follows a warning last week by the Department of Homeland Security about the heightened threat of “ideologically motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition” and “perceived grievances fueled by false narratives.” more...
Christian Nunley, Amanda Macias

Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the Russian government on Tuesday after Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny was sentenced to more than two years in prison. The opposition leader’s arrest last month has sparked mass protests across Russia, leading to hundreds of his supporters getting thrown in jail. “The United States is deeply concerned by Russia’s actions toward Aleksey Navalny. We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny, as well as hundreds of other Russian citizens wrongfully detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights,” Blinken said. Navalny, a leading critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested for parole violations on Jan. 17 upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he had been treated for a nerve agent poisoning that took place last August. more...
By DARIA LITVINOVA and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to more than 2 1/2 years in prison on charges that he violated the terms of his probation while he was recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning. Navalny, who is the most prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, had earlier denounced the proceedings as a vain attempt by the Kremlin to scare millions of Russians into submission. The prison sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that he has rejected as fabricated. The 44-year-old Navalny was arrested Jan. 17 upon returning from his five-month convalescence in Germany from the attack, which he has blamed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities deny any involvement. Despite tests by several European labs, Russian authorities said they have no proof he was poisoned. As the order was read, Navalny pointed to his wife Yulia in the courtroom and traced the outline of a heart on the glass cage where he was being held. Earlier, Navalny attributed his arrest to Putin’s “fear and hatred,” saying the Russian leader will go down in history as a “poisoner.” “I have deeply offended him simply by surviving the assassination attempt that he ordered,” he said. “The aim of that hearing is to scare a great number of people,” Navalny said. “You can’t jail the entire country.” more...
By Mary Ilyushina and Fred Pleitgen, CNN

Moscow (CNN) Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny appeared in a Moscow court on Tuesday, where he ridiculed claims he broke his parole conditions while in a coma and launched an extraordinary attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin, denouncing him as a "little thieving man." Navalny was detained two weeks ago upon his return to Moscow from Berlin, accused of failing to meet his parole terms under a 2014 suspended sentence for embezzlement -- a case he has dismissed as politically motivated. Prison authorities are now seeking to replace his suspended sentence with a 3.5-year prison term, a move that could further inflame the anti-government protests that have engulfed Russia for the past several weeks. A perennial thorn in President Vladimir Putin's side, Navalny had spent five months in Germany recovering from Novichok poisoning before his return to Moscow on January 17. He has blamed the attack on Russian security services and Putin himself, accusations that the Kremlin has repeatedly denied. more...
By Zamira Rahim, CNN

(CNN) After criticism last year for an early rollout, Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 and 100% effective against severe and moderate disease, according to an interim analysis of the vaccine's Phase 3 trial results. The preliminary findings were published in The Lancet on Tuesday and are based on data gathered from 19,866 participants, of which around three-quarters (14,964) received two doses of the vaccine and a quarter (4,902) were given a placebo. Sixteen cases of symptomatic Covid-19 were confirmed in the vaccine group 21 days after participants received the first vaccine dose. Sixty two cases were found in the placebo group -- equating to an efficacy of 91.6%. The trial included 2,144 people over the age of 60 and a sub-analysis conducted on this group revealed the vaccine was well tolerated and had a similar efficacy of 91.8%. more...
By Mary Ilyushina and Frederik Pleitgen, CNN

Moscow (CNN) Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny appeared in a Moscow court on Tuesday in a bizarre and heated hearing in which the politician ridiculed suggestions he should have communicated with parole officers while he was in a coma. Navalny was detained two weeks ago upon his return to Moscow from Berlin, accused of failing to meet his parole terms under a 2014 suspended sentence for embezzlement -- a case he has dismissed as politically motivated. Prison authorities are now seeking to replace his suspended sentence with a 3.5-year prison sentence. Navalny, a perennial thorn in President Vladimir Putin's side, had spent five months in Germany recovering from Novichok poisoning before his return to Moscow on January 17. He has blamed the attack on Russian security services and Putin himself, accusations that the Kremlin has repeatedly denied. more...
Former President Barack Obama had eased sanctions on Myanmar to encourage democratization.
By DANIEL PAYNE

President Joe Biden on Monday said his administration is considering resuming sanctions on Myanmar after an apparent military coup in which several key civilian leaders were detained and emergency rule was declared for one year. "The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy," Biden said in a statement. "The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action." The U.S. restricted economic activity with Myanmar, also known as Burma, for decades in response to the country's undemocratic rule and human rights abuses, though many restrictions were lifted under former President Barack Obama to encourage further democratization. more...
*** Trump gave Russia a pass no matter what they did, that is over Biden will not give Russia a pass they way Trump did. ***

By John Bowden

Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned what he said were "harsh tactics" deployed "against peaceful protesters and journalists" during recent protests in Moscow against Vladimir Putin's government on Sunday. In a tweet, Blinken added that the U.S. "renew[s] our call for Russia to release those detained for exercising their human rights, including Aleksey Navalny," after news reports indicated that thousands were arrested during recent demonstrations. more...
Exclusive by Yoonjung Seo and Paula Hancocks, CNN

Seoul, South Korea (CNN)North Korea's former acting ambassador to Kuwait believes Kim Jong Un will not give up his nuclear arsenal, but may be willing to negotiate an arms reduction for relief from the international sanctions crippling Pyongyang's economy. In his first interview since defecting to the South more than a year ago, Ryu Hyeon-woo told CNN that "North Korea's nuclear power is directly linked to the stability of the regime" -- and Kim likely believes nuclear weapons are key to his survival. Ryu also said previous US administrations had boxed themselves into a corner by demanding denuclearization up front in negotiations with the totalitarian state. "The US can't back down from denuclearization and Kim Jong Un cannot denuclearize," he added. more...
AP

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s military staged a coup Monday and detained senior politicians including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi — a sharp reversal of the significant, if uneven, progress toward democracy the Southeast Asian nation has made following five decades of military rule. An announcement read on military-owned Myawaddy TV said Commander-in-Chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing would be in charge of the country for one year. It said the seizure was necessary because the government had not acted on the military’s claims of fraud in November’s elections — in which Suu Kyi’s ruling party won a majority of the parliamentary seats up for grabs — and because it allowed the election to go ahead despite the coronavirus pandemic. The takeover came the morning the country’s new parliamentary session was to begin and follows days of concern that a coup was coming. The military maintains its actions are legally justified — citing a section of the constitution it drafted that allows it to take control in times of national emergency — though Suu Kyi’s party spokesman as well as many international observers have said it amounts to a coup. more...
By ZEN SOO and SYLVIA HUI

HONG KONG (AP) — Thousands of Hong Kongers have already made the sometimes painful decision to leave behind their hometown and move to Britain since Beijing imposed a strict national security law on the Chinese territory last summer. Their numbers are expected to swell to the hundreds of thousands. Some are leaving because they fear punishment for supporting the pro-democracy protests that swept the former British colony in 2019. Others say China’s encroachment on their way of life and civil liberties has become unbearable, and they want to seek a better future for their children abroad. Most say they don’t plan to ever go back. more...
By Esha Mitra and Julia Hollingsworth, CNN

New Delhi, India (CNN) Internet access remained blocked Monday in several districts of a state bordering India's capital following violent weekend clashes between police and farmers protesting controversial agricultural reforms. Online access would be suspended in at least 14 of 22 districts in Haryana state near New Delhi, until 5 p.m. Monday, according to the Department of Information and Public Relations of Haryana on Sunday. That order was first imposed Tuesday in three Haryana districts for 24 hours, but has been extended every day since. A 48-hour internet shutdown was also imposed in three other areas around Delhi's borders late on Friday, with India's Ministry of Home Affairs saying the move was "in the interest of maintaining public safety and averting public emergency." According to officials, those blackouts should have lifted on Sunday night, but Paramjeet Singh Katyal, a spokesperson for Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body representing protesting farmers, said the internet was still not working as of Monday. more...
BBC News

Vietnam's ruling Community Party has re-elected its 76-year-old chief Nguyen Phu Trong for a rare third five-year term. He received an exemption to contest as he was above the age limit of 65. This makes him one of the country's strongest and longest-serving leaders in decades. His leadership will have to look at the crucial next five years amid the country's largely successful battle against Covid-19 and a booming economy. Mr Trong is known for his "blazing furnace" war against corruption launched in 2016, which saw many high-ranking officials sent to jail. His re-election as party general secretary came at a party congress in Hanoi, where delegates from across the country held meetings - mostly behind closed doors. The Congress is held every five years. more...
By Omar Nor, CNN

Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN)Five people, plus four attackers, were killed in an attack at a hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Sunday, according to Somali police. The deadly siege at the Afrik hotel which left 10 other civilians injured ended after Somali security forces battled militants for eight hours, police spokesperson Sadik Aden Ali said at a press conference early on Monday. The attack began on Sunday afternoon 5 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) with a car bombing at the gate of the hotel frequented by government officials and politicians. more...
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