At least 800 Ethiopians killed after defending ‘Ark of the Covenant’

By Elizabeth Elizalde

February 20, 2021 | 8:41pm | Updated

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The Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum, Ethiopia, where the sacred Ark of the Covenant is believed to be housed.AP

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ETHIOPIA

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At least 800 people were reportedly killed in Ethiopia as worshippers and soldiers risked their lives to protect what Christians there say is the sacred Ark of the Covenant from local militia.

Ethiopian Christians claim the Ark — the wooden chest built to hold the Ten Commandments of Moses — is being kept safe in a chapel in the holy northern city of Axum in the Tigray region.

The battle between Ethiopian soldiers and rebel fighters happened in the fall, The Sunday Times reported, but it is only being reported now.

“When people heard the shooting they ran to the church to give support to the priests and others who were there protecting the ark,” Getu Mak, a local university lecturer, told The Times.

“Certainly some of them were killed for doing that.”

Little was known about the deadly siege since Tigray is cut off from the world and journalists had been blocked from entering the region.

A deacon residing in Axum told the Associated Press he helped count the bodies, gathered victims’ identification cards and assisted with burials in mass graves.

The battle between Ethiopian soldiers and rebel fighters resulted in at least 800 deaths.

AP

He believes that an estimated 800 people were killed at the church and around the city.

“If you attack Axum, you attack first of all the identity of Orthodox Tigrayans but also of all Ethiopian Orthodox Christians,” Wolbert Smidt, an ethnohistorian who specializes in the region, told the AP.

With Post wires

Garland to call Capitol riot 'heinous attack' and tell Senate Judiciary Committee he'll supervise prosecution of White supremacists

By Jessica Schneider and Kelly Mena, CNN
Updated Sat February 20, 2021

VIDEO Source: CNN
Political issues hanging over Garland's confirmation hearing 02:48

(CNN)Judge Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden's nominee for attorney general, calls the January 6 attack on the US Capitol a "heinous attack" in his prepared opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which the Department of Justice released Saturday night ahead of his confirmation hearing on Monday.

"If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 -- a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government," Garland says in the statement.

Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland to face challenges that include links to Biden and Trump

The attorney general nominee plans to stress that the role is meant to "serve the Rule of Law and to ensure equal justice under the law," noting that July 2020 marked the 150th anniversary of the Justice Department's founding in the aftermath of the Civil War and that its core mission was to secure the civil rights promised by the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.
"The mission remains urgent because we do not yet have equal justice," Garland plans to say. "Communities of color and other minorities still face discrimination in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system."

Barring any surprises at his hearing, he's poised to become Biden's first attorney general, bringing a longtime jurist with a steadying hand to a department that's teetering between crises. Garland has served in the Justice Department as an assistant US Attorney in Washington, DC, and if confirmed by the Senate will step away from 24 years on the bench.
He'll also explain why he is leaving a lifetime position as a federal judge.

"...(M)any of you have asked why I would agree to leave a lifetime appointment as a judge," Garland says in the statement. "I have told you that I love being a judge. I have also told you that this is an important time for me to step forward because of my deep respect for the Department of Justice and its critical role in ensuring the Rule of Law."

Though a confluence of factors drove Biden's selection of Garland last month, people familiar with the matter say it largely rested on Biden's belief that Garland can rise above politics in the post-Trump era.

"You won't work for me," Biden said when announcing Garland's nomination. "You are not the president's or the vice president's lawyer. Your loyalty is not to me. It's to the law, the Constitution."

For boosters of Garland, it was his reputation for fairness, honed over more than two decades on Washington, DC's, federal appeals court, that made him a good fit to lead the department out of the Trump era. His success in rebuilding the public's trust in the department, however, may hinge largely on his political deftness.

With Merrick Garland pick, Biden signals stark contrast with Trump on Justice Department
Former President Barack Obama had nominated Garland to the Supreme Court after a vacancy was created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, but his nomination was scuttled by Senate Republicans who held a majority in the chamber at the time.

When former President Donald Trump took office, Garland's nomination expired and he returned to his position as chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. He stepped down from the position as chief judge in February 2020, but still serves on the court. Former President Bill Clinton had appointed him to the court in 1997.

From the sprawling investigation into the January insurrection to sensitive probes of presidential allies, the caseload at the Justice Department is as controversial as ever, and Garland will be met by a workforce whose rejection of their previous boss's political maneuverings was unprecedented.

Over 200 former federal judges, US attorneys and leading Justice Department officials have signed letters of support for Garland, requesting urgency for the Senate to confirm him "as swiftly as possible."

Republicans, on the other hand, have already signaled they'll try to draw the judge out at his confirmation hearing on the hot-button federal investigations into New York's Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the President's son, Hunter Biden, setting up the first opportunity for Garland to reveal how he'll handle his full plate of political problems.

Prior to his appointment as a US circuit judge, Garland served as principal associate deputy attorney general. He supervised the investigation of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed more than 160 people and injured several hundred more. Garland also led the investigations of the 1996 Olympics bombing in Atlanta, in which two people died and more than 100 others were injured.

Additionally, the judge served as an assistant US attorney for the District of Columbia from 1989 to 1992, and as deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the Justice Department from 1993 to 1994.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN's Paul LeBlanc, David Shortell, Katelyn Polantz, Joan Biskupic and Christina Carrega contributed to this report.

A New Cold War - Rivalry To Grow Between China, Russia And The USA As Globalization Ends

Mike O'Sullivan

Senior Contributor FORBES

Hedge Funds & Private Equity

I cover the economic and financial world outside the USA, for the USA.


Activists carry placards during a protest in front of the Chinese consulate in Manila on February ... [+] AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The upturn in the world economy and the assured arrival in power of the Biden administration will have many commentators pondering as to whether globalization is back, after a violent interregnum during the Trump years.

I believe globalization is finished. To take trade as an example, if trade bounces back it will have changed in two important ways, both of which make the world less interdependent.

Trade will change

First, trade and state led investment will be driven by the notion of ‘strategic autonomy’ – that they should be structured so as to reinforce a country’s geopolitical power as well as its prosperity. Second, advances in technology and the corporate strategy lessons from the coronavirus crisis mean that business models can be more technology driven, more decentralized and arguably less labour intensive, something that may impact many south Asian countries.

Another important element is that the one aspect of globalization that many ignore is political. Globalization happened because of a shift in political models – communism fell, and thereafter the ‘American’ model traversed the world (again especially Asia), the number of democracies rose, and human development improved manifestly across the world.

Yet, this sense of ‘one system’ is now at an end – the global financial crisis and the Trump Presidency have sapped its credibility. Moreover, globalization has not transformed the world politically in the image of the American model. Indeed, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the flourish in ‘democracies’ has halted and is reversing. Take for example the the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index which in 2020 fell to its lowest level since 2006, and with 70% of countries covered showing a deterioration in the quality of their democracy.

In this respect there are two vital cognitive errors that ‘Western’ commentators make. The first is to assume that all countries prioritise their economy over geopolitics and social needs – Russia shows that this is not the case. The second is to believe that economic progress will naturally beget a desire for democracy. China, and the relative success of its Communist Party show that this is not the case.

Hong Kong

What is now important and noticeable is that more and more events are occurring that push back and check the liberal democratic model. The most prominent of these is the quenching of Hong Kong’s ‘two systems’, and event that bookends the fall of communism. The failure of liberal democracies to support the pro-democracy movement in Belarus is another and is the dereliction of many world institutions such as the WHO (World Health Organisation).

The abject failure of Josep Borrell’s diplomatic mission to Moscow and a surge in military posturing in and around the South China Sea (for example ‘scrambles’ of Japanese fighter jets are at a record, averaging three per day) also point to a hardening of political arteries.

Against this backdrop, a new model is emerging to challenge that of liberal democracies and for the first time since Ronald Reagan bemoaned the ‘evil empire’, we have two competing ‘ways of government’. I call them the Levelling and Leviathan models, drawn from the mid 17th which was formative period for the emergence of the nation-state, elaboration of democracy and thinking on how government should work.

Levellers

The Levelling model (from the 17th century English movement who crafted the ‘Agreement of the People) is based on the popular rediscovery of liberal democracy in the light of all of the challenges our world throws at it – indebtedness, climate damage and the penetration of social media into mindsets. Most of Europe, including the UK and the Democratic Party in the USA and naturally the Biden administration are in this camp. Indeed, on Friday President Biden staked a claim to revitalise liberal democracy when he stated he would ‘make a strong and competent case that democracy is the model that can best meet the challenges of our time’.

On the other side, are the Leviathans – who following the sense of Thomas Hobbes’ 1651 book ‘Leviathan’ see the need for a ‘supreme’ actor to control a country’s fortunes and where its citizens enter into a bargain with that leader. China today is a ‘Leviathan’ – its citizens exchange liberty for prosperity and national prestige, and there are growing signs that its President covets a long, unchallenged (ask Jack Ma) period in power. Its not clear to me that Russia for instance is a ‘Leviathan’ country, given the lack of a cohesive national project and the lack of a real developmental contract between Vladimir Putin and his people.

A world defined by ‘recuperating liberal democracy’ and ‘tough managed democracy’ will have many implications. Rhetorically it will make the role of the likes of Joe Biden easier if he can frame world affairs along these lines. It may also force the debate on European values – eastern European states may be forced to give up the illusion that they can pick and choose the variety of democracy they adhere to.

Finally, the battle of the competing attractions of the ‘Leveller’ versus ‘Leviathan’ model will be played out across many emerging nations. Ethiopia is one such example, where an open economy and the beginnings of a stable polity were beginning to take hold but that has recently lurched towards a more controlling, and brutal style of government. Think also of Nigeria – where inequality is growing and where unrest could become a serious socio-political issue. Nigerians may soon ask themselves if they want to replicate China’s success or whether Britain is a model for them.

Mike O'Sullivan
I am the author of a book called The Levelling which points to what's next after globalization and puts forward constructive ideas as to how an increasingly fractured world can develop in a positive and constructive way. The book mixes economics, history, politics, finance and geopolitics. Markets are the best place to watch and test the way the world evolves. Most of my career has been spent in investment management, the last 12 years at Credit Suisse where I was the chief investment officer in the International Wealth Management Division. I started my career as an academic, at Oxford

Meteor exploded so brightly it triggered doorbell cams across Northern England

20 Feb, 2021 

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© UK Meteor Network / @UKMeteorNetwork

Residents in northern England and Scotland were treated to a spectacular celestial display this week when a suspected bolide exploded as it struck the Earth's atmosphere.

The night skies over northern England exploded into light for a brief second courtesy of the huge flash, with residents marvelling at what it might be, anything from a military test to a crashing plane. 

Thankfully, several people received alerts of suspicious activity on their doorbell cameras, only to discover they had, in fact, managed to record the ethereal, extraterrestrial effulgence.

“I’ve seen meteors before but this one I was stunned by the colour, the length of the fireball and the length of time it was in the sky,” said one stunned resident.

Reports streamed in to the International Meteor Organization (IMO) and the UK Meteor Network from all over the northern UK about the celestial pyrotechnics display, which occurred at roughly 21:20 local time.

“Due to the velocity at which they strike the Earth’s atmosphere, fragments larger than one millimetre have the capability to produce a bright flash as they streak through the heavens above,” the IMO says, in describing these bolides.

The hundreds of people across Northumberland who witnessed the event were perfectly positioned as it turns out the area holds Dark Sky Park status, meaning it has a particularly good view of such stunning spectacles, rivalled only by places like Death Valley and Big Bend Dark Sky Parks in the US.

These areas are protected for their exceptional night-time skies so they can be used in astronomical, scientific and educational research.

  

Zarif Mocks Western Hypocrisy Over Reports About Israeli Nuke Facility Expansion

Zarif Mocks Western Hypocrisy Over Reports About Israeli Nuke Facility Expansion

© REUTERS / Dalati Nohra

MIDDLE EAST

20:46 GMT 20.02.2021(updated 03:51 GMT 21.02.2021)Get short URL

by James Tweedie

The US has signalled its willingness to "show up" to multilateral talks with Iran on reviving the 2015 nuclear energy deal with former president Donald Trump withdrew from. But Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed it would pave the way for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has accused Western powers of hypocrisy after reports Israel is expanding its weapons-grade uranium plant.

In a tweet on Saturday, Zarif seized on media reports of new works in progress at the Dimona facility in the Negev desert — which enriches fissile for Israel's unofficial but widely acknowledged nuclear arsenal.

He asked US President Joe Biden and the leaders of the remaining western parties to the 2015 nuclear energy deal with Iran — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel — if they were even a little "concerned" at the development.

​Earlier this week the so-called E3 — the UK, France and Germany — and the US demanded that Iran cease uranium enrichment. In January, Iran's Fordow plant resumed refining uranium to a 20 per cent concentration of fissile isotope uranium-235 at a rate of half-a-kilo per day. That degree of purity is way below the 90 per cent level needed for nuclear weapons, but higher than used in most nuclear reactors. 

They also warned Tehran against moves to block International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections mandated under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) unless all other parties honour their own commitments under the pact.

Washington is yet to return the JCPOA, which former president Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018 — re-imposing sanctions on Iranian oil exports that were lifted under the deal.

Last week Zarif attacked the E3 for calling on Iran to return to the deal without a similar commitment from the US. But on Thursday US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington was willing to "show up" if the remaining parties — including Russia, China and the EU trade bloc — arranged a summit.

But Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned the US on Friday that reviving the JCPOA would "pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal.”

Israel is estimated to have between 80 and 400 nuclear weapons in its clandestine arsenal — although it has never tested such a device on its own territory. Iran has consistently publicly renounced nuclear weapons development in line with a long-standing fatwah by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Sanitiser superbug: Concern over disinfectant-resistant bacteria which could cause another pandemic

By Shaun Smillie 

Johannesburg - In a laboratory in the University of Free State a strain of bacteria is showing an adaptation that has scientists worried.

The strain of the bacteria Serratia marcescens has become resistant to disinfectants and this could be the sign of things to come where humankind could end up facing a pandemic worse  than Covid-19

"It is not regarded as a serious human pathogen but this strain that we have isolated is extremely resistant to disinfectants," said Professor Robert Bragg, who is head of the Veterinary Biotechnology group, at the University of the Free State.

In a world where disinfectants have become one of the front-line weapons in the fight against the spread of Covid-19, scientists like Bragg are concerned that the pandemic will be helping in the evolution of strains of bacteria that are not only drug resistant but also disinfectant resistant.

“Ten years ago no one really thought about resistance to disinfectants,” explained Bragg. “Now the whole concept is picking up and becoming an issue. There is growing concern that because of Covid, every man and his dog is spraying you with some arbitrary unknown disinfectant every time you go in anywhere. And often there is very limited quality control.”

Other bacteria besides S marcescens have also been found to be highly resistant to several commercially available disinfectants. Fortunately they are still rare.

“The good quality registered disinfectants are generally fine,” explained Bragg. “But there is very little control of what is being used.

Hand sanitiser File picture: Harvey Boyd/Pixabay

“If you dilute alcohol-based disinfectants even slightly, they won't be effective. Also quite a few hand sanitisers have very low levels of other disinfectants in it. It is like you have a very nice chemical weapon and you are showing them very low concentrations of this and it is allowing them to build up resistance.”

This, coupled with growing antibiotic resistance in bacteria, could soon overshadow the current Covid-19 pandemic.

“Bacterial infections that are present in hospitals and agriculture are becoming unresponsive to many of the antibiotics currently in use, marking the start of a post-antibiotic era,” said Samantha McCarlie, Master’s student and laboratory manager, in a statement.

By 2050 it has been predicted that antimicrobial resistance could lead to as many deaths as cancer causes today, and could account for between 10 and 50 million deaths a year.

Already these so-called superbugs have been found in hospitals across the country.

“It is a scary problem because we have run out of antibiotics," said Bragg.

At the Veterinary Biotechnology group Bragg and his team are looking at ways of preventing bacteria from evolving disinfectant resistance.

Part of their research is understanding how S marcescens is developing disinfectant resistance, at a molecular level.

Their research includes taking environmental samples and testing levels of disinfectant resistance.

“Once the mechanisms are identified, possible solutions can be investigated,” said McCarlie.

Then they will be able to make recommendations to hospitals and the agricultural industry on how to fight these bugs.

Undergraduate students are also being used to evaluate different hand sanitisers as part of their practical training.

Vanessa Carter is an antimicrobial advocate and has experienced first hand the dangers of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

In 2011 she developed an methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, that was related to a motor vehicle accident she had seven years earlier.

The infection nearly killed her.

"What is very frightening is what I have witnessed and that is when we talk about these antibacterials in these hand sanitisers, people can sometimes get frightened because they say well it is going to become resistant anyway so I mustn't sanitise my hands," Carter said.

She believes the best way to combat antibiotic and disinfectant resistance is through education, and that the Covid-19 pandemic has helped with that.

“We need to realise that we can't control nature, we need to rather respect nature,” she said.

The Saturday Star

Did these billionaires, celebrities jump the Covid-19 vaccine queue?

Socialite Kim Lim, who owns three medically licensed

 aesthetics clinics, got her first Covid-19 vaccine last month.

PHOTOS: ICON, KIM LIM/INSTAGRAM

Benson Ang


PUBLISHED FEB 20, 2021

SINGAPORE - With Covid-19 vaccinations under way worldwide, some celebrities, politicians and billionaires have recently been accused of using their privilege to move to the front of the line. Here are six people who have faced flak for allegedly doing so.
1. Kim Lim

On Jan 14, Singaporean socialite Kim Lim, daughter of billionaire Peter Lim, posted on Instagram that she received her first Covid-19 vaccine. Accusations that she jumped the queue came fast and furious.

But according to website 8 Days, the entrepreneur owns three medically licensed aesthetics clinics. This means she and her staff are within the healthcare sector, which is prioritised in Singapore's Covid-19 vaccination programme.


Ms Lim also said as much in her Instagram post: "For those wondering why we can take first, it is because we are considered (to be in the) healthcare sector as well. We have GP (general practitioner) clinics too. So those working there are eligible."

She explained to 8 Days that her doctor friends had told her: "Kim, you are the boss. You need to show your staff that it is okay to take the vaccine. If the boss is scared, then the staff will also be scared."

The 29-year-old added that it would have been "strange" if her staff had been vaccinated and she had not. She said: "In my company, we believe in 'all for one and one for all'. We are in this together."


2. Johann Rupert

PHOTO: GERMISTON CITY NEWS/FACEBOOK

South African billionaire Johann Rupert, whom Forbes lists as the fourth-richest person in Africa, was among the first to be vaccinated in Switzerland before the official launch of the local vaccination programme.

The tycoon reportedly flew to Switzerland in December 2020 and was vaccinated at a Swiss private clinic under the Hirslanden hospital group in the canton of Thurgau.

The group is owned by South Africa's Mediclinic, of which investment holding company Remgro holds a 45 per cent stake. Mr Rupert is chairman of Remgro.

Last month, the billionaire rejected the accusation that he jumped the queue, saying that as he is 70 years old and has co-morbidity issues as defined by Swiss law, his physician arranged the vaccination for him.

The Hirslanden hospital group also said it had permission to administer vaccines to "test subjects of their choice" before the vaccination campaign's official start.
3. Leszek Miller

PHOTO: EPA-EFE


On Dec 30 last year, when Covid-19 vaccines in Poland were available only to front-line healthcare workers, their families and parents of newborns, a former premier got his vaccination despite being none of the above.

Mr Leszek Miller, 74, was prime minister of Poland between 2001 and 2004 and is now a member of the European Parliament. Unsurprisingly, many were outraged at the news.

Mr Miller later explained to Polish media that he got the shot because he was a long-term patient of the Medical University of Warsaw's medical centre, which conducted "out-of-sequence" vaccinations.

He said on Polish news channel TVN24: "I am just a patient. Not the prime minister, but the patient. And the additional doses (given to the university) could be used, among other things, by the families of employees and patients of university institutions."

4. Miguel Angel Villarroya

PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Spain's top general resigned last month after allegations surfaced that he had received the vaccine before priority groups.

Around that time, news agencies reported that General Miguel Angel Villarroya, who was Spain's chief of defence staff, and other senior military officers had already received their jabs, sparking widespread indignation.

In a statement on his resignation, the country's defence ministry said Gen Villarroya "took decisions which he thought to be correct" but which "damaged the public image of the armed forces".

He is not the only Spaniard to have jumped the queue. Several local mayors have acknowledged that they received vaccinations before their turn, while the regional health chief of Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa, said he got vaccinated early under pressure from his staff.

CANADIAN, EH

5. Rod and Ekaterina Baker

PHOTO: EKATERINA BAKER/FACEBOOK

The casino mogul and his actress wife went out of their way to secure their Covid-19 jabs - and it cost them dearly. Mr Rod Baker was forced to resign from his position as the chief executive of casino firm Great Canadian Gaming Corp (GCGC).

The 55-year-old and his spouse, 32, who reportedly live in a suite at a posh hotel and condominium in Vancouver, had travelled to the Canadian city of Whitehorse and taken a private plane to Yukon, a remote territory with a faster vaccination rate compared with the rest of Canada.

There, they posed as motel workers to get the vaccine, but their ruse was uncovered when they asked to be taken to the airport straight after the shot.

The couple were charged with failing to quarantine for 14 days on arrival in Yukon. They were also fined and forced to walk back to the airport as none of the residents in Beaver Creek community was willing to give them a ride. In addition, GCGC told BBC last month that Mr Baker is no longer affiliated in any way with the company.

Its board of directors has "no tolerance for actions that run counter to the company's objectives and values", it added.

Two killed in Mandalay city in bloodiest day of Myanmar protests

A man injured during protests in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021.PHOTO: REUTERS

MANDALAY (REUTERS) - Two people were killed in Myanmar’s second city Mandalay on Saturday (Feb 20) when police and soldiers fired to disperse protests against a Feb 1 military coup, emergency workers said, the bloodiest day in more than two weeks of demonstrations.

Protesters took to the streets in cities and towns across Myanmar with members of ethnic minorities, poets, rappers and transport workers among those demanding an end to military rule and the release from detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others.

Tensions escalated quickly in Mandalay where police and soldiers confronted striking shipyard workers and other protesters.

Some of the demonstrators fired catapults at police as they played cat and mouse through riverside streets. Police responded with tear gas and gunfire, and witnesses said they found the cartridges of both live rounds and rubber bullets on the ground.

“Twenty people were injured and two are dead,” said Ko Aung, a leader of the Parahita Darhi volunteer emergency service.

One man died from a head wound, media workers including Lin Khaing, an assistant editor with the Voice of Myanmar media outlet in the city, and a volunteer doctor said.

Ko Aung and the doctor said a second man was shot in the chest and died later of his wound. He was identified by relatives as Thet Naing Win, a 36-year-old carpenter.

“They took away the body to the morgue. I cannot bring him back home. Although my husband died, I still have my son,” his wife, Thidar Hnin, told Reuters by phone.

“I haven’t been involved in this movement yet but now I am going to... I am not scared now.”

Several other injured protesters were carried away on stretchers by volunteer medics, their clothes soaked in blood.


Police were not available for comment.

A young woman protester, Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, died on Friday after being shot in the head last week as police dispersed a crowd in the capital, Naypyitaw, the first death among anti-coup demonstrators.
Myanmar's bloodiest day of protest since coup


Police throwing projectiles towards protesters in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. PHOTO: AFP

A medical team treat a wounded man following a demonstration where security forces fired on and beat protesters in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021.

The army says one policeman has died of injuries sustained in a protest.

The US Embassy in Myanmar said it was “deeply troubled” by Saturday’s fatal shootings in Mandalay and the death of Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing.

“No one should be harmed for exercising the right to dissent,” the embassy said in a statement on its Facebook page.

State television MRTV’s evening news broadcast made no mention of the protests or casualties.

In the main city Yangon, residents again banged pots and pans in a nightly ritual in defiance of the coup. Outside the US Embassy in the city, dozens of protesters, mostly women, gathered at twilight for a candlelit vigil, singing anti-coup songs.

Protesters holding out bullet cartridges and ammunition for slingshots after security forces fired on demonstrators in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. PHOTO: AFP

Civil disobedience

More than a fortnight of demonstrations and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes and disruptions show no sign of dying down. Opponents of the coup are sceptical of the army’s promise to hold a new election and hand power to the winner.

The demonstrators are demanding the restoration of the elected government and the release of Suu Kyi and others. They have also called for the scrapping of a 2008 constitution that has assured the army a major role in politics since nearly 50 years of direct military rule ended in 2011.

The army seized back power after alleging fraud in Nov 8 elections that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy swept, detaining her and others. The electoral commission had dismissed the fraud complaints.

Nevertheless, the army says its action is within the constitution and is supported by a majority of the people. The military has blamed protesters for instigating violence.

Crowds also gathered on Saturday in the northern town of Myitkyina, the ancient capital of Bagan and in Pathein in the Irrawaddy river delta, pictures on social media showed.
Thousands march against coup in Myanmar's capital

Sanctions

The United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have announced limited sanctions, with a focus on military leaders.

Several foreign governments have urged Myanmar’s military not to use force against protesters.

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was already under sanctions from Western countries following the crackdown on the Rohingya.

There is little history of Myanmar’s generals, with closer ties to China and to Russia, giving in to Western pressure.

Suu Kyi faces a charge of violating a Natural Disaster Management Law as well as illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios. Her next court appearance is on March 1.

Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said 546 people had been detained, with 46 released, as of Friday.

Myanmar's use of lethal weapons against unarmed civilians 'inexcusable': MFA

Police and soldiers are seen during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021.PHOTO: REUTERS


Aw Cheng Wei


PUBLISHEDFEB 20, 2021


SINGAPORE - The use of lethal weapons against unarmed civilians by Myanmar's security forces during protests is inexcusable, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on Saturday (Feb 20).

"We are dismayed by the reports of civilian casualties following the use of lethal force by security forces against demonstrators in Myanmar. The use of lethal weapons against unarmed civilians is inexcusable," said MFA.

"We strongly urge the security forces to exercise utmost restraint to avoid further injuries and loss of lives, and take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation and restore calm. The authorities must prevent further violence and bloodshed."


Three people have died so far during the protests against the Feb 1 coup by the military. Police fired gunshots, tear gas and water cannons to quell demonstrations throughout the country which saw hundreds of thousands of protestors.

Twenty-year-old student Mya Thwate Thwate Kaing died on Friday in Naypyitaw, the first fatality in the unrest. A bullet had struck her in the head. At least 20 protestors were injured.

Two people were killed in the second largest city Mandalay on Saturday, with another 20 injured, according to media reports.

MFA said: "All parties should seek a political solution for national reconciliation, including a return to Myanmar's path of democratic transition, through dialogue without resorting to violence."

"If the situation continues to escalate, there will be serious adverse consequences for Myanmar and the region," it added.

The ministry also said that the Singapore embassy in Yangon has been in touch with Singaporeans in Myanmar.

"In view of the volatile situation, Singaporeans in Myanmar are advised to remain indoors as far as possible and avoid unnecessary travel to areas where protests are occurring," it added.

MFA reminded Singaporeans to remain vigilant and monitor local news closely. They should take necessary precautions for their personal safety, and register immediately at this website, so that the ministry can contact them should the need arise.