WRAPUP 2-Myanmar protests resume, West condemns security response

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

(Adds comments from analyst, activist)

* Tuesday protests broken up with water cannon, rubberbullets

* Woman shot in head likely to die - doctor

* U.N. condemns disproportionate use of force againstprotests

* U.S. says reviewing assistance to Myanmar

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Protesters returned to the streets ofMyanmar on Wednesday after the most violent day yet indemonstrations against a coup that halted a tentative transitionto democracy under elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The United States and United Nations condemned the use offorce against protesters, who demand the reversal of the coupand the release of Suu Kyi and other detained leaders of herNational League for Democracy (NLD) and activists.

"We cannot stay quiet," youth leader Esther Ze Naw toldReuters. "If there is blood shed during our peaceful protests,then there will be more if we let them take over the country."

Thousands of people joined demonstrations in the main cityof Yangon. In the capital Naypyitaw, hundreds of governmentworkers marched in support of a growing civil disobediencecampaign, which was started by health workers.

A doctor said one protester was expected to die from agunshot wound to the head in Tuesday's protests. She was woundedwhen police fired guns, mostly in the air, to clear protestersin Naypyitaw. Three other people were being treated for woundsfrom suspected rubber bullets, doctors said.

Protesters were also hurt in Mandalay and other cities,where security forces used water cannon and arrested dozens.State media reported injuries to police during their attempts todisperse protesters, who were accused of throwing stones andbricks.

The military has imposed restrictions on gatherings and anight curfew in the country's biggest cities.

The U.S. State Department said it was reviewing assistanceto Myanmar to ensure those responsible for the coup face"significant consequences".

"We repeat our calls for the military to relinquish power,restore democratically elected government, release thosedetained and lift all telecommunication restrictions and torefrain from violence," spokesman Ned Price said in Washington.

The United Nations called on Myanmar's security forces torespect people's right to protest peacefully.

"The use of disproportionate force against demonstrators isunacceptable," Ola Almgren, the U.N. representative in Myanmar,said.

The protests are the largest in Myanmar in more than adecade, reviving memories of almost half a century of directarmy rule and spasms of bloody uprisings until the militarybegan relinquishing some power in 2011.

Avinash Paliwal, a senior lecturer in internationalrelations at the School of Oriental and African Studies at theUniversity of London, said Myanmar will not be as isolated nowas it was in the past, with China, India, ASEAN and Japanunlikely to cut ties.

"The country is too important geo-strategically for that tohappen. The U.S. and other Western countries will put sanctions- but this coup and its ramifications will be an Asian story,not a Western one," Paliwal said.

CRITICAL CONDITION

A doctor in Naypyitaw said the woman who was shot in thehead with a live bullet remained in a critical condition but wasnot expected to survive. Social media video verified by Reutersshowed her with other protesters some distance from a row ofriot police as a water cannon sprayed and several shots could beheard.

The woman, wearing a motorcycle helmet, suddenly collapsed.Pictures of her helmet showed what appeared to be a bullet hole.

Myanmar's army took power citing allegations of fraud in aNov. 8 election that Suu Kyi's NLD party won by a landslide. Theelectoral commission dismissed the army's complaints.

Late on Tuesday, police raided the NLD's headquarters inYangon during the hours of a military-imposed curfew, electedlawmakers said.

Suu Kyi's party had been due to start a second term on theday of the coup.

Alongside the protests, a civil disobedience movement hasaffected hospitals, schools and government offices. Staff fromthe electricity and power ministry in Naypyitaw were among thelatest to join the civil disobedience movement on Wednesday.

Activist Min Ko Naing called in a Facebook post on allgovernment workers to join the disobedience campaign, and forpeople to take note of who did not participate.

"We need to praise them and we need to protect them. We alsoneed to prepare to take action sometime later to those whothreatened and oppressed."

Protesters' demands now go beyond reversing the coup.

They also seek the abolition of a 2008 constitution drawn upunder military supervision that gave the generals a veto inparliament and control of several ministries, and for a federalsystem in ethnically diverse Myanmar.

Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigningfor democracy and spent nearly 15 years under house arrest.

The 75-year-old faces charges of illegally importing sixwalkie-talkies and is being held in detention until Feb. 15. Herlawyer said he has not been allowed to see her.

Suu Kyi remains hugely popular at home despitedamage to her international reputation over the plight of theMuslim Rohingya minority.

(Reporting by Reuters staffWriting by Matthew Tostevin and Lincoln FeastEditing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Latest Stories

  • Trump supporter arrested after threatening Mitch McConnell’s grandkids on Parler

    Mr Houck accused of posting numerous threatening messages on Parler in lead up to and after Capitol riot on 6 January

  • The Daily Show surveys Joe Biden's 3 weeks of presidential scandals, says farewell to Lou Dobbs

    No president is immune from scandal, President Biden included, Trevor Noah said on Monday's Daily Show. But maybe not all scandals are created equal. "Over the weekend, Biden took a short break from his day-to-day presidenting to catch the Super Bowl from his home in Delaware — and if you aren't immediately outraged about that, well, you obviously haven't been watching the last 48 hours of conservative news media," Noah said. "But it's not surprising that Biden bent the travel rules for himself, because he's been president for less that three weeks and already he's had more scandals than we can keep track of — although, my friends, we are going to try in our brand-new segment: 'Joe Biden, The Worst President in History That We Can Remember.'" Noah covered White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki's Space Force brouhaha, Biden's comments about honorable FBI agents, Hunter Biden's memoir deal, and the three scandals Biden chalked up even before becoming president. "That's right, Joe Biden stole 10 minutes of Donald Trump's presidency, or as Fox News calls it, Tenghazi," Noah deadpanned. "Who knows what Trump could have accomplished in those 10 minutes? I mean, maybe that's when he was finally going to release his health care plan. He could have used that time to walk down half a ramp! And do you have any idea how much Fox News Trump could have watched in that 10 minutes? Like, 10 minutes! So those are they many Joe Biden scandals by the muckraking journalists of conservative media in just his first three weeks in office." He predicted some Biden scandals that could come next. One of those conservative would-be Biden muckrakers lost his platform over the weekend, and The Daily Show also took a moment to say farewell to Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, "the most North Korean broadcaster America has ever seen." Watch his highlight reel below. More stories from theweek.comTrump reportedly avoided calling Biden a 'predator' in ads because it would 'open up his own can of worms'Aunt Jemima rebranded as Pearl Milling CompanyTrump allies are amazed at how much his reputation has recovered since the Capitol riot

  • Singaporean Professor Lectures for 2 Hours, Dies Inside After Realizing He was Muted the Whole Time

    Dong Wang is an associate professor from the Department of Mathematics at the National University of Singapore (NUS). YouTube users who claim to be in the class reported that they had done "all sorts of things" to get his attention, but he simply ignored them.

  • Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu pleads not guilty as corruption trial resumes

    Israel’s prime minister appeared in court on Monday to formally deny charges of fraud and bribery as his corruption trial resumed in Jerusalem. Benjamin Netanyahu, who has dismissed the allegations as “fabricated and ludicrous,” was brought to the courthouse in a motorcade as protesters gathered outside to call for his resignation. During the brief hearing, he was asked to give a formal response to the charges against him. Mr Netanyahu spoke only to confirm he had given the court a written statement in which he vehemently denies all of the charges. He then left the hearing after around 20 minutes. A group of anti-Netanyahu protesters gathered outside the courtroom in east Jerusalem on Monday, chanting slogans and holding banners, one of which said “Crime Minister.” The protests were audible from inside the courtroom. Mr Netanyahu had urged his own supporters not to gather in large groups at the courthouse due to the risk of being exposed to coronavirus. During the hearing, Boaz Ben Zur, Mr Netanyahu's lawyer, accused Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit of mishandling the case. Mr Ben Zur argued that elements of the investigation into the premier were opened without required authorisations. The complex trial is likely to continue for several years and has already faced multiple postponements due to the coronavirus pandemic. If he is found guilty, the prime minister faces up to a decade behind bars as well as a hefty fine. Mr Netanyahu strongly denies all the charges against him and has described the trial as a politically motivated “witch hunt.” The charges against Mr Netanyahu have been split up into three groups, known as Cases 4,000, 2,000 and 1,000. Case 4,000, the most serious charge sheet, accuses the prime minister of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He is alleged to have granted regulatory favours to a telecoms company in exchange for positive media coverage. Case 2,000 also alleges that the prime minister sought a special arrangement on positive coverage from an Israeli newspaper. Case 1,000 alleges that Mr Netanyahu and his family received gifts, including luxury cigars, champagne and jewellery worth around 700,000 shekels (£150,000), from wealthy friends in return for favours. Mr Netanyahu is standing for re-election this March and hopes that his success in vaccinating more than a third of the population against Covid-19 since December will hand him a decisive victory at the ballot box. He may be required to attend several trial hearings each week, though his allies in the ruling Likud party have called for the next stage of the trial to be postponed.

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene hit by furious backlash after sharing conspiracy about Capitol rioters and Trump ahead of impeachment trial

    She asked: 'If January 6 organizers were Trump supporters, then why did they attack us while we were objecting to electoral college votes for Joe Biden?'

  • Egypt opens Rafah crossing with Gaza until further notice: sources

    Egypt on Tuesday opened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza strip until further notice, Egyptian and Palestinian sources said, a move described as an incentive for reconciliation between the main Palestinian factions, meeting in Cairo. Leaders of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, which controls the West Bank, and of Hamas, the armed Islamist movement that opposes any negotiations with Israel, began Egyptian-brokered talks on Monday to address long-standing divisions ahead of elections planned for later this year. The 365-sq km (141-sq mile) Gaza strip, controlled by Hamas, is home to around 2 million Palestinians.

  • Brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima reveals new name

    The old Aunt Jemima brand and logo was based on a racist "mammy" stereotype.

  • Former Nixon Library director suggests Biden ignores Trump's impeachment trial at America's peril

    President Biden and his aides have made it very clear he has no intention of commenting on, or even paying much attention to, former President Donald Trump's second Senate impeachment trial, which begins Tuesday. When reporters asked Biden how and whether Trump should be held accountable for his role in the Jan. 6 violent siege of the U.S. Capitol, he replied, "We'll let the Senate work that out." Politico summed up Biden's Trump impeachment strategy as: "Sit back and STFU." Biden allies explained to Politico and The Washington Post that the White House sees no upside, political or practical, in weighing in on Trump's impeachment. Biden is focused — and wants to be seen focusing — on taming the COVID-19 pandemic, notably pushing through his $1.9 billion coronavirus stimulus bill. Ignoring the Senate trial also echoes how Biden's team dealt with what Politico calls "Trumpian distractions" on the campaign trail, and, the Post notes, it "creates contrast with Trump, who at times appeared to weigh in on every controversy facing the country" and frequently watched TV during work hours. Besides, it's unlikely anything Biden says would tip the scales toward conviction, which requires 17 Senate Republicans to break with the former president. More broadly, Biden has indicated he wants to move past the Trump era. Still, "it is unclear if the White House will, or even can, be as removed from this political drama, as Biden and his aides suggest," the Post reports. "No sitting president has ever had to contend with the impeachment trial of his predecessor unfolding during his own presidency, let alone in the crucial opening weeks that often present the best opening for getting things done." The closest any president has come to that quandary is Gerald Ford, who replaced President Richard Nixon after he resigned rather than face impeachment and likely removal from office, Timothy Naftali, a historian who has written about impeachment and served as director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Museum and Library, told the Post. "Ford needed to find a way to turn the page." "I understand why Gerald Ford did what he did. But I think there was a cost to turning the corner as quickly as he did," Naftali added. "And I worry that, through an understandable concern about the pandemic, Joe Biden may be turning the corner too quickly." More stories from theweek.comTrump reportedly avoided calling Biden a 'predator' in ads because it would 'open up his own can of worms'Aunt Jemima rebranded as Pearl Milling CompanyTrump allies are amazed at how much his reputation has recovered since the Capitol riot

  • Italy's 5-Star to hold online vote on whether to back Draghi

    Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement said on Monday it would consult members on whether it should back a government led by former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, increasing the uncertainty over the make-up of his coalition. 5-Star, the largest party in parliament, had initially ruled out backing Draghi. After the resignation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte due to a coalition rupture, Italy's head of state asked Draghi last week to try to form a government with broad parliamentary backing.

  • Stimulus checks would be capped at $100,000 income under Democrat plan. What we know

    Here’s who would get stimulus checks under the plan by House Democrats.

  • Chinese firm 'linked to country’s intelligence agency' worked with BBC on flagship shows

    A Chinese firm with alleged links to the country’s intelligence agency has worked with the BBC on flagship shows, including co-producing Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II. Tencent, a £375 billion tech and media giant, owns the controversial Chinese messaging app WeChat, which was banned in the US on national security grounds under one of Donald Trump’s final executive orders. WeChat has been described as a “key component of the Chinese government's infrastructure of control” after it was claimed that Tencent censors politically sensitive content on foreign accounts, an allegation it has previously denied. It has also been claimed that Tencent received money from the Ministry of State Security, China’s main intelligence agency, when it was founded in 1998, an allegation it has also denied. This week it was revealed that Oxford University accepted £700,000 from Tencent to rename one of its prestigious fellowships at New College. The Wykeham chair of physics, which was established in 1900, will now be known as the Tencent-Wykeham chair in honour of the Chinese computing giant. The move was described as “very unwise” and “grotesque” by MPs given the allegations of the tech firm’s connection to China’s security apparatus. Experts today expressed further concern at Tencent’s relationship with another leading British institution after it emerged that the BBC has signed a string of deals with the Chinese company since 2016 to co-produce a litany of the broadcaster’s flagship shows, including Sir David’s Blue Planet II.

  • Minority officers were barred from guarding Derek Chauvin in jail, lawsuit alleges

    The lawsuit, filed in state district court, also claims Chauvin received special treatment from a white lieutenant.

  • Trump reportedly avoided calling Biden a 'predator' in ads because it would 'open up his own can of worms'

    Former President Donald Trump apparently had his limits when it came to attacking his political rivals. Throughout the 2020 campaign season, Trump had the final say over which campaign ads made it onto the air and which were tossed out. He made those decisions at regular White House viewing sessions, where his top White House aides and campaign officials would gather to laugh at and workshop ads, including some too "out there" even for the former president, Axios reports. A few times a month, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale would bring his laptop to the White House and sit "so close" to Trump that it sometimes "bothered" him, a source tells Axios. Parscale would then play through a reel of campaign ads, including many inspired by "young, pro-Trump fans who sent their ideas" to him, Axios continues. One targeted CNN's Don Lemon and his coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests, while another showed President Biden coughing to allege he was unwell, a source said. Trump would often "burst out laughing" at some of the wilder spots, but then conclude they were too "brutal" or "weren't worth the backlash" he'd get, the source told Axios. One subject Trump particularly avoided was Biden's inappropriate touching of women, Axios reports. At one point, Trump's campaign drew up an ad featuring clips of women who'd accused Biden of inappropriate contact, and then finished with a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris declaring "I know a predator when I see one." But as one source close to the campaign said, "He never wanted to run the predator or women's-style ads against Biden, because he was afraid he was going to open up his own can of worms." Read more about Trump's campaign ad critiques at Axios. More stories from theweek.comAunt Jemima rebranded as Pearl Milling CompanyTrump allies are amazed at how much his reputation has recovered since the Capitol riotJared and Ivanka reportedly warn Trump 'he can still screw this up' ahead of likely impeachment acquittal

  • Taiwan wishes China happy new year, but says won't yield to pressure

    Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen wished China a happy Lunar New Year on Tuesday, but said she would not yield to Chinese pressure and reiterated a call for dialogue to resume with Beijing, which China rejected. China, which claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory, has increased its military activity around the island in recent months, responding to what Beijing calls "collusion" between Taipei and Washington, Taiwan's most important international backer. Speaking after a meeting with senior security officials, Tsai said Taiwan was in close contact with "relevant countries" about the situation in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from its huge neighbour.

  • Army War College Commandant Suspended Pending Investigation

    Maj. Gen. Stephen J. Maranian has been suspended until the completion of an investigation.

  • A Georgia teen accused of shoving a police officer in the Capitol riot told his social-media followers he was called to DC to 'fight'

    Bruno Cua from Milton, Georgia, has been charged with assault on a federal officer and civil disorder, among other charges in the Capitol riot.

  • One of Trump's impeachment lawyers filed a lawsuit against him in 2020

    This time around, they're on the same side, but it was a different story in 2020, when Michael van der Veen, one of former President Donald Trump's impeachment lawyers, sued him. In August, van der Veen filed a lawsuit against Trump, the U.S. Postal Service, and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on behalf of an independent political candidate in Pennsylvania. The suit alleges that changes were made at the USPS to make it harder for people to vote by mail during the pandemic. Trump, the suit says, made "repeated claims" that mail-in voting is "ripe with fraud" but had "no evidence in support of these claims." Based in Philadelphia, van der Veen is the co-founder of a law firm that specializes in personal injury suits. In December, the firm hired Bruce Castor, who signed on last month to serve as one of Trump's impeachment lawyers. Castor and Atlanta-based lawyer David Schoen delivered opening arguments at the impeachment trial on Tuesday, and van der Veen joined them in signing impeachment filings, which claim Trump was free to make his claims that election laws were changed illegally to taint the election, The Washington Post reports. Van der Veen, who did not respond to the Post's requests for comment, has donated to Democratic politicians in the past, including Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon. She told the Post she would love to know if Trump realizes he hired someone who filed a lawsuit against him last year, adding, "It does seem a little out of character for the former president to embrace someone who so recently sued him." More stories from theweek.comTrump reportedly avoided calling Biden a 'predator' in ads because it would 'open up his own can of worms'Aunt Jemima rebranded as Pearl Milling CompanyTrump allies are amazed at how much his reputation has recovered since the Capitol riot

  • Husband of slain Alabama online model sentenced to prison for 16 years

    A former campus police officer convicted of manslaughter in the death of his wife, an adult model who posted racy photos online, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Monday by a judge who said the man still hadn't taken responsibility for the death.

  • Four years into voyage and metres from land, tanker crew still stuck aboard

    Nearly four years into their odyssey at sea, the five-member crew of oil tanker MT Iba is tantalisingly close to shore, yet still unable to set foot on dry land. What started out as a regular seafaring job turned into what the men call a nightmare, when the tanker's owner, Alco Shipping, fell into financial trouble and stopped paying their salaries 32 months ago. Life aboard the ship has been arduous, said Indian engineer Vinay Kumar.

  • Jared and Ivanka reportedly warn Trump 'he can still screw this up' ahead of likely impeachment acquittal

    Former President Donald Trump looks poised for a second impeachment acquittal — but Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are reportedly warning him not to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." With Trump's second Senate impeachment trial set to start in just a few hours, Politico reported on Tuesday that his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner have warned the former president "that while he has the votes for acquittal, he can still screw this up." "'Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory' is the phrase Kushner has been heard using most frequently to describe the worry," Politico writes. Trump's acquittal has been seen as likely after 45 Senate Republicans backed an effort to dismiss the impeachment trial last month, suggesting there aren't enough votes for a conviction. In this historic second trial, Trump is facing charges of inciting an insurrection at the Capitol building that left five people dead. His lawyers are expected to argue that the trial isn't constitutional because he's no longer in office. Trump, Politico also reports, has evidently taken Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's advice to heart, with an aide telling the outlet, "Right now Trump is thinking, 'I've got 45 votes, all I have to do is go golfing and not do anything.'" But he's also "already imagining his comeback," according to the report — and drawing comparisons to his reality show The Apprentice. "He's compared it to that time in between seasons of The Apprentice, building anticipation and wonderment for what's to come," an adviser told Politico. While it's not exactly clear what Trump imagines such a comeback to look like, a separate Politico report on Tuesday said that aides expect him to "gradually" re-emerge once the trial is over, at which point he'll likely be "turning his attention toward seeking revenge against Republicans who, he believes, crossed him after he left office." More stories from theweek.comTrump reportedly avoided calling Biden a 'predator' in ads because it would 'open up his own can of worms'Aunt Jemima rebranded as Pearl Milling CompanyTrump allies are amazed at how much his reputation has recovered since the Capitol riot