MELBOURNE — Naomi Osaka saved two match points as she battled back from the brink to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a (4-6, 6-4, 7-5) victory over in-form Garbine Muguruza on Sunday.
The Japanese third seed was chasing the match from the start on Rod Laver Arena and looked defeat square in the face in the third set when the Spanish 14th seed had two opportunities to win the match with a break of serve.
Osaka saved both match points — the first with an ace — to turn the tide in the contest decisively and Muguruza exited the tournament a couple of games later after failing to win a point in her final service. — Reuters
ADD the Minnesota Timberwolves to the growing list of National Basketball Association (NBA) teams, which have partnered with Philippine rum maker Tanduay.
In an announcement made last week, Tanduay said the Timberwolves were the latest NBA club it has been privileged to link up with as it takes its brand to more territories.
Tanduay also has existing partnerships with the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets, and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Under the deal with the Wolves, Tanduay will have TV-visible courtside rotation LED and basket pad LED signage, pole pads, and arena signage bearing its iconic name and logo.
Custom Timberwolves-Tanduay co-brand packaging for rums will also be released in Minnesota.
“As a global brand, we love bringing the world closer together, having fans experience flavors or products they haven’t tried before and offer something we know they’ll love,” said Ryan Tanke, Chief Operating Officer of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx, of their decision to partner with Tanduay, in a statement shared by the Filipino rum manufacturer.
For Tanduay, its touts its partnerships with NBA teams as built on the shared culture of striving for excellence and fostering loyalty in the communities they serve.
“As we expand into new markets, we also create new relationships with organizations that share our commitment to bringing the best to our consumers. We are proud to have found that partner in the Minnesota Timberwolves,” said Tanduay President and COO Lucio Tan III.
Last year, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, Tanduay was declared the World’s Number 1 Rum by Drinks International for the third consecutive year. It was also awarded “Brand of the Year” in the rum category by the Global Advisory Council of the World Branding Forum for the sixth consecutive year. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
BARCELONA — Lionel Messi scored with two scorching strikes as Barcelona hammered Alavés (5-1) on Saturday in La Liga to warm up for their upcoming Champions League clash with Paris St. Germain (PSG) in style.
Portuguese forward Francisco Trincão put Barça in front after a cut-back from 18-year-old debutant midfielder Ilaix Moriba and Messi thought he had doubled the lead later on when knocking in on the rebound, but the goal was ruled out for a marginal offside against Antoine Griezmann.
Messi then took matters in to his own hands from outside the area and thumped the ball off the far post with such venom that it landed just inside the opposite post.
Alavés’s Luis Rioja pounced on a mistake by Ilaix to reduce the deficit in the second half, but Barça came roaring back with a second strike from Trincão, another long-range missile from Messi and then a fifth goal crafted by Messi and Griezmann and finished off by left back Junior Firpo.
A seventh consecutive league win took Barça up to second in the standings on 46 points, eight behind leaders Atletico Madrid.
“Messi is in a fantastic moment of form,” said Barça coach Ronald Koeman.
“We know how decisive he is and right now he is in the mood. With him playing in this form, everything is easier. If we want to beat PSG, we need Leo and everyone else at the top of their game.”
Barça had suffered a painful 2-0 defeat to Sevilla in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semifinal first leg and Koeman rotated his side to make for fresher legs for Tuesday’s first leg at home to PSG.
He rested Jordi Alba and started without Sergino Dest, Ousmane Dembele and Pedri, but there was no rest for Messi, who unleashed a ferocious shot for his first goal.
He also sparked the move for Barça’s third goal, racing on to a through ball and attempting to round keeper Fernando Pacheco, who succeeded in snuffing out Messi but could only parry the ball into the path of Trincão, who tucked it into the net.
Messi was hungry for a second goal of his own, however, and got one less than 60 seconds later, dribbling past two defenders outside the area and rattling a left-footed shot into the far corner.
Now toying with his prey, he released Griezmann with a delicious chipped pass and the Frenchman sent in a low cross for Firpo to complete the thrashing.
Koeman expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance after making several changes and said they were feeling confident ahead of Tuesday’s showdown against PSG, who will be without an injured Neymar.
“We believe we can get through the tie. They have some injuries, but so do we, and we’ll have to play very well to knock them out,” added the coach.
“We have to be more efficient than ever in attack and strong in defense. I’m sure it’ll be a marvellous game.” — Reuters
DESPITE finishing just one under par on the day, Jordan Spieth managed to hold on to his lead and even separate himself slightly from the pack on Saturday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California.
As the tournament moved exclusively to Pebble Beach Golf Links for the weekend, Spieth capitalized on his second hole-out eagle of the tournament — a 160-yard shot from the fairway on the par-4 No. 16 — to shoot 71 and move to 13-under 203, good for a two-shot lead over a five-pack of players.
The players tied for second place at 11 under are Nate Lashley (68 on Saturday), Tom Hoge (68), Patrick Cantlay (70), Daniel Berger (72), and Scotland’s Russell Knox (69).
Hot on their heels at 10 under and tied for seventh place are Australia’s Jason Day (68), Brian Stuard (69), Maverick McNealy (69), and England’s Paul Casey (71).
The 27-year-old Spieth, coming off his best result in nearly a year, tied for fourth place in the Waste Management Phoenix Open last week. It was his first top-10 finish since he tied for ninth at Pebble Beach in 2020 and his first top-20 result since the Memorial last July.
It was a tale of two nines Saturday for Spieth, who won the 2017 Pebble Beach event for one of his 11 career PGA Tour victories, but hasn’t been victorious since claiming the 2017 Open Championship. After a bogey on No. 2, he rebounded with birdies on Nos. 4, 6 and 9 before giving them all back with bogeys at Nos. 10, 12 and 14.
Then came the eagle at No. 16.
Spieth said of his 8-iron shot that landed in the cup, “In the air I thought it was going to be really good, it was one of the only shots I kind of said, ‘Oh, be good.’ And as it landed it was just exactly where I was trying to hit it, certainly a bonus for it to drop… It’s a good lesson to learn for tomorrow: how quickly things can change out here.”
“It’s just Jordan doing Jordan things,” Berger said regarding his reaction to seeing Spieth hole out.
Spieth said of his current mindset, “I’m finally consistently doing things over the last two weeks that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I think, obviously the more you continue to do that, the bounces go your way, like the hole out did today on 16.
“Someone may do that to me tomorrow or come shoot a 64 or something. I mean, it’s golf, and it’s Pebble Beach, and you can go low, and it can also be really challenging… What I’m asking for is a chance to win the golf tournament on 18.”
Berger was tied with Spieth at 13 under going into No. 18, but dropped two shots with a double bogey and finished even par for the day.
Kevin Streelman shot a bogey-free 67 to record the low round of the day. He started on the back and notched four birdies before posting one more after the turn, and he is tied for 13th place at 8 under.
Defending champion Nick Taylor of Canada posted an even-par 72 and is tied for 34th at 4 under. — Reuters
Who knows what the Jaguars were thinking when they hired the controversial Chris Doyle as their director of sports performance? All and sundry got wind of their decision when they raised the curtain on newly appointed head coach Urban Meyer’s staff last Thursday. And while most of the names got rave reviews, one received significant pushback. Rightly so, to be sure; inked hadn’t yet dried on the divorce papers the former college fixture was forced to sign with the University of Iowa after allegations of his bias against African-American players surfaced. For a franchise that purports to being dead serious in turning the corner, adding a headache was the last thing it needed.
To argue that the Jaguars’ wound was self-inflicted would be to understate the obvious. True, Meyer had carte blanche in choosing his assistants, a big reason he agreed to accept the job in the first place. Nonetheless, he should have been more circumspect when it came to Doyle, just eight months removed from being forced out of an otherwise-cushy situation as the highest-paid strength and conditioning coach in the United States. So intent were the Hawkeyes in parting ways with their trainer of two decades that they actually paid for it to happen, and fast, instead of letting due process, evidently in their favor, play out.
If there’s any consolation, it’s that the Jaguars quickly realized the error of their ways. Hours after the influential Fritz Pollard Alliance weighed in with a stinging rebuke of the ill-advised decision, they came out with a statement effectively withdrawing the hire. Granted, they did so while making Doyle the hero of the course correction; he “came to us this evening to submit his resignation and we accepted. Chris did not want to be a distraction to what we are building in Jacksonville.” Still, there can be no underestimating the value of their move. They could have dug in, just as Meyer initially did by saying “ I’ve known Chris for 20 years… We’ve had a relationship. I vetted him thoroughly, along with our general manager and owner.” Instead, they did the right thing, and it’s never too late to do the right thing.
Admittedly, not insignificant damage has been done. At the same time, it’s fair to argue that the development is but a reflection of how much work the National Football League needs to do when it comes to promoting diversity in this regard, Fritz Pollard Alliance executive director Rod Graves aptly noted, “Urban Meyer’s statement, ‘I’ve known Chris for close to 20 years’ reflects the good ol’ boy network that is precisely the reason there is such a disparity in employment opportunities for Black coaches.”
Interestingly, the Jaguars’ announcement of Doyle’s resignation, issued via e-mail as a “statement from Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer” late Friday night, was then re-sent the next morning as a “statement from Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer and general manager Trent Baalke.” Since all the information therein stayed the same, tongues could not help but start wagging. Perhaps the head coach refused to hang out to dry all by his lonesome. In any case, they’ll all need to be together and work as one from here on.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
US audio app Clubhouse said in a response to the study, published by the research group at Stanford University, that while it had opted not to make the app available in China, some people had found a workaround to download the app which meant the conversations they were a part of could be transmitted via Chinese servers. Screenshot via App Store.
SHANGHAI — US audio app Clubhouse said it is reviewing its data protection practices, after a report by the Stanford Internet Observatory said it contained security flaws that left users’ data vulnerable to access by the Chinese government.
The app said in a response to the study, published by the research group at Stanford University, that while it had opted not to make the app available in China, some people had found a workaround to download the app which meant the conversations they were a part of could be transmitted via Chinese servers.
“With the help of researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory, we have identified a few areas where we can further strengthen our data protection,” the company said in a statement published by the research group on Friday.
“Over the next 72 hours, we are rolling out changes to add additional encryption and blocks to prevent Clubhouse clients from ever transmitting pings to Chinese servers. We also plan to engage an external data security firm to review and validate these changes.”
Clubhouse did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for further comment on Saturday.
Launched in early 2020, the app saw global user numbers soar earlier this month after Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev held a surprise discussion on the platform.
Masses of new users joined from mainland China, taking part in discussions on topics that included sensitive issues such as Xinjiang detention camps and Hong Kong’s National Security Law. But their access to the app was blocked last week, triggering frustration and fears of government surveillance.
The Stanford Internet Observatory said that it had confirmed that Chinese tech firm Agora Inc. supplied back-end infrastructure to Clubhouse, and that Agora would likely have access to users’ raw audio, potentially providing access to the Chinese government.
It also said it observed room metadata relayed to servers it believed were hosted in China and audio to servers managed by Chinese entities. It added, however, that it believed the Chinese government would not be able to access the data if the audio was stored in the United States.
An Agora spokesman said the company had no comment on any relationship with Clubhouse, but that Agora does not have access to or store personal data, and does not route through China voice or video traffic generated from users outside China, including US users. Agora provides software that allows customers “to build their security and privacy infrastructure in a way that is both compliant and relevant to their end-users,” the spokesman wrote in an e-mail.
The Cyberspace Administration of China, which regulates the country’s internet, did not respond to calls for comment made during China’s Lunar New Year holiday.
“SIO chose to disclose these security issues because they are both relatively easy to uncover and because they pose immediate security risks to Clubhouse’s millions of users, particularly those in China,” the report said.
Data analytics firm Sensor Tower said the app, which is only available on Apple’s iPhone, had about 3.6 million users worldwide as of Feb.2, with 1.1 million registered in the prior six days. — Reuters
China refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to the WHO-led team probing the origins of the pandemic, according to one of the team’s investigators, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the outbreak began.
WASHINGTON — The White House on Saturday called on China to make available data from the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak, saying it has “deep concerns” about the way the findings of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) report were communicated.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement that it is imperative that the report be independent and free from “alteration by the Chinese government,” echoing concerns raised by the administration of former President Donald J. Trump, who also moved to quit the WHO over the issue.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy fired back with a strongly worded statement, saying the United States had damaged multilateral cooperation and the WHO in recent years, and should not be “pointing fingers” at China and other countries that supported the WHO during the COVID-19 pandemic.
China welcomed the US decision to reengage with the WHO, but Washington should hold itself to the “highest standards” instead of taking aim at other countries, the spokesperson said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday said all hypotheses were still open about the origins of COVID-19, after Washington said it wanted to review data from a WHO-led mission to China, where the virus first emerged.
A WHO-led mission, which spent four weeks in China probing the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak, said this week that it was not looking further into the question of whether the virus escaped from a lab, which it considered highly unlikely.
The Trump administration had said it suspected the virus may have escaped from a Chinese lab, which Beijing strongly denies.
Mr. Sullivan noted that US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., had quickly reversed the decision to disengage from the WHO, but said it was imperative to protect the organization’s credibility.
“Re-engaging the WHO also means holding it to the highest standards,” Mr. Sullivan said. “We have deep concerns about the way in which the early findings of the COVID-19 investigation were communicated and questions about the process used to reach them.”
Mr. Biden, who is spending his first weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, was due to meet with his national security advisers on Saturday, a White House official said.
China refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to the WHO-led team probing the origins of the pandemic, according to one of the team’s investigators, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the outbreak began.
The team had requested raw patient data on 174 cases that China had identified from the early phase of the outbreak in the city of Wuhan in December 2019, as well as other cases, but were only provided with a summary, Dominic Dwyer, an Australian infectious diseases expert and member of the WHO team, told Reuters.
“It is imperative that this report be independent, with expert findings free from intervention or alteration by the Chinese government,” Mr. Sullivan said.
“To better understand this pandemic and prepare for the next one, China must make available its data from the earliest days of the outbreak,” he said.
The embassy statement did not address the data issue.
The WHO did not respond to queries for comment.
Going forward, all countries, including China, should participate in a transparent and robust process for preventing and responding to health emergencies, Mr. Sullivan said. — Andrea Shalal and Michael Martina/Reuters
The US Senate fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict former president Donald J. Trump on a charge that he incited the insurrection that left five people dead.
WASHINGTON — The US Senate acquitted Donald J. Trump on Saturday of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol last month, sparing him from conviction in his second impeachment trial in a year despite broad condemnation of his role in sparking the deadly siege.
The Senate voted 57–43 in favor of convicting the former president, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to do so, on a charge that he incited the insurrection that left five people dead, forced lawmakers to flee, and put his own vice-president in danger while overseeing the certification of Democrat Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s election win.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted “not guilty,” in the trial, offered scathing remarks about Mr. Trump after the verdict.
“There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” he said. “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”
President Biden said that while the vote did not lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge was not in dispute, and a record number of Republicans had voted to convict Mr. Trump.
“This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant. That violence and extremism has no place in America. And that each of us has a duty and responsibility as Americans, and especially as leaders, to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.”
In the vote, seven of the 50 Senate Republicans joined the chamber’s unified Democrats in favoring conviction after a week-long trial in the same building ransacked by Mr. Trump’s followers after they heard him deliver an incendiary speech on Jan. 6.
During the trial, senators viewed graphic video of the assault, including scenes of a police officer screaming in pain as he was crushed in a door, the mob chanting “hang Mike Pence” as it hunted the vice-president, and lawmakers having near-misses with rioters as security officers hurried the elected officials into hiding for their own safety.
Mr. Trump left office on Jan. 20, so impeachment could not be used to remove him from power. But Democrats had hoped to secure a conviction to hold him responsible for the siege and set the stage for a vote to bar him from serving in public office again.
“The bottom line is that we convinced a big majority in the Senate of our case,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, the lead Democratic prosecutor from the House of Representatives.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Republicans’ refusal to hold Mr. Trump accountable would be remembered “as one of the darkest days and most dishonorable acts in our nation’s history.”
The swift end to the trial allows Mr. Biden to move forward with his agenda to bolster the economy with a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill and further confirmation of his cabinet members.
But divisions on Capitol Hill and around the country over his controversial predecessor will remain.
“This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country,” Mr. Trump said in a statement after his acquittal.
Mr. Trump, 74, continues to hold a grip on his party with a right-wing populist appeal and “America First” message. The businessman-turned-politician has considered running for president again in 2024.
Republicans saved Mr. Trump in the Feb. 5, 2020, vote in his first impeachment trial, when only one senator from their ranks—Mitt Romney—voted to convict and remove him from office.
Mr. Romney voted for conviction on Saturday along with fellow Republicans Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse, Pat Toomey, and Lisa Murkowski.
“His actions to interfere with the peaceful transition of power—the hallmark of our Constitution and our American democracy—were an abuse of power and constitute grounds for conviction,” Ms. Collins said after the vote.
DEEPLY DIVIDED NATION The acquittal unfolded against a backdrop of gaping divisions in a pandemic-weary United States along political, racial, socioeconomic and regional lines. The trial provided more partisan warfare even as Mr. Biden has called for unity.
Seventy-one percent of American adults, including nearly half of all Republicans, believe Mr. Trump was at least partially responsible for starting the Capitol assault, but only about half of the country thought he should be convicted of inciting insurrection, according to an Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters.
Mr. Trump is only the third president ever to be impeached by the House of Representatives—a step akin to a criminal indictment—as well as the first to be impeached twice and the first to face an impeachment trial after leaving office. But the Senate still has never convicted an impeached president.
Democrats forged ahead with impeachment despite knowing it could overshadow critical early weeks of Mr. Biden’s presidency.
The House approved the single article of impeachment against Mr. Trump on Jan. 13, with 10 Republicans joining the chamber’s Democratic majority. That vote came a week after the pro-Trump mob stormed the neoclassical domed Capitol, interrupted the formal congressional certification of Biden’s victory, clashed with an overwhelmed police force, and invaded the hallowed House and Senate chambers.
‘FIGHT LIKE HELL’ Shortly before the rampage, Mr. Trump urged his followers to march on the Capitol, repeated his false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, and told them that “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
During the trial, nine House lawmakers serving as trial managers, or prosecutors, urged senators to convict Mr. Trump to hold him accountable for a crime against American democracy and to prevent a repeat in the future. They said Mr. Trump summoned the mob to Washington, gave the crowd its marching orders and then did nothing to stop the ensuing violence.
The defense lawyers accused Democrats not only of trying to silence Mr. Trump as a political opponent they feared facing in the future but of attempting to criminalize political speech with which they disagreed.
The words Mr. Trump used, they argued, were no different than those regularly employed by Democrats.
Mr. Trump’s acquittal does not end the possibility of other congressional action against him such as a censure motion, but Pelosi said such a measure would let Republicans who voted against conviction “off the hook.”
Mr. McConnell said Mr. Trump was now a private citizen and suggested he could still face criminal prosecution for his acts. “He didn’t get away with anything. Yet,” Mr. McConnell said. — Richard Cowan, David Morgan and Makini Brice/Reuters
WARSAW – A strain of the coronavirus discovered in mink on a farm in northern Poland can be transmitted to humans and vice versa, the agriculture ministry said on Saturday.
COVID-19 was found in mink in Kartuzy county late last month, in what agriculture officials said was the first such case in Poland, raising fears of costly culls in an industry that counts over 350 farms in the country.
“Data obtained from the chief sanitary inspectorate and last year’s experiences in Denmark and the Netherlands clearly indicate that also in Poland, this virus can spread from mink to humans and vice versa,” the ministry said in a statement.
Denmark’s entire herd of some 17 million mink, one of the world’s biggest, was ordered to be culled in early November after hundreds of farms suffered outbreaks of coronavirus and authorities found mutated strains of the virus among people.
In August, the Netherlands decided to order the closure of more than 100 mink farms after several employees contracted COVID-19.
Following the discovery of COVID-19 at the farm in Kartuzy county, Polish authorities said all mink there would be culled. – Reuters
NEW YORK – MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose for a 10th straight session on Friday and hit another record high as investors anticipated new fiscal aid from Washington to help the U.S. economy recover, while benchmark U.S. Treasury yields rose to their highest levels since March.
On Wall Street, all three major indexes hit record closing highs, with energy, financial and materials leading gains among S&P sectors as investors snapped up cyclical and under-priced value stocks. All three indexes also posted gains for the week.
The Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, ended below 20 for the first time since February 2020, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic roiled U.S. stocks.
“We’re underestimating the lag effect of all the money in the system as more and more vaccinations are delivered and as more of the country reopens” from business shutdowns, said Thomas Hayes, chairman and managing member of hedge fund Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
“We are continuing this rotation that would be consistent with the new business cycle, and as (bond) yields go up, value and cyclicals will lead,” Hayes said.
U.S. President Joe Biden pushed for the first major legislative achievement of his term, turning to a bipartisan group of local officials for help on his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan.
The dollar was slightly higher, coming off its strongest level for the day, as risk appetite returned to the market, while Bitcoin was down 1.3% on the day at $47,356, after hitting a record high of $49,000. It posted gains of roughly 20% in a milestone week marked by the endorsement of major firms such as Elon Musk’s Tesla.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27.7 points, or 0.09%, to 31,458.4, the S&P 500 gained 18.45 points, or 0.47%, to 3,934.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 69.70 points, or 0.5%, to 14,095.47.
The U.S. stock market will be closed on Monday because of the Presidents Day holiday.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.64% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.37%.
In the bond market, investors closed positions ahead of a long U.S. weekend, while inflation expectations edged up to a six-year high.
Benchmark 10-year yields rose to 1.203%, just pipping an 11-month high of 1.20% that was set on Monday.
The dollar index rose 0.042%, with the euro down 0.08% to $1.2118.
Oil prices climbed more than 2%, hitting the highest levels in more than a year on hopes a U.S. stimulus will boost the economy and fuel demand.
Brent crude rose $1.29 to settle at $62.43 a barrel after rising to a session high of $62.83, the highest since Jan. 22, 2020. U.S. oil gained $1.23 to $59.47 after rising to a session high of $59.82, the highest since Jan. 9, 2020.
Spot gold dropped 0.1% to $1,823.46 an ounce. – Reuters
Opponents of Myanmar’s military coup sustained mass protests for an eighth straight day on Saturday as continuing arrests of junta critics added to anger over the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Thousands assembled in the business hub, Yangon, while protesters took to the streets of the capital Naypyitaw, the second city Mandalay and other towns a day after the biggest protests so far in the Southeast Asian country.
“Stop kidnapping at night,” was among the signs held up by protesters in Yangon in response to arrest raids in recent days.
The United Nations human rights office said on Friday more than 350 people, including officials, activists and monks, have been arrested in Myanmar since the Feb. 1 coup, including some who face criminal charges on “dubious grounds”.
Anger in Myanmar has been fuelled by videos showing more arrests of government critics – including a doctor who was part of the civil disobedience movement. Some arrests have taken place during the hours of darkness.
Internet memes captioned “Our nights aren’t safe anymore” and “Myanmar military is kidnapping people at night” have circulated widely on social media.
The government did not respond to requests for comment on the arrests.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a watchdog group for political prisoners, voiced concern.
“Family members are left with no knowledge of the charges, location, or condition of their loved ones. These are not isolated incidents, and nighttime raids are targeting dissenting voices. It is happening across the country,” it said in a statement.
The army said it had seized power because of alleged fraud in a November election that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party had won in a landslide. The army’s complaints were dismissed by Myanmar’s electoral commission.
TRANSITION HALTED
The coup halted a tentative transition to democracy that began in 2011 after nearly half a century of isolation and stagnation under military juntas.
Suu Kyi, for decades the standard bearer of the fight for democracy in Myanmar, faces charges of illegally importing and using six walkie-talkie radios found in a search of her house.
The 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Friday calling on Myanmar to release Suu Kyi and other officials from detention and refrain from using violence on protesters.
Thomas Andrews, the U.N. rights investigator for Myanmar, told a special session of the rights council in Geneva that the U.N. Security Council should consider imposing sanctions and arms embargoes.
Myint Thu, Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told the session that Myanmar did not want “to stall the nascent democratic transition in the country,” and would continue international cooperation.
The United States this week began imposing sanctions on the ruling generals and some businesses linked to them.
Airline staff, health workers, engineers and school teachers were among groups that joined the protest marches on Saturday and which have rallied to a civil disobedience campaign that has shut down a swath of government business.
“We are preschool teachers, Every child our future, We don’t want dictatorship,” said one banner.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said thousands of people had joined pro-military demonstrations in parts of Myanmar on Friday. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report.
The junta remitted the sentences of more than 23,000 prisoners on Friday, saying the move was consistent with “establishing a new democratic state with peace, development and discipline” and would “please the public”. – Reuters
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued new guidance for U.S. schools to reopen, recommending universal mask-wearing and physical distancing as key COVID-19 mitigation strategies to get children back in the classroom quickly.
The guidelines, which also emphasize the need for facility-cleaning, personal hygiene and contact tracing, are intended to give school districts a road map to bring the nation’s 55 million public school students back to classrooms without sparking COVID-19 outbreaks.
“We believe with the strategies we have put forward that there will be limited to no transmission in schools if followed,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters, noting that the CDC was not mandating that schools reopen.
The agency also said school reopenings should not be conditional on teachers’ access to COVID-19 vaccines, but strongly recommended U.S. states prioritize teachers and school staff for vaccination.
President Joe Biden promised to reopen most K-8 schools within 100 days of taking office on Jan. 20. He praised the CDC’s guidance on Friday and emphasized the problems arising from the continued closure of schools, including children’s mental health struggles and the exodus of parents from the workforce.
“We have sacrificed so much in the last year. But science tells us that if we support our children, educators, and communities with the resources they need, we can get kids back to school safely in more parts of the country sooner,” Biden said in a statement.
Just 44% of U.S. school districts were offering fully in-person learning as of December and 31% were operating all remotely, according to the Center for Reinventing Public Education, which surveyed 477 of the nation’s nearly 13,000 school districts. Other districts have employed a hybrid learning model, where students attend some school days in-person and some virtually.
School reopenings have caused labor disputes between teachers unions, who fear for their members’ safety, and school districts in major U.S. cities. In Chicago this week, the teachers union and district reached agreement on a safety plan after months of negotiations that included threats of a strike.
On Friday, the American Federation of Teachers, which has about 1.7 million members, commended the CDC’s guidance for relying on “facts and evidence.”
“We urge the CDC to remain flexible as more data comes to light. The guidance is instructive for this moment in time, but this disease is not static,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement.
FLEXIBLE APPROACH
The CDC’s phased mitigation strategy is adaptable depending on the level of COVID-19 transmission in a school’s community.
In areas where the COVID-19 positive test rate is below 5% and there were fewer than nine new cases per 100,000 in the last seven days, schools can fully reopen and safely relax social distancing measures as long as masks are worn, Walensky said. In areas of higher transmission, the agency is urging 6 feet (1.83 m) of separation in classrooms and weekly testing of students, teachers and staff.
Elementary school students should learn in-person at least part-time even in areas of high transmission, the guidance says.
Recent studies have shown that in-person learning has not been associated with increased community transmission, especially in elementary schools.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy criticized the reopening guidelines on Friday as not bold enough to ensure that students return to classrooms promptly.
“Families and students deserve better. They need iron-clad assurances that their children will be able to get back into the classroom environment that offers the best education model,” McCarthy said in a statement.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said on Friday that House committees were working to pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan legislation, which includes a $130 billion investment that could help schools follow the CDC protocols, to help schools enforce the CDC’s guidelines.
“Without strong assistance from Congress, our schools cannot afford to enact the science-based safety precautions required,” Pelosi said in a statement. Reuters
