The Myanmar military's crackdown on mass anti-coup demonstrations has led to the deaths of 38 people on Wednesday, marking the deadliest day since the junta took power, the UN's special envoy for the country warned.

Christine Schraner Burgener told reporters during a virtual news conference that the killings have raised to more than 50 the number of those have who have died, and "many" others have been wounded amid ongoing mass demonstrations against the military's power grab.

Earlier in the day, police and security forces opened direct fire to disperse protesters rallying across the country against the junta. But that did not stop a large number of people from once again taking to the streets in major cities and towns to demand the restoration of civilian rule. 

Burgener said the police, who are controlled by Myanmar's military, have used 9-millimeter submachine guns to fire on protesters using live ammunition.

In all, over 1,200 people have been detained since the Feb. 1 coup d'etat with many of their whereabouts a mystery to family members, according to the UN. 

Successive states, including the US and Canada, have imposed sanctions on the junta in a bid to restore the democratically-elect government, but the Tatmadaw, as the military is formally known, has shown no signs of changing course. The US has vowed to issue harsher economic penalties, but they have yet to be unveiled. 

Burgener said that in her conversations with the military, officials brushed off the penalties, saying they "are used to sanctions, and we survived” them in the past.

"When I also warned they will go in an isolation the answer was, we have to learn to walk with only a few friends," she said. “It’s clearly up to the member states to decide what kind of measures they will take further.”

Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar's now-contested ambassador, issued an emotional appeal last week for the international community to act using "any means necessary" against the military junta.

"Now is not the time for the international community to tolerate the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military," said Tun, who has maintained the legitimacy of his appointment by the democratically-elected government.

Tun's role as UN ambassador was contested by the military-controlled Ministry of Foreign Affairs the day after Tun's explosive speech.

It appointed his deputy, Tin Maung Naing to fill the post, but the UN has yet to decide on who is the country's actual ambassador. /aa

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Tuesday pressed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to end hostilities in the northern Tigray region, citing a “growing number of credible reports of atrocities and human rights violations and abuses.”

In a statement, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken pressed Abiy in a phone call to withdraw outside forces from Tigray, including troops from Ethiopia’s Amhara region and from Eritrea, and for an immediate end to violence.

The United Nations Security Council is likely to discuss the situation in Tigray in a closed-door meeting later this week, diplomats said. The United States is president of the 15-member council for March.

The six-week-old Biden administration is seeking an end to hostilities in Tigray and what it describes as a deepening humanitarian crisis. It was the second time in less than a week that Blinken has cited reports of atrocities in the region.

“The secretary urged the Ethiopian government to take immediate, concrete steps to protect civilians, including refugees, and to prevent further violence,” Price said in the statement.

Speaking to reporters, Price said: “We strongly condemn the killings, the forced removals and displacement, the sexual assaults, and other human rights violations and abuses by several parties that multiple organizations, have, now reported.”

Blinken also asked that Abiy allow credible independent international investigations.

Abiy’s spokeswoman, Billene Seyoum, referred Reuters to a Feb. 28 statement in which Ethiopia’s ministry of foreign affairs called U.S. attempts to intervene in its internal affairs “regrettable”.

Ethiopia’s government takes its responsibility for the safety, security, and well-being of all citizens “very seriously” and is “fully committed to undertake thorough investigations” into alleged abuses and bring perpetrators to justice, that statement said. But it added the government had a duty to hold the nation together in the face of “treasonous and divisive forces.”

Ethiopia’s military ousted the former local ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), from the regional capital Mekelle in November, after what it described as a surprise assault on its forces in Tigray.

Thousands of people have died, hundreds of thousands have been forced from homes and there are shortages of food, water and medicine around the region of more than 5 million people.

The government has said that most fighting has stopped in Tigray but has acknowledged isolated incidents of shooting.

Both sides deny their forces have committed atrocities, and blame other forces for the killing of civilians.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have denied the involvement of Eritrean troops in the conflict alongside Ethiopian forces, although dozens of witnesses, diplomats and an Ethiopian general have reported their presence.

Blinken voiced grave concern about reports of atrocities in Tigray on Saturday, when he called on the African Union and other international partners to work with the United States to address the crisis.

The global economic outlook and oil market prospects show signs of continued improvement, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo said on Tuesday.

Barkindo's remarks at the 49th Joint Technical Committee (JTC) came ahead of the 27th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and the 14th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) to be held on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The group will decide on the production quota after March.

He highlighted the improving outlook for the global oil market and the world economy at large, emphasizing the need to stay the course on restoring sustainable oil market stability.

Barkindo said the pandemic-induced oil demand shock was left behind, and “oil demand remains on course to grow by 5.8 million barrels per day to around 96 million barrels per day.”

He emphasized “cautious optimism" regarding an economic and oil demand rebound in Asia.

He stressed that the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose downside risks to the recovery, citing data showing that new global infections rose in the last week of February for the first time in seven weeks.

“Progress on COVID-19 vaccinations continues in many countries, but the current pace shows that many developing countries risk being left behind. We hold out hope that the multilateral and multiparty efforts will support inclusive and speedy worldwide access to inoculations,” he said./aa

Turkey should follow the path of the European Union towards a more sustainable, efficient and green economy, a member of the EU delegation to Turkey said Tuesday. 

Against the backdrop of the Circular Economy Week of Turkey, Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut pointed out that the Green Deal is one of the most important programs for the EU in the post-pandemic period.

"The agreement focuses on making the EU a clean, efficient and competitive economy and a structure that will find solutions to environmental problems," he said, adding this a new growth strategy of the bloc.

"We will try to reach an EU economy which is carbon neutral but competitive," he said.

"The Turkish private sector has been paying greater attention to the EU's green deal, the good news for the future," he added, noting a stronger partnership is needed on the climate policy.

Green deal to bring opportunities

The EU wants to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in 2050, ensuring economic growth through the reuse of resources, noted Angel Gutierrez Hidalgo De Quintana, the head of the economic and social development section of the EU delegation to Turkey.

Reminding that there are many different goals in the agreement, Quintana said: "We are increasing our claim on climate with the new targets for 2030 and 2050. Providing economic and safe energy is already at the basis of the circular economy."

The EU Commission has introduced a new Circular Economy Action Plan -- one of the main blocks of the European Green Deal, Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth.

The plan includes initiatives along the entire life cycle of products, targeting for instance their design, promoting circular economy processes, fostering sustainable consumption and aiming to ensure that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible.

He noted goals such as the establishment of a chain, that is, the establishment of the farm to fork system, the protection of economic diversity and the zero pollution environment -- a huge commitment and a huge effort and a significant cost for the EU.

"All of the Green Deal work should bring economic benefits. Fossil fuel imports in the EU are above 35% so are investing in an economically meaningful place."

He also stressed that cooperation on green transformation with Turkey is quite vital, saying Turkey's waste management strategy in this case is significant, given the close trade ties between the two sides.

"We want Turkey to join forces in the transition to a green economy," he added./aa

Insults, beatings, arrests — health workers battling the coronavirus were subjected to more than 400 acts of violence related to Covid-19 worldwide in 2020, according to a report published Tuesday by a health NGO.

The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition unveiled an interactive map that shows 1,172 violent acts and attacks occurred against health workers or facilities last year, “a minimum estimate,” according to the NGO.

More than a third (412) of the acts are directly related to Covid-19, it said, citing several examples including in Mexico, where a nurse was attacked and injured by a group accusing her of spreading the virus.

In Dakar, three social workers had stones hurled at them by residents who refused to have a coronavirus victim buried near their homes.

In Birmingham, England, a health worker was spat at and insulted by a neighbor.

The vast majority, 80 percent, of the perpetrators of the violence were civilians, but threats also came from public authorities.

In Egypt, health workers who criticized the regime’s handling of the pandemic were arrested by security forces and accused of spreading false information and of belonging to a terrorist group.

Insecurity Insight, which developed the interactive map, also recorded 802 attacks in countries at war or on victims of civil conflicts, such as the bombing of hospitals in Yemen and the kidnapping of doctors in Nigeria.

ADVERTISEMENT. SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING.

“The map shows that violence and intimidation against health care was a truly global crisis in 2020, affecting 79 countries,” said Insecurity Insight director Christina Wille in a statement.

Leonard Rubenstein, the president and founder of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition and a professor at Johns Hopkins University, called on international governments to protect health workers, including by fighting disinformation.

Kuwait University marked more than 14 students as failed after they were caught cheating via “WhatsApp” application through groups that are managed and organized by a known individual, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Acting Director of the university Dr. Fayez Al- Dhafiri said the university administration referred the file of these students to the Cybercrime Department, after they were caught cheating in the College of Administrative Sciences. He affirmed that investigation is ongoing by the concerned authorities with the accused who is responsible for organizing the cheating process through his office, in order to determine more details.