Author: Mike Harrison

The post soon went viral with more than 630,000 views on Facebook. Pumping her arms to an electronic ditty, aerobics instructor Khing Hnin Wai appeared oblivious as a convoy of armoured vehicles drove by – accidentally capturing Myanmar’s military coup-in-progress in a surreal video that has now gone viral.The PE teacher in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, posted footage of her workout to Facebook on Monday morning, gyrating and waving her arms to the tune of a dance track.Unbeknownst to her, history was in the making right behind her as armoured vehicles and black SUVs swept by on the Royal Lotus Roundabout…

World Health Organisation (WHO) investigators on Wednesday visited a research centre in the Chinese city of Wuhan that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus, with one member saying they intended to meet key staff and press them on critical issues.The WHO team’s visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology is a highlight of their mission to gather data and search for clues as to where the virus originated and how it spread.“We’re looking forward to meeting with all the key people here and asking all the important questions that need to be asked,” zoologist…

Based on the CBI cases, the Enforcement Directorate has also been conducting money laundering probe against the accused persons. The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked the then District Magistrate, a retired IAS official, of Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh and nine others for allegedly awarding fresh leases and renewing old ones in favour of those involved in the illegal mining of minor minerals. The agency on Tuesday searched the premises of accused persons.The accused official has been identified as Satyendra Singh. Among those named in the case are Nepali Nishad, Nar Narain Mishra, Ramakant Dwivedi, Khemraj Singh, Ram Pratap Singh,…

The BJP in Gujarat has introduced a slew of tough criteria for selection of candidates in the local civil and panchayat elections to be held this month.Under the new norms announced by the State party chief C.R. Paatil, a municipal councillor or panchayat member who has completed three consecutive terms will not be repeated, and members of a leader’s family and those above 60 years of age will not be entertained for party ticket.The announcement comes as the State parliamentary board begins the selection process for elections in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar municipal corporations. The party has…

Alejandro Mayorkas was confirmed by a 56-43 vote, the narrowest margin yet for a Biden Cabinet nominee. The Senate confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday as President Joe Biden’s homeland security secretary, the first Latino to fill a post that will have a central role in the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, a sweeping Russia-linked cyber hack and domestic extremism.Mr. Mayorkas was confirmed by a 56-43 vote, the narrowest margin yet for a Biden Cabinet nominee. The first immigrant to serve in the job, he is expected to lead a broad policy overhaul of an agency that was accused of…

The Uttar Pradesh government has said it has dropped proceedings against 162 farmers from Sitapur who were issued notices of personal bonds and sureties for ‘exorbitant’ amounts up to ₹10 lakh each allegedly to prevent them from participating in the ongoing farm protests.The government on Tuesday informed the Allahabad High Court that it had dropped the action against the farmers as “there is no further apprehension to breach of peace or disturbance of public tranquility”.The government counsel, however, could not justify to the court the reason for issuing notice to the farmers owning tractors for filing the personal bonds.A Division…

The skeletal remains of a 15-year-old girl who was reported missing by her parents in 2011 have been recovered from a grave in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district. Akila (name changed), the daughter of a farmer in Manakheda village of the district, allegedly took her own life under duress, said Sehore Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sameer Yadav.“Our preliminary investigations suggest that the teenage girl had disappeared twice from her home in 2011. However, none of the family members came forward to lodge a missing complaint. On both occasions, the girl was traced from Bhopal,” said Mr. Yadav.The police said Akila’s…

The left-armer turned in a match-winning performance against Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final Tamil Nadu’s victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final may be totally attributed to M. Siddharth’s first three overs. He had Kedar Devdhar driving straight to Jagadeesan at cover-point, Smit Patel lbw with a zippy arm ball, Abhimanyusingh Rajput caught and bowled, and Kartik Kakade bowled off the inside edge. The last two wickets came in his third over.The arm-ball was a lot tweeted about and it’s something he said he has practised and arrived at where it is now. The speed —…

A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to more than two years in prison despite nationwide protests and a Western outcry.The decision to turn a 2014 suspended sentence into real jail time will see Mr. Navalny, who accuses the Kremlin of poisoning him last year, serve a lengthy prison term.Judge Natalya Repnikova ordered a suspended three-and-a-half-year sentence Mr. Navalny received on fraud charges in 2014 to be changed to time in a penal colony, an AFP journalist at the courthouse said.Judge Repnikova said the time Mr. Navalny previously spent under house arrest in the sentence would count…

U.S. in touch with India, Japan on a daily basis The U.S. State Department announced that it has made a determination that the military takeover in Myanmar is a coup d’état. The U.S. is in touch with allies in the region, including India, on the unfolding situation, as per a state department official.“After a review of all the facts , we have assessed that the Burmese military actions on February 1 having deposed the duly elected head of government, constituted a military coup d’état,” a State Department official said on a briefing call with reporters.Also read: Explainer | Why did…