Six In The Morning Monday 1 February 2021

 

Myanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi detained as military seizes control

Myanmar's military has seized power after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders.

Troops are patrolling streets in major cities and communications are limited. The top army commander is now in charge and a one-year state of emergency has been declared, army TV announced.

The move follows a landslide win by Ms Suu Kyi's party in an election the army claims was marred by fraud.

Indian journalists face criminal charges over police shooting reports

Cases filed against nine journalists over reports that police officer fatally shot protester

Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent

Mon 1 Feb 2021 15.28 GMT

At least nine senior Indian journalists are facing criminal charges for reporting allegations that Delhi police fatally shot a farmer in the head during protests last week, despite the authorities claiming no shots were fired.

Delhi police have denied any involvement in the death of 25-year-old Navreet Singh during farmers’ protests in Delhi on 26 January, India’s Republic Day.

Violent clashes broke out between police and farmers when thousands of protesters, who are calling for the repeal of controversial new agriculture laws, burst through barriers into the city centre – many on tractors and horseback – and stormed the historic Red Fort.

Hungarian cafe mulls civil disobedience to avoid bankruptcy

The owners of a family-run cafe in a leafy district of Hungary’s capital of Budapest had planned to defy pandemic restrictions and open their doors

Via AP news wire

The owners of a family-run cafe in a leafy district of Hungary's capital had planned to engage in a bold act of civil disobedience on Monday, but reconsidered after the government there issued a decree that would throw the already struggling business into bankruptcy.

Before the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, the Kucko Coffeehouse in Budapest served fine coffees from its designer Italian espresso machine and a cozy atmosphere offering pastries, sandwiches, ice cream, and breakfasts to mostly local residents.

Like many small businesses, it struggled to stay afloat as Hungary's pandemic restrictions limited bars and restaurants to takeout, and was forced to dismiss all but one of its six employees.

Microsoft ‘pretty confident’: PM says rival could take advantage of a Google search exit

By Lisa Visentin

February 1, 2021 

Google has been warned its threat to shut down search in Australia will not deter the Morrison government from its proposed media compensation laws, as the Prime Minister confirmed Microsoft was confident it could fill a gap in the market.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher cast doubt over whether Google would follow through on its ultimatum and said the government intended to proceed with legislating its news media bargaining code.

“The mere fact a particular business says ‘we don’t like that, if you do that, we’ll exit the
market’ – we’re not going to be deterred by that,” Mr Fletcher told ABC TV on Monday.

Key Takeaways From Trump's Effort to Overturn the Election

Matthew Rosenberg and Jim Rutenberg

Mon, February 1, 2021

For 77 days between the election and the inauguration, President Donald Trump attempted to subvert American democracy with a lie about election fraud that he had been grooming for years.

A New York Times examination of the events that unfolded after the election shows how the president — enabled by Republican leaders, advised by conspiracy-minded lawyers and bankrolled by a new class of Trump-era donors — waged an extralegal campaign that convinced tens of millions of Americans the election had been stolen and made the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol almost inevitable.

Interviews with central players, along with documents, videos and previously unreported emails, tell the story of a campaign that was more coordinated than previously understood, even as it strayed farther from reality with each passing day.

Oxford-AstraZeneca volunteers kept in dark about dosing error

Letter obtained by Reuters news agency shows clinical trial volunteers were not informed of COVID jab dosage blunder.

About 1,500 of the initial volunteers in a late-stage clinical trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were given the wrong dose, but were not informed that a mistake had been made after the blunder was discovered, documents obtained by Reuters news agency show.

Instead, the dosing mishap was presented to the trial participants in a letter dated June 8 as an opportunity for University of Oxford researchers to learn how well the vaccine works at different doses. The letter was signed by the trial’s chief investigator, Oxford professor Andrew Pollard, and sent to the trial subjects.