The police,

which is under the control of the military, met the demonstrations with water cannon and tear gas and rubber bullets, but a number of officers in an eastern state are reported to have revolted and joined the protestors.

In his first address since taking control, army General Min Aung Hlaign tried to reassure citizens – and presumably fleeing foreign businesses – that there will not be a slide back to the times of the Junta which held the Southeast Asian country in its grip for fifty years.

But people are having none of it and some activists are raising the stakes, calling for a complete removal of the military’s administrative powers. Besides contesting elections, the army, by constitution, also appoints an unelected 25 percent of parliament members, effectively blocking any constitutional amendments which require a 75 percent majority.

The military played a vital role in Burma’s independence movement in the mid-20th century. The NLD leader herself is the daughter of the revered Aung San, founder of the Myanmar Armed Forces. The first coup in 1962, however, imposed a brutal one-party system which enacted martial law for twelve years.

Popular uprisings in 1989 and 2007 were summarily crushed by the Junta and hundreds of people were killed at the hands of the army. The recent events evoke memories of the not-so-distant past for the Burmese, but the context this time is different. Those who lived through the final decades of military rule have now tasted the opportunities of democracy, as limited as the experience was. The younger ones are better educated and more connected, and less prepared to back down.

The military may have found itself in an unfamiliar scenario, but few believe that it will acquiesce to public anger. Western countries are fearing that the situation may spiral out of control, reversing the significant democratic wins made in the last years.

The night coup sought to arrest the brisk pace of change in the country, but the people’s uninhibited response shows that a deeper transformation had already dawned on Myanmar.

Denmark will take the first step towards easing its coronavirus lockdown next week, reopening schools for the youngest children, the Nordic country’s government said on Monday. Denmark, in a tough coronavirus lockdown since December, saw a decline in new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations in January after a drastic increase in the previous month. Schools will reopen for children in 1st to 4th grade starting next Monday, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told a news briefing.

Portugal reported close to half of all its COVID-19 deaths in January, highlighting the severe worsening of the pandemic in a country whose plight has caused several European nations to offer help. Hospitals across

the nation of just over 10 million appear on the verge of collapse, with

ambulances queuing sometimes for hours for lack of beds and some health units struggling to find enough refrigerated space to preserve the

bodies of the deceased.

Amazon will open two new logistics centres in Italy this year, investing over 230 million euros ($278 million), the world’s largest online retailer said on Monday. With the two new hubs- a distribution centre in the north-western city of Novara and a fulfilment centre close to the city of Modena – Amazon will create 1,100 new jobs in the coming three years.

China’s Sinovac Biotech said on Monday that a clinical trial in Brazil

showed its COVID-19 vaccine was almost 20 percentage points more

effective in a small sub-group of patients who received their two doses

longer apart. The protection rate for 1,394 participants who received doses of either Coronavac or placebo three weeks apart was nearly 70%, a Sinovac

spokesman said.