World breaking news today (Feb 21): Biden declares major disaster in Texas
	World breaking news today (Feb 20): Argentina health minister resigns after reports of VIP vaccine access
	World breaking news today (Feb 19): U.S. send $2 billion to WHO's COVAX program

(Photo: Reuters)

Britain to challenge China at U.N. over access to Xinjiang

Britain will on Monday call for the United Nations to be given “urgent and unfettered” access to Xinjiang to investigate reports of abuses in the Chinese region.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will also mark Britain’s return to the U.N. Human Rights Council as a voting member by condemning the rights record of fellow council members China and Russia and will raise concerns about Myanmar and Belarus, his office said.

On China, Raab will refer to reports of abuses in Xinjiang, including torture, forced labour and forced sterilisation of women. “They are taking place on an industrial scale,” he will say, according to his office.

China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in Xinjiang that Beijing describes as “vocational training centres” to stamp out extremism and give people new skills. China’s critics have called them concentration camps.

The United Nations has said at least 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang.

Raab will also raise the “disgraceful” treatment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the crisis in Myanmar and the situation in Belarus. He will set out steps Britain has taken to address these issues, such as sanctions, and encourage others to follow, according to Reuters.

Australian PM Morrison gets COVID-19 vaccine

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday (Feb 21), calling the start of the nation's vaccination programme a "massive step" that will enable it to return to normal.

Up to 4 million Australians are expected to be inoculated by March, with Morrison among a small group receiving the first round of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

"This is the beginning of a big game change," Morrison told reporters moments after getting injected at a medical centre in Sydney. "Every day that goes past from here gets more normal. And that is what is exciting about today."

The intergovernmental National Cabinet is to review how its five-stage vaccination programme will change the way the country manages the risk of coronavirus transmission in the future, including at its state and international borders.

Morrison said the vaccine addresses his "greatest fear" as prime minister: "Serious disease and the sort of widespread fatalities that we saw overseas."

Australian states have introduced some of the strictest community mobility restrictions in the world to manage the spread of the virus, including intermittent city lockdowns, curfews and border closures, CNA reported.

Facebook takes down main page of Myanmar military

Facebook on Sunday deleted the main page of the Myanmar military under it standards prohibiting the incitement of violence, the company said, a day after two protesters were killed when police opened fire at a demonstration against the Feb 1 coup.

“In line with our global policies, we’ve removed the Tatmadaw True News Information Team Page from Facebook for repeated violations of our Community Standards prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harm,” a Facebook representative said in a statement.

(Photo: VNReview)

The Myanmar military is known as the Tatmadaw. Its True News page was no available on Sunday.

The military spokesman did not respond to a Reuters phone call seeking comment.

Two people were killed in Myanmar’s second city Mandalay on Saturday when police and soldiers fired at protesters demonstrating against the overthrow of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, emergency workers said, the bloodiest day in more than two weeks of demonstrations, Reuters reported.

Tens of thousands evacuated in south Philippines as storm nears

The Philippine authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of people in the south of the country yesterday as tropical storm Dujuan approached.

About 51,400 people have been moved to 331 evacuation centres in the provinces of Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Dinagat Islands and Butuan City, the disaster risk reduction and management agency said.

Power was cut off in 12 of 19 localities of Surigao del Sur province yesterday due to floods brought by moderate to heavy rain dumped by the storm, which was still hovering over the waters.

(Photo: CTV News)

The first storm to hit the Philippines this year maintained its maximum sustained winds of 65kmh and gusts of up to 80kmh, the state weather bureau said in its 2pm report yesterday.

Known locally as Auring, the storm was forecast to make landfall in the Dinagat Islands-Eastern Samar-Leyte area, about 600km to 700km south of Manila, between yesterday evening and this morning.

The storm was 320km east of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, and has started moving north-westwards at 15kmh. Landslides are expected to be triggered by the heavy rain, although the storm may weaken into a tropical depression before it makes landfall, as reported by Straits Times.

Gold price prediction - prices consolidate closing down the week by 2.3 percent

Gold prices rebounded from session lows but ended the week down 2.3%. During the week prices slipped through trend line support and poised to test lower levels. The dollar moved lower, but long-term US treasury yields moved higher which continued to weigh on the yellow metal. Treasury secretary Janet Yellen was on the tape on Friday saying that the US economy would need additional stimulus to get the economy on the right track.

(Photo: Indian TV News)

Gold prices were unchanged but during the week the yellow metal slipped through trend line support near $1,789 and poised to test the November lows at 1,764. A break of this level would lead to a test of the June lows at 1,667. Resistance is seen near the 10-day moving average at 1,811. Short-term momentum has turned negative as the fast stochastic generated a crossover sell signal. Prices are oversold, FX Empire reported.

The current reading on the fast stochastic is 12, well below the oversold trigger level of 20 which could foreshadow a correction. Medium-term momentum has turned negative as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence) index generated a crossover sell signal. This occurs as the MACD line (the 12-day moving average minus the 26-day moving average) crosses below the MACD signal line the 9-day moving average of the MACD line).

World breaking news today (Feb 18): Prince Philip admitted to hospital as precautionary measure World breaking news today (Feb 18): Prince Philip admitted to hospital as precautionary measure. Meanwhile, US charges three North Korean hackers over $1.3bn cryptocurrency attacks, ...

World breaking news today (Feb 17): Trump, Giuliani accused in lawsuit of conspiring to incite US Capitol riot World breaking news today (Feb 17): Trump, Giuliani accused in lawsuit of conspiring to incite US Capitol riot. Meanwhile, UN rights chief warns of ‘spiral ...

World breaking news today (Feb 16): China overtakes U.S. as EU's biggest trading partner World breaking news today (Feb 16): China overtakes U.S. as EU's biggest trading partner.Iraq rocket attack kills contractor, wounds U.S. service member, Meanwhile, Iraq rocket ...