[ad_1] YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s ruling military squared off against its opponents in the courts, the streets and the countryside Monday, showing no sign of relenting in its crackdown against those opposed to February’s coup. Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the elected government toppled in the military takeover, was accused of a fresh…

[ad_1] The Met Gala is coming back. Actually, twice. The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Monday that the annual high-wattage celebration of both fashion and celebrity — held virtually last year because of the pandemic — will return in person, first in September, then again in 2022 in its usual slot of the first Monday…

[ad_1] HONG KONG (AP) – Chinese regulators have ordered Ant Group, a financial affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, to become a financial holding company to ease financial oversight amid stepped up scrutiny of technology firms. In a meeting Monday, the central bank and other financial regulators also ordered Ant to cease anti-competitive behavior…

[ad_1] Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 18-24: April 18: Actor Robert Hooks is 84. Actor Hayley Mills is 75. Actor James Woods is 74. Actor Dorothy Lyman (“Mama’s Family”) is 74. Actor Cindy Pickett (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) is 74. Keyboardist Walt Richmond of The Tractors is 74. Bassist Jim Scholten of Sawyer…

[ad_1] PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Cambodians on Monday continued to condemn an Irish photo restorer for altering photographs of victims of their country’s 1970s genocide to show them smiling, saying his decision and that of an international media group to publish them showed horrible judgement. Vice on Friday published an interview with Matt Loughrey,…

[ad_1] BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) – Thailand reported 985 new coronavirus cases on Monday, its highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic, and health officials said they were worried the number of new infections could be far higher after this week’s traditional Thai New Year holiday. Health experts said the third major surge in…

[ad_1] NEW DELHI (AP) – Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees gathered by the Ganges River for special prayers Monday, many of them flouting social distancing practices as the coronavirus spreads in India with record speed. The Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, is one of the most sacred pilgrimages in Hinduism. The faithful congregate in…

[ad_1] MOSCOW (AP) – From a giant statue towering over Moscow to a more modest monument on the Sakhalin Island in the Pacific Ocean, dozens of memorials across Russia commemorate Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut who became the first person in space 60 years ago. Gagarin’s 108-minute mission took the Space Age to a new level…

[ad_1] MOSCOW (AP) – Crushed into the pilot’s seat by heavy G-forces, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin saw flames outside his spacecraft and prepared to die. His voice broke the tense silence at ground control: “I’m burning. Goodbye, comrades.” Gagarin didn’t know that the blazing inferno he observed through a porthole was a cloud of plasma…

[ad_1] CAIRO (AP) – For Ramadan this year, Magdy Hafez has been longing to reclaim a cherished ritual: performing the nighttime group prayers called taraweeh at the mosque once again. Last year, the coronavirus upended the 68-year-old Egyptian’s routine of going to the mosque to perform those prayers, traditional during Islam’s holiest month. The pandemic…