| Irreversible force | Myanmar's coup has gone past the point of no return, according to a confidential U.K. Foreign Office assessment, a sign that major democracies expect to have limited ability to influence events inside the country. The bleak view from a senior British diplomat predicts the army chief will seek to crush ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party to install himself as president, and cites the risk that anti-coup protests could turn bloody. - Read how democracy is on the back burner in Myanmar.
Kept waiting | U.S. President Joe Biden said there was no particular reason he hadn't yet called Chinese President Xi Jinping, adding he knows Xi "pretty well" and he "doesn't have a democratic, small 'd,' bone in his body." Biden has spoken with multiple leaders since he took office, including Russia's Vladimir Putin, but not Xi. Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin sidestepped questions about Biden's criticism and emphasized the need to work together. - China formally arrested an Australian citizen who was formerly a news anchor for Chinese state television, escalating a case that has spurred tensions with Canberra.
Digging in | A Kremlin crackdown has halted unrest for now in Russia triggered by the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, after thousands of detentions and widespread reports of police brutality, Henry Meyer and Jake Rudnitsky write. No more protests are planned until the spring as the opposition turns its focus to September parliamentary elections, but President Putin hasn't extinguished the threat to his two-decade rule. Shaking it up | Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who's poised to become the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization, earned the nickname "Okonjo Wahala" — "Okonjo the trouble maker" — from opponents of her anti-corruption drive as Nigeria's finance minister. After overcoming a Trump administration veto of her WTO candidacy, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde says of Okonjo-Iweala: "She is going to rock the place."  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Photographer: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images Election upset | Presidential elections in Ecuador will go to a runoff after socialist economist Andres Arauz placed first ahead of indigenous candidate Yaku Perez. Polls had shown a neck-and-neck race between Arauz and conservative banker Guillermo Lasso, but the vote count suggests Perez, who campaigned against mining, has edged into second place. Markets may react to the prospect of two leftist candidates competing on April 11. What to Watch This Week -
Mario Draghi is on track to form a government in Italy after the former head of the ECB won the initial backing of some of the biggest parties. -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared briefly in court today to face a tangle of graft charges that have underpinned years of crippling political turmoil. -
Algeria's plunging energy exports are threatening more financial suffering for the OPEC member and a potential repeat of the demonstrations that toppled the president two years ago. -
Former Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti's party is vying to return to power in Feb. 14 general elections amid one of the worst pandemic situations in Europe. -
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his annual state-of-the-nation address on Thursday. Thanks to all who responded to our pop quiz Saturday, and congratulations to Rick Niswander, who was the first to name China as the country whose top diplomat warned Biden not to cross his nation's "red line" over issues such as human rights. And finally ... French retailer Carrefour has pledged to invest about $744,000 a year to preserve a plot of the Amazon rainforest as part of Brazil's "Adopt-a-Park" program, which President Jair Bolsonaro will formally launch tomorrow. Environment Minister Ricardo Salles explains to Simone Iglesias that under the plan, companies, investment funds, or even individuals can sponsor a piece of the forest for about $12 per hectare.  A fire rages in the Amazon rainforest in Para state, on Aug. 16, 2020. Photographer: Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images | 
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