*) More protests in Myanmar against military coup

In Myanmar, anti-coup protests continue to rock the country despite the military reportedly shooting dead nine demonstrators a day earlier.

The US and Britain imposed sanctions on companies controlled by the military in a bid to increase pressure on the junta over the February 1st coup.

Myanmar has been rocked by almost daily protests since the army overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government.

*) Biden sees Afghan withdrawal this year but not by May deadline

US President Joe Biden has said that he would not meet a deadline to pull out all troops from Afghanistan by May 1st as part of a Taliban deal.

He, however, said that his administration would likely end America's longest war within the year.

Asked whether he envisions US soldiers still in Afghanistan in 2022, Biden said: "I can't picture that being the case."

*) UN warns of `alarming' crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region

A UN official has warned of an ongoing crisis in Ethiopia’s conflict-torn Tigray region, where an increasing number of people are fleeing violence.

Deputy UN aid coordinator Wafaa Said says there have been over 500 confirmed rapes, with women reporting attacks by armed actors, gang rape and rape by family members under the threat of violence.

After spending two months in Tigray, she said the impact of the crisis isn’t fully known because of communication blackouts and lack of access.

*) Israeli political deadlock confirmed as vote count ends

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies do not have the necessary parliamentary seats to form a majority coalition.

The official results from Tuesday's vote show that Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and his natural allies have won 52 seats in the 120-seat Knesset,

Party negotiations have begun and if no one manages to find at least 61 seats, an unprecedented fifth election will be held in little over two years.

And finally …

*) New York Times 'NFT' article sells for $563,000

A New York Times columnist has sold one of his articles in digital form for $563,000 dollars.

Keven Roose's article entitled "Buy This Column on the Blockchain" was aimed at trying to test the market to see what sort of items sell as "NFTs".

A non-fungible token or NFT is a digital object, such as a drawing, piece of music, or video, with a certificate of authenticity created by blockchain technology.