Myanmar

President Joe Biden previously voiced his appreciation for McConnell's "helpful insights" on responding to the military coup in the Southeast Asian nation.

China is "promoting peace and discussion, promoting the cooling of the situation and maintaining stability in Myanmar, resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, and continuing to drive the process of democratic transformation," according to an embassy statement.

McCaul said sanctions on military leaders would be "targeted at these military thugs that have taken the country over and are killing their own people."

The tech giant is one of a number of companies facing increasing tensions with the military junta.

At least nine people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ruili, China, a city located along the nation's border with Myanmar.

As protests continue, involvement of ethnic armed forces escalates pressure on military junta.

Military airstrikes in Myanmar this week forced thousands to flee, seeking shelter across the border in Thailand.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai issued a condemnation of the Myanmar security forces' "brutal violence against civilians" while announcing the decision on Monday.

Soldiers in Thailand began to send people fleeing from Myanmar back after airstrikes shook the country over the weekend.

A recent military coup in the country saw the detention of Nobel Prize-winning leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Chinese state-owned media said 32 factories were vandalized and two nationals injured as the situation in Myanmar deteriorates.

One widely held belief in the QAnon community is that former President Donald Trump will return to power on March 4.

More than a dozen police trucks with four water cannons were deployed near Sule Pagoda in the capital, where many of pro-democracy protests have been taking place.

"Facebook is treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency," Facebook's Director of Policy for APAC Emerging Countries Rafael Frankel wrote.

"As part of today's actions, USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] will redirect $42.4 million of assistance away from work that benefits the Government of Burma," the White House wrote in a statement on Thursday.

"The strong and unified message emerging from the United States has been essential…to encourage other countries to join us in pressing for immediate return to democracy," the president said.

Footage from the streets in the capital of Naypyitaw showed police firing guns and using water cannons .

How President JoeBiden responds will be watched closely, by friend and foe alike.

Attempts by the U.S. State Department to contact deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently detained, were rejected.

"The sad truth is that Western governments likely have very little leverage in Myanmar," prominent Burmese author and historian Thant Myint-U told Newsweek, "and will certainly not determine what comes next."

"We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information," Facebook said Wednesday.

Nobody in the world who values human rights and the rule of law likes what is going on in the streets of Myanmar's capital city right now.

"The new administration deserves credit for approaching this situation in a way that's bipartisan and coordinated with Congress," the Republican leader said.

The exercise instructor later said she did not know a coup would be taking place the morning she recorded her video.

The viral video juxtaposes a morning cardio workout with a country in crisis.

"In a democracy, force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election," the president said in his first statement on the issue.

China wields great influence in Myanmar and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with the country's commander in chief when he visited Myanmar earlier this month.

The military seized control early on Monday and announced a year-long state of emergency, accusing the civilian leadership of electoral fraud in the November election.

Tensions have risen between the pro-military party and the country's civilian government. The army challenged November's election, saying there was widespread voter fraud.

Chinese media says the barbed wire fence stops COVID-19 from entering the country, but the lengthy border wall could also prevent dissidents from leaving.