Axios

Myanmar's military appeared to have broadened its crackdown on internet access Saturday amid protests over the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government, AP reports.

What's happening: Netblocks, a U.K.-based site that tracks internet disruptions worldwide, tweeted Saturday that “a near-total internet shutdown is now in effect” in Myanmar. The broad outages followed the military's order to block Facebook, Instagram and Twitter earlier this week.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi Friday that the U.S. will stand up for human rights and democratic values, and "hold Beijing accountable for its abuses of the international system."

The big picture: Blinken's phone call with Yang comes just days after President Biden said the U.S. would confront Beijing over its "economic abuses," "coercive actions" and "attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance."

Egyptian authorities have released Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein after detaining him since December 2016, the network announced Saturday.

Why it matters: Egypt’s Ministry of Interior accused Hussein of defaming the government by disseminating false news while receiving monetary funds from foreign authorities, but never brought formal charges against him. Hussein and Al Jazeera repeatedly denied the allegations.

China's health regulator has approved the two-shot coronavirus vaccine developed by domestic drugmaker Sinovac Biotech Ltd. for general public use.

Why it matters: Sinovac's CoronaVac is the second vaccine to receive authorization in the country. State-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm produced the first vaccine to receive approval in China last December.

The Biden administration has formally notified Congress of its intention to revoke the terrorist designation for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the State Department confirmed Friday, reversing a last-minute decision by former President Trump.

Why it matters: Humanitarian groups and the United Nations had warned the designation would make it harder for aid to reach the people of Yemen, who are facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

A panel of judges from the International Criminal Court on Friday cleared the way for an investigation against Israel and Hamas for alleged war crimes in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Why it matters: An ICC prosecutor could now investigate alleged war crimes during the 2014 war in Gaza, as well as the construction of West Bank settlements by Israel.

Kuaishou, a Chinese short-video and livestreaming app, raised $5.4 billion in its IPO. Its shares then nearly tripled in Friday trading, pumping the company’s valuation to $159 billion.

Why it matters: It's the largest global IPO in over a year, and the largest global tech IPO since Uber in May 2019. Plus, it means Kuaishou is now valued just a TikTok short of rival ByteDance.

China appears to have taken another major step in its quest to move the world away from the dollar and position itself as a major power in the world's financial markets.

What happened: China's central bank has set up a partnership with SWIFT, the global system for cross-border payments, through its digital currency research institute and clearing center.

Daily cases of COVID-19 are currently falling across most of the world, and deaths — which had been climbing globally until late January — are also beginning to decrease.

The big picture: We can only learn so much from this 30,000-foot view, and there's plenty to fear from the emerging variants. Plus, cases and deaths had been so high that even after climbing down from the peak, we're still pretty close to the summit.