Myanmar faces growing isolation as military tightens grip

Myanmar (TIP): Myanmar faced growing isolation on Thursday with increasingly limited internet services and its last private newspaper ceasing publication as the military built its case against ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi was overthrown and detained in a February 1 military coup, triggering mass protests across the country that security forces have struggled to suppress with increasingly violent methods. The total documented number of people killed in the unrest stood at 217 but the actual toll was probably much higher, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group said. Western countries have condemned the coup and called for an end to the violence and for the release of Suu Kyi and others.  Asian neighbours have offered to help find a solution, but the military has a long record of shunning outside pressure. Large parts of an economy already reeling from the novel coronavirus have been paralysed by the protests and a parallel civil disobedience campaign of strikes against military rule, while many foreign investors are reassessing plans.(Reuters)