Welcome to the programme. A Military Coup appears to be underway in myanmar. Reports say the countrys de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders have been detained. Soldiers are on the streets of the main cities and communications have been cut. Tension has been escalating since the november elections, which the nld was declared to have won by a landslide. The military, whose proxy party won only a few seats, has claimed the results were fraudulent. 0ur South East Asia correspondentJonathan Head is in bangkok. He says facts are difficult to confirm at this stage. Well, its not that clear from here in bangkok. Were getting a lot of reports from contacts inside myanmar. It does appear there are numerous reports that the key leadership of the country, including Aung San Suu Kyi, have been detained by the military, very early this morning, before dawn, that the capital, naypyidaw, which is not the main city, that has been more or less cut off. People are been having trouble getting through on phones or any other lines. Naypyidaw is where the military has its biggest bases, its also where parliament was due to convene later today to establish a second term of office for Aung San Suu Kyi after her party won an even more resounding election victory last november. It was contesting that election victory and complaints of irregularity by the military which appears to have driven this action. Remember, the military last week made some alarming signals talking about replacing the constitution or even possibly a coup, then backtracked at the weekend, saying it would abide by the constitution, but still insisted that its grievances over the election were still valid. Whats happened this morning really cant be overstated. Its an extraordinary move. You have to remember that the constitution that governs myanmar right now was written by the military, the entire transition back to a democratic government was overseen by the military, which still has very significant power, its guaranteed a quarter of the seats in parliament, it controls key ministries. And yet they appear to have moved today to neutralise the government, to take it over, in effect, before parliament consent. Now, the military has given no statements so far. There have been soldiers visible on the streets in many parts of myanmar. It seems those have been brought out to detain key officials in regions as well, people like chief ministers, so im not sure the military will describe it as a coup, as a suspension of the constitution. Under the constitution, the military does have significant powers to declare a State Of Emergency and that might be option. But it is an extraordinarily dramatic and provocative move by the military, in particular, to detain all the key leaders and Aung San Suu Kyi. And these are very, very popular politicians, Aung San Suu Kyi is enormously popular. The Election Result was clearly in herfavour, her party won 80 of the seats in the main parliament. So this is not going to go unopposed and its a very risky move by the military. One thing i think may be unlikely is they overthrow the constitution. The constitution is their own constitution, they spent years drafting it, gives them enormous powers, unlike thailand, which has coups and constitutions as often as most people have changes of government. In myanmar, i think, it would be a big deal. It is likely they will stick to a State Of Emergency. Frankly, the military has set a path which is fraught with huge issues. The anger over this move, over a move against a government that has just won a resounding election victory, albeit there were complaints of irregularities. But the Election Commission judged that those simply could not have altered the result. And when you look at how well Aung San Suu Kyis party did its hard to argue that the party did notjustifiably win a new mandate. With all of that, for the military to move against them right after that election, i think many people thought the military was quite savvy and had been quite subtle often in managing its relations with civilian governments, there is nothing subtle at all about looking up an elected government. Bill is an associate fellow on the International Programme on the International Programme on the International Programme on the International Affairs think tank. He the difficult relationship between Aung San Suu Kyi and the armed forces. There seems to be very little personal chemistry between Aung San Suu Kyi and the Senior General in charge of the Myanmar Military. They reportedly havent spoken for months or maybe even longer. The main issue is that she wants to see the military formally out of politics, and the military are absolutely convinced that they are the only thing that stands between, you know, normality and disaster. They think that they are the backbone of the country, they embody the soul and the spirit of the nation and that, therefore, they are required to make sure that myanmar stays on a true path and that theyjust dont trust civilians, frankly, to get on with it. So its hard to see why theyve chosen, you know, decided to go on this particular issue, because the constitution guarantees them a 25 representation in both houses of parliament, which means that the constitution cant be changed without their say so. But it seems that relations have become so bad with the civilian party that they feel that this was the moment to move. Its extraordinary, isnt it, in part this is a constitution written by the military. So any kind of apparent coup to overthrow a document that they essentially wrote is unusual, to say the least. We heard from fergal keane earlier on, speculating that perhaps that the timing was due to the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi is not particularly strong internationally at the moment. Could you explain to us what that means . Well, i think the reason it happened today was because parliament was about to sit and all the mps will be in naypyidaw, all staying in a guest house, the vast majority in one particular guest house, and they can all be rounded up quite easily. The reason why it may be happening in the wider context, Aung San Suu Kyi has become increasingly isolated due as a result of the rohingya issue. And its the military who expelled the Rohingya Muslim minority from the northern part of rhakine state and you now have Hundreds Of Thousands of People Living in Refugee Camps across the border in bangladesh. The myanmar government and Aung San Suu Kyi as its most public representative has been thoroughly criticised for that. Although, frankly, there was not much she could do about it. The military are the people doing the pushing, theyre the ones that control the Military Defence and the Border Affairs agencies and everything else. And there is very little she could have done to stop it. Nonetheless, she has taken the blame for that. Shes become a sort of Persona Non Grata in capitals Around The World. And i guess shes not seen as the thought of saintly figure she was five years ago. So where do you see this ending up now . Well, i mean, the myanmar government, or rather the Myanmar Military have plenty of experience of withstanding International Sanctions and International Pressure. I mean, they had a coup in 1988 against similarly resounding results for what was then the opposition, and they basically stuck it out for 20 plus years. So a lot will depend on what myanmar� s immediate neighbours think, im thinking china, india, and the Southeast Asian countries. Interestingly, china, although not a democracy in itself, probably gets on better with Aung San Suu Kyi than it does with the Myanmar Military. Meanwhile, india, which is a democracy, ironically, gets on better with the military than with Aung San Suu Kyi. And the Southeast Asian countries, its not sure how they will split. I think those three countries or blocks will probably have more impact on say the European Union or the uk or the United States making comments about it, frankly. I imagine what theyre going to try to do, the army here, is try and force the Supreme Court or something to nullify the elections or rerun them. Its hard to see they could overturn the results as they stand, but maybe they can try and call for a different election process, because thats ultimately what they are complaining about here. Or else theyjust continue to rule without fear of international criticism. I wanted to go back to the issue of how much of a surprise this is, i suppose. Because weve heard in the last couple of weeks these murmurings about a possible coup, denials from the military, assurances from the military, actually, that they will abide by the constitution only 2a hours ago, and then suddenly this. Do you think people inside the country, inside the ruling party would have had any inclination that they would be rounded up and detained this morning . Well, as you were saying, there has been rumour of coup preparations. And we saw armoured vehicles driving around some of the City Streets On Thursday last week, and increasingly talk and the army saying they wouldnt rule anything out. But, i mean, they could say they are going to do within the spirit of the constitution, the State Of Emergency. I mean, technically that has to be called by the president , but with the president apparently being arrested, presumably he could be pressured to formally call a State Of Emergency. So they could say theyre upholding the constitution in that sense. But, obviously, the spirit of the constitution, the idea of a democratic rule is being violated as we speak. Bill hayton there. Are really important context and background to events. We are starting to get a reaction from the International Community about what is happening in myanmar a reaction from the white house, from the United States, i have the statement here saying the United States is alarmed by reports that the Burmese Military has taken steps to undermine the country . Democratic transition including the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi. The first interesting thing is we urge the military to adhere to democratic norms and the rule of law as we would expect and to release those detained today, calling directly for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. In the second point they may, from the second point they may, from the white house, saying the us will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed, so they are the two main points coming from that white house statement, reaction from the usa. Also we have reaction from australia, the Foreign Affairs minister saying we call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms, and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully. We will keep an eye on the International Reaction to that apparent coup in myanmar. In a second weekend of widespread protests, large crowds have demonstrated across russia in defiance of warnings by police. The protesters are demanding the Release OfjailedOpposition Leader alexei navalny. According to independent monitors, the Police Crackdown has now seen at least Five Thousand people arrested across the country. Among them is mr navalny� s wife yulia, seen here accompanying her husband on their return to russia earlier this month. She has been arrested by police in moscow as she and others marched towards the prison where her husband is being held. Steve rosenberg reports. By by law, russians have the right to peaceful protest. 0n russians have the right to peaceful protest. On paper. In moscow today, police were determined to clear the streets. Whatever it took. Some people got away. But hundreds of people were detained in the russian capital. Protesters had come out in support of alexei navalny, the kremlin critic whos in jail. Moscow police had warned that any protest in the city today would be considered illegal and broken up, and thats exactly whats happening right now. The message is that the authorities are determined to crack down on dissent. But the crowds swelled, and moved through the city. Chanting moscow, take to the streets, theyre chanting. The riot police tried to stop them, but they were playing catch up all afternoon. Mr navalny� s arrest was the trigger for this, but resentments of the authorities has been building. We have been stagnating for, like, 20 years of putins rule, and i believe that we need some change. I wanted freedom for our country. The situation now is the worst, i think, than the last ten years. This too brought russians onto the streets, alexei navalny� s recent video alleging that Vladimir Putin built himself a £1 billion palace with illicit money, complete with £600 toilet brushes. The kremlin� s denied it, but the videos had more than 100 million views online. The result the toilet brush has become the symbol of this protest, the embodiment of what many here believe is massive corruption at the top. There were protests across russia, from st petersburg. To siberia and the russian far east. Man shouting. But will they force a kremlin u turn and mr navalny� s release . No sign of that. Steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come we have more on the breaking news of the apparent coup in myanmar. This is the moment that millions in iran had been waiting for. After his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of Ayatollah Khomeini on iranian soil. South africas white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. The ban on the African National congress is lifted immediately, and the anc leader, nelson mandela, is to be set free unconditionally. Four, three, two, one. A countdown to a critical moment. The worlds most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines at once. And apart from its power, its this recycling of the rocket, l slashing the cost of a launch, l that makes this a breakthrough in the business| of space travel. Two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. One of them called it a piece of cake. Thousands of people have given the yachtswoman Ellen Macarthur a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo Around The World non stop. This is bbc world news. The latest headlines an apparent Military Coup is underway in myanmar. The countrys de facto leader Aung San Sui Kyi has been detained. The military complained about alleged irregularities in last novembers election, but at the weekend promised to abide by the countrys constitution. 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