He reshaped the federal judiciary. He made history as the longest-serving Senate GOP leader. But Mitch McConnell has unfinished business more than 8,000 miles from the halls of Congress.

Since the Feb. 1 military coup, Myanmar has rapidly destabilized into widespread protests and indiscriminate violence. According to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 614 protesters have been killed and 2,857 detained as of April 8. The Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s military is called, appears unwilling to back down despite growing international pressure.

Beyond the protests in the cities, however, the role that Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) choose to adopt could become key to the country’s long-term stability.

Joe Biden has led global condemnation of an “absolutely outrageous” crackdown by Myanmar’s junta that left more than 100 people – including several children – dead in the bloodiest day since the coup two months ago.

Soldiers and police have killed hundreds in brutal suppression against weeks of mass protests demanding a restoration of democracy and the release of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Burma media say security forces have killed 91 people in deadliest day since last month’s military coup.

The online news site Myanmar Now reported as evening fell that the death toll had reached 91, higher than all estimates for the previous high on March 14, which ranged from 74 to 90.

A count issued by an independent researcher in Yangon who has been compiling near-real time death tolls put the total as darkness fell at 89, spread over more than two dozen cities and towns.

The U.S. government will grant temporary deportation relief and work permits to Myanmar citizens amid an increasingly violent crackdown by security forces in the Southeast Asian country, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced Friday.

Tens of thousands of people came out on the streets in Myanmar on Sunday to demonstrate against last month’s coup despite overnight raids by security forces in the main city Yangon to crack down on protest leaders.

The United Nations has warned the Myanmar military of “severe consequences” if it responds harshly to the protests that have taken place across the country following the February 1 coup, as the junta leaders justified anew on Tuesday the seizure of power from civilian control.

“Ms Schraner Burgener has reinforced that the right of peaceful assembly must fully be respected and that demonstrators are not subjected to reprisals,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York, referring to the UN special envoy who spoke to the deputy head of the junta.

Amid "growing reports and photographic evidence" that live ammunition is being used against anti-junta protesters in Myanmar, a United Nations human rights investigator is calling on the Security Council to consider sanctions against the country's coup leaders.

Thomas Andrews' remarks at a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva come a day after the U.S. imposed its own sanctions on the generals who overthrew the government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1.

President Biden on Wednesday announced a series of steps in response to last week's military coup in Myanmar, including withholding "$1 billion in Burmese government funds" held in the U.S. and imposing sanctions against the military leaders behind the coup.

The big picture: These are the first sanctions announced by the Biden administration and are part of the president's efforts to re-emphasize democracy and human rights in American foreign policy.

“Myanmar police have filed charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment… The move followed a military coup on Monday and the detention of Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi and other civilian politicians. The takeover cut short Myanmar’s long transition to democracy and drew condemnation from the United States and other Western countries.” (Reuters)

Both sides condemn the coup: