January 18, 2022

Daily News Brief

*) Sudan anti-coup rally turns deadly as security forces fire 'live bullets' Sudanese security forces have killed seven protesters among thousands rallying against last year's military coup. Three protesters "were killed by live bullets" by "militias of the putschist military council," anti-coup medics said on the Facebook page of Khartoum state's Health Ministry. The independent Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said four more demonstrators were killed "during a massacre by the coup authorities who were seeking to disperse the protests." *) China calls for end to 'Cold-War mentality' in veiled swipe at US Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that confrontation between major powers could have "catastrophic consequences" in a speech to world leaders at an all-virtual Davos forum. He presented himself as the defender of multilateralism and also gave sober warnings for the future as relations between major powers plunge. "Our world today is far from the tranquil, rhetoric that stokes hatred and prejudice abound," he said, according to an official translation of the speech which was streamed online. *) Turkiye hands over hundreds of housing units for Albania quake victims President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has handed over more than 500 housing units a Turkish agency built for earthquake victims in Albania. "We are crowning the friendship between Turkiye and Albania with the handover of these houses," Erdogan said. A total of 522 housing units, worth about $48 million, have been built for the northwestern town of Lac, which was struck by a deadly quake in November 2019. *) Winter storm halts motorists, grounds planes in US and Canada A major winter storm has blanketed a swathe of North America in snow as it sliced up the US east coast into Canada, disrupting travel and cutting power to thousands of homes. About 120,000 American customers were without power, with the largest concentration in the mid-Atlantic state of West Virginia and North and South Carolina and Georgia. Large parts of the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario remained under winter storm or blizzard warnings, according to a Canadian government website. *) Lewandowski wins FIFA best player vote ahead of Messi and Salah Robert Lewandowski was voted the best men’s player in the world, retaining the FIFA award he won last year despite being left off the ballot paper filed by runner-up Lionel Messi. The Bayern Munich forward overturned the result last month of the Ballon d’Or prize where he placed second behind Messi. Mohamed Salah of Liverpool placed third. “I am very honored to win this trophy,” Lewandowski said on a video link from Munich. The trophy was presented by club officials during the online ceremony hosted at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.