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The World Economic Forum has got into full swing on Tuesday with the speech of Chinese President Xi Jinping on globalization and mounting public hostility in the West. Addressing the forum, the Chinese president said: ”The voices attacking globalization have laid bare the pitfalls facing globalization and we need to take this seriously."  President Xi insisted that there is “no point” blaming globalization for all the problems facing the world. He cites the flow of refugees from the Middle East and Africa a global concern but not one caused by opening up markets. Xi is the first Chinese leader who has attended the annual meeting of political leaders, CEOs and bankers in Davos. His appearance comes as the part the US plays as a force for multilateral cooperation is in doubt following the election of Donald Trump. The founder of World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab said Xi's presence in the meeting was a sign of the shift from a uni-polar world dominated by the ...

The death toll from the January 14 capsizing of a refugee ship in the Mediterranean stands at four, with nearly 180 missing, presumed dead, survivors have said. The survivors, three men and one woman, said in interviews with humanitarian workers from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Italy on Tuesday that the ship had left Libya the previous day with more than 180 people packed on board. The two Eritreans and two Ethiopians, who had been taken to Italy after the crash, said the sinking began after the ship’s engine cut out after five hours at sea. They said more and more of the people on board were submerged under the water as the boat slowly sank. They said most of the people were refugees from East Africa who were in search of a job and living in Europe. A French boat operating as part of Frontex's Operation Triton, the European borders agency, rescued the survivors 30 nautical miles off the Libyan coast on Saturd...

Iraqi forces have managed to retake control of several areas in Mosul as part of a large-scale military operation to purge Takfiri Daesh terrorists from the strategic northern city. The Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported the recapture of Mosul’s Suez and Sinharib districts by Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) on Tuesday. Moreover, the commander of Nineveh Liberation Operation, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah,  announced the liberation of al-Jazair, al- Darkazliyah, al-Zarai neighborhoods in Mosul’s left bank, adding that the national flag was hoisted over buildings there. He further noted that the Iraqi forces were in control of Mosul’s Central Mosque after heavy clashes with Daesh elements there. The districts of Bab al-Shams, Mohandesin, Atshanah, Numaniyah, Eastern Nineveh, Souq al-Ghanam and al-Ma’a were among several areas in Mosul’s western bank that were fully retaken from the militants. Elsewh...

A major power outage in the Netherlands' capital, Amsterdam, has led to huge road and rail service commotion as well as heavy traffic, leaving many rush hour commuters stranded, officials say. The electric power cut on Tuesday meant that no trains would leave or enter Amsterdam’s busy main railway station, prompting rush hour drivers to hit the roads early and causing congested traffic. "Other parts of the country are hit by the knock-on effect," Dutch National Rail declared on its website, adding at about 10:00 a.m. local time that "the power cut has since been fixed but rail traffic is still seriously affected." The power outage, however, was repaired by 9:00 a.m., according to electricity provider Liander, which also warned that "problems may still occur due to the start-up process." The company did not mention the reason for the huge power cut. The Netherlands has been experiencing sub-zero temperatures overnight. Dutch road safe...

UK Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain will leave the European Union’s single market in order to restrict immigration in a clean break from the bloc, but Parliament can vote on the final Brexit deal. "Brexit must mean control of the number of people coming from Europe, and that is what we will deliver. What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the single market," May said Tuesday during a long-awaited speech at London's Lancaster House. The prime minister said any Brexit agreement must be approved by both chambers of Britain's parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. She also said London would seek a trade deal giving "the greatest possible access" to the EU market on its departure. Seeking to lessen concerns about a sudden shock to the economy on abruptly leaving the EU, May said she would seek a "phased process of implementation" of a Brexit deal. EU countries accounted for about 44 percent of Britain's ...

Germany’s top court has confirmed that the country’s far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) adheres to policies similar to those of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, but ruled against banning the political group. Germany’s 16 federal states had taken action to outlaw the NPD amid growing anti-immigrant sentiments in the country. The country’s intelligence agency described the far-right party, which has 500 members, as racist and anti-Semitic. The court said the NDP’s aims are in violation of the constitution, but ruled that there is not enough evidence suggesting the party would wield power. “The NPD intends to replace the existing constitutional system with an authoritarian national state that adheres to the idea of an ethnically defined 'people's community’. However, currently there is a lack of specific and weighty indications suggesting that this endeavor will be successful,” the court ruling said. “It appears to be entirely impossible that the NPD will succeed in...

A letter by Democratic lawmakers urging outgoing President Barack Obama to close the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is "too little too late,”   says an analyst in New York. Joe Lauria, an author and independent journalist made the remarks on Thursday, while discussing a letter by Democratic lawmakers to Obama, where they called for the closure of the controversial detention facility. Obama has failed to keep his promise during the 2008 presidential election campaign to close the prison, citing its damage to the US reputation abroad, but has set free some of the inmates and relocated some others. On the 15th anniversary of the opening of the prison, the 40 Democratic signatories from the Congressional Progressive Caucus said in the letter that they were alarmed by “torture’s resurgence” under the incoming presidency of Donald Trump. While campaigning for the 2016 presidential election, Trump, a New York billionaire and former reality TV start, embraced Guantá...

A member of the Venezuelan parliament has been arrested in what the opposition claims is part of a fresh wave of government repression to silence dissent in the country. Gilber Caro was arrested at a highway toll station on Wednesday, with police saying they found a gun and explosives in his car. The substitute lawmaker is a member of the Popular Will party. Opposition sources said the arrest came on the order of a fledgling “anti-coup” unit inside the government, which they said is cracking down on dissent. The Popular Will said weapons were planted in Caro’s car to frame him. However, Vice President Tarek El Aissami, who heads the new anti-coup unit, said Caro was carrying a gun, bullets and explosives, adding that the opposition politician had a previous criminal record, including charges of murder and drug trafficking. The arrest comes amid escalating tensions between the government and the opposition in the South American country. A coalition of opposition groups sa...

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has labeled "terrorists" the elements behind the recent plunge in the value of Turkish currency. "There is no difference between the terrorist who has a weapon… and the terrorist who is using the dollar… to bring Turkey to its knees," Erdogan said. The Turkish president explained that the exchange rate was being used "as a weapon." Erdogan made the remarks in an address to a group of officials in the capital, Ankara, on Thursday. The Turkish Lira has plunged to record lows in recent weeks against the dollar, something which has led to jitters in the country's economy. Erdogan, however, did not name specifically the elements behind the 10-percent decline in the value of lira. Credit rating agencies Standard and Poor's as well as Moody's downgraded Turkey's rating to junk status in 2016. Moody's recently warned that the current dire politico-economic situation in Turkey was li...