January 19, 2022

Daily News Brief

*) Russia amasses 127,000 troops in 'almost complete' build-up Russia has reportedly deployed more than 127,000 troops and "almost completed" its build-up, Ukraine has said, raising fears of an imminent invasion of the eastern European country. The assessment said the current situation in the region is "difficult" and added that it believes Moscow is "trying to split and weaken the European Union and NATO". Ukraine's assessment also said that Russia was using its ally Belarus to "expand aggression" against Kiev. *) Israel demolishes Palestinian home in Sheikh Jarrah Israeli police have destroyed the home of a Palestinian family in the sensitive occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Before dawn, Israeli officers went to the home of the Salhiya family, according to a video posted online by the police on Wednesday. Israeli police had created a barrier around the Salhiya home, blockading dozens of Palestinians on the inside before the demolition, according to local sources. *) EU condemns violence against anti-coup protesters in Sudan The European Union’s foreign policy chief has said Sudan’s military rulers have shown an unwillingness to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the country's ongoing crisis. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that repeated calls for Sudanese authorities to refrain from violence against protesters “have fallen on deaf ears”. His statement comes a day after security forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters in the capital, killing at least seven people. *) Houthi general among civilians killed in Saudi-led strikes in Yemen The Saudi-led coalition has killed nearly two dozen people in air strikes on Yemen's rebel-held capital after an attack by Houthi rebels on the United Arab Emirates sent regional tensions soaring. Coalition strikes around the city killed a total of about 20 people, said the deputy foreign minister for the Houthi administration, which holds much of northern Yemen. Among those killed in coalition air strikes was a high-ranking Houthi military official, including his wife and son. And finally … *) Arabic oud icon seeks to 'change soul' of Iraq with music Long uprooted from his native Iraq, Naseer Shamma, an icon of the Arabic oud, returned home to help rekindle the flame of Iraqi music, snuffed out by decades of conflict. "When you are in your own country, you feel very high emotions with the audience," the master string player said. "Now we're playing to help education. My new project is called 'education first'. We need to help Iraqi schools," Shamma added.