Medics say more than 108 have died so far in Sudan, state health officials cite 40 deaths
Sudanese opposition groups have rejected an offer by the country’s military council to start talks, two days after its security forces led a deadly raid on a protest camp. The standoff between military and protesters took a violent turn in the past week. The Transitional Military Council raided a protest camp, that sparked the most lethal round of violence since April, and in which dozens were killed.
According to a report in the Reuters, medics linked to the opposition claimed that 108 people have died so far. While the state health officials disputed this number and claimed that 40 people have lost their lives.
At the heart of this crisis is the dispute between the military council and the civilian opposition groups – regarding who should govern the country after authoritarian President Omar al-Bashir was deposed by the military in April following months of protests.
The protests, however, did not stop after Bashir’s removal with the civilian opposition arguing that they will not accept another “dictatorship” in the form of military rule.
Donald Trump not impressed with US-Mexico negotiations
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump declared that he was not impressed with the progress made during negotiations with Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
The Trump administration has asked the Mexican government to immediately bring down infiltration of illegal migrants to the US. Trump has threatened to hike tariffs on Mexican goods by 5 per cent if both sides fail to reach an agreement, which is likely to have devastating effects on the economies of both nations.
“The dialogue was focused on migration flow to the US and what Mexico is doing or is proposing to the United States, our concern about the Central American situation,” said Ebrard at a press conference later in the day.
The overall number of cross-border illegal migration have been going down since 2000.
According to a report in the BBC, “In 2000, 1.6 million people were apprehended while trying to cross the border illegally – that number was just under 400,000 in 2018.”
Social Democrats win in Denmark, reverse right-wing wave in the region
Social Democrats have won the parliamentary elections of Denmark and cornered the anti-immigration Populist Party.
The centre-left bloc, headed by Social Democrats won 91 out of the 179-seats, while the centre-right bloc got 75. Meanwhile, the populists’ vote share was reduced to just 8 per cent resulting in only 9 seats.
With this result, Denmark has joined Finland and Sweden in electing a left-wing government. Over the past few years, right-wing parties had swept the entire Northern European region.
The prominent campaign issues were welfare, environment and immigration.
In other news:
Thai parliament elects ex-military government chief Prayuth as PM, BBC.
Trump casts doubt on reports of North Korean executions, Reuters.