China looms as the elephant in the Davos room
Almost inevitably, whatever the topic, minds soon turn to China.
It is the elephant in the room in many discussions taking place here in Davos. This, despite there being hardly any Chinese participants at this year's World Economic Forum meeting, now on in this Swiss Alpine town.
Unfortunately, they have been kept away by Covid-19 restrictions at home, even as their Russian counterparts have been told not to come, because of the ongoing war with Ukraine.
This is in stark contrast to the warm response China's President Xi Jinping received when he delivered a much applauded keynote address here in 2017, pledging to uphold the global economic order, against the newly-elected United States President Donald Trump's "America First" assertions, so anathema to the globalist sentiments among the Davos elite.
Beto O'Rourke heckles Texas leaders at shooting briefing
Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke interrupted state officials holding a news conference on Wednesday about the mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school, shouting, “You are doing nothing!”
O’Rourke, a former congressman who is running for governor of Texas against Republican Greg Abbott, began yelling after Abbott outlined mental health resources available to those affected by the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.
“This is totally predictable,” O’Rourke said, accusing Abbott and other Republican leaders of not doing enough to prevent such shootings.
Afghan male TV presenters wear masks in Taliban protest
Seconds before he presents a news bulletin, Afghan television anchor Nisar Nabil puts on a black mask as a symbolic protest against the Taliban authorities for ordering women presenters to cover their faces on air.
"We are taking a stand in support of our women colleagues," said Nabil, who works at TOLOnews, Afghanistan's main private television channel.
"During our live news broadcasts or political shows, we are wearing masks as a protest," he told AFP after presenting a bulletin at the channel's studio in Kabul.
Tearful Mourinho hails Conference League 'history' for Roma
Jose Mourinho said that he and Roma had made history after winning the Europa Conference League on Wednesday, the club's first ever major European trophy.
Portuguese coaching icon Mourinho tried and failed to hold back the tears after Roma beat Feyenoord in their first continental final in over three decades and he was still emotional by the time he hailed his team after the trophy ceremony.
Roma fans have taken Mourinho into their hearts during an up and down season which culminated in Wednesday's 1-0 win in Tirana which ended a 14-year trophy drought for the capital club.
Moss denies Depp pushed her down stairs in defamation case
Johnny Depp’s legal team called British model Kate Moss, a former girlfriend, to testify on Wednesday in his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard to rebut a rumour that Heard had alluded to earlier in court suggesting that Depp had pushed Moss down the stairs in the 1990s.
Heard had made the reference while testifying about a fight in 2015 in which, she said, she struck Depp because he had swung at her sister while she was standing at the top of a staircase.
“I just, in my head, instantly think of Kate Moss and the stairs and I swung at him,” Heard said.
