Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, Jan. 22
Xinhua,January 22, 2018 Adjust font size:
BRUSSELS -- Visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Monday called on EU states to swiftly recognize the state of Palestine, amid an international uproar sparked by the U.S. administration's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Abbas made the remarks before an informal lunch with EU foreign ministers and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at the sideline of the bloc's monthly foreign affairs council.(EU-Palestine)
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MONROVIA -- Liberia's new president, George Weah, took the oath of office on Monday with a vow to discharge his duties faithfully, and to the best of his ability, and "always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being, and prosperity" of the west African country.
Weah, a former international soccer star, was sworn in as Liberia's 25th president at exactly noon local time, inside the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium near the capital city of Monrovia.(Liberia-Presidency-Inauguration)
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DAVOS -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday raised its global growth forecast for 2018 and 2019 by 0.2 percentage point to 3.9 percent, due to increased global growth momentum and the expected impact of the recently approved U.S. tax policy changes.
The upward revision was announced by Maurice Obstfeld, IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of Research, at a press conference on Update of the World Economic Outlook in Davos, Switzerland.(IMF-Forecast)
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JERUSALEM -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence addressed the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on Monday, giving a strong pro-Israeli speech and promising the controversial relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be completed in less than two years.
Lawmakers with the Arab-Jewish Joint List were escorted out of the plenum hall after they pulled out posters with a caption reading "Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine" and a photo of East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound.(Israel-US Pence-Visit)
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NEW DELHI -- At least two people were killed and over 200 shops gutted Monday in a major fire incident in India's eastern state of West Bengal, police said.
The fire broke out around 2:00 a.m. local time in Gorabazar market in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal.(India-Fire) Enditem