KHARTOUM (AFP) – Thousands of people in Sudan rallied Saturday against foreign interference in their country amid the political crisis sparked by last year’s coup, AFP journalists said. The demonstrations, the latest by Islamic factions in recent weeks, came one day after military leaders and a key civilian bloc announced plans to sign an initial deal. Political turmoil has gripped Sudan since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led an October 2021 military takeover, derailing a fragile transition to civilian rule installed after the 2019 ouster of long-time Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Near-weekly anti-coup protests, a spiraling economic crisis and a rise in ethnic clashes in Sudan’s remote regions have since fed deepening unrest. “Do not interfere in Sudanese affairs,” protesters chanted outside the headquarters of the UN mission in Khartoum. Others called on UN special representative Volker Perthes to “get out” of Sudan. “We are against this deal,” said protester Ahmed Omar.

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BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese authorities on Saturday announced a further easing of COVID-19 curbs with major cities such as Shenzhen and Beijing no longer requiring negative tests to take public transport. The southern technological manufacturing center of Shenzhen said Saturday that commuters no longer need to show a negative COVID-19 test result to use public transport or when entering pharmacies, parks and tourist attractions. Meanwhile, the capital Beijing said Friday that negative test results are also no longer required for public transport from Monday. However, a negative result obtained within the past 48 hours is still required to enter venues like shopping malls, which have gradually reopened with many restaurants and eateries providing takeout services. The government reported 33,018 domestic infections in the past 24 hours, including 29,085 with no symptoms.

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PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay (Al Jazeera) – The first round of negotiations on a global treaty to halt plastic pollution has ended in a split on whether goals and efforts should be global and mandatory, or voluntary and country-led. More than 2,000 delegates from 160 countries met in Uruguay for the first of a planned five sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), a UN negotiating body aimed at crafting the first legally binding agreement by the end of 2024. Negotiations in the coastal city of Punta del Este that ended on Friday pitted a “High Ambition Coalition” against countries that have the world’s top plastic and petrochemical companies, including the United States and Saudi Arabia. The High Ambition Coalition of more than 40 countries, including EU members, Switzerland, host Uruguay and Ghana, pushed for the treaty to be based on mandatory global measures, including curbs on production. “Without a common international regulatory framework, we will not be able to address the global and increasing challenge of plastic pollution,” Switzerland said in its position statement.

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KYIV (Middle East Eye) – The U.S. is working to transfer air systems from the Middle East to Ukraine, as it seeks to expedite arms deliveries to Kyiv in the face of fresh Russian drone and missile attacks. The plan would see the U.S. send National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) to Ukraine in the next three to six months. The U.S. would then replenish the systems taken from Middle Eastern partners with new NASAMS over the next 24 months, according to Greg Hayes, the CEO of Raytheon Technologies. “There are NASAMS deployed across the Middle East, and some of our NATO allies and we [the U.S.] are actually working with a couple of Middle Eastern countries that currently employ NASAMS and trying to direct those back up to Ukraine,” Hayes told Politico. Hayes told Politico that rerouting the systems from the Middle East would be faster than producing new ones for Ukraine, given the time needed to source component parts and deliver them.

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TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is set to earmark 40 trillion to 43 trillion yen ($295 billion-$318 billion) for military spending over five years starting in the next fiscal year, which begins in April, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. That would be a jump from the current five-year defence plan for spending 27.5 trillion yen, stoking worry about worsening one of the industrial world’s worst debt burdens, which amounts to twice the size of Japan’s annual economic output. The new numbers marked a compromise between the defense and finance ministries, the three sources said. Until recently, the defence ministry had sought 48 trillion yen, while the finance ministry had multiple options centering around 35 trillion yen. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told key ministers on Monday to work on a plan to lift military spending to an amount equivalent to 2% of gross domestic product within five years, from 1% now.

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PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said there was no reason to panic about possible power cuts this winter, but he called on citizens to use less energy and on state utility EDF to restart nuclear reactors to prevent outages in case of cold weather. In an interview with French TV station TF1 recorded during his state visit to the United States this week, Macron denied that the risk of rolling blackouts was due to inadequate management of EDF’s nuclear reactor restart program. “First of all, let us be clear: no panic! It is legitimate for the government to prepare for the extreme cases which would mean cutting off electricity for a few hours per day if we did not have enough power,” Macron said. The head of French power grid operator RTE said on Thursday that France may face “some days” of power cuts this winter and the government has started briefing local authorities on how to handle any outages.