French premier to unveil new proposals in pension overhaul standoff

Demonstrators burn tires as they block the entrance of the industrial area of Le Havre’s harbor, in northwestern France, to protest the government’s pension overhaul, on Jan 10 PARIS, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France’s premier will present new proposals on Saturday on the government’s hotly-contested pensions overhaul, seeking to appease…

US sharply reduces flights to Cuba

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States on Friday sharply reduced flights allowed to go to Cuba in a bid to reduce tourism revenue to the communist island. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that charter flights would only be allowed to fly to Havana, not other airports – a…

Libya and Iran top agenda in Merkel-Putin meeting

MOSCOW/BERLIN, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Confrontation between Washington and Tehran over the US killing of a top general and turmoil in Libya are set to dominate talks in Moscow on Saturday between the leaders of Russia and Germany. Russia’s Vladimir Putin will hold talks with German Chancellor AngelaMerkel in Moscow…

Parties agree on deal to restore power-sharing government in Northern Ireland

BELFAST, Jan 11 (NNN-Xinhua) — The two major parties in Northern Ireland have agreed on a draft deal to restore a power-sharing government, breaking a three-year political deadlock in the region, local media reported Friday. The breakthrough came when Sinn Fein party agreed on a new deal put forward by…

Puerto Rico hit by new 5.2-magnitude earthquake amid recovery

SAN JUAN, Jan 11 (NNN-Xinhua) — A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit Puerto Rico on Friday afternoon, as the Caribbean island is recovering from temblors that occurred earlier this week. The earthquake happened at 5:26 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (2226 GMT), with its epicenter around 4 km south of Indios on the…

UN reports winning battle on cholera in Haiti

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 11 (NNN-Xinhua) — The international community is winning the battle against cholera in Haiti as new infection is rare, said a UN spokesman. By December 2019, when the latest numbers were available, no positive tests for cholera had been reported for nearly 11 consecutive months, said Stephane…

Algeria, Italy urge for cease-fire in Libya

ALGIERS, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum said Algiers and Rome share convergent views over the necessity to reach a cease-fire in war-ridden Libya. Coordination between Algeria and Italy on Libya is “very good,” Boukadoum told a joint press conference attended by his Italian counterpart Luigi Di…

Iran plane crash: ‘More time needed for investigation’ – Ukraine

Iran says the data from the “black box” will be analysed at home, but Ukraine wants to do this in Kyiv  KIEV, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) —It is too soon to draw any conclusions on what brought down a Ukrainian passenger plane in Iran on Wednesday, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said. “We…

Ottawa lowers Canadian death toll in Iran air crash to 57

OTTAWA, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canada on Friday lowered the number of its citizens killed in the crash of a jetliner in Iran from 63 to 57. “This is based on additional information we had about birth dates andcomparing the travel documents that people were travelling on when theyboarded the…

Hungary to provide free fertility treatment to boost population

The Hungarian government acquired six privately-owned fertility clinics last month BUDAPEST, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hungary will provide free in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment to couples at state-run clinics, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced.He said fertility was of “strategic importance”. Last month his government took over Hungary’s fertility clinics.Orban, a…