Strike snarls France in showdown over pension reforms

PARIS, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A nationwide strike brought much of France to a halt on Thursday as unions kicked off a massive protest against a pension overhaul by President Emmanuel Macron, which they say will force millions of people to work longer or face curtailed benefits. Most schools were…

Brazil court decision may ease creation of Bolsanaro’s new party

BRASILIA, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The majority of judges on Brazil’s electoral court voted late on Tuesday in favor of allowing digital signature collection to register new parties. The decision will likely benefit current President Jair Bolsonaro, who is trying to start his own party after falling out with the…

Colombian unions, student groups to hold third national strike

BOGOTA, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Colombian unions and student groups plan a third national strike on Wednesday amid fraught talks between protest leaders and the government over President Ivan Duque’s social and economic policies. The strike would be the latest demonstration in two weeks of protests, which have drawn hundreds…

Mexico arrests 10 over deadly firefight near US border

MEXICO CITY, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexican authorities said they have arrested 10 alleged gunmen from a drug cartel commando that attacked a town near the US border, leaving six locals and 17 assailants dead. At least 60 gunmen terrorized the small northern city of Villa Union over the weekend,…

Venezuela slams use of UNHRC for “political” ends

CARACAS, Dec 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — Venezuela denounced a handful of countries for using the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for “political” ends. Writing on Twitter, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza said that the country “rejects the political use of the mechanisms of the UNHRC,” given the creation of…

France braces for traffic chaos as workers protest against Macron’s pension reform

PARIS, Dec 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — French commuters will face travel misery on Thursday as rail and metro workers will go on strike with which labor unions eye to show enough force to make President Emmanuel Macron reconsider his pension reform. “Thursday will be extremely difficult. The networks will be badly…

UN to deliver food aid to 4.1 million hungry in Zimbabwe

Villager Shupikai Makwavarara inspects her maize crop in rural Bindura near Harare GENEVA, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — THE United Nations said it was procuring food assistance for 4.1 million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the population in a country where shortages are being exacerbated by runaway inflation and climate-induced drought. Zimbabwe, once…

French police clear 600 Tibetan migrants from camp outside Paris

Tibetan asylum seekers gather by a portrait of the Dalai Lama at a makeshift camp in Saint-Germain-en-Laye forest in Acheres PARIS, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French authorities said that they removed some 600 asylum-seekers from Tibet from a camp on the edge of a forest outside Paris, which had grown…

Brazil approves sale of medical cannabis in pharmacies

SAO PAULO, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil’s health watchdog approved the sale of cannabis-based products for medical use in pharmacies to people with a prescription. The regulation, which takes effect in the coming months, also allows for the manufacture of such products in a laboratory, the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency…

French engineer assassinated in Colombian capital

BOGOTA, Dec 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An engineer working for French aerospace and defence company Thales has been shot dead in the Colombian capital Bogota in an apparent targeted assassination, officials said. The 45-year-old victim was shot late Monday as he left a restaurant with a French colleague in the city’s…