News In Brief

Date: 03 March 2023 - 21:47

News ID: ۱۱۳۰۱۰

BUENOS AIRES (RT) - Argentina has formally renounced a 2016 deal with the UK regarding the disputed Falklands/Malvinas islands in the South Atlantic, the site of a bloody 1982 conflict, saying on Thursday that the matter needs to be resolved under the UN guidelines on decolonization. London insists that the issue was settled after local residents chose in a referendum to be ruled by Britain. Argentinian Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said he had informed his British counterpart, James Cleverly, of the decision at their meeting in New Delhi, India, on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Argentina “has proposed to resume negotiations on the question of sovereignty,” in compliance with the mandate of the UN General Assembly and the world body’s Committee on Decolonization, added Cafiero.

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BERLIN (AP) — Thousands of climate protesters, young and old, gathered Friday in Berlin and other German cities to demand tougher government action against global warming, particularly when in curbing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. A small pro-business party that controls Germany’s Transport Ministry, the Free Democrats, has pushed back against efforts to impose a general speed limit, phase out combustion engines and massively invest in public transport. The refusal has frustrated the party’s larger coalition partners — Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the environmentalist Greens — as well as climate campaigners who say Germany is missing its own emissions targets.

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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — An explosion and fire near an illegal oil refinery site in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region killed at least 12 people Friday, police said, although local residents reported a much higher death toll. The explosion in Emuoha council area of the southern Rivers state occurred along a pipeline targeted by illegal refinery operators who were trying to steal oil, state police spokesperson Grace Iringe-Koko said. “We are aware that there was an explosion relating to bunkering activities,” she said, adding that authorities were working to determine the number of casualties and the cause of the incident.

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WASHINGTON (Yahoo News) - Nearly 7 in 10 registered voters (68%) now say President Biden is “too old for another term,” according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll — and more Democrats agree (48%) than disagree (34%) with that assessment. The survey of 1,516 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Feb. 23 to 27, underscores the central challenge facing the oldest president in American history as he gears up for a likely reelection bid — and the difficult position his age is putting his party in. For Democrats, the problem is not Biden’s performance in office; they overwhelmingly approve (77%) rather than disapprove (20%) of how the 80-year-old is handling the job.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - A storm system marched eastward Friday, threatening heavy snow in the Midwest and Northeast after spawning likely tornadoes in Texas and Louisiana that damaged homes, businesses, a university campus and left thousands without power. The storms will threaten the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys with tornadoes as they move toward New England, the Storm Prediction Center said. A swath of heavy snow is expected in the Upper Midwest through New England on Friday and Saturday, with sleet and freezing rain possible south of the heaviest snow.

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LARISSA, Greece (Reuters) - Anger and sorrow grew in Greece on Thursday over a devastating train crash that killed dozens of passengers along with crew members near the central city of Larissa in the country’s worst rail disaster. Carriages were thrown off the tracks, crushed and engulfed in flames when a high-speed passenger train with more than 350 people on board collided head-on with a freight train on Tuesday. They were on the same track. As more bodies were recovered on Thursday, the number of dead rose to 57, among them university students returning home after a long holiday weekend. Scores were injured.