Chad president in first-ever visit to Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) shakes hands with Chadian President Idriss Deby as they deliver joint statements in Jerusalem on Sunday. Deby became the first president of his country to visit Israel and pledged a new era of relations. SD-Agencies

EU leaders seal Brexit deal

European Union leaders formally agreed on a Brexit deal on Sunday and urged Britons to back Prime Minister Theresa May’s package in the face of furious opposition in the British parliament.

The 27 leaders took barely half an hour at a summit in Brussels to rubber-stamp* a 600-page treaty setting the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU on March 29 and a 26-page declaration outlining a future free trading relationship.

May, who joined them shortly afterwards for what will be a brief meeting to seal the accord, now faces a struggle to get the deal, which has angered euroskeptics* and EU supporters alike, through a deeply divided British parliament.

Police clash with protesters on Champs-Elysees

Anti-government protesters clashed with French police on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Saturday, leaving the area cloaked* in tear gas and smoke from fires on a fresh day of demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron.

Demonstrators wearing the yellow, high-visibility vests that symbolize their movement threw projectiles* at police preventing them from moving along the famed shopping avenue, which was decked out* in twinkling Christmas lights.

22 dead after Uganda boat sinks

Twenty-two people have died and more than 60 are feared drowned after a pleasure boat sank in Lake Victoria, Ugandan, police said on Sunday.

The vessel carrying close to a hundred revellers sank during bad weather on Saturday in the latest deadly incident to affect passenger boats on Africa’s largest lake.

“Twenty-two bodies have been recovered and 26 people rescued,” said Asuman Mugenyi, director of operations for the Uganda police. “There were more than 90 people on board.”

Interpol elects South Korean as president

International police body Interpol elected Kim Jong-yang of South Korea as president for a two-year term on November 21, beating a Russian national whose candidacy raised concerns in Europe and the United States about the risk of Kremlin interference.

Interpol said that Kim, who had been serving as acting president, has been elected for a two-year term.

Russia seizes Ukrainian ships near Crimea

Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea on Sunday after opening fire on them and wounding several sailors, a move that risks igniting a dangerous new crisis between the two countries.

Russia’s FSB security service said on Monday its border patrol boats had seized the Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea and used weapons to force them to stop.

The FSB said it had been forced to act because the ships had illegally entered its territorial waters and attempted illegal actions.

(SD-Agencies)