Breaking News, 4th of November, 2018

As a result of the international coalition’s air strike on the city of Hajin in eastern Syria, 15 civilians were killed and dozens were injured, Syrian state agency SANA reports. Most of the victims were women and children. During the air strike, they were in their homes near the Khalid ibn al-Walid mosque. In October, the Syrian authorities reported several times on the massive bombing of this city, located in the east of Deir ez-Zor province, currently controlled by ISIS. In addition, it was reported at least twice that the coalition aviation uses white phosphorus in their attacks on Hajin.

10 people became victims of flooding in Sicily, the local rescue service reports. Bad weather came to the Apennine Peninsula since the last week. Strong wind and strong rains provoked flooding and landslides. Since 29th of October, the highest “red” level of meteo-hazard alert has been declared in several areas in the north of Italy, and since 3rd of November — on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia as well. The historic center of Venice was flooded by 75%: the water level in the city exceeded one and a half meters above the sea level.

Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, has obtained a number of concessions from the EU that will allow her to keep Britain in the EU Customs Union, ‘The Times’ reports while citing their sources. Theresa May also intends to keep further economic partnership with Brussels, which will allow London to maintain the possibility of the open trade with the EU. According to a number of media reports, the transition period after the UK’s exit from the EU may be extended for several years, not months. So far, the Brexit is planned for 29th of March, 2019, and the transition period has been set at 21 months — until 2021.

German authorities proposed to review the regime of arms control and the disarmament process in order to preserve peace in Europe, said Heiko Maas, the head of the German Foreign Ministry, during an interview to the magazine ‘Spiegel’. The minister noted that the INF Treaty alone cannot guarantee the security, and he suggested organizing data exchange between Americans, Europeans and Russians, as well as creating comprehensive and transparent monitoring of the data on missiles. According to him — “Common interests should prevail over mutual distrust.”

A referendum on independence will be held on 4th of November in New Caledonia, which currently has the status of overseas territory of France. As it was reported by TASS — the date of voting in the archipelago was approved by the Congress of New Caledonia back in March of this year. The initiative was supported by the majority of local parliamentarians. In November of 2017, the referendum was agreed with the French authorities.