World News Roundup: EU says Brexit trade deal still snagged on three issues; Lebanon hires firm to clear dangerous material from shattered Beirut port and more

EU says Brexit trade deal still snagged on three issues: diplomats The European Union and Britain remain at odds in last-ditch trade talks over fishing rights, guarantees of fair competition and ways to solve future disputes, even though they are very close to agreement on other issues, EU diplomats said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Ethiopia's Tigray forces rocket neighbouring region; U.N. plans for 200,000 refugees

Rebel forces from Ethiopia's Tigray region fired rockets on Friday at the distant capital of the neighbouring Amhara region, Amhara authorities said, raising worries the conflict could spill into a wider war. Two weeks into the conflict, the United Nations said it was making plans for as many as 200,000 refugees fleeing into neighbouring Sudan, and made an urgent appeal for $200 million to assist them.

EU says Brexit trade deal still snagged on three issues: diplomats

The European Union and Britain remain at odds in last-ditch trade talks over fishing rights, guarantees of fair competition and ways to solve future disputes, even though they are very close to agreement on other issues, EU diplomats said on Friday. The diplomats were briefed by a senior member of the bloc's executive European Commission, which is negotiating a new trade pact with Britain on behalf of the EU's 27 states, behind closed doors on Friday about the latest in the troubled Brexit talks.

Mekelle: conflict returns to Ethiopian city steeped in legacy of war

Mekelle, a city nestled in the arid, mountainous Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, is steeped in the lore of its guerrilla fighters, who marched in sandals to Addis Ababa to topple a Communist dictatorship in 1991. Now, war is returning to a place where rusting tanks, small airplanes, and military equipment are displayed outside the museum, and the Tigrayan legacy of armed struggle is never far away.

Lebanon hires firm to clear dangerous material from shattered Beirut port

Lebanon's authorities signed a contract this month with a German company to clear dangerous material stored for more than a decade at Beirut port, the site of a seismic blast in August that killed about 200 people and wrecked swathes of the capital. Combi Lift, which signed the contract three months after a huge quantity of poorly stored chemicals erupted in a mushroom cloud, will remove "flammable and highly reactive" chemicals from 49 containers at the port, the caretaker prime minister's office said in a statement sent to Reuters.

At least 37 killed in Uganda protests after presidential candidate Wine's arrest

At least 37 people have died and hundreds have been detained in unrest in Uganda triggered by the arrest of presidential candidate and pop star Bobi Wine, police said on Friday, as the East African country gears up for elections in January. Authorities have deployed the military across the capital Kampala and surrounding areas to help police forces disperse protesters. They have used live bullets, tear gas and water cannon in efforts to quell the unrest.

South Australia to ease most coronavirus lockdown orders on Saturday

South Australia will come out of its snap six-day coronavirus lockdown earlier than expected, with most activities permitted to restart from midnight on Saturday, state Premier Steven Marshall said on Friday. Coronavirus infections have slowed dramatically in recent weeks in Australia, with South Australia one of the few places still recording community transmission of the disease.

UK PM raises Rohingya concerns in call with Myanmar leader

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised the UK's ongoing concerns over the Rohingya crisis and the conflict in Rakhine when he spoke by phone to Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, his office said in a statement.

Incoming Biden presidency exposes old French-German rift on defence

The German defence minister's warning against the "illusions" of pursuing European defence autonomy rattled French President Emmanuel Macron so much that her comments became a topic of discussion at a cabinet meeting this month in Paris. "We found it regrettable, but we noted it was only an isolated position and not (Chancellor Angela) Merkel's line," an official present in the room at the Elysee palace told Reuters, putting a brave face on the divergence of views.

For Hungary's same-sex couples, a narrow window to adopt is closing

After three years, Marton Pal and his partner Adam Hanol received the phone call they had been waiting for in 2018 and a few months later they adopted Andris, a smart and lively boy who has since turned four. As a Hungarian same-sex couple, the only way to adopt was if Pal applied as a single person. During interviews they told the adoption agency that they were in fact a couple. After 6 months, he got the permission.

25 years after peace deal, Bosnia endures division and stagnation

Mirsad Zahirovic is a university-educated journalist and activist who moonlights as a waiter because he is not a member of one of the ruling political parties, which is almost the only way to get a job in his native Bosnia. The 28-year-old belongs to "the children of Dayton", a generation named after the peace agreement signed 25 years ago at a U.S. air force base in Dayton, Ohio. The accord ended three-and-a-half years of ethnic warfare in Bosnia that killed 100,000 people and forced 2 million from their homes.

(With inputs from agencies.)