DUBLIN, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday it was safe to return to Dublin city centre after police made 34 arrests following overnight rioting that was triggered by the stabbing of three young children in the street.

Irish police have warned that further violence could follow after rioters smashed shop windows, set fire to police cars, buses and a tram, and clashed with officers in violence rarely seen in the Irish capital.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealanders can expect tax cuts, more police on the streets and less government bureaucracy, according to the three leaders who signed an agreement Friday to form a new government.

The coalition deal ended nearly six weeks of intense negotiations after New Zealand held a general election on Oct. 14.

The deal will see Christopher Luxon serve as prime minister after his conservative National Party won 38% of the vote, the largest proportion of any party.

BRASILIA, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will unveil a plan at the UN’s upcoming COP28 climate summit to increase Brazil’s available agricultural lands by 60 percent without contributing to deforestation, his government announced Thursday.

The South American country will move to convert degraded grazing areas into farmland, the government announced a week ahead of the climate summit, set to kick off in Dubai on Nov 30.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Ofri Bibas Levy has been haunted by nightmares since Oct. 7, when her brother, sister-in-law and their two young children were snatched by Hamas militants from their homes and dragged into the Gaza Strip.

In those dreams she sees her captive relatives, all except for her brother Yarden. That subconscious omission may reflect her ordeal: Only women and children are expected to be among the 50 hostages released during a four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that started Friday.

COLOMBO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Board of Investment (BOI) has achieved 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in investments by Thursday, the BOI said in its latest press release.

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stands at 1.5 billion dollars, which is a 122 percent increase compared to the same period in 2022, while local investments stand at 258 million dollars, the BOI said.

This is due to large investments in the energy sector, and tourism and manufacturing are the sectors getting more investments, the BOI said.

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/: Russia will not leave unanswered the decision of Moldova to side with anti-Russian sanctions of the European Union, official spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said.

"The decision of the Moldovan side will not be left unanswered. Measures undertaken will be communicated further," the diplomat said.

LA PAZ, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bolivia is struggling to cope with forest fires, which have burned about 3 million hectares of forest land and killed more than 10 people since the beginning of the year.

Forest fires breaking out in Bolivia have caused many schools to temporarily close, while many flights were canceled due to smoke rising from the fires. From crops, vegetation, coffee plantations or banana plantations… all were severely damaged by the fires. 

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A senator from the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom was appointed Friday to investigate possible governing coalitions after the far-right party’s election victory, while the party of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it would support a center-right administration in parliament but not join the next government.

SHANGHAI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - China called for vigilance on Friday as a surge of respiratory illness hit schools and hospitals and the World Health Organization, which has asked the government for disease data, said no unusual or novel pathogens had been detected.

China is grappling with a spike in respiratory illnesses as it enters its first full winter season since it lifted strict COVID-19 restrictions in December, with cases among children appearing especially high in northern areas like Beijing and Liaoning province where hospitals are warning of long waits.

23 November 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu cited, on Thursday, challenges in reaching a deal to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We hope to get our hostages out — it’s not without its challenges, but we have to, we hope to get this first tranche out and then we’re committed to getting everyone out,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron.

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/: Russian forces delivered 31 strikes by precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against Ukrainian military sites, wiping out deployment areas of Neo-Nazi Azov formations and foreign mercenaries over the past week in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

LIMA, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Peruvian Andes’ mountaintop ice, which represents most of the world’s tropical glaciers, has lost more than half of its area due to climate change, the Ministry of Environment said Thursday.

To wit, the glaciers have receded by 1,348 square kilometers since 1962, according to the latest measurements, the National Institute of Glacier and Ecosystem Research reported.