BEIJING, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Chinese lawmakers on Friday weighed in on a fiery online debate on whether fireworks should be used to ring in the Lunar New Year in February, saying a total ban on pyrotechnics in the country credited with inventing them would be hard to implement.

In an unusually frank response, lawmakers said air pollution prevention laws and fire safety regulations have led to "differences in understanding" of the ban on fireworks, which was never absolute.

BUENOS AIRES, December 29. /TASS/: The new Argentinian authorities led by President Javier Milei have made it clear that they don’t plan to review agreements with Moscow, Russian Ambassador to Buenos Aires Dmitry Feoktistov said.

HARARE, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe and Zambia will experience further curtailed electricity generation from their two hydropower stations at Lake Kariba following a reduction in water allocation to their two power utilities for the coming year by the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA).

ZRA announced Thursday that the Zimbabwe Power Company and Zambia's ZESCO Limited would equally share 16 billion cubic meters (BCM), down from the revised 30 BCM in 2023, as water inflows into the lake remained low because of poor rains in recent years.

NEW DELHI, Dec 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Extreme cold and dense fog have caused travel chaos in India’s capital Delhi and other parts of northern India.

More than 100 flights and 25 trains in the city have been delayed due to poor visibility.

The city witnessed one of the foggiest days of the season so far, with visibility dropping to below 50 metres on Wednesday.

A thick blanket of mist in the morning brought traffic to a crawl and also led to accidents in some parts.

Accidents have been reported from other parts of north India as well.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota woman has sued her dentist after receiving four root canals, eight dental crowns and 20 fillings in a single visit that she says led to her disfigurement.

Kathleen Wilson filed the lawsuit last week in Hennepin County District Court, accusing Dr. Kevin Molldrem of Molldrem Family Dentistry in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, of providing negligent treatment in July 2020 that caused significant injuries to Wilson, along with providing an unsafe dosage of anesthesia and falsifying medical records to cover it up, the Star Tribune reported.

BAGHDAD, Dec 28 (NNN-XINHUA) — The Iraqi security forces have confiscated 80 kg of narcotics and dismantled an international drug trafficking network in the southern province of Dhi Qar, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Upon intelligence reports, the Iraqi anti-narcotics forces arrested two suspects and seized 80 kg of Captagon pills in the province, the statement said.

BAKU, December 28. /TASS/: Azerbaijan and Armenia are not far from concluding a peace agreement, and Baku deems it necessary to take results-oriented actions, Azerbaijani Special Presidential Representative Elchin Amirbayov said.

"What is important to understand is that, at this crucial stage in negotiations, where apparently we’re not that much far away from the final agreement, [is that] we do need a result-oriented exercise," Amirbayov said, as quoted by The Guardian.

HOUSTON, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Working gas storage in the contiguous United States was 3,490 billion cubic feet in the week ending Dec. 22, a net decrease of 87 billion cubic feet from the previous week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Thursday.

The total working gas storage rose by 11.1 percent from this time last year, and was up 10.0 percent from the five-year average, according to the EIA's Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.

BEIRUT, December 29. /TASS/: The Israeli Air Force has launched another missile attack on the positions of the Syrian troops near Damascus, the SANA news agency reported, citing a senior Syrian defense official.

According to the source, the Syrian air defense systems opened fire on enemy targets. "Syrian anti-aircraft gunners managed to repel the Israeli aggressive attack, some of the enemy's missiles were hit on the approach to the capital," the defense official said.

HONG KONG (AP) — An activist who advocated for Hong Kong independence and was jailed under a sweeping national security law fled to Britain to seek political asylum, according to his social media posts Friday.

Tony Chung was among the first convicted under the Beijing-imposed law that was introduced after the 2019 pro-democracy protests. He was found guilty of secession and money laundering in 2020 and sentenced to 43 months in prison.

TEHRAN, Dec 28 (NNN-XINHUA) — Iran and Iraq on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on providing training courses for workers in the oil sector, Shana News Agency affiliated with the Iranian Oil Ministry reported.

The MoU was signed between Mehdi Ali-Madadi, Iran’s deputy oil minister for management and human resources development, and Bassim Mohammed Khudair, Iraqi deputy oil minister for extraction affairs, in the Iranian capital of Tehran, the report said.

WASHINGTON Dec 28 (Reuters) - France, Germany, Britain and the United States on Thursday condemned an increase by Iran in the production rate of highly enriched uranium of up to 60% purity, close to the level used for nuclear weapons fuel.

In a joint statement, the allies made no mention of any consequences Iran could face for the production hike but called for its reversal and said they remained "committed to a diplomatic solution" of the feud over Tehran's nuclear program.