NATION & WORLD WATCH
Man, 60, dies after beating in $1 Christmas Eve mugging
NEW YORK – A 60-year-old man who was kicked and punched while defending his partner during a $1 mugging on Christmas Eve has died. Juan Fresnada died Friday at the Bronx hospital where he was taken in critical condition after the mugging early Tuesday, the New York Police Department said Saturday. Officers released surveillance photos and videos in hopes of finding the attackers. His partner, Byron Caceres, told the Daily News of New York that Fresnada suffered the fatal blows while trying to spare him and urging him to run.
Kazakh officials investigating causes of deadly plane crash
ALMATY, Kazakhstan – Technical failure, pilot error and weather conditions are being considered as possible causes of the plane crash Friday in which 12 people were killed and more than 50 injured, officials in Kazakhstan said Saturday. A Bek Air jet, identified as a 23-year-old Fokker 100, crashed several minutes after departing from the airport in Almaty. The plane, with 98 people aboard, apparently struggled to get off the ground, with its tail striking the runway twice during takeoff. Fortynine people remained hospitalized.
Thousands take to Paris streets to protest pension reform plan
PARIS – Thousands of protesters opposed to the French government’s plan to revamp the retirement system marched through Paris on Saturday, the 24th day of crippling strikes. In an unusual gesture, unions organizing the march asked yellow vest protesters to join them. The march coincided with the 59th consecutive Saturday of marches by the yellow vest movement that seeks social and economic justice. Brief scuffles marred the union march as individuals, some wearing masks, burned construction materials along the route.
Road crash in northern Egypt kills at least 22, authorities report
CAIRO – Health authorities say at least 22 people, mostly laborers, were killed Saturday when a minibus collided with a truck on a highway in Port Said in northern Egypt. Officials said the minibus, a vehicle widely used in Egypt as a communal taxi, was bringing the laborers from a garment factory in Port Said. The city is about 125 miles north of the capital, Cairo. The crash occurred on a highway linking the cities of Port Said and Damietta. The workers were from Damietta. Eight others were injured, some severely.