Colombia, France, Finland & the UK – This Is World News In Focus

***

Sports: A charter British Aerospace 146 short-haul aircraft carrying Brazil’s Chapecoense football team crashed in Colombia on Tuesday killing 71 football players, journalists, and crew members.

Three football players, two crew members, and a journalist survived the disaster.

The charter flight departed from São Paulo, Brazil, on Monday afternoon and headed for the Colombian city of Medellín, where Chapecoense would match against Atlético Nacional in the final of the Copa Sudamericana.

Insufficient fuel is hinted to be the cause of the disaster according to a leaked recording of the final minutes of the doomed flight, the Guardian reports.

Brazilian President Michel Temer decreed three days of national mourning for the victims of the air crash.  Brazil authorities also announced that all football matches would be postponed for a week.

For more we go to Euronews:

***

France:François Hollande announced on Thursday night from the Élysée Palace that he would not run for a second term.

The French president was aware of his low satisfaction rating, which has dropped to just four percent, attributed to failed policies and personal scandals.

Hollande is the first French president since the war not to attempt to run for re-election, according to the Guardian.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls may likely run for the election as a candidate of the Socialist Party, with which Hollande is affiliated.

Former Prime Minister François Fillon has won the primary contest to lead the center-right Republican Party in the general election next spring.

Marine Le Pen from the far-right National Front is also said to be eyeing the president seat.

For more we go to Bloomberg:

***

UK: British vegetarians do not savvy the new five pound note because it contains animal fat.

The Bank of England released a new polymer £5 note in September that it claims to be stronger, safer, and better for the environment.

Some 440 million notes have been printed since this summer, the Guardian reports.

But the new bills are made party from tallow, a hard, fatty substance usually made from rendered beef or mutton suet, mostly found in candles and soap.  Apparently many vegans and vegetarians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and others in the UK are upset.

Almost 100,000 British people have signed a petition by Wednesday calling for the Bank of England to produce a more vegan-friendly banknote.

For more we go to the Huffington Post UK:

***

Technology: Nokia phones are coming back.

The Finnish company, which once dominated the mobile phone market before the dawn of Apple’s iPhone, sold the Nokia brand to Microsoft in 2013.

Nokia’s prominence diminished along with the growing brilliance of iPhone and other leading Android devices.

HMD Global, a company set up by former Nokia employees, has decided to relaunch Nokia phones next year after having obtained a license from Microsoft.

The new Nokia phones, which are to be Android-based, will be manufactured by Foxconn.

***

Have a story that you’d like us to cover or review? Contact NewsWhistle’s Tony Church at Tony@NewsWhistle.com.

***

Francois Hollande Photo Courtesy of 360b / Shutterstock.com