10 Feb 2019; DW: Hundreds of thousands of Italians marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday to protest the populist government's economic policies. Under the banner "A Future for Work," Italy's largest trade unions hoped to bring attention to the country's long-stagnating economy and lack of full-time employment opportunities, especially for young people.

Bengaluru, Feb 9; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Sri Lanka's opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa Saturday said here there was a "major breakdown" in bilateral relationship between India and his country after a new government was formed in New Delhi in 2014, but the opposition coalition he is heading now has a "good understanding" with India's ruling party.

He emphasised that the rule of thumb with regard to India-Sri Lanka relations should be that if an outgoing government has an adequate working relationship with his country, the incoming one should give due recognition to this.

10 Feb 2019; Xinhua: China's icebreaker Xuelong arrives at the Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica, Feb. 9, 2019 and started to transfer fuel oil to the station by helicopter.

Washington, Feb 10 (AFP) The Trump administration's new rules for a US visa program widely used for technology workers are getting cautious praise from Silicon Valley amid surging demand for high-skill employees.

The H-1B visa programme, which admits some 85,000 foreign nationals each year, will give higher priority to people with post-graduate degrees from US universities, under a final rule published in January by the Department of Homeland Security.

Hyderabad, Feb 9 (PTI) The Telangana government Saturday suspended the Vikarabad district Collector as per the directive of the of the Election Commission for allegedly unauthorisedly opening a strong room where EVMs used in the recent assembly polls in a particular constituency, were kept.

"The Election Commission has recommended to suspend him...for unauthorisedly opening the strong room (where EVMs were kept) which he was not supposed to do," a senior state government official told PTI.

ANTARCTICA, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 37 members on China's 35th Antarctic research mission on Friday night arrived at the Zhongshan Station after a six-day 520-km journey amid storms.

They started off from the Taishan Station on Feb. 3, which, at an altitude of 2,621 meters, is located between the Zhongshan and the Kunlun Stations. The stations are the latest three out of the four scientific research bases on the Antarctic ice sheet built by China since 1964.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the United States struck a new deal Sunday that increases Seoul’s contribution for the cost of the American military presence on its soil, overcoming previous failed negotiations that caused worries about their decades-long alliance.

South Korea last year provided about $830 million, covering roughly 40 percent of the cost of the deployment of 28,500 U.S. soldiers whose presence is meant to deter aggression from North Korea. President Donald Trump has pushed for South Korea to pay more.

Lucknow, Feb 9 (PTI) Newly appointed Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will have her hands full during her four-day visit to Lucknow as she will meet senior leaders and office bearers of the party.

This will be Priyanka Gandhi's maiden visit to Uttar Pradesh after she formally entered politics last month.

Pune, Feb 9 (PTI) NCP president Sharad Pawar said Saturday that he was "worried" about Union minister Nitin Gadkari as he is being projected as a possible alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Gadkari, a senior BJP leader, was recently in news when he was seen as taking swipes at his party's top leadership after the Assembly poll losses in three states.

Kolkata, Feb 09; GANASHAKTI:  The questioning of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam by a CBI team in Shillong is likely to continue till 9 pm, a senior official of the agency said on Saturday.

The marathon questioning began at 11 am this morning at the highly secured CBI office at Oakland in Shillong as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the official said.

Hyderabad, Feb 9 (PTI) AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi Saturday took exception to Yoga guru Baba Ramdev's comments that Lord Ram was the ancestor not only of Hindus, but also of Muslims.

"We are not against anyone's belief. But, it is wrong to thrust your belief on others. Such things are said every time by the Sangh Parivar and RSS. We just want to say that we, Muslims in India, we have become Muslims on our own...," he told reporters here.

10 Feb 2019; DW: Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi took up his chairmanship of the 55-member African Union (AU) at its 32nd ordinary session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday.  

During his tenure, el-Sissi is expected to concentrate on security and financial reform, but with no great plans to strengthen the AU's multilateral powers.

Instead, the focus is expected to be on combating illegal immigration while Egypt presents itself as a model for hosting refugees.