More protests and strikes across france as unions step up their battle against proposed Pension Reforms its now the longest industrial action that france has seen in decades. And the shock announcement rocking the British Royal family its been called megs it prince harry and Meghan Markle and ill still step back from while doing this and spend more time in north america will take a look at the fallout. Im sumi so much going to thank you for joining us what caused a ukrainian a passenger plane to crash in iran just minutes after takeoff all 176 people on board were killed in wednesdays crash the Ukraine International airlines jet was on its way from the iranian capital tehran. On to the ukrainian capital kiev iran says the crew put out no distress call but did try to turn back to the airport before the plane went down now ukraine has sent a team of investigators to iran to join the search for answers the crash has caused shock and grief in both nations. Marking a day of mourning ukrainian president for not a ms event ski of the growing memorial to those who died in wednesdays crash. As the scramble for on says gets underway he appealed for International Cooperation to establish what caused this tragedy. I ask everybody especially when ukraine is in the middle of an information war to refrain from manipulation speculation conspiracy theories snap judgments and on verified theories yes. Dozens of the 176 victims came from Canada Western University in ontario the sense of loss is enormous the persian Canadian Community here tightly knit. And im pushing to get a big nose and the white house is what. I used to see one of the people who lost his life in the bus in a regular basis one of my friends lost his brother i didnt know him directly but. You know pretty much Everybody Knows someone who was either in the plane crash or was effected by it the crash coincided with iran launching missiles at u. S. Bases in iraq leading some to speculate the plane may have been shot down kind of this Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau said his country would join any probe say categorically one way or another that the plane was not shot down. I cannot it is too early to speculate i would encourage people not to want to speculate. U. S. Secretary of state mike pompei always said he wants the u. S. To be involved in the probe but the iranians say they wont hand over the black box to boeing initially iranian and craning officials both blames mechanical problems but the ukrainians later backpedals declining for a cause while the investigation is ongoing. For more on the story we can speak to journalist matthew cook for from the kiev post matthew good to see you what is the latest you can tell us on the investigation from the ukrainian side. Well in the latest development the secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council exceed the has announced that the Ukrainian Commission is investigating up to 7 different possible reasons for the crash 4 of which he made public they include a potential missile strike a collision with some kind of a drone or other flying object a large explosion on the engine in the engine caused by technical issues and also possibly some kind of terrorist attack additionally he said that the Ukrainian Commission would like to go to the site of the crash to look for shards from a russian made tor Missile System this is rather interesting because it was based upon some photographs that were circulated in the internet but have certainly not been confirmed to be necessarily from the site of the crash its a pretty Big Development in that sense. Ok matthew so thats a perspective there in kiev how does that line up with some of the other information that has been emerging about the possible cause of this crash. It certainly complicates that information yesterday the Ukrainian Embassy in tehran initially said that they had excluded the possibility of a missile strike or a terrorist attack then they rescinded their statement and basically said that no conclusions could be official until their commission makes its final official conclusion it also complicates the iranian narrative of the crash the iranian commissions preliminary report suggested that the emergency was caused by technical issues on board the plane did not send a radio signal of distress and tried to turn around and return to the airport matthew what about the 2 countries ability to Work Together here iran is that it wont release the planes black box to boeing or the us are ukraine authorities confident that they will get full cooperation from iran here. Iran seems to have backtracked a bit on that initial statement with the head of the Civil Aviation organization there saying that they had extended offers to cooperate in the investigation not only to ukraine but also to the u. S. To sweden and to canada ukraine does not appear to yet have concerns about whether it will get access to the black boxes of the plane president he in his in his video address released on social media earlier today said that the Ukrainian Commission the 45. 00 ukrainian specialist sent to iran would be involved in reading the black box. Journalist matthew 1st speaking to us from the kiev post thank you so much. For that plane crash came on the same day that iran fired missiles at bases hosting u. S. Troops in iraq now President Trump said basser to the United Nations has said the u. S. Is ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with iran it appears to be a sign of deescalation although the region remains on tenterhooks. Siren so if it baghdad on wednesday night rockets hit the iraqi capital green zone a high security area housing the u. S. Embassy no casualties and nor sun iran was involved observers blame local militias those rockets landed a day off 3 ron launched police tick missiles at iraqi banks is Holding American troops retaliation iran said for the killing of general money but the situation now appears to be easing iran has indicated its satisfied for now and the u. S. President is shying away from more military action as we continue to evaluate options in response to a raid in aggression the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the iranian regime. These powerful saying sions will remain until around changes its behavior as both sides soften their rhetoric religious and World Leaders are calling for diplomacy you know i renewed my appeal. That ovi interested parties avoid an escalation of a conflict. And keep alive the flame of dialogue and selfrestraint. Though there are signs of deescalation unsolved problems like the Iran Nuclear Deal remain iran to has made it clear that its determined to drive u. S. Forces out of the region. Lets get a round of now of some of the other stories making news around the world at least 20 people a majority of them soldiers have reportedly been killed in a militant attack in northeastern nigeria the attack in the town of know also sparked a fire that left hundreds of already displaced people homeless an Extremist Group linked to the socalled Islamic State has claimed responsibility. And pneumonia outbreak in china might have been caused by a new type of virus thats according to the World Health Organization more than 50 people have caught pneumonia in the city of the w. H. O. Says the illness could come from the same family as the sars virus. And an estimated 2000000 roman catholics in the philippines have joined an annual procession to pray to a centuries old wooden statue of jesus christ known as the black nazarene devote hes walked barefoot along the 6 kilometer route and prayed to an icon that they believe performs miracles. In france thousands of people have hit the streets and yet another day of strikes and protests against president in my one proposed Pension Reforms his push for change has unleashed one of the longest strike actions in france in decades in the now familiar Scenes Police are using tear gas to control protesters in the strikes have caused weeks of travel chaos across france. And lets go right to our correspondent lisa lewis is standing by for us in central paris covering the protests for us hi lisa tell us what youve been seeing there today. Well thousands hundreds of thousands of protesters have been marching today here in paris and in other cities across france according to the figures we are getting it was between 20600000 depending on who you listen to to the unions or the police thats about a 3rd of how many people were out protesting on the 17th of december that is the last day of protest against the pension reform today was the 36 6th day of protests of strike here in france and the strike is actually happening in different sectors across the French Economy especially in the transport sector you know that there are very few trains running and also here in paris the local transport they are a. T. P. Which is running the metro metro has as largely ground to a halt so this is the longest strike really since long straightaway strike since the 1930 s. Here in france and lisa is there any end in sight to these protests. And the government is talking to the unions negotiations have started again at the beginning of the week the government especially trying to convince the more moderate union the c. F. D. T. To come on board that union is opposed to one specific measure measure especially of the reform that is the socalled age that is the government wants to increase the age at which shed get a full rate pension from 62. 00 to 64. 00 the union is radically opposed to that but and they say if you withdraw that then we could actually you know support the rest of the reform that is especially you know merging the 42. 00 different special regimes into one however its not known yet if the government will really you know give way to that and also if even if these negotiations work out there are the unions here more radical ones like the city that have patched that they will continue the strikes and that back could continue for another few weeks really is a what is at stake here i mean how important is the standoff for both sides. Although the reform is really important the sound of the board for both sides really and that the union have to show that they still play a role in france after about one year of yellow vests protest where there werent actually really participating that much that was you know Grassroots Movement every week there were purchasing here in paris and other cities in france and the unions now have to show that they still can actually influence French National politics the government on the other hand wants to push through this reform it was one of the centerpieces of the election manifesto of m. M. R. Cost in 2017 when he got elected as president and it is very important for him to push this through some people here say if he doesnt succeed in pushing it through then its very unlikely he will be able to implement any other reform during the last 2 years of his time in power and also that would also diminish his chances to get reelected in 2022. Least. Louis reporting for us in paris thank you. Now prince harry and Meghan Markle say theyre going to step back from the royal duties and spend more time in north america the shock announcement reportedly took even Prince Charles and the queen by surprise Harry Meghans wedding in 2018 was thought to be the start of a new chapter for the British Royal family but the honeymoon between the u. K. s tabloid press and the newlyweds did not last long. Sent us this from london. The british media is devoting a lot of coverage to this unexpected announcement we have the day in the mirror theyve been bowed they didnt even tell the queen and in the day he made their own 16 pages in the opinion piece they say that the old couple isnt mean to the road for loads now some tabloid papers had already targeted their young roles be full prince harry in particular had fights with them he said the behavior towards his wife the minds of 2 bullying and the 2 fields with regards to his late mother diana you feel that history was repeating itself one thing is for sure though with this new criticism of pauls of the british presence others like you to stop anytime soon. Arent we just have some breaking news coming in briefly us President Donald Trump saying he has suspicions of the cause of the iran plane crash he believes somebody could have made a mistake u. S. Officials have reportedly said they believe iran accidentally shot down the ukraine airliner that killed 176 people where of course waiting for more details on that stay tune for to give you business with the hardest. Refrigerants just. Shows how. Smart you