Reuters World News Summary
Following is a summary of current world news briefs.
Iran watchdog passes law on hardening nuclear stance, halting U.N. inspections
Iran's Guardian Council watchdog body approved a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to halt U.N. inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal if sanctions are not eased in two months. In retaliation for the killing last week of Iran's top nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on Israel, Iran's hardline-dominated parliament on Tuesday approved the bill with a strong majority that will harden Iran's nuclear stance.
2020 likely world's second hottest year, U.N. says
This year is on track to be the second hottest on record, behind 2016, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday. Five data sets currently place 2020, a year characterised by heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and raging hurricanes, as the second warmest since records began in 1850.
EU tells Brexit negotiator: don't let deadline force bad trade deal
The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator told member states' envoys on Wednesday negotiations on a trade deal with Britain were reaching "a make-or-break moment", and they urged him not to be rushed into an unsatisfactory agreement. Four diplomats told Reuters after a briefing by Michel Barnier that the talks remained snagged - as they have been for months - on fishing rights in British waters, ensuring fair competition guarantees and ways to solve future disputes.
U.S. military to keep two larger Afghan bases after drawdown to 2,500
The Pentagon has approved drawdown plans in Afghanistan that will still keep two larger bases in the country as officials carry out President Donald Trump's orders to slash troop levels to 2,500 by Jan. 15, the top U.S. general said on Wednesday. Trump's post-election decision last month to cut nearly half of the roughly 4,500 troops currently in Afghanistan came before military leaders could devise plans to execute a drawdown, leaving many questions unanswered about the future U.S. military mission after Trump leaves office on Jan. 20.
Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing was architect of EU integration
Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a key architect of European integration who sought to liberalise the economy and social attitudes after years of conservative Gaullist rule, died on Wednesday. He was 94. France's leader from 1974 to 1981, Giscard presided over a modernisation of French society, allowing divorce by mutual consent, legalising abortion and lowering the voting age to 18 years from 21.
Former French President Giscard d'Estaing dies at 94
Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a key architect of European integration in the early 1970s, has died at the age of 94 after contracting COVID-19. Giscard, who was France's leader from 1974 to 1981, had recently been hospitalised in Tours, in western France. He died at his family home nearby after suffering from complications linked to the virus, a foundation he had set up and chaired said in a statement.
Exclusive: Venezuela opposition discussing scaling back interim government, sources say
Venezuela's opposition is discussing scaling back the interim government of opposition leader Juan Guaido that has won diplomatic recognition by dozens of countries that disavowed President Nicolas Maduro, nine legislators told Reuters. Guaido, the leader of Venezuela's opposition-controlled parliament, in 2019 called Maduro a usurper following his disputed re-election and assumed a parallel presidency based on articles of the constitution that make the head of the National Assembly next in line to rule the country.
U.S. says U.N. COVID-19 meeting is stage for Chinese 'propaganda'
The United States on Wednesday claimed a United Nations meeting of world leaders on the COVID-19 pandemic was being designed to allow Beijing to spread "propaganda," stoking months of bickering at the world body between the superpowers. The two-day meeting of the U.N. General Assembly begins Thursday with some 53 heads of state, 39 heads of government and 38 ministers due to make pre-recorded video statements, including U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
United Nations and Ethiopia reach aid pact for war-hit Tigray
Ethiopia and the United Nations agreed on Wednesday to channel desperately-needed humanitarian aid to the northern region of Tigray, where a month of war is believed to have killed thousands of combatants and civilians. Federal troops have been battling the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and have captured the regional capital Mekelle, and the pact announced by U.N. officials will allow relief into government-controlled areas of Tigray.
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong defiant as he is jailed over 13 months for protest
Joshua Wong, 24, one of Hong Kong's most prominent democracy activists, was jailed on Wednesday for more than 13 months over an unlawful anti-government rally in 2019, the toughest and most high-profile sentence for an opposition figure this year. Wong's sentence comes as critics say the Beijing-backed government is intensifying a crackdown on Hong Kong's opposition and chipping away at wide-ranging freedoms guaranteed after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997, a charge authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong reject.
