World News

Britain came one step closer Tuesday to effectively forcing its citizens to take a coronavirus vaccine if they want their lives back.

A new wave of coronavirus infections is overshadowing the 35th anniversary of Europe’s border-free Schengen Area. France and Germany are among European Union member states facing significant challenges amid rising coronavirus infection in Europe ahead of Christmas.

A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was killed in an apparent drone strike along the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to widely circulated reports in Arabic-language media Monday.

Six former European diplomats are calling on European governments to coordinate efforts to urge an incoming Biden administration to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, from which President Trump withdrew in 2018, and to agree with the regime in Tehran on steps for mutual compliance.

Protests roiled France on Saturday as more than 133,000 people demonstrated against a security law that would restrict photographs of police officers from being published.

Rebel forces in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region say they have retaken a town and shot down a military plane in a setback for the national government.

Teams from Britain and the European Union resumed face-to-face talks on a post-Brexit trade deal Saturday, with both sides sounding gloomy about striking an agreement in the little time that remains.

The International Air Transport Association said Saturday that the COVID passport could be key to saving the tourism industry.

The U.S. ordered the U.S.S. Nimitz and its strike group to return to the Persian Gulf to serve in a defensive capacity as U.S. forces in the region continue to drawdown during the final weeks of the Trump administration. The action coincides with rising tensions in the region between U.S. allies and Iran after a top Iranian nuclear scientist was taken out in a highly coordinated hit this week.

Belarus’ longtime President Alexander Lukashenko says he is prepared to resign if a new constitution is adopted. His announcement follows months of protests against his disputed re-election in August.

An Iranian nuclear scientist, who Israel alleges was in charge of Iran’s military nuclear program until the early 2000s, has been assassinated, the Associated Press reports. Iranian state media have reported that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed on Friday. Israel has not immediately commented on the death.

Hungary and Poland’s prime ministers have vowed to uphold their veto of the European Union’s next budget — and its massive coronavirus pandemic relief fund. In Budapest, both leaders said they oppose a mechanism that ties payment of funds to the rule of law principles.

A CIA paramilitary officer was killed in operations involving the terror group al-Shabab in Somalia, according to intelligence sources.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday that the country’s military is in the “final phase” of its operation against fighters in the Tigray region’s capital, Mekele.

Pope Francis urged people to put others before themselves as the world struggles to come out of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Trump administration plans to tighten sanctions on Tehran during its final months in power, the top US envoy on Iran said on Wednesday, as he urged President-elect Joe Biden to use the leverage to press for a deal that reduces the regional and nuclear threats posed by the Islamic Republic.

The coming days in the Brexit negotiations will be “decisive” as to whether Britain and the EU are able to agree on a free trade deal, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

The British government announced a new COVID-19 community-testing plan Monday, under which people who test negative for the virus in certain regions may face fewer restrictions, Forbes reports. Dubbed “freedom passes” by UK media, the lower restrictions would be available for people testing negative in areas of the country that will be coming under the strictest measures.

Amid a mounting public outcry, France’s interior minister on Tuesday ordered an internal police investigation into police violence against migrants fleeing war, persecution, and poverty. He made the announcement after security forces were filmed tossing migrants out of tents while evacuating a Paris protest camp.

After Pope Francis urged “solidarity”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel demands the distribution of controversial coronavirus vaccines among poorer nations. Her appeal comes as countries rush to start with coronavirus vaccinations before Christmas, despite fresh concerns they impact people’s behavior and DNA.