World

The number of COVID19 patients being treated in hospitals across the United States reached 90,000 on Friday after nearly doubling in the last month, just as holiday gatherings are expected to propel the next wave of infections.

Even if countries see a fall in coronavirus cases, they need to stay vigilant, Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's technical lead for COVID19, said on Friday.

Prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was injured in an assassination attempt near Tehran on Friday and was being treated in a hospital, Iranian media reported.

Russia will allow Hungarian doctors and medical experts to observe the manufacturing process and laboratory tests for its Sputnik V vaccine against COVID19, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday.

An Iranian diplomat and three other Iranians went on trial in Belgium on Friday accused of planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled opposition group in France in 2018, the first time an EU country has put an Iranian official on trial for terrorism.

Oil prices were lower on Friday in quiet trade due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, dropping amid concerns about oversupply and doubts about a vaccine to end the coronavirus pandemic.

Presidentelect Joe Biden pleaded with Americans on Wednesday to take steps to remain safe over the Thanksgiving holiday as COVID19 cases soar, while President Donald Trump pardoned a former aide who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with leaders of Germany's 16 federal states to extend and tighten measures against the coronavirus until at least Dec. 20 and they are likely to extend them into January, she said on Wednesday.

Poland will cull over 900,000 hens in a farm in western Poland due to a bird flu outbreak which was discovered on Tuesday evening, state news agency PAP quoted local veterinary authorities as saying.

U.S. Presidentelect Joe Biden will announce his economic team and other key nominees next week, officials for his transition team said on Wednesday, after formal recognition of his election win this week allowed a transition to move forward.

Mamadou Tandja, a former Niger president who twice won election after the country's return to civilian rule in 1999 but was overthrown a decade later after altering the constitution to stay in power, has died aged 82, the government said on Tuesday.

A Greekoperated tanker was damaged by a mine at a Saudi Arabian terminal on the Red Sea just north of the Yemeni border, damaging its hull, British maritime security company Ambrey said on Wednesday.

Daily U.S. deaths from COVID19 surpassed 2,000 for the first since May and with hospitals across the country already full, portending a surge in mortalities to come as the coronavirus pandemic casts a shadow over the holiday season.

The Czech Republic should begin offering free antigen tests for COVID19 for all who want them from Dec. 18, Health Minister Jan Blatny was quoted as saying in an interview on Wednesday.

Nina Jain was regularly checking the nation's COVID19 data and holding out hope that her son Antonio, a sophomore who attends college in Iowa, could come home to Sacramento, California, for Thanksgiving this week.

The head of the European Union's executive on Wednesday reported "genuine progress" in Brexit talks but said the risk of Britain leaving the EU without a deal on Dec. 31 remained, an outcome she said the bloc was prepared for.