World News Roundup: AstraZeneca pauses coronavirus vaccine trial; United States formally announces troop reduction in Iraq and more

Indian and Chinese troops man remote Himalayan outposts just hundreds of meters apart Indian and Chinese troops were facing off on Wednesday, barely a few hundred meters apart, in a remote Himalayan region where shots were fired for the first time in decades, Indian officials said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Nobel laureate Alexievich denounces Belarus 'terror' as another activist is detained

Nobel prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich accused the Belarus authorities of terrorising their own people on Wednesday as another opposition politician was detained by masked men in plain clothes. Maxim Znak was the latest figure to be seized in a systematic campaign by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko to round up the leaders of a month-long mass protest movement.

Indian and Chinese troops man remote Himalayan outposts just hundreds of meters apart

Indian and Chinese troops were facing off on Wednesday, barely a few hundred meters apart, in a remote Himalayan region where shots were fired for the first time in decades, Indian officials said. The nuclear-armed neighbors have accused each other of firing in the air during a fresh flare-up in the Ladakh region on Monday, violating long-standing protocols to avoid using firearms along their undemarcated borders.

AstraZeneca pauses coronavirus vaccine trial, rollout doubts dent shares

AstraZeneca has paused global trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine after an unexplained illness in a participant, denting the British drugmaker's shares on Wednesday as the move was seen as dimming prospects for an early rollout. On Tuesday, AstraZeneca said it voluntarily paused trials, including late-stage ones, to allow an independent committee to review safety data, and it was working to expedite the review to minimise any potential impact on the trial timeline.

Charlie Hebdo survivor: gunmen said 'Allahu akbar', then shot me

A survivor of the 2015 attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo told a French court on Wednesday how the gunmen said "Allahu akbar" ("God is greatest"), then shot him with their Kalashnikov rifles. Simon Fieschi was the first employee the two gunmen encountered when they entered the magazine's Paris offices. He said that after being shot he lost consciousness, and the gunmen moved on to other targets.

United States formally announces troop reduction in Iraq

The United States military on Wednesday announced that it would be reducing its presence in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000 troops this month, formalizing a move that had been long expected. Last month, Reuters reported that the United States was expected to reduce its troops presence in Iraq by about a third.

Norwegian lawmaker nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

A Norwegian lawmaker has nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 for helping broker a deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the second time he has put forward the U.S. president for the honor. Thousands of people are eligible to nominate candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, including members of parliaments and governments, university professors and past laureates.

UK acknowledges that post-Brexit bill breaks international law

Britain threw Brexit trade talks into chaos on Wednesday by announcing draft legislation that explicitly acknowledges some of its provisions would break international law, according to a copy seen by Reuters. The proposals, which the government has said would break international law "in a very specific and limited way", has contributed to concerns that Britain could leave the European Union's single market in four months with no new agreement on trade.

Fire guts Greek refugee camp, thousands flee amid COVID-19 worries

Thousands of migrants roamed homeless around the Greek island of Lesbos on Wednesday after fleeing overnight fires that gutted their overcrowded camp, and authorities worried that some asylum seekers who tested positive for COVID-19 could spread the virus. A senior Greek official said the Moria camp, which hosts more than 12,000 people, was "probably totally destroyed". Athens declared a state of emergency on Lesbos and sent police reinforcements to the island, off Turkey, to help keep order.

Saudi Arabia supports comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace solution

Saudi Arabia told an Arab League meeting on Wednesday it supports all efforts to reach a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But a statement released by the Saudi foreign ministry on remarks made by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud included no direct mention of a normalisation deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Russia calls Germany's handling of requests on Navalny 'inappropriate'

Russia's foreign minister criticized Germany on Wednesday over its handling of official requests by Moscow about the condition of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, Interfax news agency reported. Navalny, an opponent of President Vladimir Putin, is being treated in a Berlin hospital where he was taken after falling ill on a Russian domestic flight. Germany says he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. Russia has said it has seen no evidence he was poisoned.

(With inputs from agencies.)