Reuters World News Summary

U.S. on brink of rampant coronavirus spread, Europe hospitals strained Nearly two-thirds of U.S. states were in a danger zone of coronavirus spread and six, including election battleground Wisconsin, reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday while the pandemic's resurgence in Europe strained hospitals.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. U.S. on brink of rampant coronavirus spread, Europe hospitals strained

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. states were in a danger zone of coronavirus spread and six, including election battleground Wisconsin, reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday while the pandemic's resurgence in Europe strained hospitals. Coronavirus deaths hit fresh daily records in Hawaii, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, a state that also reported a record daily increase in new cases together with Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio, according to a Reuters analysis. Pope says same-sex couples should be covered by civil union laws

Pope Francis has said that same-sex couples should be protected by civil union laws in some of the clearest language he has used on the rights of gay people since his election seven years ago. He made his comments in a new documentary "Francesco" by Oscar-nominated director Evgeny Afineevsky that was released on Wednesday. Socioeconomic factors drive COVID risks for minorities: UK government report

The increased risk to ethnic minorities from COVID-19 is largely driven by factors such as living circumstances and profession and not the genetics of different groups or structural racism, a report into racial disparities from the pandemic has found. Several studies have shown a disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minorities, and the British government in June promised further work to look into the causes of the disparities. U.S. State Department approves $1.8 bln in potential arms sales to Taiwan: Pentagon

The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of three weapons systems to Taiwan, including sensors, missiles and artillery that could have a total value of $1.8 billion, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. Reuters reported last week that the White House was moving forward with five separate sales of sophisticated military equipment to Taiwan with a total value of around $5 billion as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on China and concerns rise about Beijing's intentions toward Taiwan. AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial Brazil volunteer dies, trial to continue

Brazilian health authority Anvisa said on Wednesday that a volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University had died but added that the trial would continue. Oxford confirmed the plan to keep testing, saying in a statement that after careful assessment "there have been no concerns about safety of the clinical trial." Analysis: China struggles to fill Trump's 'America First' leadership void

As Donald Trump has pulled the United States inward under his "America First" presidency, China has had only halting success at capitalising on a global leadership vacuum, presenting openings for a more internationalist Joe Biden administration if he wins next month's election. Under Trump, Washington abandoned the Paris climate pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the UN Human Rights Council and UNESCO, and ditched the Iran nuclear deal. It has announced that it will withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) next July and has crippled the World Trade Organization by blocking appointments to its appeals panel. Trump's security adviser says: China is the threat of the century

President Donald Trump's national security adviser accused China on Wednesday of trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research from the West, casting it as a malign rival that was seeking to monopolise every important industry of the 21st Century. Trump identifies China as the United States’ main competitor, and has accused the Chinese Communist Party of taking advantage over trade and not telling the truth over the novel coronavirus outbreak, which he calls the “China plague”. Brazilian Senate approves Bolsonaro's Supreme Court nominee

The Brazilian Senate late on Wednesday approved the nomination of Kassio Nunes to the Supreme Court, swiftly signing off on right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro's first nominee to the nation's top judicial body. Nunes, a conservative and a former appeals court judge, was approved with 57 votes in favor, 10 opposed and one abstention. Parents not found for 545 children separated at U.S.-Mexico border: filing

Lawyers and non-profit organizations seeking to reunite immigrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration have not been able to locate the parents of 545 children so far. A federal judge ordered thousands of families separated at the border in 2017 and 2018 to be reunited after a 2018 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Nearly 75% of residents in Venezuela's capital eat less than in 2019, survey shows

Some 75% of residents in Venezuela's capital Caracas eat less food than they did in December 2019, according to a survey released on Wednesday by opposition legislators, signaling that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated an existing hunger problem. The government of President Nicolas Maduro in March created a strict quarantine that shuttered most businesses for months, though authorities have now allowed some economic activities during alternate weeks. The country has reported over 700 deaths and 87,000 infections from COVID-19.