Reuters World News Summary

Enrique Paris said he believed Biden's leadership would allow for countries to present a more "united" front against the pandemic, avoiding the commercial battles by nations including the United States to secure ventilators, masks and personal protective equipment seen earlier this year.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Corpses and burnt-out cars line Karabakh road as Russian troops deploy

Corpses of ethnic Armenian soldiers lined stretches of a mountain road in Nagorno-Karabakh on Friday as Russian peacekeepers in trucks and armoured personnel carriers moved in after a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia is deploying almost 2,000 troops along with tanks and other armour to secure a truce agreed this week after a six-week war over the ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan and surrounding areas in which Turkey-backed Azeri forces captured swathes of territory. Ethiopians fleeing to Sudan describe air strikes and machete killings in Tigray

Civilians fleeing fighting in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region described bombing by government warplanes, shooting on the streets and killings by machete, as they joined thousands of refugees crossing into neighbouring Sudan. Speaking to Reuters on Friday in the Sudanese border town of al-Fashqa, where more than 7,000 refugees have sought safety, witnesses gave first hand accounts of the escalating conflict in Tigray, where government forces are battling fighters loyal to rebellious local leaders. After Ivory Coast election, fighting comes to a once-calm town

Before last month's presidential election, M'Batto in central Ivory Coast was a small, peaceful town where ethnic groups intermarried and churches and mosques existed side by side without friction, residents say. Two weeks on and the streets are littered with empty shotgun cartridges, shops have been burned down and at least six people are dead, killed in ethnic clashes that some fear could herald a repeat of Ivory Coast's civil wars in 2002 and 2010-2011. French prosecutors: Nice church attack and teacher's beheading are linked

The man suspected of knifing to death three people in a church in the French city of Nice had on his telephone pictures of the man who beheaded a middle school teacher near Paris 13 days earlier, prosecutors said on Friday. The discovery of the photos on the phone of 21-year-old Tunisian Brahim al-Aouissaoui, who was shot and wounded by police in the Oct. 29 attack, could indicate a common motive behind the two attacks. U.S. presidential election is not finally settled: Polish president

All indications are that Joe Biden will be the next U.S. president, but the election is not completely settled, Polish President Andrzej Duda was quoted as saying on Friday. President-elect Biden solidified his victory over Republican President Donald Trump on Friday after the U.S. state of Georgia went his way, leaving Trump little hope of reversing the outcome through legal challenges and recounts. Police evacuating Ubisoft's Montreal office building in ongoing operation

Police on Friday were evacuating a building housing French video game maker Ubisoft's Montreal offices amid conflicting media reports that a possible hostage taking situation was underway, but was later reported to potentially be a hoax. "No threat has been identified for now. We are currently evacuating the building," Montreal's police force posted on its official Twitter account, after announcing an ongoing operation at the corner of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and St. Viateur Street. National security adviser O'Brien to represent U.S. at Asia meetings

U.S. national security adviser Robert O'Brien will represent the United States at back-to-back virtual summits with Asian countries this weekend, the White House said on Friday. O'Brien will lead the U.S. delegation in talks with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Friday evening U.S. time, or Saturday morning in Asia. Exclusive: Chile health minister hopes Biden victory will help avoid vaccine 'trade war'

Joe Biden's win in the U.S. election is raising hopes in Latin America that a war over medical supplies at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak will not be repeated once vaccines are approved for use, Chile's health minister told Reuters on Friday. Enrique Paris said he believed Biden's leadership would allow for countries to present a more "united" front against the pandemic, avoiding the commercial battles by nations including the United States to secure ventilators, masks and personal protective equipment seen earlier this year. UK PM Johnson's Brexit 'brain' Cummings to leave Downing Street

Dominic Cummings, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's most powerful adviser, will stop working for Downing Street in mid-December as Johnson tries to reset his premiership after a series of failures in tackling the coronavirus pandemic. Cummings, expected to stay until around Christmas, was pictured by a Reuters photographer clutching a box as he left Johnson's office in No. 10 Downing Street on Friday evening. Second wave, same strategy: Swedish COVID-19 czar defiant despite surge

Sweden remains steadfast in its strategy of voluntary measures and no lockdowns, the architect of its unorthodox COVID-19 response said on Friday, as the country battles a growing second wave of a disease that has now killed more than 6,000 Swedes. The Nordic nation of 10 million people, whose soft-touch approach to combating the virus has drawn worldwide attention - and harsh domestic criticism from some - has seen a surge in the number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths in recent weeks.