Reuters World News Summary

WHO team, on tightly controlled China mission, visits hospital The World Health Organization-led team investigating the origins of COVID-19 during a mission that has been tightly controlled by its Chinese hosts visited a hospital on Saturday in the central city of Wuhan that treated early coronavirus patients.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. UK says it expects no vaccine interruption from EU; Brussels admits Irish 'blunder'

EU officials confessed on Saturday to a "blunder" in invoking Northern Ireland Brexit emergency powers during a showdown with Britain over vaccines, and London said it expected its supply of COVID-19 shots would not be interrupted. The European Union has fallen far behind Britain and the United States in the race to vaccinate its public. It announced on Friday it would impose export controls on vaccines, widely seen as a threat to prevent doses from being sent to Britain. WHO team, on tightly controlled China mission, visits hospital

The World Health Organization-led team investigating the origins of COVID-19 during a mission that has been tightly controlled by its Chinese hosts visited a hospital on Saturday in the central city of Wuhan that treated early coronavirus patients. On its second day after two weeks in quarantine, the team went to Jinyintan Hospital, where doctors had collected samples from patients suffering from an unidentified pneumonia in late 2019. Putin's former judo partner claims he owns palace linked to Russian leader

Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg said on Saturday he owns a huge palace in southern Russia which jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has linked to President Vladimir Putin. Navalny and his anti-corruption foundation have published a video in which they allege the opulent mansion belonged to the Russian leader. The video has been viewed more than 103 million times. Exclusive: China gene firm providing worldwide COVID tests worked with Chinese military

BGI Group, the world's largest genomics company, has worked with China's military on research that ranges from mass testing for respiratory pathogens to brain science, a Reuters review of research, patent filings and other documents has found. The review, of more than 40 publicly available documents and research papers in Chinese and English, shows BGI’s links to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) include research with China’s top military supercomputing experts. The extent of those links has not previously been reported. Mexican telecoms magnate Slim returns home after hospitalization with COVID-19

Mexican businessman Carlos Slim, one of the world's richest men, has returned home from hospital following a bout of COVID-19 and is feeling well, his spokesman Arturo Elias said on Saturday. During the past week, Slim had been getting medical attention at the National Institute of Nutrition, a public health center in Mexico City. U.N. lists candidates to run Libya's transitional government until this year's vote

Participants at Libya's U.N.-sponsored peace talks have approved a list of candidates seeking to lead a transitional government that will prepare the North African state for a national election at the end of 2021, the United Nations said. The transitional government will oversee preparations for the vote that aims to end a decade of chaos and conflict that has left Libya split down the middle and hammered its vital oil exports on which the country's economy depends. Germany is already ordering vaccines for 2022, minister says

Germany is ordering vaccines for 2022 in case regular or booster doses are needed to keep the population immune against variants of COVID-19, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Saturday, amid growing frustration in Europe at the slow pace of vaccination. Speaking at an online town hall of healthcare workers, Spahn defended the progress made on procuring and administering vaccines, saying 2.3 million of Germany's 83 million people had already received a dose. Guatemalan woman's family urges Mexico to solve killings of 19 suspected migrants

The family of a young Guatemalan woman believed to be among 19 victims of a massacre in northern Mexico has urged the Mexican government to bring those responsible to justice. Authorities in Mexico's Tamaulipas state bordering the United States this month recovered the bodies, which some Guatemalan families said they feared were loved ones who had been trying to migrate to the United States. Iran rejects new participants, any talks on nuclear deal

Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday rejected any new negotiations or changes to the participants in Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, after French President Emmanuel Macron said any new talks should include Saudi Arabia. "The nuclear accord is a multilateral international agreement ratified by U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which is non-negotiable and parties to it are clear and unchangeable," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted by state media as saying. Macron defends decision not to order third lockdown as third wave spreads

President Emmanuel Macron defended his decision to hold off on a third lockdown on Saturday, telling the public he had faith in their ability to rein in COVID-19 with less severe curbs even as a third wave spreads and the vaccine rollout falters. From Sunday, France will close it borders to all but essential travel to and from countries outside the European Union, while people arriving from within the bloc will have to show a negative test. Large shopping malls will be shut and police patrols increased to enforce a 6 p.m. curfew.