World News Roundup: Venezuela's denounces forced disappearance of party coordinator; Counting satellite images seek to track Yemen's COVID death toll and more

U.S. officials blamed Iran last week for thousands of threatening emails and an online video that purported to show hackers breaking into a voter registration system just days before the U.S. presidential election.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Venezuela's Guaido denounces forced disappearance of party coordinator

Venezuela's Juan Guaido on Tuesday accused the government of illegally detaining an opposition activist, blaming it for what he called the forced disappearance of Roland Carreno of the Popular Will party. Carreno was approached on Monday afternoon by unidentified people in vehicles without license plates, Popular Will said on Twitter. It added that the party had been unable to confirm his location after that encounter.

Analysis: Trump sanctions could give Biden a bargaining chip in deal talks with Iran

The Trump administration's imposition of new sanctions on Iran may have been intended to forestall a new nuclear deal with Tehran if Joe Biden is elected president, but it could backfire instead by strengthening Biden's hand at the bargaining table. The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday slapped counterterrorism sanctions on key players in Iran's oil sector for supporting the Quds Force, the elite paramilitary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The move, just before the Nov. 3 U.S. election, followed sanctions on 18 banks in Iran that Washington imposed earlier this month.

Grave-counting satellite images seek to track Yemen's COVID death toll

A first-of-its-kind study using satellite images to count fresh graves and analyze burial activity in Yemen has estimated the death toll there from COVID-19 or COVID-related causes is far higher than official government figures suggest. Using high-resolution satellite imagery, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) analyzed burial activity at all identifiable cemeteries in Yemen's Aden region and calculated an estimated 2,100 "excess deaths" during the COVID-19 outbreak between April and September.

Gunmen kidnap American citizen in southern Niger

Six gunmen on motorbikes with AK-47 assault rifles kidnapped an American man from his home on the edge of a rural village in southern Niger in the early hours of Tuesday, multiple sources said. The kidnappers seized 27-year-old Philip Walton, who kept camels, sheep, and poultry and grew mango trees near the border with Nigeria, at around 0145 local time (0045 GMT), a police source, two local officials, and three security sources told Reuters.

Israel says U.S. will now fund Israeli research projects in West Bank, Golan

Israel said on Tuesday the United States is effectively lifting a ban on U.S. funding of Israeli scientific research projects conducted in the West Bank and Golan Heights, areas Israel occupied in a 1967 war. There was no immediate Palestinian comment on the move, announced a week before a U.S. presidential election in which opinion polls show incumbent Donald Trump, hailed by Israel as one of its staunchest allies, trailing Democrat Joe Biden.

'Perfect storm': How Nigeria's peaceful police protests turned violent

Tears fill Ephraim Osinboyejo's eyes as he recalls the idealism that drove thousands of Nigerians like him into the streets to campaign against police brutality - and the night he saw young activists gunned down. The 39-year-old businessman says he returned to Nigeria last year after two decades abroad because he wanted to help his country. When nationwide demonstrations began on Oct. 8, he volunteered to manage logistics at the main protest site in Lagos. U.S. urges diplomacy as Nagorno-Karabakh fighting rages

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to pursue a diplomatic solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as fighting in and around the mountain enclave entered a second month on Tuesday, defying a ceasefire brokered in Washington. Armenia acknowledged overnight that Nagorno-Karabakh forces had withdrawn from a strategic town between the enclave and the Iranian border, an apparent military gain for Azerbaijan.

Thai PM Prayuth vows to carry on despite calls to quit

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday dismissed calls from opposition parties to resign at a parliament session he had called to discuss months of protests demanding his departure and reforms to the powerful monarchy. "I will not run away from problems. I will not leave my duty by resigning at a time when the country has problems," the former army ruler told the assembly, whose entire upper house was picked by his old junta. U.N. in New York cancels in-person meetings over coronavirus infections

The United Nations on Tuesday canceled all in-person meetings at its New York headquarters for the rest of the week after five people in Niger's U.N. mission were infected with the novel coronavirus. After largely operating virtually since New York became a global COVID-19 hotspot in March, the 193-member world body had been holding some in-person gatherings again, with precautions such as requiring diplomats to wear masks, social distancing, and restricting the number of people at meetings.

Facebook says suspected Iranian hackers behind U.S. election threats operated in 2019

Iranian hackers suspected of emailing threatening messages to U.S. voters last week and spreading false information about compromised election systems ran a disinformation campaign last year targeting the Middle East, Facebook Inc said on Tuesday. U.S. officials blamed Iran last week for thousands of threatening emails and an online video that purported to show hackers breaking into a voter registration system just days before the U.S. presidential election. Tehran has denied the allegations.