Reuters World News Summary

U.S.'s Coons would back resuming Iran nuclear deal, with caveats U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a possible secretary of state in a Biden administration, said on Friday he would only support returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal if there were a path to limit Tehran's missile program and support for regional proxies.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Ethiopian government says troops take two towns from Tigray fighters

Government forces captured two towns from rebel forces in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, the government said on Friday, and Tigrayan fighters fired rockets at an airport in a neighbouring region. The rocket attack on Bahir Dar, capital of Asmara region, raised concerns that the two-week-old conflict between the Tigrayan rebels and the central government could spiral into a wider war. Trudeau warns Canada's hospitals could be swamped, Toronto to enter COVID-19 lockdown

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that Canada's hospital system could be overwhelmed by a possible quadrupling of new COVID-19 cases by year end as its biggest city Toronto prepared to impose a lockdown. Trudeau implored Canadians to stay home as much as possible as a second wave of the novel coronavirus rips across the country, forcing several of the 10 provinces to reimpose curbs on movement and businesses. Cases continue to spike and authorities complain some people are being more careless about taking precautions. Get a grip on Brexit talks, UK opposition urges PM Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson needs to intervene personally in trade talks with the European Union to ensure a deal is reached as the clock ticks down, the opposition Labour Party said in a letter on Friday. Britain and the EU urgently need to find a deal to avoid disruption to more than $1 trillion of trade between the two when a transition period expires in December. Despite months of intensive talks, gaps still remain on key issues. Trump administration to add four more Chinese firms to Pentagon blacklist -sources

Washington is poised to designate four more Chinese companies as backed by the Chinese military, sources said, curbing their access to U.S. investors as the Trump administration seeks to cement its hawkish China legacy in its waning days. The designations, which have not been previously reported, could be released by the Department of Defense as soon as Friday but may be unveiled next week, said one U.S. official and one person familiar with the matter who declined to be named. Coons says hopes for bipartisan U.S. policy to 'out-compete' China

U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who is seen as a contender for secretary of state in the incoming Biden administration, told Reuters on Friday he hoped to see a bipartisan policy on China that would "out-compete" Beijing. Coons also said in an interview that while the main U.S. focus would have to be on competing with China, it was essential to cooperate with Beijing on areas such as climate change, global health and nuclear non-proliferation. Violence erupts in Brazil after Black man beaten to death at Carrefour store

More than 1,000 demonstrators attacked a Carrefour Brasil supermarket in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre on Friday after security guards beat to death a Black man at the store. The killing, which has sparked protests across Brazil, occurred late on Thursday when a store employee called security after the man threatened to attack her, cable news channel GloboNews said, citing the Rio Grande do Sul state military police. Ahead of G20, U.N. chief warns 'developing world on precipice of financial ruin'

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that "the developing world is on the precipice of financial ruin and escalating poverty, hunger and untold suffering" as the world struggles to combat the coronavirus pandemic. His message came ahead of a meeting of the leaders of the Group of 20 rich nations and big emerging powers this weekend. Biden could help unfreeze Colombian peace talks: ELN rebel leader

Joe Biden's election as U.S. President could help unfreeze peace talks between Colombia's biggest active rebel group, the Marxist National Liberation Army (ELN), and the Colombian government, ELN leader Pablo Beltran told Reuters on Friday. Right-wing President Ivan Duque suspended fledgling negotiations in Havana to end a five-decade conflict in January 2019 after the ELN carried out a car bomb attack at a police academy in Bogota. U.S.'s Coons would back resuming Iran nuclear deal, with caveats

U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a possible secretary of state in a Biden administration, said on Friday he would only support returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal if there were a path to limit Tehran's missile program and support for regional proxies. The agreement, which U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned in May 2018 and restored related U.S. sanctions, sought to limit Iran's nuclear program to prevent it from developing atomic weapons in return for the easing of economic sanctions. Biden aide Blinken voices concern about rights group in Egypt

A top adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, who has pledged a renewed U.S. emphasis on human rights, on Friday voiced concern about a prominent Egyptian rights group that said security agents had arrested its executive director this week. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said on Thursday that its executive director, Gasser Abdel Razek, was arrested at his home and taken to an unknown location days after two other senior EIPR members were detained on charges including joining a terrorist group.

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