Reuters World News Summary

UK says tough tiers needed as PM tries to see off lawmaker backlash England needs tough restrictions after its current lockdown ends if hospitals are not to become overwhelmed, a senior minister said, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to lawmakers to say the measures would end in February to try to quell opposition.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Protesters clash with police at Paris protest against police violence

Hundreds of black-clad protesters clashed with police at the end of a demonstration against police violence in Paris on Saturday after masked protesters launched fireworks at police lines, put up barricades and threw stones. The majority of the thousands of demonstrators marched peacefully, but small groups of masked protesters dressed in black smashed shop windows and set two cars, a motorcycle and a cafe on fire. The fires were put out quickly. UK says tough tiers needed as PM tries to see off lawmaker backlash

England needs tough restrictions after its current lockdown ends if hospitals are not to become overwhelmed, a senior minister said, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to lawmakers to say the measures would end in February to try to quell opposition. Britain upped preparations for a vaccine roll-out on Saturday as Johnson named Nadhim Zahawi as a new health minister to oversee its deployment and the Financial Times reported that the UK is set to approve the BioNTech Pfizer vaccine next week. Montenegro declares Serbia's ambassador persona non grata

Montenegro on Saturday declared Serbia's ambassador persona non grata for interfering with the country's internal affairs, the ministry of interior said in a statement. Following the announcement, Serbia declared persona non grata the Montenegrin ambassador to Serbia and gave him 72 hours to leave the country. Cuban artists end rare protest, say authorities agree to talks

A rare public protest in Cuba of more than 300 artists, activists and members of the public outside the culture ministry to denounce repression and censorship ended early on Saturday after demonstrators said they agreed with officials to open an unprecedented dialogue. Thirty of the protesters including performance artist Tania Bruguera and film director Fernando Perez met for more than four hours with Deputy Minister Fernando Rojas and said they had agreed to start a series of meetings to resolves differences. Brexit negotiations restart in person as clock ticks down

Face-to-face negotiations between Britain and the European Union over a trade deal restarted earlier on Saturday as the two sides make a last ditch attempt to reach an agreement with just five weeks to go before their current relationship ends. There is currently no call scheduled between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, a UK source told Reuters, after the Times newspaper reported the pair would speak in the next 48 hours. Pope's new cardinal in Mexico known for indigenous outreach

Among the new cardinals formally installed by Pope Francis on Saturday is an outspoken Mexican cleric who has spent decades ministering to the mostly poor, indigenous communities near the country's southern border with Guatemala. Felipe Arizmendi, known for progressive views on indigenous rights and migrants as well as a staunchly conservative stance on sexuality, was presented with the ring and scarlet red biretta of the so-called princes of the Catholic church at a scaled-down ceremony at the Vatican due to pandemic precautions. Iran's leader promises retaliation for nuclear scientist's killing

Iran's supreme leader promised on Saturday to retaliate for the killing of the Islamic Republic's top nuclear scientist, raising the threat of a new confrontation with the West and Israel in the remaining weeks of Donald Trump's presidency. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pledged to continue the work of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who Western and Israeli governments believe was the architect of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons programme. Ethiopian military operation in Tigray is complete, prime minister says

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Saturday that military operations in the restive region of Tigray are complete and federal troops control the regional capital, a major development in a three-week-old war that has shaken the Horn of Africa. Abiy's government has been trying to quell a rebellion by a powerful ethnic faction that dominated the central government for decades before he came to power in 2018. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed, and nearly 44,000 have fled to Sudan, in a conflict that has called into question whether Abiy can hold together fractious ethnic groups in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country. UK police arrest 155 in anti-lockdown protests in London

Police in London said on Saturday that they had made 155 arrests as they tried to break up anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protests. The police said the arrests had been made for different offences including assaulting a police officer, possession of drugs and breaching coronavirus restrictions. England's current lockdown ends on Dec. 2. Pope installs new cardinals, including first African-American

Pope Francis on Saturday installed 13 new cardinals, including the first African-American to hold the high rank, further expanding the pontiff's impact on the group that will one day elect his successor. The cardinals were installed in a ceremony, known as a consistory, that was markedly slimmed down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.