Reuters World News Summary

China senior diplomat says U.S. relations at 'new crossroads' China's relationship with the United States has reached a "new crossroads" and could get back on the right track following a period of "unprecedented difficulty", senior diplomat Wang Yi said in official comments published on Saturday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Car bomb explodes in vegetable market in Syrian border town - state media

A car bomb exploded in a vegetable market in the border town of Ras al Ain in northeast Syria with reports of several killed and wounded, the Syrian state news agency reported on Saturday. There were no further details about casualties in the report, but residents told Reuters two people were killed and several were wounded. French police shut down rave party defying COVID-19 restrictions

Several hundred French police on Saturday shut down an illegal rave party in northwestern France that had been underway since New Year's Eve in defiance of a curfew and coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings, officials said. About 2,500 revellers from across France and abroad attended the rave in a disused warehouse in Lieuron, near Rennes, and some clashed with police soon after the party kicked off on Thursday evening. Japan to consider new COVID-19 emergency declaration

Japan will consider issuing a new emergency declaration after governors in the capital region urged action to tackle a record surge in COVID-19 cases, the head of the nation's pandemic response said on Saturday. The government needs to consult with health experts before deciding on a new declaration, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters after a meeting with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and leaders from three neighbouring prefectures. India's Kashmir region seeks $4 billion in investments, to provide security

India's federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir plans to attract investments worth up to $4 billion in the next two three years and would provide security to businesses setting up shop in the insurgency-hit region, its chief said on Saturday. Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was India’s only Muslim-majority state until August 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi carved out a Buddhist-dominated enclave and designated both as federally-administered territories. China senior diplomat says U.S. relations at 'new crossroads'

China's relationship with the United States has reached a "new crossroads" and could get back on the right track following a period of "unprecedented difficulty", senior diplomat Wang Yi said in official comments published on Saturday. Relations between the world's two biggest economies have come under increasing strain amid a series of disputes over trade, human rights and the origins of COVID-19. In its latest move, the United States blacklisted dozens of Chinese companies it said had ties to the military. India approves AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine

India has approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, paving the way for a huge immunisation campaign in the world's second most populous country. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters on Saturday the vaccine had been given the green light on Friday, confirming what sources close to the matter had told Reuters. UK reactivates emergency COVID-19 hospitals, closes London primary schools

Britain reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the pandemic and shut primary schools in London on Friday to counter the rapid spread of a much more infectious variant of the coronavirus. With more than 50,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 for the last four days, the health service said it was preparing for an anticipated rush of patients and needed more beds. Netherlands to vaccinate emergency care workers as soon as possible

The Netherlands will start vaccinating 30,000 emergency care workers as soon as possible, the health ministry said on Saturday, as the government comes under fire for lagging other European Union countries in launching immunisations. The government had previously said its national vaccination campaign would start on Jan. 8, the latest date for any EU country. With little ado, a divided United Kingdom casts off into the Brexit unknown

The United Kingdom began the New Year outside the European Union's orbit on Friday after ending a tempestuous 48-year liaison with the European project, its most significant geopolitical shift since the loss of empire. Brexit took effect in substance on Thursday at the strike of midnight in Brussels, or 2300 London time (GMT), at the end of a transition period that largely maintained the status quo for 11 months after Britain formally left the EU on Jan. 31, 2020. Pakistan arrests alleged militant group leader on terrorism financing charge

Pakistan on Saturday arrested a man accused of being a leader of an Islamist militant group blamed by the United States and India for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, a counter-terrorism official said. The arrest is in relation to terrorism financing, the official said, and not a specific militant attack.