World News Roundup: Four killed in Sierra Leone protest; Myanmar holds muted Martyrs' Day tribute and more

Iranian Presiden Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that 25 million people may have been infected with the coronavirus in Iran, although health officials later sought to play down the estimate.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Catalonia urges thousands of people to stay home as coronavirus cases rise

Authorities in Catalonia on Sunday urged more than 96,000 people in three towns to stay at home, as coronavirus cases continued to rise in one of Spain's worst-hit regions. This is in addition to some four million people in the region, including in its capital Barcelona, that were on Friday urged to stay at home as regional authorities toughened their response to the crisis.

'Ugly face': U.S. and China trade barbs in Myanmar as South China Sea rift deepens

China's embassy in Myanmar on Sunday accused the United States of "outrageously smearing" the country and driving a wedge with its Southeast Asian neighbors over the contested South China Sea and Hong Kong, as tensions mount between the superpowers. Responding to U.S. claims Beijing was undermining the sovereignty of its neighbors, the Chinese embassy said U.S. agencies abroad were doing "disgusting things" to contain China and had showed a "selfish, hypocritical, contemptible, and ugly face".

Syria goes to the polls as new sanctions hit war-ravaged economy

Syria held a parliamentary election on Sunday, gripped by a collapsing economy and new U.S. sanctions after President Bashar al-Assad clawed back control of most of the country. People voted across government territory at more than 7,000 polling stations, including for the first time in former rebel bastions that the army has recaptured over the last two years.

Four killed in Sierra Leone protest after police and army open fire

At least four people including a teenager were killed and 10 wounded when police and soldiers opened fire on protesters in northern Sierra Leone, a health official and witnesses said on Sunday. Hundreds gathered on a rainy day in the city of Makeni on Saturday to try to block the movement of a power generator to another town, fearing it would jeopardise the area's electricity supply, five witnesses said.

Iranian health officials play down president's figure of 25 million people infected

Iranian health officials sought on Sunday to play down the president's estimate that some 25 million people have been infected with the coronavirus, saying it was based on serological blood tests that measure exposure to the illness and that cannot be relied on to show the current state of disease. The 25 million figure put forward by Rouhani on Saturday is nearly a third of the population and massively higher than the official number of COVID-19 cases. Official case numbers rose to 273,788 on Sunday, with 14,188 deaths, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.

Germany's Merkel warns of summit failure on EU recovery fund

European Union leaders toiled in search of a coronavirus stimulus deal for a third day on Sunday but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the mounting acrimony over the level of spending might not easily be overcome. Germany and France, the EU's powerbrokers, are seeking a deal on a 1.8 trillion euro ($2.06 trillion) economic recovery package to rescue the bloc's economies that are facing their worst recession since World War Two.

Myanmar holds muted Martyrs' Day tribute to fallen independence heroes

Myanmar's public marked one of the Southeast Asian nation's darkest moments on Sunday with tributes to slain independence heroes, though the annual Martyrs' Day gatherings were muted by the coronavirus pandemic due to social distancing measures. Flanked by senior government and military officials, state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi laid a wreath at a mausoleum dedicated to Aung San, her father and the country's independence hero, who was assassinated alongside members of his cabinet on July 19, 1947.

Hong Kong tightens coronavirus restrictions as cases hit record

Hong Kong tightened coronavirus restrictions on Sunday, with non-essential civil servants told to work from home from this week, as the global financial hub reported a record number of daily cases. Earlier on Sunday, an event by pro-democracy politicians to mark the one-year anniversary of an attack in a train station by an armed mob was stopped by police in riot gear for breaking coronavirus measures already in place that restrict group gatherings to four people.

Turkey suspends flights to Iran, Afghanistan due to coronavirus outbreak

Turkey has suspended flights to Iran and Afghanistan as part of measures against the coronavirus outbreak, the Transport Ministry said on Sunday. Iranian Presiden Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that 25 million people may have been infected with the coronavirus in Iran, although health officials later sought to play down the estimate.

Netanyahu's corruption trial to hear first witnesses in January

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial will begin in earnest in January with witnesses being heard three times a week, a court decided on Sunday. Lawyers for Netanyahu, the first serving prime minister in Israel to go on trial, had asked for a six-month postponement to prepare their strategy. They suggested it would be difficult to gauge the truthfulness of witnesses wearing anti-coronavirus masks, currently compulsory in Israel.