Reuters World News Summary

For a teacher in France, a civics class was followed by a gruesome death The middle school teacher knifed to death on the street of a Paris suburb on Friday showed his teenage students a cartoon lampooning the Prophet Mohammad as part of a class on freedom of expression earlier this month, parents said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Explainer: When will COVID-19 vaccines be generally available in the United States?

U.S. President Donald Trump and the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have disagreed about when a COVID-19 vaccine would become widely available. Trump has said enough vaccine would be available for every American by April, while the CDC director said vaccines were likely to reach the general public around mid-2021, an assessment more in line with most experts. Pfizer Inc said on Friday it could file for U.S. authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with German partner BioNTech in late November, suggesting it is possible a vaccine could be available in the United States this year. New clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh; Pompeo says Turkey makes situation worse

Armenian and Azeri forces fought new clashes on Friday, defying hopes of ending nearly three weeks of fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Turkey for inflaming the situation by arming the Azeris. The worst outbreak of violence in the South Caucasus since Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war over the enclave in the 1990s, the fighting risks creating a humanitarian disaster, especially if it draws in Russia and Turkey. Thai police turn water cannon on defiant protesters

Thai police fired stinging liquid from water cannon at thousands of protesters on Friday in the most violent escalation of three months of demonstrations against the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader. Protesters, defying a government ban on gatherings for a second day in Bangkok, pushed back against helmeted police who advanced with batons and riot shields. In scenes resembling Hong Kong protests, demonstrators held umbrellas against the water. 'Something close' to genocide in China's Xinjiang, says U.S. security adviser

The U.S. national security adviser said on Friday that China was perpetrating "something close to" a genocide with its treatment of Muslims in its Xinjiang region. "If not a genocide, something close to it going on in Xinjiang," Robert O'Brien told an online event hosted by the Aspen Institute, while highlighting other Chinese crackdowns including one on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Brexit brinkmanship: Johnson says prepare for no-deal, cancels trade talks

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday it was now time to prepare for a no-trade deal Brexit unless the European Union fundamentally changed course, bluntly telling Brussels that there was no point in continuing the negotiations. A tumultuous "no deal" finale to the United Kingdom's five-year Brexit crisis would sow chaos through the delicate supply chains that stretch across Britain, the EU and beyond - just as the economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic worsens. For a teacher in France, a civics class was followed by a gruesome death

The middle school teacher knifed to death on the street of a Paris suburb on Friday showed his teenage students a cartoon lampooning the Prophet Mohammad as part of a class on freedom of expression earlier this month, parents said. Nordine Chaouadi told Reuters he was the father of a 13-year-old pupil who attended the civics class given by the teacher, whom parents gathered outside the college referred to as Mr. Paty. French media have identified him as Samuel Paty. Teacher knifed to death in France after showing class cartoons of Prophet Mohammad

A middle school history teacher in France was knifed to death near the school where earlier this month he had shown his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, considered blasphemous by Muslims, French officials said on Friday. The attacker was shot dead by a police patrol a few streets away from the scene of the attack late on Friday afternoon, in a residential suburb north-west of Paris. Mnuchin to lead U.S. delegation to Israel, Bahrain, UAE Oct. 17-20

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will lead a U.S. delegation traveling to Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 17-20, the Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday. The visit comes one month after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed agreements to establish formal ties with Israel, becoming the first Arab states to do so in a quarter-century, in deals that were denounced by Palestinian leaders. Pompeo seeks reversal of 'provocative' North Cyprus move to reopen Varosha

U..S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced deep concern about Northern Cyprus' reopening part of a beachfront resort abandoned since Turkey invaded the island in 1974, calling it provocative and seeking its reversal, the State Department said on Friday. Pompeo made the comments in a call with Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides, the Department said, referring to Turkish Cypriot authorities partial reopening of the beach town of Varosha, a former resort area fenced off and abandoned in no-man's land since the 1974 invasion divided the island. Two women vie to lead New Zealand as polls open in general election

New Zealanders went to the polls on Saturday in a general election that could see Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern strengthen her left-of-centre hold on government or a challenge from conservatives led by Judith Collins. Labour Party leader Ardern, 40, and National Party chief Collins, 61, are the faces of the election to form the country's 53rd parliament, a pandemic-focused referendum on Ardern's three-year term.