Reuters World News Summary

In his comeback as Lebanon's PM, Hariri vows to halt collapse Lebanese veteran politician Saad al-Hariri was named prime minister for a fourth time on Thursday and pledged to form a new government to tackle the country's worst crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. IMF concerned over post-COVID social unrest across Latin America, official says

The International Monetary Fund is concerned that social unrest will make a comeback in "lots of countries" across Latin America once the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, a top IMF official said on Thursday. Economies across Latin America and the Caribbean are forecast to contract as a group by 8.1% this year, with an uneven 2021 bounce at just 3.6%, and most countries are not seen returning to pre-COVID output levels until 2023, the Fund said earlier on Thursday. New fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh dims hopes before Washington talks

Hopes of ending nearly a month of bloodshed in the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh were receding on Thursday as Azeri and ethnic Armenian forces fought new battles on the eve of talks in Washington. Plans for U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on Friday raised hopes this week that the two former Soviet republics would agree to end their deadliest fighting since the mid-1990s. U.S. says it blacklisted Iran's ambassador to Iraq

The United States on Thursday blacklisted Iraj Masjedi, Iran's Ambassador to Iraq, saying he has for years overseen the training and support of Iraqi militia groups which are responsible for attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. "In his current capacity, Masjedi has exploited his position as the Iranian regime’s ambassador in Iraq to obfuscate financial transfers conducted for the benefit of the IRGC-QF," Treasury said in a statement, referring to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Time running short, UK and EU get back down to business

With time fast running out, Britain and the European Union start intensified negotiations on Thursday in a new, final push to try to secure a deal to protect billions of dollars of post-Brexit trade between the neighbours. After Prime Minister Boris Johnson walked away from the negotiations late last week, the two sides reached agreement on Wednesday to resume talks just 10 weeks before a status quo transition arrangement expires and Britain goes it alone. Venezuela's Maduro, citing Pope, asks congress to consider same-sex marriage

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday asked the country's National Assembly to discuss same-sex marriage during its next term beginning in January, citing Pope Francis' comments this week supporting civil unions for same-sex couples. The Pope's comments were the clearest language yet he has used on the rights of gay people. Gay marriage is not currently legal in heavily Roman Catholic Venezuela, despite laws or court decisions in other South American countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Colombia legalizing same-sex marriage. Exclusive: 'Dumb mistake' exposed Iranian hand behind fake Proud Boys U.S. election emails - sources

Government analysts and private sector investigators were able to rapidly attribute to Iranian hackers a wave of thousands of threatening emails aimed at U.S. voters because of mistakes made in a video attached to some of the messages, according to four people familiar with the matter. Those failures provided a rare opportunity for the U.S. government to identify and publicly announce blame for a malicious cyber operation in a matter of days, something that usually requires months of technical analysis and supporting intelligence. Analysis: Window narrows for Canada's Trudeau to win 'smash and grab' majority in snap vote

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a window for a snap election that could give him a majority government and free him of his dependence on opposition parties to govern - if only they would cooperate and withdraw their support. On Wednesday Trudeau's Liberals, doing well in polls due to their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, sought to capitalize on that boost before an emerging second wave worsens and expensive financial aid programs begin to wind down. Europe daily coronavirus cases double in 10 days, reports 200,000 daily cases for the first time

Europe's reported coronavirus cases more than doubled in 10 days, crossing 200,000 daily infections for the first time on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, with many Southern European countries reporting their highest single-day cases this week. Europe reported 100,000 daily cases for the first time on Oct. 12. In his comeback as Lebanon's PM, Hariri vows to halt collapse

Lebanese veteran politician Saad al-Hariri was named prime minister for a fourth time on Thursday and pledged to form a new government to tackle the country's worst crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. After his nomination, Hariri said he would quickly form a cabinet of specialists to bring in economic and financial reforms set out in a French plan to get foreign aid. Exclusive: Trump, U.S. intelligence chief push to declassify document on Russia's 2016 election role - sources

U.S. President Donald Trump and his intelligence chief have pushed for quick declassification of a document disputing the 2017 intelligence community finding that Russia acted to help Trump get elected in 2016, three U.S. government officials familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. But their effort faces strong objections from inside the intelligence agencies, two officials said on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter. One reason for their opposition is the proximity of the Nov. 3 election.