World News Roundup: On Russia and EU enlargement, Macron pushes a radical agenda; Israeli strike in Gaza kills six civilians: medics, residents

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

On Russia and EU enlargement, Macron pushes a radical agenda

French President Emmanuel Macron's stark description of the "brain death" of transatlantic military alliance NATO grabbed headlines last week, but his views on Russia and European Union enlargement may well have greater long-term impact. His blunt, 8,000-word discourse with The Economist prompted soul-searching in Berlin, Brussels and other European capitals, but Moscow praised it and analysts pored over nuances, broadly seeing it as a call for Europe to chart a radical new course.

Hong Kong students hunker down as government dismisses curfew rumors

Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters paralyzed parts of the city for a fourth successive day on Thursday, forcing schools to close and blocking highways, as students built campus barricades and the government dismissed rumors of a curfew. Protesters have torched vehicles and buildings, hurled petrol bombs at police stations and trains, dropped debris from bridges on to traffic below and vandalized shopping malls and campuses, raising questions about how and when more than five months of unrest can be brought to an end.

Morales lost Bolivia after shock mutiny by police

Last Friday night, with Bolivia's most important city paralyzed by demonstrations against leftist President Evo Morales, the police unit tasked with securing the presidential palace met to help decide the nation's future. Bolivia for weeks had been gripped by violent protests after Morales declared victory in a disputed election that appeared to give him a fourth straight term. Election monitors said they suspected fraud.

Flaming arrows and petrol bombs: Inside Hong Kong protesters' 'weapons factories'

Under a November full moon, hundreds of young people dressed in black set about turning several of Hong Kong's top universities into fortresses, well stocked with improvised weapons. At City University, protesters used ping pong tables, potted plants, furniture, sports equipment, and bamboo to form a network of barricades to block roads and fortify the entrances to the student residence complex.

UK Liberal Democrats enter election spending race with big pledges on climate

Britain's anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats will promise on Friday to spend 100 billion pounds ($128 billion) on tackling climate change if they win a Dec. 12 election. The Liberal Democrats trail Boris Johnson's Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls and are expected to fall a long way short of winning the election outright.

Writer held in offshore Australian asylum detention arrives in New Zealand

Writer and refugee Behrouz Boochani left the Australian-run offshore Pacific detention camp where he has been held for six years, arriving in New Zealand late on Thursday to speak at a literary festival. "I just arrived in New Zealand. So exciting to get freedom after more than six years....Thank you to all the friends who made this happen," he said on Twitter, shortly after landing in Auckland.

Israeli strike in Gaza kills six civilians: medics, residents

An Israeli missile strike in the Gaza Strip killed six members of a Palestinian family on Thursday, all of them civilians, medical officials and residents said, bringing the death toll in the territory from a 48-hour surge in fighting to 32. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the pre-dawn incident in Deir al-Balah, which came as cross-border shelling exchanges continued despite a ceasefire offer by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.

Hong Kong to unveil depth of recession amid protests, trade war

Hong Kong is expected to confirm on Friday it plunged into recession for the first time in a decade, amid concerns the economy could be in even worse shape than feared as months of anti-government protests take a heavy toll. Preliminary figures in October showed the Chinese-ruled city's economy shrank by 3.2% in July-September from the preceding period, contracting for a second straight quarter and meeting the technical definition of a recession.

North Korea says will unilaterally remove South Korean facilities at Mt Kumgang if South insists on talks

North Korea said on Friday that it had sent South Korea an "ultimatum" on Monday about North Korea's Mt Kumgang tourist resort, saying that it will unilaterally remove South Korea's facilities there if Seoul insists on talks about the issue. South Korea had proposed talks with North Korea on how to handle its facilities in the North's resort, once a rare example of cooperation between the Koreas, which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last month he wants removed amid cooled inter-Korean relations.

Japan's ageing 'Hidden Christians' fear they may be their religion's last generation

His face weathered from years at sea, kimono-clad Japanese fisherman Masaichi Kawasaki kneels before an altar adorned with images of the Virgin Mary, crossing himself as he softly intones chants handed down through centuries. Kawasaki, 69, is one of a dwindling number of Japan's "Kakure Kirishitan," or "Hidden Christians," descendants of those who preserved their faith in secret during centuries of persecution.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)