World News Roundup: Tropical cyclone Eloise makes landfall in Mozambique, loses strength; Portugal holds presidential election as COVID-19 cases spiral and more

Saudi Arabia expects 'excellent relations' with Biden administration Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Saturday the kingdom was optimistic that it would have "excellent relations" with the new U.S. administration of President Joe Biden and that it would continue to negotiate with Washington regarding the Iran nuclear deal.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Tropical cyclone Eloise makes landfall in Mozambique, loses strength

Tropical cyclone Eloise made landfall in Mozambique early on Saturday, hitting the coastal city of Beira with huge gusts of wind and heavy rains, but was losing strength as it progressed, a South African weather official said. "Eloise made landfall around 2:30 a.m. in the morning with wind speeds of 160 kilometres per hour (kph)(99 miles per hour)," Mbazhi Maliage, forecaster at South African Weather Service said.

Portugal holds presidential election as COVID-19 cases spiral

Portuguese voters - largely confined to their homes due to a strict COVID-19 lockdown - will pick a new president on Sunday, but many fear going to the polls could worsen a surge in coronavirus cases and low turnout is expected. The country of 10 million people, which fared better than others in the first wave of the pandemic, now has the world's highest seven-day rolling average of new cases and deaths per million people.

Police round up more than 350 at Russia protests backing jailed Kremlin foe Navalny

Police detained more than 350 people across Russia on Saturday and broke up rallies around the country as protesters defied bitter cold and a ban by authorities to demand the release of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Navalny had called on his supporters to protest after being arrested last weekend as he returned to Moscow for the first time since being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in August. Navalny had been treated in Germany.

Three cases linked to Australia Open carry highly virulent COVID-19 variant

Three people in hotel quarantine associated with the Australian Open tennis tournament have tested positive for the highly transmissible coronavirus variant linked to the United Kingdom, officials said on Saturday. The three quarantined in Melbourne are not players, said the state agency responsible for quarantining overseas travellers.

All have been in hard lockdown since their Jan. 15 arrival. And now, a reading from an email according to St. Paul

If he were alive today, even St. Paul would be texting, Tweeting and firing off emails to get the news out, Pope Francis said on Saturday in his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Social Communication. St. Paul, who lived in the first century of the Christian era, spread the new faith into Europe and Asia Minor and is believed to have written a great part of the New Testament.

Saudi Arabia expects 'excellent relations' with Biden administration

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Saturday the kingdom was optimistic that it would have "excellent relations" with the new U.S. administration of President Joe Biden and that it would continue to negotiate with Washington regarding the Iran nuclear deal. "I am optimistic. Saudi Arabia has built solid, historical relations where it worked with different administrations. We will continue to do that as well with President Biden," Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said in an interview with Arabiya TV.

French health body recommends delaying second COVID shot to six weeks after first

France's top health advisory body on Saturday recommended doubling the time between people being given the first and second COVID-19 vaccinations to six weeks from three in order to increase the number getting inoculated. The gap between the first and second injection in France is currently three weeks for people in retirement homes, who take priority, and four weeks for others such as health workers.

Taiwan reports large incursion by Chinese air force

Eight Chinese bomber planes and four fighter jets entered the southwestern corner of Taiwan's air defence identification zone on Saturday, and Taiwan's air force deployed missiles to "monitor" the incursion, the island's Defence Ministry said. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has conducted almost daily flights over the waters between the southern part of Taiwan and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea in recent months.

Hong Kong locks down thousands for compulsory COVID-19 testing

Hong Kong's government locked down an area of Kowloon peninsula on Saturday after an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, saying 10,000 residents must stay home until they have been tested and the results largely determined. The first such measure the city has taken since the pandemic began has occurred in the densely populated neighbourhoods of Jordan that is home to many ageing, subdivided flats in which the virus could spread more easily.

Bulgaria to ease some COVID-19 rules, restaurants closed for now

Bulgaria will ease some coronavirus restrictions from February 4 though restaurants will remain closed for now due to concerns about the new coronavirus variant, officials said on Saturday. The move as follows measures in place since late November which have tamed a surge in new infections.

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