• The negotiations were to have begun on March 10 under an US-Taliban accord for a US troop withdrawal.
• "I made clear to them that the violence levels can't continue while these negotiations go on and it won't work," Pompeo said.

• The goal is to get at least 2 billion doses by end of 2021 which will be enough to vaccinate 20 pct of populations of countries that are part of COVAX.
• That is enough, just, to bring to an end the acute phase of pandemic.

• Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen since 2018, when President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal.
• US sanctions have crippled the Iranian economy but so far have not led to the opening of a negotiation for a new nuclear deal between Iran and the United States.

• Britain has become the first Western nation to approve a vaccine for Covid-19, with the United States and other countries expected to follow soon and begin mass immunization drives.

• A Chinese official’s tweet of an image of an Australian soldier that sparked a furious reaction from Canberra was amplified across social media by unusual accounts, of which half were likely fake.
• 57.5% of accounts that engaged with Zhao’s tweet were fake, and “evidence of a largely orchestrated disinformation campaign” to amplify its message.

• Kuwait said earlier on Friday that progress had been made towards ending a row that has seen Saudi Arabia and its allies impose a diplomatic, trade and travel embargo on Qatar since mid-2017.

• "When you look at the whole economic landscape, I would say it's still very strong and I would say it's still a V-shaped recovery,"

• The UK's drugs regulator gave emergency approval for the vaccine on Wednesday, and the government plans to start rolling it out next week.

• Mining accidents are common in China, where the industry has a poor safety record and regulations are often weakly enforced.

• European Union officials stated that a post-Brexit trade deal could finally be clinched this weekend.
• London insisted that negotiations were still “very difficult” and it was determined to “take back control” from the bloc it left 10 months ago.

• The U.S. government’s first shipment of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses will fall far short of protecting high priority groups such as healthcare workers.
• The first shipment is expected to cover inoculations of 3.2 million people, nowhere near enough for the 21 million U.S. healthcare workers.

• And while the Labor Department data showed the unemployment rate dipped to 6.7 from 6.9 percent, the lowest since the pandemic struck, 10.7 million workers remain unemployed.

• The vaccines did not trigger any serious adverse reactions on the 150 adult and elderly people that participated in the trial, the company said.

• Suga also said Japan would set aside 1 trillion yen to promote digital transformation in the stimulus package.

• Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

• He has previously said Bulgaria expects to start inoculations a week after the first 125,000 shots of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine arrive around the New Year.

• The move was based on "false and inaccurate information", state-owned CNOOC said in a statement on its website.

• Sputnik V, one of two Russian-made vaccines to have received regulatory approval in Russia despite clinical trials being incomplete, requires two injections.

• The European Commission, whose decision came after a year-long investigation, said profits earned by port authorities from economic activities must be taxed under normal corporate tax laws.

• In the first quarter of 2021, Oslo expects to receive a total of 2.5 million doses, covering 1.25 million people, pending approval of the vaccines from European regulators. Norway's population is 5.4 million.

• The court ruled in favour of about 130 plaintiffs who claimed that the Ohi No. 3 and No. 4 reactors are vulnerable to major earthquakes, according to Kyodo.

• The U.S. Congress has passed legislation that would force Chinese firms to delist from U.S. exchanges unless they abide by U.S. accounting rules.

• The Spanish government intends to vaccinate between 15 and 20 million people against the coronavarius by May or June next year, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Friday.

• The agreement, which also contains provisions on the recognition of professional qualifications, replaces the current measures on free movement of people which lapses on Jan.1.

• An update on the latest in Brexit trade talks by EU negotiator Michel Barnier for national envoys to the bloc will not go ahead on Friday "due to the ongoing intensive negotiations in London".

• "We say clearly that we are not able to accept the budget for the next seven years if at the same time that regulation is adopted. Our partners see that our position does not change," Morawiecki told.

• Across the country, state health departments are preparing local hospitals for the first shipments of Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorizes it, possibly as early as mid-December.

• Irish GDP fell by 3.2pc quarter-on-quarter from April to June, revised on Friday from an initial estimate of -6.1pc.

• President-elect Joe Biden has asked top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci to continue in his job and serve as Biden’s chief medical adviser and on the COVID-19 team after Biden takes office on Jan. 20, Biden said on Thursday.
• Despite news that vaccines against the virus may begin to be distributed in the coming weeks, the U.S. is experiencing a new surge in hospitalisations and deaths.

• The Indian foreign ministry said in a statement that comments on “issues relating to Indian farmers constitute an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs.”
• Trudeau, speaking to the Indian community in Canada, said this week that he was concerned about the farmers, most of them from the Sikh-dominated state of Punjab, camped out on the outskirts of Delhi in a protest against farm reforms.

• On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the Rome Mediterranean Dialogue that if the incoming Biden Administration wants to re-enter the Iran Nuclear Deal, it must do so without any preconditions.
• Zarif also spoke about the latest onslaught of U.S sanctions on Iran, which have hampered the country's efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and impeded the regime's ability to provide vaccinations.

• As the United Kingdom is slated to be the first country in the world to carry out a large-scale rollout of the Sars-CoV2 vaccine, the dark corners of the internet are inundated with the "Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine" for sale.
• These unverified doses of the vaccine could cost as much as $1300 per dose; blatantly exploiting the unprecedented demand for vaccinations amidst the second wave of the pandemic.

The United States and Kuwait have been working to end a row that has seen Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt sever diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar since mid-2017. Washington says it wants a united Gulf front against Iran.

• Indian Army Chief Gen. M.M. Naravane will be travelling to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week, in an unprecedented move that can be seen as a reflection of the growing relationship between India and the Gulf States.

• Trump's top military advisor says till the time the US is supporting the Afghanistan government, Taliban cannot military defeat the regime

• Three security personnel have been killed and 14 civilians injured in a bomb blast in the Paktia province in Afghanistan.

• Ratcliffe says he had shifted resources within the $85 billion annual federal budget allocated to intelligence to increase the focus on China

• UN study suggests that the phenomenon can only be avoided by taking timely measures like investing in public health, social and safety net programmes and green transition

• Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen since 2018, when Trump abandoned Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal, and restored harsh economic sanctions.

• “People have lost faith in the ability of the vaccine to work,” Biden said.

• “PST expects that the use of economic tools and network operations will increase in the next 18 months,” it said.

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• Half a million deaths occurred in just the last two months, indicating that the severity of the pandemic is far from over.
• The novel coronavirus caused more deaths in the past year than tuberculosis in 2019 and nearly four times the number of deaths due to malaria.

• Britain and EU seeking a post-Brexit trade deal from 2021.
• EU official says "significant divergences" remain at talks.
• Barnier to update EU on the latest on Friday.

• It is imperative the parties build on the current momentum and accelerate their work to reach agreement on a political roadmap and a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire.
• They welcomed recent progress in Afghanistan peace negotiations and emphasized the importance of sustaining regional and international support for the peace process

• Things have been progressing really well, and we're expecting within the next week to 10 days to be making a final decision.
• A second wave is sweeping Canada, setting daily records for the number of new cases. So far, Canada has reported a total of 389,778 cases of COVID-19 and 12,325 deaths.

• The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus.
• The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.

• The authorities will use the drawing to help meet higher financing needs whilst maintaining strong external buffers in a context of heightened global uncertainty.
• In a separate announcement on Thursday, the central bank said it would buy $1.5 billion from the government for its international reserves.

• Israel's counter-terrorism bureau said Iran could try to carry out attacks in nearby countries.

• Government urges wide uptake.
• Vaccination not mandatory.
• Shots to be made available through three stages.