
President Donald Trump on Thursday managed to pull off a rare victory for US diplomacy in the Middle East ahead of his Nov 3 re-election bid by helping to broker a deal between American allies Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

The United Kingdom will impose a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from France on Saturday because COVID-19 infection rates there are too high, transport minister Grant Shapps said on Thursday.

Dario Vivas, the governor of Venezuela's Caracas capital district and a strong ally of President Nicolas Maduro, died on Thursday of Covid-19 at 70 years old, officials said.

The US government has for the first time seized vessels allegedly loaded with Iranian fuel in violation of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing US officials.

President Alberto Fernández, announced on Wednesday that Argentina together with Mexico, will produce for Latin America the coronavirus vaccine developed by the AstraZeneca laboratory in collaboration with the British University of Oxford.

A series of high-profile resignations from Brazil’s economic team have left Economy Minister Paulo Guedes shaken but committed to keep pushing for reforms in the government. The losses are also the most visible sign yet that Guedes’ ambitious economic agenda is suffering a downgrade in size and scope, although his austerity drive received a crucial backing from President Jair Bolsonaro and congressional leaders.

U.S. Ambassador to Britain Woody Johnson has made insensitive and inappropriate comments during his tenure, including about race, religion and sex, the State Department’s inspector general has found, judging that morale in some parts of the mission has dropped.

Chile’s Congress has approved a law to allow the central bank to buy bonds issued by the country’s treasury in the secondary market, potentially giving the bank added firepower to help offset fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.

The governor of Sao Paulo, the state with the highest COVID-19 death toll in hard-hit Brazil, said on Wednesday he had tested positive for the new coronavirus and would continue working from quarantine.

This is a clear example of the kind of cooperation needed to battle the Covid-19 pandemic globally, UK Ambassador Mark Kent said following the Wednesday announcement of the agreement for the production in Argentina of the vaccine currently being developed by the AstraZeneca lab and the University of Oxford.