Belgium is enforcing a strict lockdown starting Sunday amid rising coronavirus infections, hospital admissions and a surge of deaths, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced on Friday.
Why it matters: De Croo said the government saw no choice but to lock down "to ensure that our health care system does not collapse." Scientists and health officials said deaths have doubled every six days, per the Guardian.
At least 14 people were killed when a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in the Aegean Sea rattled parts of Turkey and Greece on Friday, the New York Times reports.
The big picture: Turkish officials said the quake killed at least 12 people and injured more than 600 others in the country, per NYT. Several buildings in the city of Izmir had been damaged, including multiple apartment buildings.
Four more years of President Trump would almost certainly kill the Iran nuclear deal — but the election of Joe Biden wouldn’t necessarily save it.
The big picture: Rescuing the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is near the top of Biden's foreign policy priority list. He says he'd re-enter the deal once Iran returns to compliance, and use it as the basis on which to negotiate a broader and longer-lasting deal with Iran.
New Zealanders have voted to back the End of Life Choice Bill, which allows voluntary euthanasia for adults living in the country who have terminal illnesses, preliminary results announced by the NZ Electoral Commission show.
By the numbers: 65.2% voted in favor of the bill and 33.8% opposed it.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a change of U.S. policy today making U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem eligible to list their place of birth as Israel on passports and other official documents.
Why it matters: This is another symbolic step by the Trump administration that reinforces the current Israeli government’s position that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel only, regardless of Palestinian aspirations to have an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The U.K. Labour Party has suspended its former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, after a watchdog report found that the party failed to properly take action against allegations of anti-Semitism during his time in charge.
Why it matters: It represents a strong break by Keir Starmer, Labour's current leader, from the Corbyn era and one of the party's most persistent scandals.
Three people have been killed and others injured in a stabbing attack at the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice, France, NBC News reports.
The big picture: A man with a knife began the attack at approximately 9 a.m. local time, killing two people inside the church and one who was seeking refuge. Police confirmed that the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.
Joe Biden is planning to confront China across the globe, embracing some of President Trump's goals but rejecting his means.
The big picture: By starting a trade war with China, Trump has fundamentally altered the U.S.- China relationship — and forced both Republicans and Democrats to accept a more confrontational approach towards Beijing.
Taiwan on Thursday marked no locally transmitted coronavirus cases for 200 days, as the island of 23 million people's total number of infections reported stands at 550 and the COVID-19 death toll at seven.
Why it matters: Nowhere else has reached such a milestone. While COVID-19 cases surge across the U.S. and Europe, Taiwan's last locally transmitted case was on April 12. Experts credit tightly regulated travel, early border closure, "rigorous contact tracing, technology-enforced quarantine and universal mask wearing" and the island state's previous experience with the SARS virus for the achievement, per Bloomberg.
