Several U.S. cities and European governments imposed new restrictions Wednesday to curb the spikes in COVID-19 cases, such as closing restaurants, bars and limiting social gatherings.
A new national lockdown will be imposed in England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Saturday, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country topped 1 million.
Details: Starting Thursday, people in England must stay at home, and bars and restaurants will close, except for takeout and deliveries. All non-essential retail will also be shuttered. Different households will be banned from mixing indoors. International travel, unless for business purposes, will be banned. The new measures will last through at least December 2.
Austria on Saturday announced a four-week nighttime curfew and the closure of cafes, bars and restaurants as another surge of coronavirus infections strains the country's health care system, according to Reuters.
Why it matters: The country reported more than 5,600 new coronavirus cases on Friday, forcing the government to reimpose partial lockdown measures that it had lifted in April. It is one of several European nations implementing lockdowns in response to cases increases.
U.S. forces conducted a hostage rescue mission in northern Nigeria on Saturday, successfully freeing an American citizen, the Pentagon announced in a statement Saturday.
What they're saying: “U.S. forces conducted a hostage rescue operation during the early hours of 31 October in Northern Nigeria to recover an American citizen held hostage by a group of armed men," Jonathan Hoffman, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, said.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Saturday announced that most of the country will resume a coronavirus lockdown starting Tuesday, including closing restaurants, bars, cafes, movie theaters and gyms, AP reports.
Why it matters: Greece is the latest country to reimpose restrictions due to spiking cases throughout Europe. The continent is set to see a wave of the virus this winter season, with countries including Spain, Germany and France already reporting spikes in cases and shutting down.
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.
