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| | | | | | What you need to know about the coronavirus today |
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| Germany will probably have to stick with measures to dampen the pandemic into January, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, while her chief of staff suggested that restrictions might be needed until March.
"Given the high number of infections, we assume that the restrictions which are in place before Christmas will continue to be valid until the start of January, certainly for most parts of Germany," Merkel told parliament.
South Korea reported 583 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest since March, as it grapples with a third wave of infections that appears to be worsening despite tough new social distancing measures.
The government reimposed strict distancing rules on Seoul and surrounding regions this week, only a month after they had been eased following a second wave of infections.
Beijing's Xinfadi market, which was linked to a coronavirus outbreak in June, has suspended sales and storage of cold-chain and aquatic products, state-backed Beijing News reported.
Several infections in recent months in Qingdao and Tianjin cities involved handlers of imported frozen food.
Refrigerated meat, seafood and frozen products in the market were disposed of, and the market has disinfected over a hundred cold storages and shut down their power.
Thailand recorded its first 1,201 foreign tourists in October since a ban in April, as the country gradually opens up to a select number of visitors to help its struggling, tourism-reliant economy.
Southeast Asia's second-largest economy contracted by 6.4% in the third quarter from a year earlier after the second quarter's 12.1% slump as most virus restrictions were eased, but an absence of tourists limited the recovery.
The 1,201 foreign visitors in October compares with 3.07 million arrivals in the same month last year.
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| Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
We need your help to tell these stories. Our news organization wants to capture the full scope of what’s happening and how we got here by drawing on a wide variety of sources.
Are you a government employee or contractor involved in coronavirus testing or the wider public health response? Are you a doctor, nurse or health worker caring for patients? Have you worked on similar outbreaks in the past? Has the disease known as COVID-19 personally affected you or your family? Are you aware of new problems that are about to emerge, such as critical supply shortages?
We need your tips, firsthand accounts, relevant documents or expert knowledge. Please contact us at coronavirus@reuters.com.
We prefer tips from named sources, but if you’d rather remain anonymous, you can submit a confidential news tip. Here’s how. | | |
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| | | | U.S. |
| President Donald Trump on Wednesday pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s pardon, which could be the first of several after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden, drew condemnation from Democrats and other critics. | | |
| The U.S. Supreme Court late on Wednesday backed Christian and Jewish houses of worship challenging New York state’s latest restrictions in novel coronavirus hot spots.
The order marked one of the first consequential actions on the court of President Donald Trump’s new appointee, conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who cast a deciding vote in favor of the religious groups. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts dissented along with the court’s three liberals.
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| | World |
 | | | | The Ethiopian military will begin the “final phase” of an offensive in the rebellious northern Tigray region, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday, hours after an ultimatum for Tigray forces to surrender expired.
The government gave the Tigray People’s Liberation Front 72 hours on Sunday to lay down their arms or face an assault on Mekelle, the regional capital of 500,000 people.
Rights groups raised concerns for civilians caught up in military operations.
As global COVID-19 infections surge, China is pushing a narrative via state media that the virus existed abroad before it was discovered late last year in the central city of Wuhan, where it was traced to a seafood market.
Chinese state media have cited the presence of the coronavirus on imported frozen food packaging, as well as scientific papers claiming that the coronavirus was circulating in Europe earlier than previously believed, as evidence that China may not have been its origin.
Argentines will formally bid farewell on Thursday to one of the nation’s favorite sons, soccer great Diego Maradona, a beloved athlete whose life was marred by struggles with addiction.
Maradona, who died aged 60 following a heart attack at home on Wednesday, will lie in state at the pink-hued Casa Rosada presidential palace from Thursday through Saturday.
Huge crowds are expected to visit his casket as part of three days of national mourning declared by President Alberto Fernandez.
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| | | | Follow the money |
| Walt Disney said on Wednesday it would lay off about 32,000 workers, primarily at its theme parks, an increase from the 28,000 it announced in September, as the company struggles with limited customers due to the coronavirus pandemic. 2 min read | | |
| Foxconn is moving some iPad and MacBook assembly to Vietnam from China at the request of Apple, said a person with knowledge of the plan, as the U.S. firm diversifies production to minimize the impact of a Sino-U.S. trade war. 3 min read | | |
| The Trump administration on Wednesday granted ByteDance a new seven-day extension of an order directing the Chinese company to sell its TikTok short video-sharing app, according to a court filing. 2 min read | | |
| A billboard of a runny-nosed, dour-faced girl framed by Glencore’s sprawling zinc mine in Peru greets commuters at Zurich’s main train station with an ominous slogan: “Water contaminated. Child poisoned. Commodities firm liable.”
As the only large mining firm based in Switzerland, Glencore has become the unwilling poster child of a campaign to change the constitution so Swiss companies are liable at home for human rights abuses or environmental harm they cause abroad. 7 min read | | |
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