Following is a summary of current world news briefs. U.S. embassy worker in Ukraine dies after suspected park assault

An American woman working at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv died after a suspected assault in a park near the mission, authorities said, and a search was underway for the possible perpetrator. Ukrainian police said a passerby found the woman unconscious with a head injury, wearing running gear and headphones in the area of western Kyiv. She was taken to hospital, where she died. U.S. lawmakers hammer Pentagon over lack of detail on Germany troop cuts

U.S. lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, expressed frustration with the Pentagon at a hearing on Wednesday over the lack of details surrounding President Donald Trump’s plans to withdraw thousands of troops from Germany. In July, the Pentagon announced that it would withdraw about 12,000 of 36,000 troops from Germany, in fallout from Trump’s long-simmering feud with Berlin over military spending, but said it will keep nearly half of those forces in Europe to address tension with Russia. Pope denies audience with Pompeo; Vatican warns against playing politics over China

The Vatican said on Wednesday it had denied a request from Mike Pompeo for an audience with Pope Francis, and accused the Secretary of State of trying to drag the Catholic Church into the U.S. presidential election by denouncing its relations with China. The extraordinary remarks from the two top diplomatic officials at the Vatican came after Pompeo accused the Church in an article and a series of tweets this month of putting its “moral authority” at risk by renewing an agreement with China over the appointment of bishops. No clear link between school opening and COVID surge, study finds

Widespread reopening of schools after lockdowns and vacations is generally not linked to rising COVID-19 rates, a study of 191 countries has found, but lockdown closures will leave a 2020 “pandemic learning debt” of 300 billion missed school days. The analysis, by the Geneva-based independent educational foundation Insights for Education, said 84% of those 300 billion days would be lost by children in poorer countries, and warned that 711 million pupils were still out of school. France and Turkey at odds as Karabakh fighting divides NATO allies

NATO allies France and Turkey traded angry recriminations on Wednesday as international tensions mounted over the fiercest clashes between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces since the mid-1990s. On the fourth day of fighting, Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh accused each other of shelling along the line of contact that divides them in the volatile, mountainous South Caucasus. Senior U.S. lawmakers ask Trump to investigate Navalny poisoning

The leaders of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked President Donald Trump on Wednesday to consider whether the Russian government poisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny with a chemical nerve agent, which would subject Moscow to sanctions. “We are very concerned by assessments that Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was poisoned in August 2020, by a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok family,” the committee’s Republican chairman, Senator Jim Risch, and its Democratic ranking member, Senator Bob Menendez, wrote in a letter to Trump. Japanese PM Suga seen holding off on calling snap election this year: Yomiuri

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is likely to hold off calling a snap election this year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the economy, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Thursday. Such a decision would reflect Suga’s intention to focus on measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and cushion the economic blow from the pandemic, several government and ruling party lawmakers said, according to the paper. EU representatives discussed possible election delay with Venezuelan government: statement

A European Union mission that visited Venezuela last week discussed with authorities the possibility of delaying a parliamentary vote scheduled for Dec. 6, in the hopes of improving electoral conditions, the bloc said on Wednesday. Dozens of opposition parties say they will boycott the election, arguing it will be rigged in favor of President Nicolas Maduro’s ruling socialist party, though one group within the opposition has said it is seeking better conditions for possible participation. U.S. held back on Belarus sanctions, hoping for joint move with EU

The United States has held off on joining Britain and Canada in imposing sanctions on Belarus in hopes the European Union can overcome an internal dispute, paving the way to coordinated U.S. and EU sanctions, four sources said on Wednesday. The EU had vowed in August to impose sanctions on Belarus for alleged fraud in its Aug. 9 election and for human rights abuses since, but Cyprus, one of its smallest members, has prevented this. Mexican Senate majority leader favors wiretapping regulation

A judicial reform in Mexico should include rules to regulate the use of wiretaps and other forms of surveillance, the majority leader in the Mexican Senate said on Tuesday. An earlier wide-reaching judicial reform bill was pulled this year after opponents said measures such as surveillance rules were a risk to privacy.