Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Armenia says it is ready to work for Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire

Armenia said on Friday it would work with Russia, the United States and France on renewing a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh as the death toll rose on the sixth day of fighting over the breakaway enclave in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan, which is fighting ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, has not responded to a call for a ceasefire on Thursday by the three countries – co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, which mediates in the crisis. Canada to keep U.S. border curbs until pandemic is much less serious

Canada will maintain restrictions on non-essential travel with the United States until the coronavirus outbreak in both nations is much less serious, a senior government official said on Friday. The comments by Canadian Public Safety Minister Bill Blair suggest that the ban on non-essential travel could stay for months to come, given spiking cases of COVID-19. Trump and Johnson face rubber ridicule as UK’s ‘Spitting Image’ returns

“Spitting Image”, the defining British satirical show of the 1980s, roars back on screens on Saturday to lampoon a new generation of politicians, royals and celebrities in puppet form, led by Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Prince Harry. Co-creator Roger Law has returned to head the creative team, while writers led by Jeff Westbrook, known for “The Simpsons”, tweak sketches until shortly before release. Advance voting begins in New Zealand election

Early voting began in New Zealand on Friday with Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern seen securing a second term in office on the back of her success in handling the coronavirus pandemic and other crises. Voters can head to the polls with about 450 advance polling stations opened across the country in the lead-up to election day on Oct. 17. Pompeo visit shows strong U.S. commitment to Asia, Stilwell says

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Asia next week demonstrates Washington’s strong commitment to allies and partners in the region, the top American diplomat for East Asia, David Stilwell, said on Friday. Pompeo said earlier on Friday he would go ahead with the trip to Japan, South Korea and Mongolia, even after President Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. China accuses U.S. at U.N. of trying to take world back to ‘jungle age’

China accused the United States on Friday of “fabricating lies” and trying to take the world back to the “jungle age” after Washington blamed Beijing and U.N. agencies for “the murder of millions of baby girls.” The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Friday said it regretted the accusations by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which were made at a U.N. General Assembly meeting on Thursday on the anniversary of a landmark 1995 women’s conference. Salvini looks to head off migrant trial, seeks political gain

Italy’s far-right leader Matteo Salvini goes to court on Saturday to try to persuade a judge not to charge him with illegally detaining migrants at sea – a crime that carries a maximum 15-year prison term. The high profile case centres on an incident in July 2019, when Salvini, the then interior minister, blocked more than 100 migrants aboard a coastguard sharp for six days as he waited for European allies to agree to take them in. Mexico sees U.S. election behind migrant caravan, seeks to avoid Trump spat

Mexico’s president on Friday said he suspected political interference behind a new migrant caravan in Central America, promising to keep his country out of the U.S. presidential race as the group splintered and some began turning back. More than 2,000 migrants, many wearing face masks against the coronavirus, barged past Guatemalan troops at the Honduras-Guatemala border on Thursday. Some said they were seeking to escape poverty aggravated by the pandemic. Washington hits Belarus with sanctions as Minsk retaliates against EU measures

The United States imposed sanctions on eight Belarusian officials on Friday, accusing them of involvement in rigging President Alexander Lukashenko’s re-election victory in August or the violent crackdown on protests that followed. The move came after the European Union announced sanctions on 40 people, including the interior minister and the head of the election commission, achieving a breakthrough on the issue at summit talks in the early hours of Friday morning. ‘Thanks for the chaos’: Madrid returns to lockdown

Some 4.8 million Madrid residents will be barred from leaving the area from Friday evening, making it the first European capital back into lockdown due to surging coronavirus cases. Restaurants and bars in the Spanish capital and nine satellite towns will shut early and slash capacity by half in what has again become Europe’s worst infection hotspot.