Following is a summary of current world news briefs. UK’s Johnson doesn’t want a no-deal Brexit but can live with it

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not particularly wish for the Brexit transition period to end without a new trade deal in place but believes that Britain could live with such an outcome, he said on Sunday. With the Dec. 31 expiry of the transition period fast approaching, Johnson and the head of the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, agreed in a phone call on Saturday to step up negotiations on a post-Brexit deal. Israeli minister says Turkey opposed to regional peace

Israel’s defence minister accused Turkey on Sunday of destabilising the region and working against peacemaking efforts, and called for international pressure to bring about a change in the NATO power’s conduct. Israel generally shies from public censure of Turkey, with which it maintains trade and diplomatic relations despite the pro-Palestinian stance of Ankara’s government for more than a decade. Azerbaijan’s leader says no end to fighting until Armenia sets pullout timetable

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev demanded on Sunday that Armenia set a timetable for withdrawing from the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding Azeri territories, and said Azerbaijan would not cease military action until that happened. In a televised address to the nation, Aliyev said Azeri forces were advancing in a week-long offensive to retake lands that they lost to ethnic Armenians in the 1990s. Tens of thousands rally in Minsk, police use water cannon

Tens of thousands of people marched through the centre of the Belarusian capital Minsk on Sunday to demand that authorities free political prisoners, prompting police to turn water cannon on them. The march is the latest in a series of rallies in Belarus since an Aug. 9 election in which President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory. His opponents say it was rigged to hand him a sixth term in power. Irish health chiefs recommend return to full lockdown: sources

Ireland’s health chiefs recommended to the government on Sunday that the country enter a second nationwide lockdown for four weeks in a surprise move that cabinet will discuss on Monday, two government sources said. Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team recommended a leap to the highest level of COVID-19 restrictions, Level 5, from current Level 2 controls in 24 of Ireland’s 26 counties and stricter Level 3 measures in Dublin and Donegal. German police arrest suspect after assault near synagogue in Hamburg

German police on Sunday arrested a man who attacked and seriously injured a Jewish citizen near a synagogue in the northern town of Hamburg as the Jewish community celebrated Sukkoth. The assault took place nearly one year after a far-right gunman attacked a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. New three-tier lockdown planned for England: The Guardian

A new three-tier lockdown is being planned for England, The Guardian reported, citing leaked government documents which revealed tougher measures that could be implemented locally or nationally if the government fails to get COVID-19 cases under control. The new lockdown would potentially entail harsher restrictions including the closure of pubs and a ban on all social contact outside household groups, the newspaper said https://bit.ly/3iz0GbQ. Seven bodies found in northern Italy, France after violent storms

Seven bodies were found in a region straddling the French-Italian border near Nice on Sunday after torrential rains swept houses and roads away, officials in both countries said. Five of the bodies were discovered in northwestern Italy, including four washed up on the shore between the towns of Ventimiglia and Santo Stefano al Mare, near the French frontier. Some of the corpses might have been swept down the coast from France. Paris bars to close as French capital placed on maximum COVID alert

Paris is to be placed on maximum COVID-19 alert, meaning bars will be forced to close for two weeks from Tuesday and restaurants will have to put in place new sanitary protocols to stay open, the prime minister’s office said. Prime Minister Jean Castex’s office said there had been no improvement in the Paris region since the capital passed all three of the government’s criteria for being put on the highest level of alert mid last week. Erdogan says Turkey aims to boost ties with Libya’s GNA

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday Turkey aims to strengthen relations with Libya’s internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) after a meeting with the country’s prime minister, who plans to step down this month. Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj signed a military cooperation deal with Erdogan last year that turned the tide in the GNA’s favour in a conflict against eastern Libyan forces under Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA).