Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Belarus warns EU against inviting Lukashenko’s rival to meeting

The foreign ministry in Belarus said on Saturday that it saw the possible participation of opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in an EU ministerial meeting as an interference in domestic affairs, the Belta state news agency reported. Tsikhanouskaya has led the biggest challenge to President Alexander Lukashenko’s 26-year rule in Belarus. Haiti moves closer to constitutional referendum, elections

Haitian President Jovenel Moise has appointed nine members to a provisional electoral council tasked with preparing a constitutional referendum and organizing local, municipal, legislative and presidential elections in the Caribbean country. The United States government this week reiterated a strongly worded call for Moise and other political forces to work together and arrange the elections. Iran’s Zarif says world should oppose U.S. sanctions or expect same

The world community should oppose the United States’ use of sanctions to impose its will as a “bully,” or expect to face sanctions itself, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday. Separately the chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards rejected as a “bluff” any possibility of a military conflict with the United States. Belarus police detain hundreds of protesters in Minsk

Belarusian police detained hundreds of protesters in central Minsk on Saturday, a witness said, as around 2,000 people marched through the city demanding that President Alexander Lukashenko step down. Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, has been rocked by mass street protests since Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory in an Aug. 9 presidential election that his opponents say was rigged. He denies their accusation. Police clash with protesters at anti-lockdown demonstration in London

More than a thousand people gathered in central London on Saturday to protest against lockdown measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, before the event was broken up by police. The protest, which led to 32 arrests, came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering whether to reimpose some lockdown restrictions across England. Kremlin critic Navalny posts photo of himself walking

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was seen walking down the stairs in a photo posted on his Instagram feed on Saturday, five days after a Berlin hospital said he had been taken off a ventilator and could breathe independently. Navalny, the leading opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill on a domestic flight in Siberia last month and was airlifted to Berlin while still in a coma. About 9,000 migrants on Greece’s Lesbos move into tent camp after fire

Thousands of asylum-seekers have moved into a new temporary facility on the Greek island of Lesbos, government officials said on Saturday, 10 days after a fire destroyed the Moria camp. The fire that broke out in Moria on Sept. 9 left over 12,000 people, most of them refugees from Afghanistan, Syria and various African countries, without shelter, proper sanitation or access to food and water. No one was hurt in the blaze. UK’s Johnson to levy 10,000 pound fine on COVID-19 rule-breakers

People in England who break new rules requiring them to self-isolate if they have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19 will face a fine of up to 10,000 pounds ($12,914), Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday. The rules will apply from Sept. 28 to anyone in England who tests positive for the virus or is notified by public health workers that they have been in contact with someone infectious. Former Canada PM Turner, who was in office for just 11 weeks, dies aged 91

Former Canadian Prime Minister John Turner, who was in office for just 11 weeks and led his Liberal Party to a massive electoral defeat in 1984, died on Saturday aged 91. Turner took over from Pierre Trudeau in late June 1984 at a time of increasing voter fatigue with the Liberals, who had been in power for 20 of the previous 21 years. Before becoming prime minister, he had held the posts of finance and justice minister. Biggest Thai protest in years cheers calls to reform monarchy

Tens of thousands of people joined Thailand’s biggest protest in years on Saturday, cheering calls to curb the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s monarchy and for the removal of former coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister. “Unless the monarchy is under the constitution, we will never achieve true democracy,” protest leader and human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa told the crowd gathered within sight of the Grand Palace in central Bangkok.