Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Belarus opposition offers talks as U.N. hears fears of ‘another iron curtain’

Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya demanded on Friday an international mission to document what she called “atrocities” during crackdowns on anti-government protests but said she was ready to talk to end weeks of violence. She addressed a highly charged debate on the Belarus crisis at the U.N. Human Rights Council, where envoys from Minsk and its backer Moscow faced off against EU delegations who are pushing for sanctions and investigations.

In bumpy U.N. dealings, Trump found backing on North Korea, isolation on Iran

Though famously skeptical of the United Nations, U.S. President Donald Trump harnessed its collective power to impose crushing sanctions on North Korea in a bid to start talks with Pyongyang, but faces frustration over a similar push on Iran. While the U.N. Security Council was unified on North Korea, there is almost total opposition to the Trump administration’s assertion that it has triggered a return of all U.N. sanctions on Iran, using a process agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran that Washington quit two years ago.

Trump offered to pardon Assange if he provided source for Democrat emails, lawyer says

U.S. President Donald Trump offered to pardon Julian Assange if the WikiLeaks founder provided the source for the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a London court was told on Friday. Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said she observed a meeting where former Republican U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher and Charles Johnson, an associate known to have close ties to the Trump campaign, made the offer in 2017.

Biden or Trump, no guarantee of a post-Brexit U.S.-UK trade deal

U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden’s recent warning that Britain must honor Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace agreement to secure a U.S. trade deal adds new complexity to already tough trade talks between the United States and the U.K. “We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit,” Biden wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, referring to the deal that ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and created a shared regional government.

Taiwan scrambles jets as 18 Chinese planes buzz during U.S. visit

Taiwan scrambled fighter jets on Friday as 18 Chinese aircraft buzzed the island, crossing the sensitive mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, in response to a senior U.S. official holding talks in Taipei. China had earlier announced combat drills and denounced what it called collusion between the island, which it claims as part of its territory, and the United States.

Orban has ruled Hungary for a decade. Could the pandemic bring him down?

Hungarian car dealer Realszisztema has shelved plans to build a $1.7 million service facility and warehouse. Auto supplier AGC Glass Hungary, too, is turning away from expansion ambitions as it faces a future of fewer workers and sliding sales. The companies are part of an auto industry that until recently had been a mainstay of a strong Hungarian economy, and a sector that Prime Minister Viktor Orban has hailed as a testament to his stewardship of the nation.

Kremlin: bottle in Navalny case could have been evidence, but was removed from Russia

The Kremlin said on Friday that a water bottle found in the hotel room of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who Germany and other western governments say was poisoned with a nerve agent, could have served as evidence in his case but was instead taken out of Russia by his supporters. Navalny’s team said on Thursday that the water bottle removed from his hotel room in the city of Tomsk last month had been taken to Germany and found to have traces of Novichok nerve agent.

Denmark imposes new restrictions to curb coronavirus spike

Denmark will lower the limit on public gatherings to 50 people from 100 and order bars and restaurants to close early to curb a rise in new COVID-19 infections, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Friday. Denmark has seen daily infections rise in recent weeks after relaxing lockdown measures imposed between March and May.

With tourists slow to return, Egypt’s resorts and ancient sites face tough winter

At the Pyramids of Giza, just a handful of tourists walks among the ancient wonders. Twelve people showed up to admire Luxor’s towering colonnades the day it reopened this month. At Egypt’s Red Sea resorts, visitor numbers are well below previous years. Even as international flights and tourist spots open up and Egypt’s coronavirus cases remain in check, officials, hotel owners and tour guides concede that the key winter season starting in October is going to be tough.

Coronavirus surge in Canada checks Trudeau’s green ambitions

A recent surge in COVID-19 cases is forcing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to scale back his plan to outline an ambitious green economic recovery package next week. In a speech seen as a possible campaign template in the case of an early election, Trudeau is set to pledge an expansion of unemployment benefits, federal money for child care, as well as some pro-environmental elements including a retrofit program to make buildings more energy-efficient, sources said.