Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

‘Don’t be afraid’ of EU defence ambitions, France tells NATO

French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told her NATO counterparts on Friday not to fear the European Union’s defence plans, saying that the United States will benefit and any European capabilities will strengthen the alliance. The remarks, made at a NATO defence ministers meeting and shared with reporters, sought to end months of uncertainty about whether the latest EU effort to develop weapons and forces would be in competition with the alliance.

‘A great European’: warm send-off for Merkel after 107 EU summits

European leaders paid warm tributes to Angela Merkel on Friday as they wound up an EU summit, her 107th as Germany’s chancellor over nearly 16 years and probably her last, with one hailing her as a “haven of calm” in the maelstrom of EU diplomacy. Before the leaders of the 27 European Union countries got down to business, they watched a two-minute video of her summit highlights and she was presented with a farewell gift representing the Europa building where summits are held.

Melbourne reopens as world’s most locked-down city eases pandemic restrictions

Melbourne residents flocked to the city’s pubs, restaurants and hair salons in the early hours of Friday after the world’s most locked-down city emerged from its latest spate of restrictions designed to combat the spread of COVID-19. Australia’s second-largest city has so far endured 262 days, or nearly nine months, of restrictions during six separate lockdowns since March 2020, representing the longest cumulative lockdown for any city in the world.

Analysis-Moon’s push for South Korean military independence may echo far beyond his presidency

When South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived this week at Seoul’s largest weapons expo ever in the back seat of a fighter jet, he didn’t present the image of a leader bent on making peace with North Korea. Under Moon, South Korea has not only continued many of the military programmes approved under his conservative predecessors, but pushed already large defence budgets to new highs, negotiated an end to U.S. restrictions on its missile programme, and announced plans for the nation’s first aircraft carrier, among a plethora of other advanced weapons.

With Xi-Biden meeting, U.S. aims to show responsible handling of China ties

White House officials are gearing up for a virtual meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping they hope will show the world Washington can responsibly manage relations between the rival superpowers, people familiar with the matter say. Combative diplomatic exchanges with China early in the Biden administration unnerved allies and U.S. officials believe direct engagement with Xi, who has consolidated power in Beijing to a degree not seen since Mao Zedong, is the best way to prevent the relationship between the world’s two biggest economies spiraling toward conflict.

Biden says United States would come to Taiwan’s defense

The United States would come to Taiwan’s defense and has a commitment to defend the island China claims as its own, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday, though the White House said later there was no change in policy towards the island. “Yes, we have a commitment to do that,” Biden said at a CNN town hall when asked if the United States would come to the defense of Taiwan, which has complained of mounting military and political pressure from Beijing to accept Chinese sovereignty.

Queen Elizabeth resting after first night in hospital in years

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, 95, will spend Friday resting and undertaking light duties after she spent a night in hospital for the first time in years for what Buckingham Palace termed “preliminary investigations”. The world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch stayed in hospital overnight on Wednesday but returned to her Windsor Castle home to the west of London the following day, with officials saying she was in good spirits and back at work.

Analysis-Vaccinated Singapore shows zero-COVID countries cost of reopening

Few are left to inoculate in wealthy Singapore after a vigorous campaign achieved a level of coverage envied by many nations battling the coronavirus pandemic, but a record surge in deaths and infections gives warning of risks that may still lie ahead. Despite mask mandates, strict social curbs and COVID-19 booster doses available for over a month, infections in the Asian city-state’s latest outbreak, driven by the Delta variant, took the death toll to 280, up from 55 early in September.

Ethiopia fighting intensifies amid air strikes on Tigray and clashes in Amhara

An Ethiopian government air strike hit a university in the Tigray regional capital on Friday, rebellious Tigrayan forces and humanitarian sources said, as thousands of people fled fighting further south. The government said its strike targeted a base formerly belonging to the military and now being used by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the northern region. Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu said the university was not hit.

Doctors urge unvaccinated Hungarians to avoid weekend rallies

Hungary’s main doctors’ association on Friday urged Hungarians not immunised against COVID-19 to stay away from mass rallies this weekend amid a rise in cases across central Europe.

The region has the European Union’s lowest vaccination rates, an unwelcome distinction in which both political and economic factors play a role, and deadlier variants of the virus are spreading there fast.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)