![US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Turkey's purchase of the Russian missile system 'would endanger the security of US military technology and personnel' [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-11T154659Z_693198119_RC23LK9UYA5C_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-POMPEO.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
![ICRC teams on Monday delivered aid to Mekelle to fortify the city's paralysed healthcare facilities [Courtesy ICRC]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PHOTO-2020-12-14-17-27-38-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![A member of the Halgurd Brigade of the Peshmerga stands guard at a newly constructed outpost close to the town of Sidekan [Adam Gnych/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/kurdistan_06.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![The United Kingdom started vaccinating people over 80 and healthcare workers on December 8 with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and its regulators are also evaluating other vaccines [Henry Nicholls/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-14T175643Z_888460825_RC25NK9NI2VT_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-BRITAIN.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Hassan Diab stepped down days after the explosion but continues to serve as a caretaker prime minister [File: Aziz Taher/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-14T110907Z_385513702_RC2ZMK93LFVG_RTRMADP_3_LEBANON-CRISIS-BLAST-INVESTIGATION.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a news conference in Tehran on Monday [Official Presidential website via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Rouhani1.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![An explosion struck a ship off Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah on the Red Sea on Monday [File: Amr Nabil/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20349122485521.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![The Electoral College, not the national popular vote, decides the winner of the presidential election in the United States [John Minchillo/The Associated Press]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20312849189247-1.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Experts are concerned about how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed children's relationships with the world outside of their homes [File: Henning Bagger/ EPA-EFE]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/h_56496401.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Shareef Ahmad Bajad, a Gujjar in Kanidajan village whose apple orchard was felled by authorities in central Indian-administered Kashmir for 'illegally occupying forest land' [Rifat Fareed/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Bajadkashmir1.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![ICRC teams on Monday delivered aid to Mekelle to fortify the city's paralysed healthcare facilities [Courtesy ICRC]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PHOTO-2020-12-14-17-27-38-1.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
Coronavirus: The vaccine roll-out
![The United Kingdom started vaccinating people over 80 and healthcare workers on December 8 with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and its regulators are also evaluating other vaccines [Henry Nicholls/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-14T175643Z_888460825_RC25NK9NI2VT_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-BRITAIN.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester from Northwell Health at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park [Mark Lennihan/Pool via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-14T154042Z_301476018_RC23NK9TD83S_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-VACCINES.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo in Michigan [Morry Gash/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20348469013818.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![Pfizer has said that its two-dose regimen is safe and is 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 [File: Dado Ruvic/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-11T073215Z_1217040921_RC2VKK9G934K_RTRMADP_3_SWISS-VACCINES.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![A panel of outside advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to hold a meeting on December 17 to discuss Moderna's request for an emergency use authorisation for its vaccine [File: Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-11-25T184948Z_863392906_RC2IAK9LUCUP_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-CANADA-VACCINES.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![Ignoring accusations by the UK of Russian-linked hackers targeting vaccine research, Moscow has said it is open to cooperation with Western countries [File: Justin Tallis/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/000_8VD3XE.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
US ‘Indians’ baseball team to drop name long considered racist
The move comes after discussions with Native American groups and decades of pressure to change the 105-year-old name.
![A man wears a shirt to protest the the Chief Wahoo mascot of the Cleveland Indians baseball team [Tony Dejak/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_18096687627360.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Opinion
US United Auto Workers union reaches deal in corruption probe
The UAW agreed to pay $1.5m to settle tax issues and enact significant reforms, including independent monitoring.
![United Auto Workers union President Rory Gamble promised he would overhaul the UAW, and previously announced a series of ethics reforms, including increased financial oversight of the union's accounting department [File: Paul Sancya/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP20349530366510.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Iran revives contentious anti-money laundering legislation
Passing the bills is crucial for the establishment of international banking ties, notably with Europe.
![To complete its action plan with the FATF, Iran had to finalise four pieces of legislation [File: Mohamadreza Nadimi/WANA via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-07-07T000000Z_480841411_RC26OH9IPZNO_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-ECONOMY-RIAL.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Why Biden has a huge stake in the Georgia Senate runoffs
Biden, who campaigns with the state’s two Democratic candidates Tuesday, hopes to help take Senate control from the GOP.
![Georgia Democratic Senate candidates Raphael Warnock, left, and Jon Ossoff, right, hope for a boost from Joe Biden's campaign appearance on Tuesday [File:Brynn Anderson/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20332792905338.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
US sanctions two Iranian intelligence officers in FBI abduction
US officials say the two Iranians are directly involved in the probable death of ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson.
![Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent went missing on Iran's Gulf island Kish in March 2007 [File: helpboblevinson.com via AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_Was6075721.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
UN rights chief ‘appalled’ by execution of Iran dissident
Michelle Bachelet calls on Tehran to ‘immediately free’ those detained for exercising human rights.
!['I am appalled at the execution,' UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet says [Fabrice Coffrini/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_8WR3ZG.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
