![Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held talks in Doha on Wednesday with outgoing Trump adviser Jared Kushner [QNA]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/1000.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
![France is home to the largest Muslim minority population in Europe, and some fear being collectively punished after a series of attacks in recent months [File: Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/107c6e92fb59448090b1ebcd68c00ddb_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
![Azerbaijani soldiers hold national flags as they celebrate the transfer of the Lachin region to Azerbaijan's control, as part of a peace deal that required Armenian forces to cede the Azerbaijani territories they held outside Nagorno-Karabakh [Emrah Gurel/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20336442695379.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Among those President Trump reportedly asked about pardons for include his eldest children, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner [File: Evan Vucci/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20308205899072.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![US officials hope that 40 percent of adults in the US could be immunised in three months [Shannon Stapleton/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-03T012424Z_1370169099_RC2CFK9C8Z1F_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA-1.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![A Twitter spokeswoman said the company had planned from the start to add new categories to the policy over time [File: Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/GettyImages-1220416504.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Media tycoon Jimmy Lai will spend the next few months in prison after he was denied bail over a fraud charge [File: Anthony Wallace/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_8WD4ZL.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![Eliminating cotton originating in China's Xinjiang province from apparel supply chains could prove difficult [File: Stringer/AFP, Getty Images via Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/366446720.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![About 48,000 people in Gaza, or about 2.4 percent of the population, have a disability, according to official statistics [File: Said Khatib/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_1VJ7E7.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![The drawdown will continue until after the anniversary of the killing of Soleimani that took place in January this year [File: Handout via AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/000_1NF5QJ-e1606997477521.jpg?resize=120%2C80)
![France is home to the largest Muslim minority population in Europe, and some fear being collectively punished after a series of attacks in recent months [File: Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/107c6e92fb59448090b1ebcd68c00ddb_18.jpeg?resize=120%2C80)
Coronavirus pandemic
![Children have a more active immune system and can have a stronger reaction compared with adults [Flavio Lo Scalzo/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-11-20T150036Z_1297396388_RC237K9D5UE5_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-ITALY-FLU.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![US officials hope that 40 percent of adults in the US could be immunised in three months [Shannon Stapleton/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-03T012424Z_1370169099_RC2CFK9C8Z1F_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![The University of Washington's influential Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has projected the toll could reach nearly 450,000 by March 1 without greater attention to social distancing and mask-wearing [Shannon Stapleton/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-03T005003Z_674604380_RC2CFK91ITSY_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing has died of complications from COVID-19. He was 94. [File: Morris Mac Matzen/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-02T222218Z_505311878_RC2AFK9NCN7W_RTRMADP_3_PEOPLE-GISCARD.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
![Bob Underhill, 84, meets with his wife Patricia, 82, who has Alzheimer's, as they are allowed to visit with physical contact for the first time at the Chiswick Nursing Centre, which has introduced a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test with results ready in 30 minutes, in London, Britain December 2, 2020 [Kevin Coombs/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-12-02T122731Z_1064339068_RC20FK9ZCL3L_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-BRITAIN-RELATIVES.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Zineb Redouane: Did French police target an Algerian grandmother?
Investigation throws into question police innocence in case that saw officers throw tear gas canister into woman’s flat.
![On December 1, 2018, Redouane was reportedly closing her apartment shutters when she was hit with the tear gas canister thrown by a policeman into her fourth-floor apartment [File: Courtesy of Milfet Redouane]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/94059848884c4959a7a19f937f5bf066_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)
![A youngster carries a shopping bag on an electric scooter as non-essential shops are allowed to reopen after England's second lockdown ended at midnight, on Oxford Street, in London, December 2, 2020 [Matt Dunham/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_20337467941307.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
Vaccines are heading to the UK. But will everyone want them?
The gov’t has attempted to assuage concerns, but is ramping up efforts amid fears of a backlash from anti-vaxxers.
‘I think it’s definitely going to be a hard Brexit’
A new era begins in weeks, with the Brexit transition period ending on December 31.
![The EU and UK are this week locked in tense negotiations over the terms of their future relationship after the transition ends on December 31 [File: Toby Melville/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-11-19T132424Z_1283961315_RC2D6K9209QV_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-EU.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Afghan gov’t, Taliban announce breakthrough deal in peace talks
Deal lays out way forward for negotiators to move on to more substantive issues, including talks on a ceasefire.
![The agreement comes after months of discussions in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in negotiations encouraged by the United States [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cd014ac33ec944c497e0ef4051d63d8d_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)
Australia adopts new veto powers over foreign agreements
Federal government secures new powers over agreements amid deepening spat with China.
![Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has backed the law as necessary to ensure policies are in the country's best interests [Alex Ellinghausen/AAP Image/Pool via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-11-30T054749Z_1121159600_RC2HDK9HQ44O_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-AUSTRALIA.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
![People walk around Mushin's Ojuwoye market in Lagos, in March 2020 [File: AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/000_1QA1CL.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
LONG READ
Anger, trauma over years of tensions with police in Lagos suburb
A police shooting in Mushin during EndSARS protests highlights years of simmering anger and new calls for police reform.
Kurd vs Kurd: Fears of full-scale war rise in northern Iraq
Recent skirmishes in Kurdistan region between PKK fighters and Peshmerga soldiers heighten fears of full-scale conflict.
![Peshmerga forces are being redeployed to Erbil and Dohuk provinces after helping to defeat the armed group ISIL [File: Ari Jalal/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/24dacd6fd8eb49078bd391fa7ec19740_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)