MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tests of Russia’s Zircon hypersonic cruise missile are nearing completion and deliveries to the navy will begin in 2022, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. The move is part of a bid by Moscow to forge ahead in a race with the United States and others to deploy the next generation of long-range weapons that are harder to detect and intercept. Russia last month said it had successfully test launched a Zircon missile from a submarine for the first time.

****
LONDON (Independent) - England’s deputy chief medical officer has said, that he is worried that increasing numbers of deaths show “the infection is now starting to penetrate into older age groups”. Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday morning, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam said: “I personally feel there are some hard months to come in the winter and it’s not over. “I think a whole range of behaviors, including the use of face coverings, but generally the caution that people take or don’t take in terms of interacting with each other – that is going to be a big determinant in what happens between now and the kind of darkest months of the winter.”

***
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China and Russia are urging the UN Security Council to end a host of sanctions against North Korea ranging from the export of seafood and textiles to the cap on imports of refined petroleum products and the ban on its citizens working overseas and sending home their earnings. A draft resolution circulated to council members and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press stresses the economic difficulties in North Korea and says these and other sanctions should be lifted “with the intent of enhancing the livelihood of the civilian population.”

***
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 22 people, including women and children, were killed when a passenger bus plunged 500 meters into a ravine in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir on Wednesday, police said. Police officer Rashid Naeem Khan said the bus had been heading for the garrison city of Rawalpindi when it went out of control as it passed along the road carved out of the mountainside above the river Neelum.

***
LONDON (Reuters) - Myanmar’s ruling military on Wednesday stood by its decision to deny a Southeast Asian envoy access to detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, resisting growing international pressure to comply with a regional peace plan agreed in April. Vice-Senior General Soe Win, the second in command of the junta that seized power from Suu Kyi’s elected government in February, said allowing a foreigner access to someone charged with crimes was against domestic law.

***
LIMA (AFP) -Peru’s government authorized the army to help the police maintain order in Lima, amid protests and a planned transport strike. According to a resolution published in the official gazette, a rise in robberies and assaults has exceeded the operational capacity of the police, and troops will be deployed in the capital for a month. The measure comes two days before congress debates a vote of confidence on the recently-appointed cabinet. Peru has been roiled by violent protests against mining and oil companies in recent days, though in regions far from the capital.