World News Summary: Russia to hold Mediterranean naval drills; Myanmar aid restrictions 'could be war crime'

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Special Report: In Venezuela, new cryptocurrency is nowhere to be found

To hear Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro tell it, this remote hamlet of 1,300 souls is perched on the cutting edge of an innovation in cryptocurrency. Located in an isolated savanna in the centre of the country, Atapirire is the only town in an area the government says is brimming with 5 billion barrels of petroleum. Venezuela has pledged those reserves as backing for a digital currency dubbed the "petro," which Maduro launched in February. This month he vowed it would be the cornerstone of a recovery plan for the crisis-stricken nation.

PM May says Britain committed to free trade with Kenya after Brexit

Britain is committed to free trade with Kenya after it leaves the European Union, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday on a visit to Nairobi as her government plays up increased trade with non-EU nations as a Brexit selling point. May was speaking on the third stop of a trip to Africa during which she has said she wants Britain to become the biggest investor on the continent out of the world's richest nations.

Archbishop who called on Pope to resign says corruption reaches the top

The archbishop who sparked a crisis in the Catholic Church by calling on Pope Francis to resign has denied he was motivated by personal vendetta and said he sought to show that corruption had reached the top levels of the Church hierarchy. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has gone into hiding since conservative media published an 11-page statement in which he alleged the pope knew for years about sexual misconduct by an American cardinal and did nothing about it.

Germany's left eyes revival in new grassroots movement

Bidding to stem the rise of the far-right AfD, Germany's left next week launches a grassroots movement aimed at emulating the success of Britain's Momentum group which propelled hardliner Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the Labour Party. Commentators are sceptical about its prospects, dismissing it as a vanity project for Germany's best-known and most divisive leftists - former finance minister Oskar Lafontaine and his wife Sahra Wagenknecht of the hardline Left party.

Macron affirms love for France after 'resistant Gauls' aside

President Emmanuel Macron found himself having to defend his love of France and the French against critics at home on Thursday after suggesting during a visit to Denmark that his compatriots were slow to accept change. Speaking to Denmark's Queen Margrethe during an audience in Copenhagen on Wednesday, Macron praised the Danes as a "Lutheran people" open to new ideas, while he described the French as "Gauls who are resistant to change".

Trump hails Kim, sees no need to resume U.S.-South Korea war games

Days after cancelling a planned visit to North Korea by his top diplomat citing insufficient progress in denuclearization talks, U.S. President Donald Trump hailed his personal relationship North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday and said there was no reason to resume war games with South Korea. Trump's statement came a day after his defence secretary hinted that the drills, which North Korea denounces as rehearsals for invasion, could resume.

Myanmar aid restrictions 'could be war crime', says rights group

Government restrictions on lifesaving aid for displaced people in northern Myanmar could constitute a war crime, advocacy group Fortify Rights said on Thursday, as pressure grows for accountability for rights abuses in the country. The rights group released a detailed report on aid restrictions just days after U.N.-mandated investigators said Myanmar's military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine State in the west of the country with "genocidal intent".

U.N. fears chemical weapons in Syria battle with '10,000 terrorists'

The United Nations called on Russia, Iran and Turkey on Thursday to forestall a battle in Syria's Idlib province which would affect millions of civilians and could see both sides using chlorine as a chemical weapon. U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told reporters that there was a high concentration of foreign fighters in Idlib, including an estimated 10,000 terrorists, but it would be better to set up humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians than rush into a battle which could turn prove to be a "perfect storm".

Russia to hold Mediterranean naval drills as Syria tensions rise

Russia's Ministry of Defense said on Thursday it would hold a major naval exercise in the Mediterranean Sea from Sept. 1 to Sept. 8, the TASS news agency reported, a move that coincides with rising tensions between Moscow and Washington over Syria. Russia has this month been actively expanding its naval forces in the Mediterranean, part of what a Russian newspaper on Tuesday called Moscow's largest naval build-up since it entered the Syrian conflict in 2015.

U.N. calls on China to free Uighurs from 're-education camps'

United Nations human rights experts voiced concern on Thursday over alleged Chinese political "re-education camps" for Muslim Uighurs, and called for the immediate release of those detained on the "pretext of countering terrorism". The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination cited estimates that "from tens of thousands to upwards of a million Uighurs" may be detained in the far western Xinjiang province.

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