World News Roundup: Bolsonaro wins Brazil's presidency, INF treaty, Georgia elections

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Australian prime minister's approval rating turns negative: poll

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's approval rating has turned negative for the first time since he became the country's leader in August, according to an opinion poll published on Monday. His drop in popularity follows the Liberals' loss of its one-seat majority in a by-election in the seat of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, which left the Liberal-National coalition as a minority government.

Far-right Bolsonaro wins Brazil presidential race

Far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, riding a wave of frustration over corruption and crime that brought a dramatic swing to the right in the world's fourth-largest democracy. With 94 per cent of ballots counted, Bolsonaro had 56 per cent of the votes in the run-off election against left-wing hopeful Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT), who had 44 per cent, according to the electoral authority TSE.

German SPD leader gives Merkel an ultimatum after state vote losses

Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior coalition partners gave her conservatives until next year to deliver more policy results, threatening to end their alliance if there is no improvement after both parties suffered in a regional election on Sunday. Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) came home first in the election in the western state of Hesse but polled just 27.2 per cent of the vote, projections for broadcaster ZDF based on preliminary results showed.

Mattis looks to calm European allies nervous about INF treaty

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday that the United States was in consultation with its European allies on an arms control treaty, as NATO members urge Washington to try to bring Russia back into compliance with the pact rather than quit it. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 20 that Washington planned to quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty which Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, and Ronald Reagan had signed in 1987.

For Taiwan youth, military service is a hard sell despite China tension

Taiwan Air Force Staff Sergeant Jiang Pin-shiuan's pitch to freshmen at Taipei's Tamkang University seemed compelling: join the island's armed forces and get a state-sponsored degree, 110 days of leave each year and annual savings of T$312,500 ($10,200). But many listening students showed little interest, arguing national service was a "waste of time" and prospects of the self-ruled island standing up economically or militarily to an increasingly aggressive China were slim.

Leicester City soccer club owner, four others killed in helicopter crash

Leicester City soccer club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a Thai tycoon, was killed along with four others when his helicopter crashed and then exploded after a Premier League match on Saturday, the soccer club and police said. Vichai bought the unheralded central England side in 2010 and went on to stun the soccer world by beating odds of 5,000/1 to win the Premier League title in 2016 in what amounted to a sporting fairy tale.

New U.S.-bound group of migrants sets off from El Salvador

A new group of migrants bound for the United States set off from El Salvador on Sunday, following thousands of other Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence who have taken similar journeys in recent weeks. The group of more than 300 Salvadorans left the capital San Salvador on Sunday. A larger group of mostly Hondurans, estimated to number at least 3,500, who left their country in mid-October and are now in southern Mexico, has become a key issue in U.S. congressional elections.

Georgia presidential election poised for runoff

Georgia's presidential election looked likely to go to a second round as early official results on Sunday showed neither of the frontrunners with enough votes to secure victory. French-born ruling party candidate Salome Zurabishvili had 43.2 per cent of the vote and her opposition rival Grigol Vashadze won 34.7 per cent based on results from 28 per cent of the polling stations, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said on its website.

Three Gaza boys killed in Israeli strike on tinderbox border

Three Palestinian boys were killed in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip frontier on Sunday, medical officials in the Hamas-run enclave said, while Israel said it had hit suspected militants trying to blow up part of a border fence. The Gaza Health Ministry said two of the dead were aged 13 and one aged 14.

Nuclear ban treaty could come into force in 2019, campaigners say

A treaty banning nuclear weapons could come into force by the end of 2019, backers of a campaign that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize said in an annual progress report on Monday. The treaty aims to stigmatize nuclear weapons as previous treaties marginalized landmines and cluster munitions. Signatories promise to reject nuclear strategies and encourage others to follow suit.

(With inputs from Reuters)