World News Roundup: Drone reports temporarily halt flights from London's Heathrow; In shift, EU sanctions Iran over planned Europe attacks

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

UK PM May defeated in parliament, lawmakers create new obstacle to no-deal Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May's government suffered a defeat in parliament on Tuesday when lawmakers who oppose leaving the European Union without an accord won a vote that created a new obstacle to a no-deal Brexit. The 303 to 296 defeat means that the government needs explicit parliamentary approval to leave the EU without a deal before it can use certain powers relating to taxation law.

Exclusive: New documents link Huawei to suspected front companies in Iran, Syria

The U.S. case against the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Canada last month, centers on the company's suspected ties to two obscure companies. One is a telecom equipment seller that operated in Tehran; the other is that firm's owner, a holding company registered in Mauritius. U.S. authorities allege CFO Meng Wanzhou deceived international banks into clearing transactions with Iran by claiming the two companies were independent of Huawei, when in fact Huawei controlled them. Huawei has maintained the two are independent: equipment seller Skycom Tech Co Ltd and shell company Canicula Holdings Ltd.

Drone reports temporarily halt flights from London's Heathrow

Flights from London's Heathrow airport were halted for about an hour on Tuesday after a drone was sighted near Europe's busiest air hub, raising fears that the chaos that affected rival Gatwick last month could be repeated on an even larger scale. "We are responding to a drone sighting at Heathrow," the airport said. "As a precautionary measure, we have stopped departures while we investigate. We apologize to passengers for any inconvenience this may cause."

Turkey's Erdogan rebukes Trump's top security adviser over Kurds in Syria

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan rebuked Washington's national security adviser on Tuesday for demanding that his country not attack Kurdish fighters in Syria, accusing him of complicating President Donald Trump's plan to withdraw U.S. troops. Erdogan said John Bolton, who held talks with Turkish officials in Ankara on Tuesday but left without meeting the president, "made a serious mistake" in setting conditions for Turkey's military role after the U.S. pullout.

In shift, EU sanctions Iran over planned Europe attacks

The European Union on Tuesday froze the assets of an Iranian intelligence unit and two of its staff, as the Netherlands accused Iran of two killings on its soil and joined France and Denmark in alleging Tehran plotted other attacks in Europe. The move, although in part symbolic since one of the men is in prison in Belgium, marks the first time the EU has enacted sanctions on Iran since lifting a host of curbs on it three years ago following its 2015 nuclear pact with world powers.

Prosecutors in 'El Chapo' trial play calls intercepted by FBI

Prosecutors in the trial of "El Chapo" Joaquin Guzman on Tuesday played excerpts from what they said were incriminating phone calls made by the accused Mexican drug lord and intercepted by the FBI after they infiltrated his encrypted messaging system. Nearly two months into the trial of Guzman on charges of drug trafficking as leader of the Sinaloa cartel, FBI special agent Steven Marston testified the 61-year-old was easily identifiable by his higher-pitched voice, which had "kind of a sing-songy nature to it" and a "nasally undertone."

North Korea's Kim discusses expected summit with Trump in talks in China: Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed an expected U.S.-North Korea summit in talks in Beijing on Tuesday, Yonhap news agency said, days after Kim warned he may take an alternative path if the United States does not ease sanctions. Kim's visit to China, confirmed by North Korean and Chinese state media, comes amid plans for a second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

U.S.'s Zinni steps down from Middle East assignment: CBS

Anthony Zinni, a retired U.S. general who sought to resolve a dispute between Qatar and some of its neighbors and to forge an Arab security alliance to contain Iranian power, has resigned, CBS News reported on Tuesday. CBS News quoted Zinni as saying he stepped down from his Trump administration assignment after realizing he could not resolve the dispute "because of the unwillingness of the regional leaders to agree to a viable mediation effort that we offered to conduct or assist in implementing."

A Rohingya girl's journey from refugee camps to college

The first time I met Formin Akter, she wanted to talk about Helen Keller. Formin was 18. She was sitting on a plastic stool in a bamboo shelter at a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Like the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees around her, she and her family had fled a campaign of mass murder, rapes and arson in Myanmar the previous year.

Afghan Taliban cancel peace talks with U.S. citing 'agenda disagreement'

The Afghan Taliban said on Tuesday they had called off peace talks with U.S. officials in Qatar this week due to an "agenda disagreement", especially over the involvement of Afghan officials as well as a possible ceasefire and prisoner exchange. Two days of peace talks had been set to start on Wednesday, Taliban officials told Reuters earlier, but the hardline Islamic militant group had refused to allow "puppet" Afghan officials to join.