Reuters World News Summary

The US has reported its first known deaths from a cyclosporiasis outbreak, with two people in Michigan succumbing to the intestinal illness due to underlying health conditions.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Michigan reports first US deaths in cyclosporiasis outbreak

A cyclosporiasis outbreak that has grown into the largest on record in the United States has caused its first known deaths, two people in Michigan, the state's health department said on Monday. Cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by the Cyclospora parasite, is generally not life-threatening. Michigan, citing medical records, said the two who died had significant underlying health conditions that may have been affected by the ​disease and related dehydration.

Factbox-Trump undertakes sweeping makeover of the White House and Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump is pursuing an ambitious remaking of Washington, with plans for projects ranging from a new White House ballroom to a 250-foot (76 m) arch and a recast Kennedy Center. While Theodore Roosevelt championed an overhaul of the National Mall ​in the early 1900s and Harry Truman gutted the White House in the early 1950s, Trump's efforts have sparked criticism from Americans concerned about pocketbook issues and the preservation of historic landmarks. Here are some of ‌Trump's projects.

Spain's Ceuta overwhelmed as ​thousands remain after migrant border rush

Hundreds of migrants set up camp on a beach in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta on Monday as local authorities struggled to cope with the thousands still in the tiny territory after a massive border rush last week. Spain estimates that about 69,500 migrants have returned to Morocco over the past four days, exceeding initial estimates of around 50,000 arrivals in Ceuta on Thursday. The official death toll on the Spanish side of the border stands at 72, with 11 deaths on the Moroccan side.

Brown University's president, who clashed with Trump over funding, steps down

Brown University President Christina Paxson said on Monday that she would leave her post at the end of the academic year, following a difficult period in which she clashed with President Donald Trump's administration over its threats to slash the Ivy League school's federal funding. Paxson said she had planned to leave her job one year earlier, but extended her tenure at the university, located in Providence, Rhode Island, to "navigate a federal funding freeze that imperiled our mission," according ‌to an open letter published on the school's website.

Voters prefer Democrats over Republicans on economy for first time in a decade, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Americans picked Democrats over Republicans as better stewards of the economy for the first time in nearly a decade in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, which also found their approval of President Donald Trump's performance falling to 35%. The finding, in a poll conducted Wednesday through Monday, showed how Trump's handling of the economy, including rising energy prices resulting from the Iran war, could weigh on his party's chances in the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the next two years.

After deadly day, Gazans say Trump's touting of plan jars with grim reality

Palestinians in Gaza said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump's touting of a deal aimed at disarming Hamas and ending the war was out of touch with their worsening reality, after Israel killed 18 people in one of the deadliest days since a ceasefire last year. Trump declared last Thursday "a major milestone" toward implementing the Gaza peace plan agreed to in October, saying that Hamas would disarm and Israel would withdraw in phases.

Myanmar's detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets Red Cross official

Myanmar's detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday, after years of questions over the health and well-being of the 81-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner. Suu Kyi has been in detention since February 2021, when an elected civilian ‌government led by her was ousted by Myanmar's military in a dawn coup, plunging the impoverished Southeast Asian nation into turmoil.

Trump says Iran faces 'decapitation' if it doesn't strike deal

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said Iran faced "decapitation" if it did not agree a pact to end the conflict between the two nations, saying Tehran had one last chance to strike a deal. "I think we're going to maybe get something, but I want to give them every last chance before decapitation," he said, reiterating a threat to launch a major attack on Iran.

Wildfires near Spokane destroy more than 700 buildings, force 64,000 to flee

Wildfires raging on the outskirts of Spokane, Washington, for a ‌third day have destroyed at least 700 buildings and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in and around the state's second-most populous city, officials said on Monday.

The cluster of three blazes ranks as the top firefighting priority in the U.S. as a whole, including the drought-parched Pacific Northwest, where dozens of major wildfires have been burning for weeks, degrading air quality across a wide region.

US Supreme Court won't halt $655 million judgment against Palestinians over attacks

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined on Monday to halt $655.5 million in damages that Palestinian authorities were ordered to pay plaintiffs in a U.S. civil lawsuit concerning attacks that killed and injured Americans in Israel from 2002 to 2004. Sotomayor denied a request by the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to put on hold the judgment while they appeal a lower court's decision to revive the case years after it had been dismissed. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Americans killed or injured in those shootings and bombings in the Jerusalem area.

Morocco says Spain should have foreseen migration impact of court ruling

Spanish authorities should have anticipated the consequences of a court ruling that weakened a key deterrent against illegal migration and contributed to last week's mass crossings into the enclave of Ceuta in northern Morocco, a senior Moroccan official said on Monday. Spain estimates that about 69,500 migrants have returned from Ceuta to Morocco since last week's crossing, while Moroccan authorities say about 40,000 people entered the enclave.

South African coalition party goes to court over law that angered Trump

South Africa's Democratic Alliance, the second-largest party in the governing coalition, went to court on Monday to challenge a land seizure law that U.S. President Donald Trump cited when cutting off aid to the country last year. The case has caused ⁠friction with the biggest party, the African ​National Congress, as the country gears up for municipal elections in November.

Russia says Ukrainian drone attack on holiday-makers killed seven, including 3 children

Russia said on Monday that seven people, including three children, had been ⁠killed and 40 injured at its Black Sea holiday resort of Gelendzhik in what it said was a deliberate Ukrainian drone attack on civilians. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which like Russia, says it does not deliberately target civilians in the full-scale war which Moscow launched in 2022.

Former Ukrainian top commander sees no prospect of Kyiv joining NATO

Ukraine's former top military commander, now ambassador to Britain, was quoted as saying on Monday that there was no prospect of the country joining NATO, an aspiration entrenched in the constitution. Valery Zaluzhnyi, quoted by media outlet Evropeiska Pravda, told a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors that Ukraine in no way met the military standards needed to join the alliance.

Zelenskiy dismisses Ukraine's ambassador to US

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, in a decree published on Monday. Stefanishyna had been in her job for nearly ⁠a year. Her departure had been expected for several weeks.

US State Department to close consulates in Canada, Japan and Indonesia, sources say

The U.S. State Department has notified Congress that it plans to close five foreign missions in a rare downsizing of America's global diplomatic footprint, according to people familiar with the notice. In the notice sent to some congressional committees late last week, the State Department said it planned to close its posts in St. George's, Grenada; Nagoya, Japan; Medan, Indonesia; Douala, Cameroon; and Winnipeg, Canada. The people familiar with the notice spoke on the condition of anonymity because the notice was not public.

Six Saudi tankers turn away from Gulf of Aden, ship-tracking data shows

Six Saudi-flagged supertankers have changed course in the Gulf of Aden in recent days and are heading to southern Africa following threats by ​Yemen’s Houthi movement to target Saudi shipping, tracking data showed on Monday. The tankers, which were empty of cargo after returning from destinations in Asia, were sailing in formation towards southern Africa, rather than opting to transit the southern Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint, according to AIS ship-tracking on LSEG and MarineTraffic.

North Korea says US-led cyber threat warnings are bid to smear its image

North Korea accused the United States and its allies of using unfounded accusations about its cyber activities to tarnish its image and justify pressure on sovereign states, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday, citing a foreign ministry spokesperson. The spokesperson described a recent U.S.-led "joint ⁠warning" about North Korean cyber threats as a political accusation and criticized the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), a sanctions-monitoring mechanism established by the United States and partner countries.

Greek crews fight wildfire northwest of Athens for fourth day

Hundreds of Greek firefighters battled a wildfire northwest of Athens for a fourth day on Monday after strong and erratic winds helped it devastate homes, pine forests and thousands of hectares of farmland, forcing evacuations by land and sea. Two crew on a firefighting helicopter crashed and died on Sunday near the seaside community of Psatha, about 40 km (25 miles) from Athens, after a mid-air brush with a second helicopter, whose two crew survived.

Denmark targets August 21 for second Security Council UN chief poll

The United Nations Security Council is expected to hold another informal poll this month as it selects the next U.N. secretary-general, the council president for August said on Monday, while indicating that a decision is still ⁠some way ​off. Portugal's Antonio Guterres steps down as head of the world body at the year-end after two five-year terms and a first "straw poll" in the 15-member Council to replace him took place last week.

Reform UK proposes military-led operation to stop asylum seekers

Britain's right-wing Reform UK party said on Monday that if elected, it would stop asylum seekers with what it called the largest military operation in the Channel since World War Two, as it faces falling popularity and questions over its funding. Pointing to a migration crisis in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, Reform leader Nigel Farage announced a tougher immigration policy that he said would see asylum seekers who arrive in small boats intercepted and returned to France.

Lithuanian police launch racism investigation after Black powerlifter incident

Lithuanian police started an investigation on Monday after an assistant at the Powerlifting Championships said he sabotaged a Black athlete's squat attempt due to racism - a statement he later said was written to mock those accusing him of racism. Assistant Ernestas Kusinas, one of the safety crew watching over the athletes as they competed, placed his knee under Belgian champion Sonita Muluh's barbell, resulting in a failed attempt to squat 334.5 kg, said the president of the Lithuanian Powerlifting Federation which hosted the event in June.

EU can give Morocco more border support, von der Leyen tells Spain after Ceuta spat

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed on Monday that the European Union ⁠further strengthen its borders and increase support for Morocco to help prevent a repeat of the chaotic influx of 50,000 migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week. The surge, which began on Thursday at one of the EU's only two land borders with Africa - the other being Morocco's frontier with the Spanish enclave of Melilla - triggered alarm across the bloc.

Analysis-How Iran is widening its pressure campaign to force US concessions

Iran is betting it can outlast Washington by turning the Middle East's trade routes, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure into pressure points that steadily raise the cost of confrontation, according to Gulf officials and analysts. Rather than seeking a decisive military ⁠victory, Tehran is pursuing a strategy of calibrated escalation aimed at widening the conflict without triggering full-scale war.

Death toll from Venezuela June earthquakes tops 6,000

The death toll from twin earthquakes which struck Venezuela in ⁠June has risen to 6,125, according to figures released by top lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez on Monday. Nearly 61,000 people were attended to at hospitals, the graphic published by Rodriguez on Telegram showed, adding that 16.5% of the debris generated by the quakes had been removed.

Denmark begins extended military conscription in response to Russia, Trump

Around 1,600 Danish military recruits on Monday began the country's new extended conscription, embarking on an 11-month service period as Denmark accelerates its defence build-up driven by Arctic security pressures and the war in Ukraine. Denmark said in 2024 it would extend conscription to include women for the first time and increase standard service time to 11 months from four, while the number of conscripts is set to increase to 7,500 annually by 2033 from 5,000.

Trump says talks with Iran under way but Tehran denies any planned

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks with Iran were under way, warning that it was a "last chance" for Tehran to sign a good deal to end the five-month-old war, but Iran denied that any ‌negotiations were being held or planned. The contradictory statements suggest there is little prospect for a diplomatic resolution to the war anytime ‌soon.

Romania blasts rocks to reroute cooling Danube water to nuclear reactor

Romania blew up a rock outcrop on Monday to help redirect vital cooling water from the drought-hit Danube river to its sole working nuclear reactor, an unprecedented measure underlining the scale of an energy crunch across the region. In neighbouring Hungary, authorities said they might be able to eke out two ​more days of power from their only atomic plant, which has been hit by falling levels in the Danube that it also relies on as a coolant.