Reuters World News Summary

Brazil sees record daily coronavirus cases; official says outbreak under control Brazil reported a record 34,918 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the same day that one of the senior officials leading the country's widely criticized response to the crisis said the outbreak was under control. Brazil also registered 1,282 COVID-19 deaths since its last update on Monday, the Health Ministry said, bringing confirmed fatalities in the country to 45,241.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. German minister, on Trump's troop pullout plan, says security not a commodity

Security is not a commodity to be traded, German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Tuesday in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to cut the number of U.S. troops in Germany. On Monday, Trump accused Germany of being "delinquent" in its payments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and vowed to stick with the troop withdrawal plan unless Berlin changed course. Brazil sees record daily coronavirus cases; official says outbreak under control

Brazil reported a record 34,918 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the same day that one of the senior officials leading the country's widely criticized response to the crisis said the outbreak was under control. Brazil, the world's No. 2 coronavirus hotspot after the United States, is fast approaching 1 million cases, although experts say the true number is likely higher due to patchy testing. Brazil also registered 1,282 COVID-19 deaths since its last update on Monday, the Health Ministry said, bringing confirmed fatalities in the country to 45,241. North Korea rejects South's offer of envoys, vows to send back troops to border

North Korea said on Wednesday it has rejected South Korea's offer to send special envoys, and vowed to send back troops to demilitarised border units in the latest step towards nullifying inter-Korean peace accords. The warning was made by state media KCNA one day after North Korea blew up a joint liaison office set up in a border town as part of a 2018 agreement by the two countries' leaders, amid flaring tension over propaganda leaflets sent by defectors into the reclusive state. Some Amazon villagers eschew drugs for COVID-19, take 'toothache plant' herbal tea

Some villagers in the eastern Amazon are spurning Brazilian government advice to take the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to keep the novel coronavirus at bay and are drinking tea of jambú, also known as the toothache plant. Maria de Nazaré Sajes, 65, tested positive for the coronavirus and believes she fought off the symptoms by drinking the infusion of bitter leaves. Brazil court allows police to access Bolsonaro allies' phone, bank records

Brazil's top court on Tuesday granted police permission to inspect financial and phone records of federal lawmakers allied with President Jair Bolsonaro as part of a probe into anti-democratic rallies, a source with direct knowledge of the ruling said. Bolsonaro's supporters have taken to the streets almost weekly to challenge coronavirus lockdowns and call for military intervention to close Congress and the Supreme Court, which they see as obstacles to his agenda. Living on the edge, Pakistani Hindus still feel safer in India

Seven years ago, Dharamveer Solanki, a Hindu, left his home in Pakistan’s Hyderabad city, never to return. When his train crossed the border into India, Solanki said he felt happier than ever before. "It felt as though I had been reborn,” he said, sitting inside a bustling refugee colony on the outskirts of New Delhi, where he and hundreds of other Hindus who fled Muslim-majority Pakistan have built a new home. U.S. wants face-to-face meeting with Iran on prisoners

The United States would like a face-to-face meeting with Iran to discuss prisoner releases and it wants the U.N. Security Council to impose an indefinite arms embargo on the Islamic Republic, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday. The two adversaries disagree on many issues, including U.S. President Donald Trump's decision two years ago to abandon the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under which Tehran limited its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief. India, China troops clash at Himalayan border, 'casualties on both sides'

India's army said on Tuesday 20 of its soldiers had been killed in clashes with Chinese troops at a disputed border site, in a major escalation of a weeks-long standoff between the two Asian giants in the western Himalayas. China's foreign ministry confirmed there had been a "violent physical confrontation" on Monday in the border area. It made no mention of casualties but India's foreign ministry said there had been casualties on both sides. U.S. calls bid by men to avoid extradition over ex-Nissan boss Ghosn's escape 'flawed'

U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday said a former Green Beret and his son, wanted by Japan for helping former Nissan Motor Co boss Carlos Ghosn flee the country, were advancing a "flawed" interpretation of Japanese law to fight their extradition. Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, were arrested in Massachusetts last month at Japan's request for allegedly smuggling Ghosn out of the country on Dec. 29, 2019, in a box while he was out on bail awaiting trial on financial charges. Turkish warplanes strike Kurdish targets in northern Iraq

Turkey's Defence Ministry said its warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq's Haftanin region on Wednesday, the second such operation launched against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in recent days. "Our heroic commandos are in Haftanin," the ministry said on Twitter, dubbing the new operation "Claw-Tiger".