Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Exclusive: UAE used cyber super-weapon to spy on iPhones of foes

A team of former U.S. government intelligence operatives working for the United Arab Emirates hacked into the iPhones of activists, diplomats and rival foreign leaders with the help of a sophisticated spying tool called Karma, in a campaign that shows how potent cyber-weapons are proliferating beyond the world’s superpowers and into the hands of smaller nations. The cyber tool allowed the small Gulf country to monitor hundreds of targets beginning in 2016, from the Emir of Qatar and a senior Turkish official to a Nobel Peace laureate human-rights activist in Yemen, according to five former operatives and program documents reviewed by Reuters. The sources interviewed by Reuters were not Emirati citizens. Sudan opposition leader's daughter detained as professors protest

Security forces detained the daughter of Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi on Wednesday, her family said, as anti-government protests spread to the capital's main university. Two security vehicles arrived at Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi's home in Khartoum in the morning and took her away, her sister Rabah told Reuters, a day after Sudan's security chief ordered the release of dozens of detained protesters. Bangladesh to sue Manila bank over $81 million cyber heist: cenbank governor

Bangladesh will file a lawsuit in a U.S. court on Wednesday against Philippine bank Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) over its role in one of the world's biggest cyber-heists, the Bangladesh central bank governor said. In February 2016, unknown criminals used fraudulent orders on the SWIFT payments system to steal $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The money was sent to accounts at Manila-based RCBC and then vanished into the casino industry in the Philippines. Venezuela power struggle heats up with Guaido curbs, protest plans

The struggle for control of Venezuela intensified on Wednesday, as the government prepared an investigation that could lead to the arrest of opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido, who has called for new street protests. Venezuela's Supreme Court imposed a travel ban on Guaido and froze his bank accounts in apparent retaliation for oil sanctions imposed by the United States that are expected to severely damage the OPEC member's already collapsing economy. Vale says it will sacrifice output for dam safety in Brazil

Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore miner, vowed to sacrifice production for safety to avoid another instance of the tailings dam failures that have tarred its legacy - a move that sent metal prices and shares of rivals soaring. Chief Executive Fabio Schvartsman vowed to take up to 10 percent of Vale's output offline to decommission 10 dams similar to the one that burst on Friday in the town of Brumadinho, leaving hundreds missing and presumed dead. Bashir's hometown split as anti-government protests hit Sudan

Fed up by months of bread queues, price hikes and petrol shortages in Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir's hometown of Shendi, office worker Louay Mohamed Kheir, feels there's only one solution: "We need a new president." It is a startling statement from anyone living in the settlement down the Nile from Khartoum - long seen as one of Bashir's firmest powerbases and his tribe's main town. Iran facing the toughest economic situation in 40 years: president

Iran's president said on Wednesday the country was facing its toughest economic situation in 40 years, and the United States, not the government, was to blame. U.S. President Donald Trump last year pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed sanctions. Brexit brinkmanship: UK demands a fresh exit deal, EU says: 'non'

British Prime Minister Theresa May was locked into a collision course with the European Union on Wednesday after lawmakers demanded she renegotiate a Brexit divorce deal that the other members of the bloc said they would not reopen. Less than two months until the United Kingdom is due by law to leave the EU, investors and allies are trying to gauge where the Brexit crisis will ultimately end up with options including a disorderly Brexit, a delay to Brexit or no Brexit at all. U.S. security aid to Palestinians to end Thursday, envoys seek workaround

U.S. security aid for the Palestinian Authority was set to dry up on Thursday after it declined the money over concerns it could increase its exposure to U.S. anti-terrorism lawsuits. The loss of the some $60 million in annual funding would marks another tear in ties between the Trump administration and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and potentially undermines his security cooperation with Israel in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces kill knife-wielding Palestinian girl: police

Israeli forces shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who tried to carry out a stabbing attack at a checkpoint between the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem on Wednesday, police said. Palestinian officials identified the dead girl as a resident of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.