Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Iran's Araqchi says now up to US to accept 7-day plan

Iran has given the United States a "concrete" seven-day plan to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz and the choice now rests with the US, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters at the United Nations on Friday. "If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be ​reopened, a normal maritime passage restored within seven days. The choice now rests with the United States," he said.

Analysis-Venezuela president returns from US visit with no deals, no firm election date

Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez arrived in New York this week for ​the UN General Assembly seeking business deals on debt, energy and mining, to demonstrate the once sanctioned country was open for business again after US forces removed her predecessor ‌in January. She pledged ​in her speech before the UN that the South American OPEC member would hold elections as part of a transition to "full democracy." She left with photographs of herself alongside US President Donald Trump, but obtained no concrete agreements.

Trump rejects Iranian peace proposal, WSJ reports

US President Donald Trump has rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt regional fighting within seven days, and told aides he expects to resume bombing after November congressional elections, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed US officials. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had told reporters at the United Nations on Friday that Iran conveyed its peace plan to the US through Qatari mediators, saying a deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.

Iran awaits US move after WSJ report says Trump rejects peace plan

Iran on ‌Saturday awaited a US response to its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the Middle East war after the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump had rejected the deal. Iran raised the diplomatic initiative at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators and could reopen the strategic waterway and put an end to hostilities in the region within seven days.

TV networks resume covering White House as press access fight continues

US television networks resumed coverage of President Donald Trump’s White House events on Friday, providing the first live pool access for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit, as a legal battle continues over restrictions on CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Trump last week banned the three outlets from the White House, before a judge ordered the administration to restore their access.

Pope Leo set for largest France event as crowds hope for peace message

Throngs of people gathered on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris on Saturday as Pope Leo was due to arrive for an outdoor Mass expected to be the biggest event of his weekend visit to France. More than 600,000 registered to attend the mid-afternoon ‌Mass, and crowds descended before sunrise against barriers down the tree-lined boulevard, waving white and yellow Vatican flags. Nearby, police closed streets where Leo would be driven in an open-top popemobile.

Exclusive-Trump administration to meet Ukraine assistance deadline

The Trump administration has made legally binding commitments to spend almost all of the $400 million Congress approved for military aid to Ukraine late last year, ensuring that the money will not expire on September 30, according to three sources familiar with the plan. As of early this week, $307 million of the $400 million of the Ukraine ‌Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funding had been obligated, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and the administration plans to lock in the remaining $93 million before the fiscal year ends on September 30.

Details on US, China trade talks to come on Monday, says Greer

The United States is expected to release details on the outcome of trade negotiations with China on Monday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday. US President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday but there was little sign of a breakthrough on a host of sensitive issues.

In Brazil, frustration over cost of living undermines Lula's reelection bid

From the butcher's shop where he works near Sao Paulo's historic center, Kleyton Zacarioto says customer traffic has been slowing for years thanks, he says, to a long period of rising food prices. The prolonged squeeze on household budgets has turned the 39-year-old against leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's bid for a fourth term in next month's election. Zacarioto says Lula is the only candidate he knows he will not vote for, though he recognized the president "did good things" when he was first in office in the 2000s.

Saudi coalition says it intercepts Houthi missiles, drones

Yemen's Saudi-led coalition said early on Saturday it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and two drones launched by the Iran-backed Houthis towards the kingdom. The coalition said in posts on X that the missiles were headed towards ⁠Khamis Mushait and the drones towards the ​capital, Riyadh, adding that it was monitoring the missile threat and drones launched at the kingdom, without providing further details.

Magnitude 6.6 quake strikes near New ⁠Caledonia in the Pacific, USGS reports

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the waters near France's Pacific island of New Caledonia on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey said. The quake was recorded at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), USGS said. The agency had earlier registered the quake at magnitude 7 at a depth of 17.1 km.

Category 5 Hurricane Polo threatens Mexico’s coast, landfall expected Monday

Hurricane Polo moved away from Mexico's Pacific coast on Saturday after it regained the highest Category 5 strength, before an expected return to make landfall in Baja California Sur on Monday, forecasters said. On Saturday morning, Polo was about 425 miles south west of the Mexican resort town of Cabo Corrientes, with maximum sustained ⁠winds of 160 mph, according to the US National Hurricane Center. The storm was moving north west at 10 mph.

Russian strikes shut Ukraine's biggest steelmaker, kill seven in Kyiv

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said it was shutting production at Ukraine's largest steel plant, underscoring the growing economic toll of Russia's airstrikes that on Friday killed seven people in Kyiv including a 14-year-old boy and injured 58. ArcelorMittal said on Friday it had informed the Ukrainian government that "safe and sustainable" operations were not possible after four strikes in five weeks caused extensive damage and killed five workers at the southeastern plant.

South Africa open to more talks with US after visa dispute, minister says

South Africa ​remains open to talks with the US on areas of dispute, including rules for foreign investors on Black employment and ownership, although it was surprised by last week's US visa restrictions, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on Friday. The two countries were discussing ways to accommodate new US entrants into South Africa's mining sector, among other matters, Lamola said, and were making progress when Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced curbs on visas for South Africans, citing concerns over its laws and policies. He ⁠did not specify who would be subject to the ban.

25 sailors rescued from burning Russian fishing ship

Twenty-five sailors were rescued from a burning Russian fishing ship off the coast of Russia's far eastern Kamchatka peninsula and brought ashore aboard a second ship, local emergency officials were quoted as saying on Saturday. The officials, quoted by Russian news agencies, said seven people were injured aboard the stricken vessel, the Triumf. Those rescued were brought to the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Venezuela's promised elections face long delays, sources say

Venezuela's long-awaited vote may not happen for a year or more due to planned overhauls of the courts and electoral authorities, according to five political sources and analysts, despite Acting President Delcy Rodriguez's promise of a transition to "full democracy". Rodriguez, who ⁠took power after ​a US raid captured then-President Nicolas Maduro in January, told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that state institutions were preparing for elections. She said her government had opened talks with the opposition and would guarantee full participation, but gave no timetable.

On Michigan doorsteps, Republicans sell Democrats-as-extremists message with mixed success

The pitch was simple: Republican US Senate candidate Mike Rogers is a common-sense conservative, while Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed is a big-government socialist aligned with the party's left wing. But when a canvasser backing Rogers delivered that message to Nick Delise, a three-time Donald Trump voter in suburban Detroit, he encountered some skepticism. Though Delise said he would probably vote for Rogers, he rejected the notion that Democrats were controlled by the far left, saying the party was focused on practical solutions to voters' problems.

Exclusive-ShinyHunters hackers say they stole psychiatric and medical records of FBI staff

FBI personnel data recently stolen by the ShinyHunters hackers includes sensitive psychiatric and medical evaluation records, according to the hackers and documents reviewed by Reuters. ShinyHunters, one of the world's most notorious and attention-seeking hacking crews, first said it had breached the FBI on Tuesday. In the hack, the group obtained ⁠granular details about bureau employees and their assignments, Reuters previously reported, including sensitive work against Chinese spies, Russian intelligence, drug cartels and others.

Imran Khan's party postpones planned Islamabad march to October 4

Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has postponed a planned long march from Peshawar to Islamabad until October 4, the chief minister of the PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Sohail Afridi, told reporters on Friday. PTI had planned to begin the march on September 27 to press for the release of Khan, who has been in jail since ⁠2023. The PTI's last large-scale protest two years ago ended in deadly clashes with security forces.

Exclusive-OpenAI works to understand full scope of agent activity as user data ⁠leak emerges

Two months after OpenAI disclosed the accidental hacking of Hugging Face, the ChatGPT maker is still working to understand the full scope of its rogue agent activity, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters. The latest example came on Friday when OpenAI said its agents had leaked 53 images from ChatGPT users. OpenAI declined to say if the images were AI-generated or identified real people. It also declined to say when the images were posted.

Jay-Z accuser recants rape allegation against the rapper

A woman who accused musician Jay-Z of rape in a 2024 lawsuit has recanted her claim and said she never met the billionaire rapper. The woman, who was identified as Jane Doe in court papers, had accused Jay-Z and musician Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping her in 2000, when she was 13 years old. She later dropped that civil ‌lawsuit, and Jay-Z sued her and her law firm for defamation and malicious prosecution.

Putin says all Ukraine ‌peace proposals on table, but Russia must weigh its interests

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that all proposals for a settlement in the 4-1/2-year-old war with Ukraine remained on the table, but Moscow still needed to assess what was in its best interests. Putin also said Moscow had been ​ready to resume negotiations with Kyiv after last week's Russian parliamentary elections, but Ukraine launched attacks on Moscow and hit polling stations.