Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

India's Infosys does not expect material impact from US PERM suspension

Infosys, India's second-largest IT firm, said on Saturday that it does not anticipate a material impact from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) application suspension announced by the US government. The US government said on Thursday it was suspending some major global tech and IT firms, including Infosys, from the PERM green card ​program, which allows skilled foreign workers to gain permanent residency in the US through their employment.

Germany's firewall against the far-right AfD feels the heat

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's warning this week that extremism was entering Germany's parliamentary system was the latest in a series of signs that ​mainstream parties' "firewall" to isolate the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has begun to buckle.

This week, at least four lawmakers from mainstream parties in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt appear to ‌have defied party orders and ​voted to give the AfD, which wants to restrict immigration and restore energy ties with Russia, its first regional assembly speaker.

Strong Panama quake shakes nation, but avoids major destruction

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama on Friday, damaging buildings and sending thousands into the streets, but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake hit at a depth of 12.6 km (7.8 miles), with an epicenter in a sparsely populated area about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital, and that some casualties were possible.

Trump calls for replacing Ukraine's Zelenskiy in tussle over diesel deal with Russia

US President Donald Trump on Saturday called for Ukraine to replace its leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy and railed against Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, a day after announcing a diesel supply deal with Russia that drew a sharp rebuke from Zelenskiy. "I suggest they get a new leader who can ‌make a deal because he could have made many deals, but for some reason he never does," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president."

Tennessee execution survivor Christa Pike released from hospital, returned to prison

Death row inmate Christa Pike was released from a US hospital on Saturday and sent back to prison where she will continue receiving medical care following her botched execution attempt in Tennessee, her attorneys said. Pike was discharged from a local hospital and is now at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she has been housed for more than 30 years, said attorneys Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen from Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, and Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason from the Tennessee Office of the Post Conviction Defender in a joint release.

Isaias kills four, about 670,000 without power after landfall

Four people died after Hurricane Isaias made landfall early on Saturday, and about 670,000 residents in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi were still without power as the storm weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, according to local authorities and electricity monitoring services. Two of the deaths resulted from trees falling on homes, according to local media and authorities.

Houthi attack on Saudi airport kills 12, over 300 wounded, authorities say

The third attack ‌this week on Riyadh's international airport on Saturday left at least 12 people dead and more than 300 wounded, Saudi authorities said, as Iran-backed Houthis escalated the campaign they launched this summer against the kingdom. The dead included four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, the Saudi civil aviation authority said. At the latest count, officials said, 309 were wounded.

WHO unsure what caused pneumonia that killed plague-lab worker in Russia

The World Health Organization said on Saturday that it still does not know what caused the ‌pneumonia that killed a Russian lab worker at an anti-plague research center in Siberia this month, and that no case of plague had been registered. The WHO said the Russian state regulator reported that tests of the lab worker and those who came in contact with her were negative for the high-threat pathogens tested, that her contacts still showed no symptoms, and that no further linked cases of severe pneumonia had been identified.

Rubio pledges US cooperation in Okinawa murder case

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday vowed to cooperate with Japanese authorities investigating allegations that a US Marine murdered a woman in Okinawa, a case that sparked protests and prompted a US military curfew and mandatory training in standards and discipline. The top US diplomat spoke with Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu in a phone call, the US Department of State said in a statement following the death of a local woman in a hotel that has renewed tensions over the US military presence.

Eritrea asks UN to intervene in standoff with Ethiopia

Eritrea asked the UN Security Council on Saturday to take deterrent measures against Ethiopia, according to a letter seen by Reuters, saying Addis Ababa's accusations of an invasion by Eritrean forces amounted to a "declaration of war". The incursion by Eritrean troops, which Asmara has denied and Reuters could not independently verify, has raised fears of a return to all-out war along Ethiopia's northern border where the two Horn of Africa neighbours have clashed before.

Taiwan won't give up freedom, Lai says; Beijing slams 'ulterior ⁠motives'

Taiwan cherishes peace but will not ​give up its freedom, and there must be respect for the right of Taiwan's people to exist, President Lai Ching-te said on Saturday in a National Day speech, ⁠adding that boosting defences is not a provocation. Beijing quickly denounced the speech, saying it "distorts the truth" and reveals "ulterior motives."

Germany sticks to Russia sanctions after Trump announcement on diesel

Germany said on Saturday it would maintain sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine following US President Donald Trump's announcement that his administration had temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel. "The federal government has taken note of the US decision relating to Russian diesel deliveries," government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said in a statement.

Israeli strikes kill five people in Gaza, medics say

Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in two separate attacks on Saturday, health officials said. Medics said an Israeli strike killed four people near Panda Mall in Gaza City, while another ⁠killed one person in the Tuffah neighbourhood further south of the city.

Abbas postpones Palestinian elections, sets presidential poll for September 2027

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday postponed legislative elections due next month until September 11, 2027, and called a presidential poll for the same date, blaming Israel and the security situation in the Palestinian territories for the delay. Abbas' decree cited "obstacles posed by Israeli measures" and the need to establish suitable political, security and on-the-ground conditions for "free, fair and inclusive elections", the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Three injured in Poland's third youth stabbing attack in four days

Three people were injured in a stabbing attack at a further education college in Warsaw on Saturday, police said, ​the latest in a series of incidents that have stoked concerns in Poland about copycat violence among young people. On Friday thousands of police visited schools nationwide to try to reassure pupils after two stabbing sprees by teenagers in as many days sparked rumours of potential further attacks, fears that Saturday's incident is likely to intensify.

Major Saudi conferences to proceed, organisers say, despite deadly airport attack

The organisers of two major Saudi energy and investment conferences said their events will go ahead this month and reassured visitors on security, after missile attacks on Riyadh's ⁠airport left four people dead and an airliner heavily damaged this week. The attacks led to widespread flight disruptions, with people taking land routes or circuitous alternative flights. The UK, France and Germany have warned their citizens to avoid Riyadh.

Amelia Earhart expedition heads to Pacific atoll hoping to find her plane

A US-based team of marine archaeologists has set sail for a tiny island in the far western Pacific seeking to examine the latest tantalizing clue to one of the 20th century's great unsolved mysteries: the 1937 disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart. Backed by Purdue University, an institution long affiliated with Earhart and her legacy, the group aims to learn whether a submerged object detected by satellite imagery in the island's lagoon six years ago is the wreckage of Earhart's twin-engine Lockheed Electra ⁠10-E airplane.

Pope ​Leo condemns death penalty as Trump mulls livestreamed execution

Pope Leo renewed his condemnation of the death penalty on Saturday, saying it violates the sanctity of human life and deprives people of the chance of redemption, days after the Pentagon said it planned to livestream an execution. The US military will livestream the upcoming firing squad execution of a gunman who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in 2009, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, in what would be an unprecedented broadcast of a US execution.

Thailand prepares to host IMF-World Bank meetings

Thailand is preparing to host the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok from October 12–18, bringing together more than 15,000 participants from 191 countries, including central bank governors, economic policymakers and business leaders, for discussions on the world economy. To ease traffic, Bangkok government offices will work from home on October 12, 14 and 15, while October 13 is an existing public holiday and October 16 has been declared a special government and bank holiday, with private companies and state enterprises asked to consider suitable arrangements.

Hurricane Simon strengthens to Category 4 off Mexico coast

Hurricane Simon strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm off Mexico's Pacific coast on Saturday, threatening destructive winds, ⁠storm surges and potentially deadly flooding as it approaches landfall. The US National Hurricane Center said Simon was located about 115 miles (185 km) south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, on Saturday morning, packing maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph) as it moved northward.

India detains thousands, locks down Delhi to foil election chief protest

Police detained more than 2,000 protesters and the founder of the "Cockroach" youth movement in Delhi on Saturday as security forces locked down parts of the capital to thwart a rally demanding the resignation of India's election chief. Thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across ⁠the city, mobile internet services were suspended in the central business district and dozens of metro stations and markets were shut as authorities moved to stop a demonstration organised ⁠by the Cockroach movement.

Spanish lawyer Gonzalez Durantez launches centrist party for November election

Lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez launched a new Spanish political party on Saturday to run in an early general election on November 29, promising to rise above a growing ideological divide, recover democratic values and depoliticise institutions.

Gonzalez Durantez, who is married to former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and specialises in international and EU trade law, said the party, called Democracy21, will run in the election in Madrid and Barcelona.

Erie, Pennsylvania shooter killed 8 people, then himself, police say

A 45-year-old man shot and killed eight people in Erie, Pennsylvania, including a pregnant woman and two children, then apparently shot himself to death, authorities said on Saturday at a press conference where they revealed details of the previous evening's shooting. The shooter, who has yet to be identified, died of an apparent self-inflicted wound before officers arrived on the ‌scene, said Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah.

Neither Putin nor Trump wanted to hang up first, Kremlin aide says after 'very ‌friendly' call

A conversation on Friday between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump was "very substantive and friendly" and neither leader wanted to be the first to end the call, Russian news agency Interfax quoted a Kremlin aide as saying. During the call, the presidents agreed that Russia would supply diesel to ​the US and global markets to lower fuel prices, prompting an unexpected temporary easing of US sanctions on Russian fuel that has dismayed Ukraine.