Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

New Mexico sues to stop payouts to Jeffrey Epstein's lawyer, accountant

New Mexico has filed a civil lawsuit to block payments from Jeffrey Epstein's estate to the late sex offender's lawyer and accountant, and to recover damages for survivors of his alleged sexual abuse, the state's top law enforcement official said on Wednesday. The suit is the first law enforcement action against Epstein's longtime personal attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn, according to ​New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez.

Missiles strike Ukraine's Kyiv, Reuters witness says

Missiles struck Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, a Reuters witness said, in another attack on Ukraine's capital after a Russian evening air strike which injured six people and damaged homes, a petrol station and transport equipment. In Russia, in the city ​of Lipetsk — home to a major steel plant some 400 km (250 miles) south of Moscow — a man was injured as drones hit apartment buildings and a medical facility, Governor Igor Artamonov said on the Telegram ‌messaging app.

Pope Leo will not ​need further cancer treatment, doctors say

Pope Leo will not need any further therapy after undergoing lung cancer surgery last week, his doctors said on Wednesday, indicating that his tumor had not spread. The announcement came as it was still unclear whether the US-born pope would proceed with a planned trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, scheduled for November 6-17.

Driver at Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant killed in drone attacks, managers say

Management at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine said a driver at the station had been killed on Wednesday after two days of Ukrainian drone attacks. Russian forces seized the station, Europe's largest with six reactors, in the first weeks of the February 2022 invasion. Each side has since repeatedly accused the other of military activity liable to jeopardise nuclear safety.

US orders diplomats to depart Saudi Arabia amid Houthi strikes

The US State Department has ordered some diplomats and family members to depart from its missions in Saudi Arabia and plans to withdraw family members from a number of other US missions in the region, US ‌officials told Reuters. The order came as attacks in Saudi Arabia killed at least one person and injured eight others at a civilian airport in Dammam and two people were killed in a drone attack on an oil field.

Saudi civil aviation says one killed, eight injured in attack on King Fahd airport

An attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday evening killed one resident and injured eight others, the General Authority of Civil Aviation said. The statement said material damage was being assessed.

Lawmakers say US briefing showed Russia targeting Democrats with misinformation

The top Democratic lawmakers on the congressional intelligence committees on Wednesday said they received an intelligence briefing that Russia has been waging a misinformation campaign against Democrats running in next month's midterm elections. The comments by Senator Mark Warner and Representative Jim Himes come as Republican President Donald Trump has in recent weeks eased economic sanctions on Russia and increased pressure on Ukraine to end its fight against Russian forces.

Analysis-Israel's election may change its leader, but not Iran war policy

Israel's election next week may change its leader, but not its strategy: Iran will remain its chief adversary, military force will continue to be its preferred tool and Palestinian statehood a distant prospect, regional policymakers and analysts say. That is because the strategic assumptions underpinning Israeli policy were hardened by the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israeli communities by Palestinian militant group Hamas and by the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Britain's MI5 spied on NHS founder Bevan, ‌secret documents show

British spies monitored Nye Bevan, the much lauded architect of the National Health Service, for three decades because of his links to the Communist Party and criticism of Britain's government in World War Two, newly released papers show. Declassified secret documents from MI5 made public by the National Archives on Thursday reveal that Bevan's activities in parliament, and his movements and meetings outside, were closely watched by MI5 from 1933 until his death in 1960.

Mexico levies rare treason charge against ex-official over US drug operation

Mexican federal prosecutors charged a former state prosecutor with treason on Wednesday after accusing him of allowing US personnel to take part in a drug operation in northern Mexico ‌without the federal government's approval. Authorities dusted off one of the country's gravest and least-used criminal charges against former Chihuahua Attorney General Cesar Jauregui, in a case that could reshape how Mexican officials work with US security forces.

Websites taken offline over PHP risks

Several government, school and hospital websites in Europe were taken offline on Wednesday as organizations rushed to protect themselves from two critical security flaws in PHP, a programming language that powers a large share of the internet. Cybersecurity agencies across the world have warned that organizations unable to apply fixes in time should consider taking affected sites offline. PHP's developers said a set of new updates fixing two previously identified critical vulnerabilities was available.

Venezuela to attract investors after elections, Branson says

British billionaire and Virgin Group owner Richard Branson said on Wednesday that Venezuela will attract more foreign investors once the country holds elections, as the South American nation seeks to boost capital inflows in sectors like oil and gas. Venezuela's Interim President Delcy Rodriguez and US President Donald Trump have both said Venezuela will hold elections but have not provided a timeline.

Bolsonaro's lead over Lula narrows ahead Brazil runoff, Quaest poll shows

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro's lead over President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has narrowed ahead of an October 25 runoff, a Quaest poll showed on Wednesday. The eldest son of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro would receive 45% of the vote, compared with 44% for the leftist incumbent, according to the poll.

Putin agrees to resume 3-way peace talks with Ukraine and US

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to resume US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine as soon as next month, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington's latest push to stop Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two. The negotiations in a ⁠grand imperial palace in St Petersburg, ​the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia - the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US school teacher held in Russia whom US President ⁠Trump had asked the Kremlin chief to release.

As Russia penalises European firms over Ukraine, US rivals largely spared

Russia has deepened a crackdown on European companies in response to Europe's support for Ukraine, while largely sparing US firms as Moscow courts business ties with Washington, Russian officials and US business people said. Of 20 foreign-owned firms that Russian President Vladimir Putin has placed under temporary administration since Donald Trump's inauguration as US president in January 2025, only three were linked to the US, with the remainder controlled by European companies, a Reuters analysis of official data shows.

Russia frees retired US schoolteacher in goodwill gesture as Putin meets Witkoff

Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a retired US schoolteacher in custody since 2022, from prison on Wednesday and took him to St Petersburg to fly back to the United States, after talks that Washington said were a step toward ending the ⁠war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement at a meeting in St Petersburg with US envoy Steve Witkoff, who later said the talks will continue toward planned technical-level discussions involving the US, Russia and Ukraine.

Brazil's Bolsonaro sets terms for records release after Lula's disclosure challenge

Brazilian presidential candidate Senator Flavio Bolsonaro imposed conditions on Wednesday to disclose his bank, tax and telephone records after a challenge from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his opponent in Sunday's election runoff. The challenge has become a new battlefront in what polls portray as a strongly contested election, with the candidates seeking to convince voters of their transparency and integrity, and their rival's lack of it, in the last days of the campaign.

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong warns South Korea, says border loudspeakers to be ready within ​days

North Korea will place anti-South Korea loudspeakers on standby along the entire border within days and has put new countermeasures on alert, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, said on Thursday, warning Seoul of "the most horrible and distressing situation" if it continues what Pyongyang calls interference. The threats to redeploy propaganda loudspeakers, announced in Kim’s second statement within hours, risk reversing South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s signature gains in easing inter-Korean tensions and pushing tensions along the heavily fortified frontier to their highest level since he took office.

Philippines exploring deeper cooperation with Taiwan to protect cables

The Philippines is exploring deeper cooperation with ⁠Taiwan on protecting undersea cables and addressing "gray-zone" activity, despite Manila's one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing and not Taipei, a Philippine diplomat said on Wednesday.

The Philippines and Taiwan have repeatedly complained about Chinese activities designed to pressure the countries without direct confrontation. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has overlapping claims with both Taiwan and the Philippines in the South China Sea.

Exclusive-Senior UAE diplomat Lana Nusseibeh enters race for UN chief

Senior UAE diplomat Lana Nusseibeh entered the race to become the next United Nations secretary-general on Wednesday, injecting a prominent Middle Eastern candidate into a contest that has struggled to produce a consensus choice among the Security Council’s most powerful members. Nusseibeh, a former UAE ambassador to the UN for more than a decade, told Reuters she would seek to restore the world body’s role as a diplomatic problem-solver at a time of mounting global crises.

Analysis-US invokes rarely used torture law in revamped case against ⁠Maduro

Nicolas Maduro ​is one of just a handful of people to be charged in the US with violating a federal law criminalizing torture committed overseas, a Reuters review of court records found, as prosecutors seek to broaden their criminal case against the ousted Venezuelan president. Maduro, 63, and his wife Cilia Flores, 70, pleaded not guilty last week to an expanded indictment accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents to remain in power, in addition to the drug trafficking charges they already faced. They are scheduled to go on trial in June 2027.

France's Macron vows order, calls foreign criticism of unrest 'stupid'

President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Wednesday to prevent a repeat of last weekend's violence at protests planned in the coming days, and dismissed as "stupid" and "unacceptable" comments from some foreign leaders about the unrest. France's main student union, UNEF, has called for further rallies on Saturday, while the Yellow Vest group, which emerged as a potent anti-establishment movement in 2018, has filed plans for a march through central Paris the same day.

Six injured in Russian missile attack on Ukrainian capital

Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with ballistic missiles on Wednesday evening, damaging homes, a petrol station and transport equipment and injuring six people, officials said. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram there were strikes in two districts on the east side of the Dnipro River bisecting the city.

El Salvador says Haiti gangs holding 4 force members hostage, announces new rescue mission

El Salvador's President ⁠Nayib Bukele on Wednesday said that Haitian gangs were holding four Salvadaron members of an international UN-backed security force hostage, and that he had launched a military operation to being them back unharmed. El Salvador's military and the Gang Suppression Force, mandated to help Haitian police fight powerful gangs, earlier this week announced efforts to recover the missing Salvadorans, but said intense fighting in the area had limited access.

Top Cuban diplomat accuses US of threatening countries that vote with Cuba at UN

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the United States on Wednesday of threatening member states of the United Nations with sanctions should they side with Cuba in next week's annual ⁠UN vote on a resolution calling for an end to a US embargo on the island. "The US State Department is exerting unprecedented pressure — at times in a personal and brazen manner by the secretary ⁠of state himself — to get UN member states to change their votes," Rodriguez said.

Austrian and Swiss women freed after 18 months in Niger reach Benghazi, sources say

An Austrian woman and a Swiss woman arrived in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi after being freed from more than 18 months of detention in Niger, two officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said on Wednesday. The Austrian, identified by Austrian authorities as Eva G, who is in her 70s, was kidnapped in the desert town of Agadez in central Niger in January 2025. Little information has been released about which group was holding her or what demands they may have made. She had been living in Niger for years.

Ukraine's Zelenskiy hopes for new talks with Russia, US by early November

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that Ukraine supported a US proposal for three-way talks with Russia and the United States at the level of negotiators to be held as soon as possible, preferably no later than early November. Zelenskiy, speaking to journalists on WhatsApp as he ‌returned to Kyiv from Norway, said he had spoken to US officials after presidential envoy Steve Witkoff's talks in St Petersburg ‌with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump asks US Supreme Court to allow Big Bend border wall construction

President Donald Trump's administration asked the US Supreme Court on Wednesday to let it proceed with a plan to build a US-Mexico border barrier in a remote region in West Texas that includes Big Bend National Park. The Justice Department filed an emergency request for the court ​to lift a federal judge's order halting wall construction in the region while a lawsuit against the project brought by an environmental group and other challengers plays out.