Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Indonesia's reluctant vice president was symbol of powerful alliance

Two major centres of power in Indonesian politics came together in a surprise alliance when former general Prabowo Subianto picked predecessor Joko Widodo's son as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election. But this week's resignation of Gibran Rakabuming Raka, to avoid impeachment in parliament for a lack of educational qualifications, is widely seen as ​a sign that partnership is fraying, perhaps presaging a significant shift in politics.

Iran's Guards say they targeted a US early-warning radar in Bahrain

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they targeted a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, the first such claim of an attack on American military ​assets in a Gulf country since early September. The Guards said the strike was in retaliation for what they described as an air attack on a telecommunications tower in Iran's southern Sirik ‌county, in Hormozgan province, according ​to Iranian state media.

Peruvian town hopes Pope Leo will recognize four-century-old miracle

As Pope Leo returns on Friday to Chiclayo, Peru, where he once served as bishop, residents of a nearby town hope he will revive a cause he once championed — Vatican recognition of a Eucharistic miracle they believe occurred nearly four centuries ago. Leo is touring Peru after stops in Argentina and Uruguay on his first South American tour since becoming pope in 2025.

Belgian ministers at odds over Iran's alleged role in refrigerator cyberattacks

Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said Iran was "very likely" behind the recent refrigerator cyberattacks on European shops, while Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said there was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions. "There was enough evidence from our security services for me to say that Iran is very likely behind the cyberattacks we have seen targeting our shops," Quintin told Belgian broadcaster VRT NWS Thursday evening.

France's Le Pen seeks to square pension promises with budget reality

France's far-right ‌National Rally (RN) will present its pension plans next Tuesday as it seeks to convince increasingly nervous investors that its programme will be affordable if, as opinion polls suggest, it takes power in five months' time. Marine Le Pen's party is seeking to uphold its promise of allowing workers who started young to retire at 60 while limiting the costs of unwinding President Emmanuel Macron's unpopular pension overhaul.

After ICE raids, southwest Kansans swung to a Democrat. Now they want accountability

Early last month, in a starkly lit meeting room in southwest Kansas, Amy Soberanes stood to address members of the Dodge City commission. It had been two weeks since US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on the city, and she and other community organizers peppered the commissioners with questions: What had they known? Why had the area been targeted? How would the city respond if it happened again?

Six-year-old Gaza burn victim caught in Israeli dispute over aid

The excruciating burns run around the side of Masa Yassin's tiny face, behind her ear, over her scalp and down her neck. Since her family's tent burst into flames when a nearby cooking gas tank exploded in July, part of the 6-year-old girl's treatment has been a clear plastic 3D-printed mask, which helps manage swelling and control the scars on her face.

UN hails ‌progress in Ebola response, cites insecurity as biggest challenge

UN health officials on Friday hailed progress in the Ebola response six months after the outbreak first prompted global concerns, but cautioned that the disease continues to spread to more remote and dangerous parts of Congo. With the number of confirmed cases now surpassing 11,000, the outbreak is the second-worst for Ebola on record and has spread to parts of east, central and west Africa.

Analysis-ASEAN faces Myanmar dilemma as some members pursue closer ties

ASEAN is under increasing pressure at its upcoming summit to ease a five-year ban on Myanmar's military-backed leaders attending high-level ‌meetings, after Thailand and several other members stepped up engagement despite the country's ongoing civil war. Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are set to review their decision to exclude Myanmar when they meet in Manila from November 15 to November 17.

10 killed in clashes in Guinea after artisanal mining ban

Ten people were killed in violent clashes with defence and security forces in a gold-producing region in northeastern Guinea, the country's Ministry of Territorial Administration said in a statement. Guinea banned artisanal gold mining in Siguiri on November 2. Authorities said artisanal miners' failure to comply with regulations had led to environmental degradation including pollution of agricultural land, rivers and vegetation cover

As election nears, Spain's Sanchez struggles to rally disillusioned left

When Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap election last month, he was betting that anger over housing and fear of the far right would rally all shades of the left behind his Socialists. But interviews and polls suggest that many potential supporters are too furious about the status quo and the perceived failings of his own incumbent government to oblige.

COVID-era Wuhan party boss under investigation, says China's anti-graft watchdog

Wang Zhonglin, the former party chief of the central Chinese province of Hubei and its capital, Wuhan, is under investigation for "suspected serious violations of discipline and law" - a common euphemism for corruption - China's anti-graft watchdog said in a statement on Friday. Wang, 64, was thrust into the spotlight in February 2020 during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was appointed top official of Wuhan. He replaced Ma Guoqiang, who was removed ⁠from the post amid criticism of the ​city's initial handling of the outbreak.

Exiled Cambodian politician denounces Francophonie summit, citing repression

Exiled Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy denounced a gathering of leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, in ⁠Phnom Penh this weekend as a "sham", saying political persecution and organised crime in the Southeast Asian nation made it an inappropriate venue. Heads of state and senior ministers are meeting in the Cambodian capital for a summit of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF). The organisation promotes cooperation between French-speaking nations and lists peace, democracy and human rights among its core tenets.

France criticises 'demagogic' move by Israel to ban hard-left leader Melenchon

France has criticised as "demagogic" a decision by Israel to ban French hard-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchonand another leading figure in his France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) party from entering the country. Israel's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it would bar Melenchon and Mathilde Panot, the party’s parliamentary group chair, over "the extreme anti-Israel stance of La France Insoumise party and the outrageous statements made by ⁠its leaders."

Delhi overtakes Lahore as world's most polluted city as air quality drops

India's capital Delhi overtook Lahore in Pakistan to become the world's most polluted city on Friday, with air quality reaching hazardous levels and visibility dropping as smog blanketed the city of 20 million people. Air quality index (AQI) in Delhi was "hazardous" at 334, making it the most polluted global major city, according to Swiss group IQAir, which measures air quality levels based on the concentration of toxins

Moscow car bomb wounds former aide to pro-Russian Ukrainian politician

A car bomb in Moscow wounded a onetime spokesman for a pro-Russian former prime minister of Ukraine on Friday, Russian investigators said, the second such explosion in the country in two days. Sergei Zavorotniy, ​once a top aide to Mykola Azarov - Ukraine's prime minister from 2010 to 2014 - was hospitalised after a car he was driving blew up on a street in Chertanovo, a district of the Russian capital, the investigators' statement said.

Peruvians flock to see Pope Leo in city he served as bishop

A vast crowd gathered outside Peru's northern city of Chiclayo early on Friday for the centerpiece event of Pope Leo's 12-day South America tour, an outdoor Mass with the people who knew him as their bishop for eight years. More people were heading in vehicles ⁠and on foot to an arid field just outside Chiclayo, a city 10,700 km (6,650 miles) from Rome, where the former Robert Prevost, elected leader of the Catholic Church last year, is still described as "Padre" (Father) or "Amigo" (Friend).

Analysis-Urgent climate finance pleas at COP31 face a non-urgent response

Urgent pleas for cash from poor nations most exposed to the kind of climate-related disasters that have marked this year risk meeting a sluggish response at Turkey's COP31 talks as Western governments put national security and living costs first. Two years ago, rich countries agreed at UN climate talks they would triple climate funding for poorer countries to $300 billion per year by 2035 versus a previous 2020 target. Also by 2035, financing from all public and private sources combined would be $1.3 trillion annually.

Indonesia's upper house to pick new vice president on December ⁠2, its ​speaker says

Indonesia's upper house of parliament will pick the country's new vice president on December 2, its speaker said on Friday, after the dramatic resignation of Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the president's deputy and the son of his predecessor. Gibran's resignation this week, which analysts say could widen the gulf between President Prabowo Subianto and former President Joko Widodo, followed a month of increasing political pressure from lawmakers after Indonesia's top courts ruled that he had inadequate education credentials to run for the job.

Respiratory illnesses rise in Gaza with worst to come as winter floods arrive, WHO says

The World Health Organization warned on Friday of surging respiratory illnesses in Gaza, with worse expected after heavy rains flooded tens of thousands of tents housing displaced Palestinians. “The numbers already show the pressure. Acute respiratory infections are 33,000 cases higher than at the same time last year,” Dr Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, WHO Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters in Geneva from Jerusalem.

Truck and bus collision in India's Assam kills at least 23 people

At least 23 people were killed, and several others injured after a container truck collided with a bus in India's northeastern state of Assam on Friday, police said. The accident took place on a highway located near the UNESCO ⁠World Heritage site of Kaziranga National Park, which is famous for its one-horned rhinoceroses

Six people dead near Kenya's capital after building collapses, police say

Six people died near Kenya's capital Nairobi after the top floor of a building under construction collapsed on Friday, a police official said, the latest in a string of construction accidents to hit the country recently. "So far we have confirmed six bodies, but also five people have been rushed to Imara Daima Hospital," Duncan Ochieng, the assistant inspector general of police in charge of disaster management in Kenya, told media gathered at the scene.

Sweden's Kristersson ⁠to offer centre-right government plan to Centre Party amid post-election deadlock

Sweden's caretaker Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Friday he would later in the day submit a centre-right government policy proposal ⁠to the Centre Party, as he hopes to lure over the kingmaker to the political right to break a post-election deadlock. The centre-left, headed by Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson, won a slim majority in September's vote, but has been unable to agree on how to share power. Kristersson is meanwhile trying to build an alternative centre-right government.

China stages unannounced Pacific drills in 'silent intimidation' of Taiwan, officials say

China carried out a large, unannounced military exercise across the western Pacific and around Taiwan in early November, in what officials in Taipei have described as a campaign of "silent intimidation" aimed at pressuring Taiwan and other governments before major international meetings. A senior Taiwan security official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said China's military and coast guard had at one point massed more than 100 vessels in the region early this month, conducting drills that included simulated attacks on other militaries and cities ‌including Taiwan's.

Brazil's Bolsonaro shrugs off fugitive label, eyes future Brazil presidential bid

On his first visit to Washington since losing ‌a presidential election, Flavio Bolsonaro brushed aside doubts about his grip on Brazil's political right and said he was ready to stand for the Liberal Party in the next race, which he argued might come sooner than expected. Speaking to Reuters on Thursday between meetings to sort out his US immigration status, Bolsonaro rejected critics -- ​including reelected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- who brand him a runaway for making a dash to the US after last month's vote.