Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Analysis-A new 'Yalta'? Trump and Putin push for a meeting that Xi is wary of hosting

The world's three most powerful leaders could sit down together next week to discuss global flashpoints, from wars in Ukraine and Iran to nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence.

The prospects for any grand bargain emerging from the rare encounter, however, ​are slim.

Cape Verde votes for president with emigration in focus

Cape Verde votes for president on Sunday, with incumbent José Maria Neves facing off against the West African island nation's first female candidate, a former justice minister, in a campaign focused ​on the need to create more jobs for young people. Situated more than 600 km (373 miles) west of mainland Africa, the former Portuguese colony is home to only around ‌500,000 people, with a ​larger number of Cape Verdeans living overseas, mainly in the United States and Portugal.

Rift deepens between the Philippines, China over South China Sea

Relations between Manila and Beijing have soured under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, with Manila pivoting back towards the United States, which supports the Southeast Asian nation in its maritime disputes with China. Here is a timeline of key events over the last two years that have escalated tensions between the Philippines and China:

US aviation shutdown blamed on L3 Harris installed router

A massive, nearly five-hour shutdown of the US aviation system that has disrupted more than 20,000 flights since Friday may have been the fault of a single router installed by government contractor L3Harris, government officials said Saturday. The incident is the latest painful example of the aging US air traffic control telecom system and the ‌struggles to replace systems while keeping the old communications working.

Jordan sentences three men to death over deadly church attack

Jordan’s State Security Court sentenced three men to death on Sunday for carrying out an attack on a church in the southern governorate of Karak last month that killed nine people, the state news agency Petra reported. The court convicted the men of offences including carrying out terrorist acts resulting in death, possessing weapons and ammunition for terrorist purposes and promoting the ideology of a terrorist group. The ruling is subject to appeal and automatic review by the Court of Cassation, Petra said.

Pope Leo to cross Peru for visits to Inca city, Amazon gateway

Pope Leo will traverse the length of Peru on Sunday, the penultimate day of his South America tour, visiting a southern Andes Mountains city that was once the center of the Inca Empire and an eastern gateway to the Amazon rainforest. Leo, the first Peruvian citizen to become pope, is on an emotional return to his adopted home and will travel 2,270 km (1,410 miles) in 12 hours for four events in Cusco, the Inca Empire's capital, and Pucallpa, in the lowland Amazon ‌jungle.

‘I don’t know what to do’: student pilot on first solo flight caught in US shutdown

The student pilot was alone in the cockpit on his first solo cross-country flight when an air traffic controller delivered an instruction he never expected to hear: a nationwide ground stop was in effect and he needed to land. “Ma’am, I’m a student pilot. Honestly, this is my first time doing solo cross-country, and I don’t know what to do,” he told the controller.

Battle for young male voters intensifies after US ‌midterm rebuke of Republicans

Barely a week after the midterm elections, Democrats are debating how to turn newfound support among young men into a lasting coalition, while Republicans are trying to understand why the group abandoned them so decisively. An estimated 59% of men ages 18 to 29 voted for Democratic US House of Representatives candidates, compared with 37% for Republicans, according to Tufts University's Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. That marked a sharp reversal from 2024, when AP VoteCast found young men backing President Donald Trump over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by 14 points, 56% to 42%.

Philippines, Australia sign defence pact with eye on China

The Philippines and Australia signed a defence cooperation arrangement on Sunday that Manila said would lower bureaucratic hurdles to joint military activities, as the two countries further deepen security ties. Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the arrangement would streamline implementation of the bilateral Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, or SOVFA, by simplifying coordination procedures.

Bahrain intercepts Iranian aerial attacks as Tehran says it attacked US base

Bahrain intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks, it said on Sunday, while Tehran said it had struck a US military base in the Gulf kingdom amid uncertainty over a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran. The first such interceptions by Bahraini air defences since September followed two warnings of potential threats, urging residents to seek shelter.

US floated idea of Ukraine ceding ⁠Donbas for NATO membership, Zelenskiy says

US ​negotiators have floated the idea of Ukraine's potential withdrawal from its eastern region of Donbas in exchange for joining NATO, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, following ⁠the latest round of peace talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi. This is the first time the question of linking NATO membership to territorial concessions has been raised during the talks, Zelenskiy said in remarks to reporters released by his office on Saturday.

Saudi-led coalition intercepts missiles towards Riyadh, drones in Eastern Province

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Sunday it had intercepted two Houthi ballistic missiles launched towards the Saudi capital Riyadh and three drones in the kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province. The Houthis, who control most of the populous parts of Yemen, have intensified attacks on the Saudi capital in recent days. A Houthi attack last week damaged an administrative building of the state oil ⁠company Saudi Aramco in Riyadh's financial hub.

Top scorer on South Korean tax exam confesses to cheating with AI

The marks attained by the top scorer on South Korea's national exam for aspiring tax accountants this year seemed too good to be true and on Sunday, sceptics were proven right when he confessed to using generative AI to cheat. The scandal follows months of speculation after he scored near-perfect marks on hundreds of questions over two exams taken in April and July. It has also raised the stakes for organisers of South Korea's high-stakes annual college entrance exam this Thursday.

US air travel disruptions to persist until ​late on Sunday, FAA head says

US air travel is not expected to return to normal schedules until late on Sunday, the head of the FAA said, as the aviation system gradually recovers from a nationwide flight shutdown that officials blamed on routine maintenance gone awry. As of 9:35 p.m. ET (0235 GMT), airlines on Saturday had canceled more than 6,400 US flights and delayed more than 8,000, according to FlightAware, an aviation website. That followed about 9,200 flights canceled and 7,500 delayed on Friday after ⁠the FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop because of disruptions to air traffic communications. FlightAware said 875 flights scheduled for Sunday were already canceled.

Nearly 1,500 migrants arrive in Canary Islands in one day

Almost 1,500 migrants arrived in Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday, the highest number in a single day since 2020, the EFE news agency reported on Sunday, citing the maritime rescue service. A total of 1,488 people in 14 boats were rescued by the Spanish coastguard, EFE reported, continuing a surge of arrivals from West African countries to the Spanish archipelago since October.

Trump's judge appointment blitz faces Republican resistance

A last-minute effort by US President Donald Trump to install as many judges as possible before Democrats take control of ⁠the US Senate ​is running into resistance from some fellow Republicans. Until recently, Senate Republicans had routinely approved Trump's nominees for lifetime seats on district and appeals courts during his second term, confirming 57 so far and helping him cement a conservative imprint on the judiciary that will outlast his presidency.

Yemen government forces withdraw from area near Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Houthis in control

Yemeni forces fighting for the internationally recognised Saudi-backed government said on Sunday that they were withdrawing from an area overlooking the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, leaving the Iran-aligned Houthis in control. The government's retreat from the Bab el-Mandeb area hands the Houthis greater leverage over the maritime chokepoint, creating a potent pressure point on global shipping while Iran continues to disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

UK's Prince William to be joined by wife Kate for visit to India

Kate, Britain's Princess of Wales, will undertake her biggest foreign trip since having treatment for cancer when she joins her husband Prince William in India for his annual Earthshot Prize awards this week. Heir-to-the-throne William, 44, and Kate are flying out for a series of ⁠events across Mumbai during a three-day visit that includes Tuesday's awards ceremony.

After midterm sweep, Democrats split over Trump, cost-cutting agenda

Fresh from a midterm election landslide, Democrats met in Denver this week united in wanting to deliver voters relief from high costs, but split over how to achieve that, what lessons to draw from their victory and how combative they should be toward President Donald Trump. Despite the celebratory mood after the November 3 rout of Republicans, tensions between moderates and a restive progressive wing surfaced at the party's ⁠first major gathering since its victory, along with anxiety that the party could squander the opportunity voters had handed it.

Iran's navy says three tankers on fire ⁠after hitting mines in Hormuz

Iran's navy said three oil tankers caught fire on Saturday after hitting naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported. One tanker hit a naval mine in the eastern Strait of Hormuz on Saturday morning, while two others struck mines later in the day.

Pope Leo visits remote Andes town on special stop of Peru tour

Pope Leo travelled on Saturday to Peru's western Andean mountains on a special stop on his 12-day South America tour to visit a remote town of fewer than 6,000 inhabitants who once knew him as the bishop of Chiclayo, a city that is a four-hour drive away. Leo, visiting Peru on an emotional return home for the first Peruvian citizen to become pope, made a journey he took many times as Chiclayo's bishop from 2015 to 2023, travelling ‌100 km (62 miles) east from the Pacific coast to Santa Cruz de Succhabamba.

Three ships struck by ‌drones in Black Sea near Romanian shipping canal, PM says

Drones have struck three commercial ships in the Black Sea near Romania's Sulina canal, Prime Minister Luca Niculescu said on Sunday, adding that his armed forces had scrambled fighter jets twice. Defence Minister Stefan Radu Oprea said there were ​no casualties and that the ships' crews had managed to control the fires on board after the strikes late on Saturday.