Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Algeria awaits constitutional signal on Bouteflika's fate

Algerians waited on Wednesday for a decision by the constitutional council on whether ailing President Bouteflika is fit for office, after the top army officer called for his removal in a bid to defuse mass protests. Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah, addressing officers in a speech broadcast on Tuesday, said the solution to the biggest political crisis since the army canceled elections in 1992 would be the exit of the president on health grounds. Link between Christchurch attacker, Identitarian Movement: Austria's Kurz

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday said there was a financial link between the man who killed 50 people in mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the far-right Identitarian Movement in Austria. Hansjoerg Bacher, spokesman for prosecutors in Graz, said Martin Sellner, head of the Identitarian Movement - which says it wants to preserve Europe's identity - received 1,500 euros ($1,690) in early 2018 from a donor with the same name as the man charged with murder following the Christchurch attack. India shoots down satellite in test, Modi hails arrival as space power

India shot down one of its satellites in space with an anti-satellite missile on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, hailing the country's first test of such technology as a major breakthrough that establishes it as a space power. India would only be the fourth country to have used such an anti-satellite weapon after the United States, Russia and China, said Modi, who heads into general elections next month. May expected to offer her job for Brexit deal as parliament tries multiple choice

British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected on Wednesday to indicate a date for quitting as the price for getting her twice-defeated Brexit deal ratified, while parliament tries to select its own alternative from a multiple-choice list of options. As the United Kingdom's three-year Brexit crisis spins towards its finale, it is still uncertain how, when or even if it will leave the European Union, though May hopes to bring her deal back to parliament later this week. Tense calm on Gaza-Israel border after flareup

Schools reopened in southern Israel and traffic clogged Gaza's streets on Wednesday in signs of a pullback from the most serious escalation of cross-border fighting in months. But while violence eased amid Egyptian mediation, Israeli forces and Palestinian militants were on hair-trigger footing, with rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli air strikes in the enclave briefly resuming late on Tuesday after a day-long lull. 'A target on the back': North Korea embassy raid thrusts shadowy group into the spotlight

A shadowy group seeking to overthrow North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been thrust into the international spotlight after a Spanish court investigating a break-in at the North Korean embassy in Madrid named apparent members as suspects. Cheollima Civil Defense, also known as Free Joseon, first went public in 2017, when it said it was protecting the family of Kim Jong Un's half brother Kim Jong Nam, who was murdered in a Malaysian airport. Thailand's opposition forms alliance, claims lower house majority

Thailand's Pheu Thai party said on Wednesday it has formed a "democratic front" with other parties after a disputed election, and claimed that the alliance's 255 seats gave it a majority in the lower house of parliament and the right to try to form a government. However, the coalition would likely fall short of electing a prime minister, which requires a combined vote with the upper house of parliament, the Senate, which is entirely appointed by the military junta that in 2014 overthrew an elected Pheu Thai government. Saudi court resumes women activists' trial that has angered West

A Saudi court resumed on Wednesday the trial of prominent women activists facing charges related to their human rights work and contacts with foreign journalists and diplomats, in a case that has sharpened Western criticism of the kingdom. The women, including rights campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul, university professor Hatoon al-Fassi and blogger Eman al-Nafjan, were expected to respond to charges including some that rights groups say fall under an article of the kingdom's cybercrime law stipulating jail sentences of up to five years. Lithuania finds ex-Soviet defense minister guilty of war crimes

A Lithuanian court found former Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity on Wednesday for his role in a 1991 crackdown against the Baltic state's pro-independence movement. The Vilnius court sentenced Yazov, 94, in absentia to 10 years in prison. He was the highest-ranking person on a list of 67 former military officials and army officers being sentenced after the three-year trial. Iraq orders arrest of ex-governor after deadly ferry sinking

Iraq has issued a warrant for the arrest of the former governor of Nineveh on corruption charges after at least 90 people were killed in a ferry accident in the provincial capital Mosul, two court officials said on Wednesday. The warrant also included the arrest of some local officials after a court investigation concluded they colluded with the former governor in misusing their powers and committed financial violations, a Mosul court judge said.