Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Latest Sri Lanka arrest throws spotlight on Wahhabism in eastern hotbed

Sri Lankan authorities have arrested a Saudi-educated scholar for what they claim are links with Zahran Hashim, the suspected ringleader of the Easter Sunday bombings, throwing a spotlight on the rising influence of Salafi-Wahhabi Islam on the island's Muslims. Mohamed Aliyar, 60, is the founder of the Centre for Islamic Guidance, which boasts a mosque, a religious school and a library in Zahran's hometown of Kattankudy, a Muslim-dominated city on Sri Lanka's eastern shores. Egypt sentences two to death over church attack

An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced two men to death and eight others to between three years and life in prison over an attack on a church and Christian-owned shop in Cairo that killed 10 people. A gunman opened fire in December 2017 on Christians in a shop in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan, killing two people, before firing on the entrance to the nearby Mar Mina church, where he killed seven Christian worshippers and a policeman. U.N. Secretary-General warns world 'not on track' to limiting temperature rise to 1.5 percent: TVNZ

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the world was "not on track" to limiting global temperature rises to 1.5%, TVNZ reported on Sunday, during his visit to New Zealand. Speaking to the media in Auckland alongside New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Guterres warned about the dangers of not addressing climate change. Myanmar pilot safely lands plane on its nose after landing gear failure

A Myanmar pilot safely landed a passenger jet without its front wheels on Sunday, after landing gear on the Myanmar National Airlines plane failed to deploy, the airline and an official said. It was the second aviation incident in Myanmar this week, after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off the runway during strong wind in Yangon on Wednesday, injuring at least 17 of those on board. Lebanese Maronite patriarch who opposed Syrian army presence dies

Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, the former patriarch of Lebanon's Maronite church who presented himself as a champion of Christian rights and pushed for Syrian forces to leave his country, died early on Sunday, state news agency NNA reported. Born in Reifoun in Lebanon's mountainous Kisrwan district in 1920, Sfeir played a prominent role from the time of the 1975-90 civil war. He resigned as patriarch in 2011. Iran's Guards commander says U.S. military presence in Gulf is 'an opportunity': ISNA

The United States' military presence in the Gulf used to be a serious threat but now it is an opportunity, a senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). The U.S. military has sent forces, including an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers, to the Middle East to counter what U.S. officials have said are “clear indications” of threats from Iran to its forces there. Brexit anger makes European vote 'difficult' for Conservatives: UK minister

European elections will be difficult for Britain's governing Conservatives, their education minister said on Sunday, after the party slumped into fourth place in an opinion poll and a new Brexit Party took top spot. Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the country's Brexit process has become mired in chaos with Prime Minister Theresa May's inability so far to get a deal through parliament fuelling anger among voters. U.N. says first day of Houthi withdrawal from Yemen ports went to plan

The first day of a withdrawal of forces by Yemen's Houthi movement from three of Yemen's Red Sea ports went "in accordance with established plans", the head of a U.N. mission to monitor the deal said on Sunday. "All three ports were monitored simultaneously by United Nations teams as the military forces left the ports and the Coast Guard took over responsibility for security," Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, head of the U.N.'s Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), said in a statement. Pope approves visits to contested Bosnian shrine

Pope Francis has approved pilgrimages to Medjugorje, a village in Bosnia that is steeped in controversy over whether the Madonna appears to local people, the Vatican said on Sunday. A statement by spokesman Alessandro Gisotti, said, however, that the official approval should not be interpreted as Church authentication of the alleged apparitions, because more investigation and study was needed. Pakistan security forces kill attackers after raid on luxury hotel

Pakistani security forces have killed three separatist insurgents who had stormed a luxury hotel in the port city of Gwadar 24 hours earlier, the military said on Sunday. Officials said three gunmen dressed as military officers raided the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel on Saturday, killing three hotel security guards, an employee and a navy soldier in the ensuing gunbattle.