Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Sudan military council, opposition inch closer to final deal

Sudan's Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the opposition Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) agreed the country's transition period would last for three years, a TMC member said on Wednesday, adding a final deal on the transition would be reached within 24 hours. Lieutenant General Yasser al-Atta also said DFCF will have two-thirds of the seats on a transitional legislative council and parties that are not part of the alliance will take the rest. Saudi oil facilities attacked, U.S. sees threat in Iraq from Iran-backed forces

Saudi Arabia said armed drones struck two of its oil pumping stations on Tuesday, two days after the sabotage of oil tankers near the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. military said it was braced for "possibly imminent threats to U.S. forces in Iraq" from Iran-backed forces. The attacks took place against a backdrop of U.S.-Iranian tension following Washington's decision this month to try to cut Iran's oil exports to zero and to beef up its military presence in the Gulf in response to what it said were Iranian threats. Britain's May to launch new push on her Brexit deal next month

British Prime Minister Theresa May will launch another push next month to approve Britain's exit from the European Union before the summer break, setting a new deadline for her Brexit plan and a potential timetable for her own departure. Nearly three years after the United Kingdom voted 52% to 48% to leave the EU, politicians still disagree about when, how or even if the divorce will take place. Putin says he senses Trump genuinely wants to repair U.S.- Russia ties

President Vladimir Putin told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday that he sensed that U.S. President Donald Trump genuinely wanted to repair battered relations between Russia and the United States. Putin, speaking ahead of talks with Pompeo, also said that Russia had never interfered in U.S. elections and that he and Pompeo had something to talk about when it came to stability on global energy markets. U.S. lawmakers want to tighten visas for Chinese students, researchers

A group of President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress introduced legislation on Tuesday intended to prohibit anyone employed or sponsored by the Chinese military from receiving student or research visas to the United States. The bill would require the U.S. government to create a list of scientific and engineering institutions affiliated with the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and prohibit anyone employed or sponsored by those institutions from receiving the visas. 'Poison pills': Pentagon tells EU not to block U.S. companies from defense pact

A new European Union military pact risks shutting American companies out of defense contracts and undermining NATO, the United States has told the bloc, hinting at possible retaliation. In a May 1 letter, the U.S. government said limitations on the involvement of non-EU countries under consideration in the European pact amounted to "poison pills". Trump denies U.S. plan to send 120,000 troops to counter Iran threat

President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied a New York Times report that U.S. officials were discussing a military plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter any attack or nuclear weapons acceleration by Iran. "I think it's fake news, OK? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that," Trump told reporters at the White House. Early version of U.S. House bill seeks to bar F-35 from Turkey

A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Tuesday released an early version of a spending bill that seeks to prevent the shipment of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, as U.S. officials press Turkey not to buy a Russian S-400 air defense system. The appropriations committee's bill forbids use of federal funds to deliver F-35s to Turkey. Congress often uses its control of federal government spending to influence policy by barring the use of funds. In this case, the measure would not allow any spending, for example, for fuel or pilots to fly the aircraft to Turkey Pompeo tells Russia: Don't meddle in next U.S. presidential election

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Russia on Tuesday that Washington would brook no interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and wanted Moscow to take action to show there would be no repeat of its suspected 2016 meddling. President Vladimir Putin, who met Pompeo in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, pushed back, telling him that Russia never interfered in U.S. elections and that a report by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which he praised as being "objective overall", had found no evidence of collusion with President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Venezuela top court accuses more lawmakers of treason as congress building blocked

Venezuela's top court accused four opposition lawmakers of treason on Tuesday, following similar accusations against 10 legislators this month, escalating a deep political crisis in the South American country. Security forces had earlier prevented lawmakers from entering the legislature for Tuesday's session, saying they were investigating the possible presence of an explosive device inside the building.