World News Roundup: Regulations on online opinion?; EU leaders fire starting gun for top jobs race

UK equality watchdog opens antisemitism probe into opposition Labour party

Britain's equality watchdog said on Tuesday it was launching a formal investigation to determine whether Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party has discriminated against, harassed or victimized people because they are Jewish. Labour, Britain's main opposition party, has promised to co-operate fully with the investigation, it added.

Merkel heir faces widespread criticism after proposal to regulate online opinion

Chancellor Angela Merkel's heir apparent faced criticism from across Germany's political spectrum on Tuesday after she called for rules about expressing online opinions before elections in response to a YouTube video that criticized her party. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who replaced Merkel as leader of the ruling CDU last year, denied she was promoting censorship after her comments, which were prompted by a YouTube video by a popular 26-year-old blogger named Rezo.

Knife-wielding man slashes schoolgirls at bus stop in Japan, killing two

A knife-wielding man slashed at a group of schoolgirls at a bus stop in Japan on Tuesday, killing one girl and an adult who may have been the father of one child, media reported. Sixteen other girls between the ages of 6 and 12 and a woman were wounded in the attack by a middle-aged man who died later of a self-inflicted wound, broadcaster NHK said, citing police.

Austria's Kurz leaves office, eyes return within months

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz left office on Tuesday after parliament voted out his conservative provisional government, blaming him in part for a political crisis triggered by a video sting scandal that felled his far-right deputy. President Alexander Van der Bellen formally relieved the cabinet of its duties and asked ministers except Kurz to carry on for some days until a caretaker cabinet is chosen pending the next parliamentary election, expected in September.

EU leaders fire starting gun for top jobs race

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will lock horns in Brussels on Tuesday as European Union leaders meet to begin bargaining over who will take the bloc's top jobs for the next five years. An EU-wide election last week returned a European Parliament with a splintered center and gains by pro-EU liberals and greens as well as eurosceptic nationalists and the far-right.

Britain's Hunt says pursuing no-deal Brexit would be "political suicide"

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it would be "political suicide" for Britain to pursue a no-deal Brexit, becoming the most senior figure vying to succeed Prime Minister Theresa May to rule it out and drawing a battle line with rival contenders. Hunt's remarks put him at odds with most other candidates including the frontrunner, Hunt's predecessor as foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who has said Britain should quit the EU with or without a deal by the end of October.

Trump expects Japan's military to reinforce United States in Asia and beyond

U.S. President Donald Trump expects that Japan's military will reinforce U.S. forces throughout Asia and elsewhere, he said on Tuesday, as the key U.S. ally upgrades the ability of its forces to operate further from its shores. Trump's comments followed his inspection of Japan's largest warship, the Kaga, a helicopter carrier designed to carry submarine-hunting helicopters to distant waters.

Sudan's opposition observes first day of strike

Sudan's alliance of opposition and protest groups held the first day of a strike on Tuesday as tensions mounted with the country's military rulers over the transition to democracy. Talks between the ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) alliance are at a standstill despite weeks of negotiations over whether civilians or the military will have the upper hand after the ousting of long-time president Omar al-Bashir last month.

U.S. walks out of U.N. arms forum as Venezuela takes chair

The United States walked out of the Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday to protest Venezuela assuming the rotating presidency of the U.N.-sponsored forum - as it did a year ago when Syria took the chair. "We have to try to do what we can to prevent these types of states from presiding over international bodies," Robert Wood, U.S. disarmament ambassador, told reporters after leaving the session in Geneva.

Iran sees no prospect of negotiations with U.S.: foreign ministry

Iran sees no prospect of negotiations with the United States, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal with Tehran on its nuclear program was possible. Washington withdrew last year from a 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran and is ratcheting up sanctions in efforts to strangle Iran's economy by ending its international sales of crude oil.