World News Roundup: Bahamas hurricane survivors tell of children swept away; Talks to end violent south Yemen power struggle stall: officials

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Flow of undocumented migrants towards U.S. border fell 56%: Mexican foreign minister

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday that the country's immigration plan had reduced the flow of undocumented migrants crossing the country towards the U.S. border by 56% between May and August.

In Europe, U.S. defense secretary calls for greater effort to counter China, Russia

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, in his first major speech, on Friday called for a greater European focus on tackling what he called growing security and economic threats from China and Russia. Last year, the U.S. military put countering China and Russia at the center of a new national defense strategy, the latest sign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants.

Bahamas hurricane survivors tell of children swept away; death toll reaches 30

Richard Johnson said his six-year-old brother Adrian was just too small to withstand Hurricane Dorian. The boy was blown into churning storm surge and is among thousands of people missing, many of them children, after the worst hurricane to hit the Bahamas. It was one of many harrowing stories emerging on Thursday as residents searched for loved ones and widespread looting was reported on the islands, where the United Nations estimates 70,000 people are in immediate need of food, water and shelter.

Robert Mugabe: death of a liberation 'colossus' who crushed his foes as Zimbabwe unraveled

Robert Mugabe, the bush war guerrilla who led Zimbabwe to independence in 1980 and crushed his foes during nearly four decades of rule as his country descended into poverty, hyperinflation and unrest, died on Friday. He was 95. He was one of the most polarizing figures in his continent's history, a giant of African liberation, whose rule finally ended in ignominy when he was overthrown by his own army. He died in Singapore, where he had long received medical treatment.

Opposition to block British PM Johnson's snap election gamble

British opposition parties said on Friday that they would block Prime Minister Boris Johnson's second bid to call a snap general election in mid-October, setting up a showdown with the government over delaying Brexit. Brexit remains up in the air more than three years after Britons voted to leave the bloc in a 2016 referendum. Options range from a turbulent no-deal exit to abandoning the whole endeavor.

Exclusive: Libyan state oil firm cuts back fuel supplies to east amid battle over capital

Libya's state oil firm has restricted kerosene supplies to areas controlled by eastern commander Khalifa Haftar in what diplomats and oil officials said was an attempt to prevent his troops using them in their five-month-old battle to take the capital. The reduction in volumes sent east in August was a reversal by state oil firm NOC, which works with internationally-backed authorities based in the capital Tripoli and also has to cooperate with Haftar's forces as they control major oilfields.

Iran 'inching' toward place where talks could be held: Pentagon chief

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday that it appeared Iran was inching toward a place where talks could be held, days after U.S. President Donald Trump left the door open to a possible meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Friction between the two countries has deepened since Trump last year withdrew from a 2015 international accord under which Iran had agreed to rein in its atomic program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

Talks to end violent south Yemen power struggle stall: officials

Talks to end a violent power struggle in south Yemen have stalled and both sides appear to be preparing to resume fighting, officials said on Friday, suggesting more turmoil lies ahead on a new battlefront that risks further fragmenting Yemen. Saudi Arabia, leader of an Arab coalition battling Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, is hosting indirect talks to resolve the crisis between UAE-backed separatists and the Saudi-backed government amid a rift between Riyadh and its ally Abu Dhabi.

Madagascar forest destruction wiping out humans' tiniest relative

As a shocked world watches fires ravage the Amazon, slash-and-burn farmers are wreaking proportionally worse destruction half a world away in Madagascar, driving humanity's smallest relative - the Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur - to extinction. Frustrated conservationists hope Friday's arrival of the environmentally-conscious Pope Francis will spotlight the island that lost 2% of primary rainforest last year, the highest of any tropical nation according to the World Resources Institute.

Hong Kong braces for weekend protests as leader fails to appease activists

Hong Kong is bracing for more demonstrations this weekend, with protesters threatening to disrupt transport links to the airport as embattled leader Carrie Lam's withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill fails to appease some activists. Protesters plan to block traffic to the city's international airport on Saturday, a week after thousands of demonstrators disrupted transport links, which saw some of the worst violence since the unrest escalated three months ago.

Also Read: Robert Mugabe Timeline-A look at the life of Zimbabwe's late president

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)