Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. China says confident of Central Asia support before Pompeo visit

Attempts to sow discord over Chinese policies in its Xinjiang region will fail, China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to neighboring central Asia. Many Western countries have expressed deep concern at reports China has interned Muslims in its far western region of Xinjiang in harsh conditions, with Pompeo particularly critical. Beijing says it is running a vocational training program to fight extremism. Let's get Brexit done and end division in 2020, Johnson tells Britons

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would bring his divided nation back together next year when Britain leaves the European Union, telling Britons they were set for a "fantastic year and a remarkable decade". Fresh from winning a large parliamentary majority in an election just over two weeks ago, Johnson said in a New Year's message that his first job was to ensure Brexit was delivered, more than three years after Britain voted to leave the EU, and then to heal the wounds the vote had opened. Protesters demonstrate at U.S. Embassy in Iraq in new test for Trump

Protesters angry about U.S. air strikes on Iraq hurled stones and torched a security post at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, setting off a confrontation with guards and posing a new challenge for U.S. President Donald Trump. The protests, led by Iranian-backed militias, prompted the United States to deploy additional U.S. Marines to protect embassy personnel who were huddled inside the facility. Trump threatened to retaliate against Iran. Kim says North Korea to show 'new strategic weapon' in near future

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday said his country will continue developing nuclear programmes and introduce a "new strategic weapon" in the near future, state media KCNA said, after the United States missed a year-end deadline for a restart of denuclearization talks. Kim convened a rare four-day meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's policy-making committee since Saturday as the United States had not responded to his repeated calls for concessions to reopen negotiations, dismissing the deadline as artificial. U.S. alarmed by China's trial and sentencing of pastor

The United States expressed alarm on Tuesday at the trial and sentencing to a nine-year prison term of the pastor of one of China's best-known unregistered "house" churches. Wang Yi, pastor of the Early Rain Covenant Church in China's southwestern city of Chengdu, was among dozens of the church's members and leaders detained by police in December 2018, most of whom were subsequently released. Thousands swarm to Australian beaches to escape bushfires

Thousands swarmed to beaches on Australia's east coast on Tuesday to escape fierce wildfires bearing down on several seaside towns, as the government readied naval vessels and military helicopters to aid firefighting and evacuations. Government officials called for Australian military support and assistance from U.S. and Canadian fire crews as authorities confirmed two people had died overnight, taking to 11 the total deaths in wildfires since the beginning of October. Disgruntled Pope Francis pulls himself free from woman's grasp

A visibly indignant Pope Francis had to pull himself away from a woman in a crowd in St Peter's Square on Tuesday after she grabbed his hand and yanked him toward her. Pope Francis was walking through the square in Vatican City and greeting pilgrims on his way to see the large Nativity scene set up in the huge, cobbled esplanade. Angola hits 'Princess' dos Santos with asset freeze

Angola has frozen the assets of Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of the country's previous leader, in a sign that President João Lourenço is taking a tougher line against the former first family. Since ending José Eduardo dos Santos' nearly 40-year grip on power in 2017, Lourenço has been trying to erase the influence of his predecessor and reform sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest economy. But Lourenço is under pressure as the economy continues to contract under his watch. Hong Kong rings in 2020 with democracy chants instead of harbor fireworks

Thousands of Hong Kong revelers welcomed in 2020 on neon-lit promenades along the picturesque Victoria Harbour, breaking into pro-democracy chants as the clocks struck midnight after more than half a year of often violent unrest. Protesters briefly blocked Nathan Road, a key artery leading through Kowloon to the harbor, after forming human chains across the Chinese-ruled city and marching through shopping malls, urging people not to give up the fight for democracy in 2020. France's Macron: I want solid ties with post-Brexit Britain

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he wanted a strong relationship with post-Brexit Britain. Speaking in his traditional televised New Year's eve address to the nation, Macron said: "The United Kingdom's departure from the European Union is a test for our country. I will strive to maintain a solid relationship between our two countries."