Reuters World News Summary

Trump likely to address U.N. in person in September, says U.N. envoy U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to address the U.N. General Assembly in person in September, his U.N. envoy said on Thursday, while all other world leaders will send videos instead of traveling to New York amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Pompeo insists China 'tide is turning' at contentious U.S. Senate hearing

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted on Thursday the "tide is turning" in dealings with China, citing international support for Washington's policies even as he expressed "dismay" at the number of countries supporting Beijing's new security law for Hong Kong. Reflecting rising tensions between the world's two largest economies, Pompeo stressed President Donald Trump's tough line on China at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in which he repeatedly clashed with lawmakers over administration policies. Brazil President Bolsonaro says on antibiotics after feeling weak

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday that he felt a little weak a day earlier, is now taking antibiotics and has also taken a blood test. Bolsonaro made the remark during a live online broadcast and did not give further details. The president fell ill with the novel coronavirus earlier this month, but has subsequently recovered and tested negative. His wife announced she had the disease on Thursday. Trump likely to address U.N. in person in September, says U.N. envoy

U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to address the U.N. General Assembly in person in September, his U.N. envoy said on Thursday, while all other world leaders will send videos instead of traveling to New York amid the coronavirus pandemic. The annual high-level gathering had been shaping up to be a weeklong celebration of the 75th anniversary of the world body, but U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres suggested in May that leaders send video statements due to likely travel issues. Trump’s military shuffle in Europe will take time and be costly

The United States will take years to move its main military command in Europe from Germany to NATO headquarters in Belgium and updating facilities will be costly, three former senior officials said. Despite concerns that the move announced on Wednesday is politically motivated, they told Reuters that "streamlining and rationalising" the U.S. military presence in Europe made some strategic sense. EU sanctions Russian intelligence, North Korean, Chinese firms over alleged cyberattacks

The European Union imposed on Thursday travel and financial sanctions on a department of Russia's military intelligence service and on firms from North Korea and China over their suspected participation in major cyberattacks across the world. In its first ever sanctions related to cybercrime, the EU targeted the department for special technologies of the Russian military intelligence service, known as Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, it said in a statement. U.S. should not stand in way of U.N. chief naming new Libya envoy, Germany says

The United States should not stop United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from naming a new U.N. Libya envoy to replace Ghassan Salame who quit nearly five months ago, Germany's U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen said on Thursday. Salame, who headed the U.N. political mission and was charged with trying to mediate peace, quit because of stress after his last effort at peacemaking in the war-torn, oil producing country failed. U.S. lawmakers offer bill to boost aid for Ukraine military

Republican and Democratic U.S. senators introduced legislation to back Ukraine with $300 million of annual military financing and other support on Thursday, a year after the Eastern European country found itself at the center of President Donald Trump's impeachment. The bill was introduced by the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chairman Jim Risch and ranking member Bob Menendez, along with Republicans Rob Portman and John Barrasso and Democratic committee members Chris Murphy and Jeanne Shaheen. Colombian lawmakers propose allowing some pension withdrawals amid coronavirus

Colombian lawmakers have proposed a bill to Congress which would allow jobless people to withdraw up to 10% of their pension savings from private funds amid an economic crisis provoked by the coronavirus pandemic. Colombia's economy has been battered by the twin crisis of low oil prices and the coronavirus and unemployment has soared amid a months-long quarantine. As Cubans let guard down, coronavirus rebounds slightly

Just 10 days ago, Cuba registered zero new coronavirus cases for the first time since the start of its outbreak, burnishing its reputation for a textbook handling of disasters like hurricanes and now the fearsome pandemic. On Thursday though, top epidemiologist Francisco Duran berated Cubans in his daily briefing for letting their guard down too quickly, resulting in several new focal points of local transmission. U.S. urges Pakistan to act after American charged with blasphemy shot in court

The United States urged Pakistan on Thursday to take action over the killing of an American national in a crowded courtroom as he faced trial for blasphemy. Tahir Ahmed Naseem was shot multiple times at close range as he appeared in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday.