Reuters World News Summary

At the meeting, the party discussed adding operation duties of the frontline units, modifying operation plans and restructuring key military organisational formations, Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said, adding Kim stressed the importance of efforts to enhance the operational capabilities of the frontline units. Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall are getting a divorce - NYT Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and actress Jerry Hall are getting a divorce, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Senegal's opposition supporters bang pots and pans in noisy protest

Senegalese honked car horns and banged on pots and pans in the capital Dakar on Wednesday evening in the latest protest organised by the political opposition ahead of legislative elections next month. Senegal's main opposition coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi, asked its supporters to come to their windows, balconies and doorways and clang lids together at 8 p.m. to signal their anger over the disqualification of their candidate list in the upcoming poll.

Killed Italian envoy's widow tearfully tells pope of husband's aid work

The Muslim widow of the Italian ambassador killed last year in Democratic Republic of Congo broke into tears on Wednesday as she told Pope Francis of her Catholic husband's commitment to help African children. Luca Attanasio, his bodyguard Vittorio Iacovacci and their driver Mustapha Milambo were killed during a botched kidnapping on a road in eastern Congo as they were heading to visit a United Nations humanitarian project at a school.

Russia's Lavrov to discuss Karabakh tensions with Azerbaijan - RIA

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Baku this week to discuss tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia's RIA news agency said on Wednesday. The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan controlled since the 1990s by ethnic Armenians supported by Yerevan, flared in 2020 into a six-week war in which Azeri troops regained swathes of territory.

Saudi crown prince, Erdogan meet in Turkey with 'full normalisation' in sights

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Turkey for the first time in years on Wednesday for talks with President Tayyip Erdogan aimed at fully normalising ties that were ruptured after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The visit marks a step in efforts by the de facto Saudi leader to rehabilite his image beyond the Gulf, and comes as Erdogan seeks financial support that could help relieve Turkey's beleaguered economy ahead of tight elections for the president.

Ukraine's Zelenskiy looks to EU offer as Russia pounds cities

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday hailed the European Union's expected offer of candidate status for his battle-weary nation as Russian forces pounded Ukraine's second-biggest city Kharkiv and the eastern Donbas region. European leaders will formally set Ukraine on the long road to EU membership at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. Though mainly symbolic, the move will help lift national morale at a very difficult time in a four-month conflict that has killed thousands, displaced millions and flattened towns and cities.

Argentine courts to try Maradona doctors, nurses for homicide

Eight people who took care of soccer legend Diego Maradona will be tried in Argentina courts for homicide, according to a ruling released on Wednesday following an investigation into his November 2020 death due to cardiac arrest. In the 236-page document seen by Reuters, the judge in charge of the case questioned "the behaviors - active or by omission - of each of the accused which led to and contributed to the realization of the harmful result."

N.Korea's Kim oversees military meeting amid potential nuclear test

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continued to preside over the second day of the nation's major party meeting on its military and defence policies on Wednesday, the state media reported on Thursday, amid concerns over a potential imminent nuclear test. At the meeting, the party discussed adding operation duties of the frontline units, modifying operation plans and restructuring key military organisational formations, Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said, adding Kim stressed the importance of efforts to enhance the operational capabilities of the frontline units.

Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall are getting a divorce - NYT

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and actress Jerry Hall are getting a divorce, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Murdoch got married to Hall in a low-key ceremony in central London in March 2016. The Fox Corp chairman and his former supermodel wife were frequent fodder for the tabloids, which chronicled their marriage at Spencer House and the festivities surrounding the elder Murdoch's 90th birthday celebration last year at Tavern on the Green in New York City.

Afghanistan earthquake kills at least 1,000, toll expected to rise

The death toll from an earthquake in Afghanistan on Wednesday hit 1,000, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages. Houses were reduced to rubble and bodies swathed in blankets lay on the ground after the magnitude 6.1 earthquake https://tmsnrt.rs/3xH5Dcp, photographs on Afghan media showed.

UK's Boris Johnson hopes Rwanda visit will help people shed 'condescending attitudes'

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was looking forward to visiting Rwanda on Thursday to help people shed their "condescending attitudes" to Rwanda after criticism of the government's plans to deport asylum seekers to the country. Johnson will meet with Prince Charles in Kigali on Friday on the sidelines of a meeting of Commonwealth leaders, after media reports the heir to the throne privately described the government's plans as "appalling".