Reuters World News Summary

Assange, 50, is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts, including a spying charge, relating to WikiLeaks' release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables which Washington said had put lives in danger. Moroccan and Briton appeal death sentences in separatist-controlled east Ukraine A Moroccan and a British fighter sentenced to death by a Russian-backed separatist court in east Ukraine for fighting for Ukraine have appealed against their sentences, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Friday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Russian missile strikes near Ukraine's Odesa kill 21

Russia flattened part of an apartment building while residents slept on Friday in missile attacks near Ukraine's port of Odesa that authorities said killed at least 21 people, hours after Russian troops abandoned the Black Sea outpost of Snake Island. Residents in the resort village of Serhiivka helped workers pick through the rubble of the nine-storey apartment block, a section of which had been destroyed in the early-morning strike.

Ukraine's Berlin envoy draws Israeli, Polish ire with views on WW2 nationalist

Ukraine's outspoken ambassador to Germany, a talkshow staple who was central to the public debates that led Berlin to step up weapons deliveries to Kyiv, is facing criticism for defending World War Two Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera in an interview. Andriy Melnyk is easily the best known ambassador in Berlin, known for robust social media exchanges in which he condemned as appeasers politicians and intellectuals who opposed arming Ukraine for its fight against Russian invaders.

Migrant caravan leaves southern Mexico days after Texas tragedy

Thousands of people set off on foot from southern Mexico early Friday morning, undeterred in their efforts to reach the United States even after the deaths of at least 53 migrants in Texas this week highlighted the dangers facing many migrants. The group, mostly of young men from Central America, Venezuela and Cuba, included families walking with children and babies in strollers.

Palestinians pin scant hope on Biden visit after setbacks under Trump

As the United States strives to boost defence ties between Israel and Arab states, Palestinians await with increasing gloom the first visit of President Joe Biden after what they see as a string of broken promises by Washington. Requests for the reopening of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, closed by former President Donald Trump, or lifting the classification of the Palestine Liberation Organization as a terrorist organisation have gone unheard, Palestinians say.

WikiLeaks' Assange lodges appeal against U.S. extradition

WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has appealed to the High Court in London to block his extradition to the United States to face criminal charges, his brother said on Friday, the latest step in his legal battle that has dragged on for more than a decade. Assange, 50, is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts, including a spying charge, relating to WikiLeaks' release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables which Washington said had put lives in danger.

Moroccan and Briton appeal death sentences in separatist-controlled east Ukraine

A Moroccan and a British fighter sentenced to death by a Russian-backed separatist court in east Ukraine for fighting for Ukraine have appealed against their sentences, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Friday. TASS said the Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a territory recognised only by Russia and Syria, had received appeals from lawyers for Brahim Saadoun and Shaun Pinner.

Jailed South African paralympic star Pistorius met victim's father

Former South Africa paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius, jailed in 2016 for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, last week met her father, a lawyer for the Steenkamp family said on Friday. The lawyer, Tania Koen, said Pistorius took part in a process known as victim-offender dialogue - an integral part of South Africa's restorative justice programme that brings parties affected by a crime together in a bid to achieve closure.

Angry protests against feuding leaders grip Libyan cities

Fury at Libya's feuding leaders boiled over on Friday as protesters stormed the parliament building in the eastern city of Tobruk and staged the biggest demonstration for years in the capital Tripoli, in the west. The Tobruk protesters, accusing the parliament of treason and stealing public money, some eight years after its election, broke into the building and set fire to parts of it as armed forces there withdrew.

U.S. sending Ukraine two surface-to-air missile systems -Pentagon

The United States is sending Ukraine two NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, four additional counter-artillery radars and up to 150,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition as part of its latest weapons packages for Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Friday. The assistance package, worth about $820 million, was broadly announced by U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday in Madrid following a gathering of NATO leaders that was focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In Switzerland, first same-sex couples say "I do"

Alois Carnier, 57, and Peter Leu, 67, said "wholeheartedly, I do" to each other on Friday as same-sex marriages became legal in Switzerland. It is the first time two men have walked out of the civil registry in their town of Schaffhausen as husband and husband.

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