Reuters World News Summary

Turkey rebutted claims by Iraq that it had carried out a strike that killed eight tourists and wounded another 23 people, saying the attack was a terror act. Russia's war aims in Ukraine widen, U.S. says any annexations will be challenged Russia's military "tasks" in Ukraine now go beyond the eastern Donbas region, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, as its forces shelled eastern and southern Ukraine.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

CIA director estimates 15,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war

The United States estimates that Russian casualties in Ukraine so far have reached around 15,000 killed and perhaps 45,000 wounded, CIA Director William Burns said on Wednesday, adding that Ukraine has also endured significant casualties. Nearly five months since President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Russia's neighbor, its forces are grinding through the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and occupy around a fifth of the country.

EU tells members to cut gas usage amid new Putin warning

The European Union told member states on Wednesday to cut gas usage by 15% until March as an emergency step after President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian supplies sent via the biggest pipeline to Europe could be reduced further and might even stop. Deliveries via Nord Stream 1, which accounts for more than a third of Russian gas exports to the EU, are due to resume on Thursday after a 10-day halt for annual maintenance.

U.S. condemns strike in Iraq's northern Dohuk area

The United States on Wednesday condemned a shelling that killed civilians in the northern Dohuk region of Iraq, the State Department said in a statement. "The killing of civilians is unacceptable, and all states must respect their obligations under international law, including the protection of civilians," spokesperson Ned Price said.

Sri Lanka gets new president in six-time PM Wickremesinghe

Sri Lankan lawmakers voted in acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new president on Wednesday, hoping his long experience in government can help pull the country out of a crippling economic and political crisis. The six-time prime minister won 134 votes in the 225-member parliament, despite public anger with the ruling elite after months of severe shortages of fuel, food and medicines. A popular uprising ousted his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week.

Turkey rejects responsibility for attack on Iraq's Dohuk that killed eight

Iraq's government will call back the Iraqi charge d'affaires in Turkey for consultation after accusing Ankara of carrying out a strike on a mountain resort in the northern province of Dohuk, the state news agency INA reported. Turkey rebutted claims by Iraq that it had carried out a strike that killed eight tourists and wounded another 23 people, saying the attack was a terror act.

Russia's war aims in Ukraine widen, U.S. says any annexations will be challenged

Russia's military "tasks" in Ukraine now go beyond the eastern Donbas region, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, as its forces shelled eastern and southern Ukraine. Lavrov also told state news agency RIA Novosti that Moscow's objectives will expand still further if the West keeps supplying Kyiv with long-range weapons such as the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

Biden plans talks with China's Xi soon, casts doubt on Pelosi Taiwan trip

U.S. President Joe Biden plans to speak with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, by the end of the month at a moment of simmering tensions between the countries over Taiwan and trade. "I think I'll be talking to President Xi within the next 10 days," Biden told reporters as he returned from a climate-related trip to Massachusetts.

Wildfires rage across Europe as climate alarm sounded

Emergency services battled wildfires across swathes of southern Europe amid mass evacuations on Wednesday, as warnings sounded in London after Britain's hottest day that the fight against climate change needed to be stepped up. Hundreds fled in central Italy as gas tanks exploded in a forest fire near the Tuscan town of Lucca. Similar numbers fled in Greece as a blaze fuelled by gale-force winds raged in mountains north of Athens. Greek authorities said later in the day that the blaze had been tamed.

Ciro Gomes kicks off Brazil's presidential race with first official candidacy

Ciro Gomes, a left-of-center former governor, kicked off Brazil's presidential election season on Wednesday, becoming the first candidate to officially announce his candidacy for the Oct. 2 vote. Gomes, 64, presented himself as an alternative to the polarized choice of far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro or Workers Party leader and former two-term president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is leading in opinion polls.

Italian PM Draghi looks doomed after coalition splinters

Italy's government crumbled on Wednesday when three of Prime Minister Mario Draghi's main coalition partners snubbed a confidence vote he had called to try to end divisions and renew their fractious alliance. Draghi did win the vote in the upper house by 95 to 38 but many dozens of senators refused to take part, leaving his 18-month-old administration in tatters with an early election in September or October the most likely outcome.