Reuters World News Summary

Foreign Secretary Truss is up against former finance minister Rishi Sunak in a race to court the 200,000 members of the Conservative Party who over the course of the summer will vote to choose the country's new prime minister. U.S. pledges more military aid to Ukraine, peace seems far off The United States promised more military support for Ukraine, including drones, and is doing preliminary work on whether to send fighter aircraft, as fighting raged on in the east of the country five months into Russia's invasion.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Britain's Sunak to put government on crisis footing -Times interview

Britain's former finance minister, Rishi Sunak, in the running to become the next prime minister, would put the government on a crisis footing from "day one" of taking office, he said in an interview with The Times on Friday. Over the next week, Sunak intends to argue that Britain is facing a national emergency on five fronts including the economy, the National Health Service and migration, the newspaper reported.

Tunisian police disperse protesters with pepper spray and sticks

Tunisian police used pepper spray and sticks on Friday to disperse dozens of protesters who were trying to march towards the Interior Ministry during a demonstration against a draft constitution expanding presidential powers. The protesters, including leaders in political parties and civil society organisations, chanted "No to a dictator's constitution" and "Freedom, freedom... end the police state" as they gathered on the central Habib Bourguiba Avenue.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka swears in new prime minister

Senior Sri Lankan lawmaker Dinesh Gunawardena was sworn in on Friday as the new prime minister, his office said, a day after the swearing-in of a new president as the Indian Ocean nation grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades. The event came just hours after security forces raided a protest camp on government grounds in the main city of Colombo and cleared part of it, with at least nine arrests, as the new administration moves to crack down on protesters.

Analysis-Putin bets on an ancient weapon in Ukraine: time

Russian President Vladimir Putin is betting on an ancient weapon more powerful than any of the missiles now being supplied by the United States and its European allies to Ukraine: time. Nearly five months since Putin ordered the Feb. 24 invasion that has devastated parts of Ukraine, Russia is hoping that Western resolve will be sapped by alarm over surging global energy and food prices that the war has helped to stoke.

World Court says it has jurisdiction, Myanmar genocide case to proceed

The World Court on Friday rejected Myanmar's objections to a genocide case over its treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority, paving the way for the case to be heard in full. Myanmar, now ruled by a military junta that seized power in 2021, had argued that Gambia, which brought the suit, had no standing to do so at the top U.N. court, formally known as the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

UK leadership candidate Truss pledges to ditch all EU laws by 2023

Liz Truss, the leading candidate to succeed Boris Johnson as British prime minister, promised to scrap all remaining European Union laws that still apply in Britain by 2023 if she wins the Conservative Party leadership contest. Foreign Secretary Truss is up against former finance minister Rishi Sunak in a race to court the 200,000 members of the Conservative Party who over the course of the summer will vote to choose the country's new prime minister.

U.S. pledges more military aid to Ukraine, peace seems far off

The United States promised more military support for Ukraine, including drones, and is doing preliminary work on whether to send fighter aircraft, as fighting raged on in the east of the country five months into Russia's invasion. Moscow and Kyiv signed a landmark deal on Friday to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports. However, representatives declined to sit at the same table and avoided shaking hands at the agreement ceremony in Istanbul, reflecting wider enmity.

Russia's Lavrov to visit Africa as Moscow seeks non-Western ties

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will begin an African tour in Egypt on Sunday, seeking to draw on demand for non-Western alliances as Moscow pushes back against international censure over the war in Ukraine. In Egypt, Lavrov will meet officials trying to square deep links to Russia with their close relationship to the United States, which along with other Western powers sought to isolate Russia with tough sanctions after its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. discussing America-made fighter jets for Ukraine

The United States is exploring whether it can send U.S.-made fighter jets to Ukraine, a White House spokesman told reporters on Friday as the conflict with Russia enters its fifth month and fighting rages in eastern Ukraine. While the Biden administration was making preliminary explorations into the feasibility of potentially providing the jets to Ukraine, the move is not something that would be done immediately, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a briefing.

U.S. to push Russia to fulfill Ukraine grain deal, says China is stockpiling

The United States said on Friday it will hold Russia accountable for implementing a U.N.-brokered deal to resume Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports and called out China for stockpiling grain that could be used for global humanitarian needs. Russia and Ukraine are major global wheat suppliers, and Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor sent food prices soaring, stoking a global food crisis the World Food Programme says has pushed some 47 million people into "acute hunger."