World News Roundup: West weighs contentious anti-China move as U.N. rights council opens; Xi leaves China for the first time since COVID pandemic began to meet Putin and more

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed Ukraine's advance in the northeast Kharkiv province as a potential breakthrough in the six-month-old war, saying this winter could bring more rapid gains of territory if Kyiv can get more powerful weapons. Hundreds evacuated in west Indonesia after magnitude 6.1 earthquake About 200 people evacuated to higher ground after an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck islands in western Indonesia on Sunday, causing some property damage, the country's disaster mitigation agency BNPB said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

West weighs contentious anti-China move as U.N. rights council opens

Western countries face a dilemma as the U.N. Human Rights Council opens on Monday: confront China over human rights violations in its Xinjiang region and risk failing or miss the biggest opportunity to bring accountability in years. A report by the U.N. rights office on Aug. 31 found that China's "arbitrary and discriminatory detention" of Uyghurs and other Muslims there may constitute crimes against humanity. China vigorously denies any abuse.

Xi leaves China for the first time since COVID pandemic began to meet Putin

Xi Jinping will leave China this week for the first time in more than two years for a trip to Central Asia where he will meet Vladimir Putin just a month before Xi is poised to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. The trip, his first abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, shows just how confident Xi is about his grip on power in China and just how perilous the global situation has become: Russia's confrontation with the West over Ukraine, the crisis over Taiwan and a stuttering global economy.

Unrelenting COVID rules cast clouds over Hong Kong schools

In Hong Kong, stringent COVID-19 curbs have long made life for school students extremely hard. Now, a new rule requiring higher vaccination levels could upend what progress has been made towards resuming full-day in-person classes. Further delays to normal school life are likely to exacerbate youth mental health problems as well as give more people reason to leave the city, further undermining its status as an Asian financial hub, educators and business leaders warn.

Powerful quake hits Papua New Guinea, at least 4 dead

An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck eastern Papua New Guinea on Sunday killing at least four people, injuring others and damaging property and essential infrastructure. The quake hit about 67 km east of Kainantu and 80 kms north-west of Lae in the eastern PNG region, at about 9:45 am local time (2345 GMT Saturday), but was felt some 500 km (310 miles) away in the capital of Port Moresby.

Thousands of line streets as Queen Elizabeth's coffin leaves her home

Queen Elizabeth's coffin began a six-hour journey from her summer home in the Scottish Highlands to Edinburgh on Sunday as thousands lined the route in tribute to the late monarch, many in sombre silence, some applauding and others in tears. Shortly after 10 a.m. (0900 GMT), a hearse carrying Elizabeth's oak coffin emerged from the gates of Balmoral Castle, where she died on Thursday aged 96, to drive slowly towards the Scottish capital.

Russia hits Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv region, says defence ministry

Russian forces are hitting Ukrainian army positions in the Kharkiv region with precision strikes, the country's defence ministry said on Sunday. Strikes are being carried out by airborne troops, missiles and artillery, the ministry said on social media.

Ukraine forces push further after fall of Russian stronghold

Ukrainian forces kept pushing north in the Kharkiv region and advancing to its south and east, Ukraine's army chief said on Sunday, a day after their rapid gains made Russia abandon its main bastion in the area. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed Ukraine's advance in the northeast Kharkiv province as a potential breakthrough in the six-month-old war, saying this winter could bring more rapid gains of territory if Kyiv can get more powerful weapons.

Hundreds evacuated in west Indonesia after magnitude 6.1 earthquake

About 200 people evacuated to higher ground after an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck islands in western Indonesia on Sunday, causing some property damage, the country's disaster mitigation agency BNPB said. The quake in the Mentawai Islands west of Sumatra struck at a depth of 27 km (17 miles) and was followed by one of magnitude 5.3 in the same area, authorities said. There was no danger of tsunami.

Canada's Conservatives pick populist in bid to oust Trudeau's Liberals

Canada's Conservatives on Saturday picked Pierre Poilievre, a veteran parliamentarian who has promoted bitcoin as way to fight inflation, to spearhead the party's bid to oust the Liberals and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Poilievre, 43, won the leadership in the first round of a ranked ballot vote in which more than 400,000 members cast votes. Poilievre becomes the sixth Conservatives leader since 2015, a period in which they have lost three elections to Trudeau.

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant halts operations - Energoatom

Operations at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine have been fully stopped as a safety measure, Energoatom, the state agency in charge of the plant, said on Sunday. The plant "is completely stopped" after the agency disconnected the number 6 power unit from the grid at 3:41 a.m. (0041 GMT), it said in a statement. "Preparations are underway for its cooling and transfer to a cold state."

(With inputs from agencies.)