Reuters World News Summary

Abbas reiterated his demand that the United States pressure Israel to stop its "crimes against the Palestinian people", the WAFA report said, "including blockades, extrajudicial killings, home demolitions, and settlement construction". Exclusive-Crypto exchange Binance helped Iranian firms trade $8 billion despite sanctions Crypto giant Binance has processed Iranian transactions with a value of $8 billion since 2018 despite U.S. sanctions intended to cut Iran off from the global financial system, blockchain data show.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Outspoken Putin ally Prigozhin's St Petersburg defence tech centre opens

Russia's Wagner Group, a private militia controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, opened a military technology centre in St. Petersburg on Friday, the latest move by the Putin ally who has criticized the Kremlin's defence top brass over the Ukraine conflict. The opening of the "Wagner Centre" is seen as another step by Prigozhin to publicise his military credentials and take a more public role in shaping Russia's defence policy.

Xi, Scholz warn against 'irresponsible' nuclear threats over Ukraine

Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday condemned threats to use atomic weapons in Ukraine, with Scholz warning that Russia risked "crossing a line" in the international community by resorting to nuclear force. In the first visit by a G7 leader to China since the COVID-19 pandemic, Scholz pressed Xi to prevail on Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine, saying Beijing had a responsibility as a major power to do so.

Trump ally Barrack acquitted of acting as UAE foreign agent

Tom Barrack, a onetime private equity executive and fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, was found not guilty by a jury on Friday of unlawfully acting as an agent of the United Arab Emirates. Barrack, who chaired the former president's 2017 inaugural committee and served as an informal adviser to the campaign, was acquitted of all nine counts he faced, including conspiracy to act as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to the FBI in 2019 during their probe of his interactions with Emirati officials and their representatives.

Iran celebrates 1979 U.S. embassy seizure amid anti-government protests

Iran held state-sponsored annual rallies on Friday marking the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, as the clerical establishment that has ruled since then struggles to suppress nationwide protests calling for its downfall. Radical students cemented Iran's Islamic Revolution by storming the embassy soon after the fall of the U.S.-backed Shah, and 52 Americans were held hostage there for 444 days.

Five women found dead in violent Mexican state

Five women were found dead in a central Mexican state suffering from a wave of violent crime against women, local authorities said on Friday. Their bodies were found on Friday morning in the city of Cuautla, Morelos, which borders Mexico City. The women were likely killed in disputes linked to organized crime, Morelos' attorney general Uriel Carmona told news network Milenio.

Putin endorses evacuation of parts of Ukraine's Kherson region

Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly endorsed the evacuation of civilians from parts of Ukraine's southern Kherson region on Friday, the latest sign of Russia's retreat in one of the most bitterly contested areas in Ukraine. "Now, of course, those who live in Kherson should be removed from the zone of the most dangerous actions, because the civilian population should not suffer," Putin told pro-Kremlin activists as he marked Russia's Day of National Unity.

Ukrainian troops fire on Russians with captured weapons near key city

Ukrainian forces using captured weapons fired at Russian targets near the key eastern city of Bakhmut on Friday as fighting dragged on in an area that Moscow is trying hard to capture. Russian forces have repeatedly launched attacks against Bakhmut and nearby Avdiivka in the Donetsk region but are being pushed back with what Kyiv says are heavy losses.

Blinken warns Israeli PM, Palestinian president of West Bank escalation

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, the official WAFA news agency reported, in a first call after Israel's veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu led a far-right alliance to a general election victory. Abbas reiterated his demand that the United States pressure Israel to stop its "crimes against the Palestinian people", the WAFA report said, "including blockades, extrajudicial killings, home demolitions, and settlement construction".

Exclusive-Crypto exchange Binance helped Iranian firms trade $8 billion despite sanctions

Crypto giant Binance has processed Iranian transactions with a value of $8 billion since 2018 despite U.S. sanctions intended to cut Iran off from the global financial system, blockchain data show. Almost all the funds, some $7.8 billion, flowed between Binance and Iran's largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, according to a review of data from leading U.S. blockchain researcher Chainalysis. Nobitex offers guidance on its website on how to skirt sanctions.

Analysis-Sanctions fail to halt North Korea's accelerating weapons programs

Economic sanctions, the primary means the United States has used for years to try to exert pressure on North Korea, have abjectly failed to halt its nuclear and missile programs or to bring the reclusive northeast Asian state back to the negotiating table. Instead, North Korea's ballistic missile program has become stronger and it has carried out a record-breaking testing regime of multiple types of weapons this year - including of intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland. Expectations are that it may soon end a self-imposed five-year moratorium on nuclear bomb testing.