Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Leaders land in Indonesia for G20 summit; US seeks no conflict with China, says Biden U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday his country will maintain open communication lines and seek no conflict with China, ahead of what are expected to be tense talks on a range of geopolitical issues at the G20 summit in Indonesia this week. Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are on Monday set to meet face-to-face for the first time since Biden took office, as bilateral relations languish at their worst in decades.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Leaders land in Indonesia for G20 summit; US seeks no conflict with China, says Biden

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday his country will maintain open communication lines and seek no conflict with China, ahead of what are expected to be tense talks on a range of geopolitical issues at the G20 summit in Indonesia this week.

Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are on Monday set to meet face-to-face for the first time since Biden took office, as bilateral relations languish at their worst in decades. Jake Sullivan, a national security adviser to Biden, told reporters the meeting could last "a couple of hours".

Tapped to head new hard-right government, Netanyahu pledges Israeli unity

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received an official mandate on Sunday to form a new government and pledged that he would seek national consensus after an election in which Jewish far-rightists surged, drawing concern at home and abroad. Tasking Netanyahu with building the next coalition, President Isaac Herzog noted that Israel's longest-serving premier had received enough recommendations from like-minded parties to secure 64 of parliament's 120 seats.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives in Bali for G20 summit

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived at the G20 Summit in Indonesia, the Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement late Sunday. Sunak is expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the summit, the statement said.

Six dead in Istanbul blast, Erdogan says it 'smells like terrorism'

Six people were killed and 81 others wounded on Sunday when an explosion rocked a busy pedestrian street in central Istanbul in what Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called a bomb attack that "smells like terrorism". Hundreds of people fled the historic Istiklal Avenue after the blast, as ambulances and police raced in. The area, in the Beyoglu district of Turkey's largest city, had been crowded as usual at the weekend with shoppers, tourists and families.

Biden and Xi meet face-to-face as superpower relations mired in tensions

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in person on Monday for the first time since taking office, with U.S. concerns over Taiwan, Russia's war in Ukraine and North Korea's nuclear ambitions on top of his agenda. The long-awaited in-person meeting comes as relations between the superpowers have sunk to their lowest in decades. The two will meet on the Indonesian island of Bali ahead of the annual Group of 20 (G20) summit gathering leaders of the world's major developed and emerging economies.

Democrats defy 'red wave' forecasts to keep Senate control, eye Georgia

Democrats took a victory lap on Sunday after retaining control of the U.S. Senate, defying Republican hopes for a "red wave" in the midterm elections, and turned their attention to Georgia where a run-off contest could strengthen their hand in Congress. Democratic leaders portrayed the better-than-expected performance as vindication of their agenda and a rebuke of election denialism and extremist candidates on the right, even as Republicans edged towards control of the House of Representatives with a handful of key races yet to be called.

Zelenskiy accuses Russian troops of committing war crimes in Kherson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday accused Russian soldiers of committing war crimes and killing civilians in Kherson, parts of which were retaken by Ukraine's army last week after Russia pulled out. "Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

South Africa's Ramaphosa focuses on the poor as he seeks ANC re-election

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the plight of poor South Africans left out of nearly three decades of post-apartheid prosperity, he promised on Sunday ahead of a governing party election that will decide if he can run for a second term. Ramaphosa was concluding the African National Congress (ANC) executive committee meeting before an elective conference next month chooses the party's candidate for 2024 national elections.

Tens of thousands protest Mexican president's electoral reform plan

Tens of thousands took to the streets in Mexico on Sunday to protest President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's plan to overhaul the country's electoral commission INE in what they fear would concentrate power in the hands of the government. Lopez Obrador, who put the plan forward in April, has long criticized the country's electoral authorities, including accusing them of helping to engineer his defeats when he ran for the presidency in 2006 and 2012.

Slovenia elects first female president

Natasa Pirc Musar, a lawyer, won the second round of Slovenia's presidential election on Sunday and will become its first female head of state, preliminary results showed. Pirc Musar, 54, won 53.86 percent of votes in the runoff, while her rival, right-wing politician and former foreign minister Andze Logar, won 46.14 percent, according to election commission data based on 99 percent of the votes counted.