Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Dominican Republic steps up Haitian deportations, raising tensions

The Dominican Republic is stepping up deportations of Haitians and is creating a police unit focused on foreigners, fueling tensions between the two Caribbean nations whose relations have for decades been marred by migration disputes. Dominican President Luis Abinader last week issued a decree calling for stepped up migration protocols enforcement and the creation of a police unit to investigate foreigners living in "illegal land occupations."

West criticizes Russia at U.N. for Ukraine war after missile crash in Poland

The United States and its allies on Wednesday criticized Russia in the United Nations Security Council over missile attacks on Ukraine in a meeting a day after a missile that NATO said was a stray fired by Ukraine's air defenses crashed inside Poland. Military alliance NATO and member Poland said the missile was probably a stray fired by Ukraine's air defenses and not a Russian strike, easing international fears that the war could widen. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demurred, saying there was no doubt the missile was not Ukrainian.

NATO, Poland say missile was Ukrainian stray, easing fears of wider war

A missile that crashed inside Poland was probably a stray fired by Ukraine's air defences and not a Russian strike, Poland and military alliance NATO said on Wednesday, easing international fears that the war could spill across the border.

Nevertheless, NATO's chief said that Russia, not Ukraine, was still to blame for starting the war in the first place with its February invasion and launching scores of missiles on Tuesday that triggered Ukrainian defences.

U.S. sentences accused Chinese spy to 20 years in prison

A U.S. federal court in Cincinnati sentenced a Chinese national to 20 years in prison on Wednesday after he was convicted last year of plotting to steal trade secrets from several U.S. aviation and aerospace companies, the Justice Department said. Xu Yanjun, the first Chinese spy extradited to the United States for trial, was convicted in Nov. 2021 by a federal jury on counts of conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and trade secret theft.

Austrian banker fights extradition to U.S. on money laundering charges

The former chief executive of an Austrian bank who faces charges in the United States in relation to a bribery and money laundering conspiracy involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht asked a London court on Wednesday to refuse to extradite him. Peter Weinzierl – former chief executive of Meinl Bank, later renamed Anglo Austrian AAB Bank – is accused of helping launder hundreds of millions of dollars in a scheme involving the use of slush funds to pay bribes to public officials around the world.

Chinese and Indonesian presidents pledge more COVID vaccine cooperation

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indonesian President Joko Widodo held formal talks on Wednesday on the Indonesian island of Bali, with both leaders pledging closer cooperation on the development of COVID-19 vaccines. Xi told Widodo that China will promote joint research and development on vaccines and continue to support Indonesia in building a regional vaccine production centre, according to a readout published by the Chinese foreign ministry.

Analysis-Stray missile hit in Poland casts spotlight on NATO air defence gaps

Poland had started to bolster its air defences long before a stray missile landed just inside its border on Tuesday, but a robust shield for the skies along NATO's eastern flank is still a long way off after decades of neglect following the Cold War. The missile that hit Poland appears to have been fired by Ukraine's air defences rather than a Russian strike, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

Child hospitalized after traveling aboard Texas migrant bus to Philadelphia

Philadelphia emergency personnel took a child to hospital on Wednesday from a bus that had just arrived carrying migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border, and city officials chastised Texas Governor Greg Abbott for sending the bus without coordinating it in advance. The 10-year-old girl was taken to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for dehydration and a high fever, according to Democratic City Council Member Helen Gym, who was among the officials to greet the bus.

Xi asks Italian PM to help EU policy towards China remain 'positive' -state media

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday at the G20 summit in Indonesia that he hoped Italy would play an important role in helping the European Union's policy towards China remain "positive" and "independent." In their first-ever meeting, Xi and Meloni praised each other's countries as ancient civilisations, with Xi pointing out China's cooperation with Italy on battling COVID-19, and calling on China-Italy relations to become a "model for the development of relations between two countries with different social systems and cultural backgrounds," according to state broadcaster CCTV.

COP27: Greeted like a rock star, Brazil's Lula promises to protect Amazon

Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva received a superstar welcome at the COP27 summit in Egypt on Wednesday as he pledged to recommit the rainforest nation to tackling the climate crisis and offered to hold future U.N. climate talks. "I'm here today to say that Brazil is ready to come back," Lula said, drawing cheers from the crowd of delegates at the international climate summit in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.