World News Roundup: NATO races to design long-term package for Ukraine but differences remain; Pope Francis orders ex-aide of Pope Benedict to leave Vatican and more

With four weeks to go until a NATO summit in Vilnius that is expected to approve the plan, there is agreement that Ukraine cannot join the alliance while fighting is still underway against Russian forces, a position accepted in early June by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after months of pleading for speedy admission. Pope Francis orders ex-aide of Pope Benedict to leave Vatican Pope Francis has ordered Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the private secretary and long-time aide of the late Pope Benedict, to return to his native Germany by the end of the month without any new assignment, the Vatican said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

NATO races to design long-term package for Ukraine but differences remain

NATO members are racing to complete a plan to provide long-term support to Ukraine, but are wrestling with how best to assure the country's security until it can join the military alliance, according to U.S. and European officials. With four weeks to go until a NATO summit in Vilnius that is expected to approve the plan, there is agreement that Ukraine cannot join the alliance while fighting is still underway against Russian forces, a position accepted in early June by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after months of pleading for speedy admission.

Pope Francis orders ex-aide of Pope Benedict to leave Vatican

Pope Francis has ordered Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the private secretary and long-time aide of the late Pope Benedict, to return to his native Germany by the end of the month without any new assignment, the Vatican said on Thursday. A Vatican statement put an end speculation about what role Gaenswein, a powerful figure in the Vatican for more than a decade before Francis sidelined him after a personal falling out, would have in the Church.

British actor Glenda Jackson, two-time Oscar winner then left-wing politician, dies aged 87

Actor Glenda Jackson, a two-time Oscar winner who later served as a socialist politician in the British parliament for 23 years, has died. She was 87. One of four daughters of a bricklayer and a cleaning lady in northwest England, Jackson never forgot her roots even as she made her name as one of the greatest women actors of her generation.

Greece scours shipwreck site; hundreds feared drowned in boat's hold

Rescuers scoured the seas off Greece on Thursday following a shipwreck that killed at least 79 migrants, as hopes of survivors dwindled and fears grew that hundreds more, including children, may have drowned trapped inside the crowded vessel's hold. Reports suggested between 400 and 750 people had packed the fishing boat that capsized and sank early on Wednesday morning in deep waters about 50 miles (80 km) from the southern coastal town of Pylos. Greek authorities said 104 survivors had been brought ashore.

US plays down chance of breakthrough from Blinken China visit after tense call

The United States on Wednesday played down expectations of any breakthrough from the first trip by a U.S. Secretary of State to China in five years, after a tense call with China's foreign minister ahead Antony Blinken's visit to Beijing next week. Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang urged the United States to stop meddling in its affairs and harming its security in a call with Blinken on Wednesday, and said it should respect China's core concerns to arrest declining relations between the superpowers, China's foreign ministry said.

North Korea fires two short-range missiles after warning of response to allied drills

North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Thursday, the South Korean military said, less than an hour after Pyongyang warned of an "inevitable" response to military drills staged earlier in the day by South Korean and U.S. troops. The latest action by North Korea came as U.S. President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was in Tokyo for meetings with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.

South Korea's Yoon oversees major live-fire drills with U.S

Several thousand South Korean and U.S. troops took part in joint live-fire exercises on Thursday, in a show of force after North Korea's failed attempt last month to launch a spy satellite ratcheted up tensions in the region. The drills, overseen by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, are also being held to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the countries and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the South Korean military, his office said.

Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament, says UK report dubbed 'a charade' by ex-PM

Boris Johnson deliberately misled the British parliament in an unprecedented way over rule-breaking parties at his office during COVID-19 lockdowns, a committee said on Thursday in a damning verdict that further tarnished the former prime minister

Almost a year ago, Johnson was talking about remaining prime minister into the 2030s. But the privileges committee - the main disciplinary body for lawmakers - said on Thursday he should now be stripped of having automatic access to parliament.

News junkies turn to TikTok to chart new paths in media

To make sense of the unprecedented events of Jan. 6, 2021, Vitus "V" Spehar did what no traditional journalist would do - crawl under a desk and begin recording a video for TikTok. Like others who watched on TV as the storming of the U.S. Capitol unfolded, Spehar, who uses the pronoun they, felt the need to talk about it. However, "I didn't want to make people think that I was an expert," said Spehar, who filmed the TikTok video from their home in Rochester, New York. "So I thought, where's a safe place to have a conversation?"

India, Pakistan evacuate over 180,000 people as cyclone approaches

Authorities in India and neighbouring Pakistan have evacuated more than 180,000 people from vulnerable coastal areas in the path of cyclone Biparjoy, set to whirl in from the Arabian Sea and make landfall by Thursday night. Biparjoy, which means 'disaster' or 'calamity' in the Bengali language, was centred 100 km (62 miles) off Jakhau port in India's western state of Gujarat and 240 km (149 miles) off Pakistan's southern port of Karachi, weather officials said.