World News Roundup: Exclusive-Taiwan on alert for Chinese-funded election interference; Biden will not 'lecture' Modi on human rights, White House says and more

Washington wants India to be a strategic counterweight to China while Modi is seeking to raise the influence that his country, now the world's most populous, has on the world stage. Ukraine to come up with new debt relief plan early next year Ukraine is likely to decide early next year whether to try and extend the current freeze on its international bond repayments or begin looking at potentially more complex alternatives, its top debt management chief said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Exclusive-Taiwan on alert for Chinese-funded election interference

Taiwan's government says China will try to interfere in key elections in January by illicitly funding Beijing-friendly candidates using communications apps or group tours, according to three internal security reports reviewed by Reuters. President Tsai Ing-wen's government has repeatedly warned of China's attempts to influence public opinion on the democratically governed island, which Beijing claims as its own territory despite Taipei's strong objections.

Biden will not 'lecture' Modi on human rights, White House says

U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Wednesday for two days of talks that the White House sees as bolstering "one of the defining partnerships of our age," despite ongoing concerns about human rights. Washington wants India to be a strategic counterweight to China while Modi is seeking to raise the influence that his country, now the world's most populous, has on the world stage.

Kenyan suspect in religious cult deaths dies in custody after hunger strike

A Kenyan accused of involvement in the deaths of hundreds of members of a starvation cult has died after a 10-day hunger strike in police custody, a prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Joseph Buyuka was among 30 people, including self-styled pastor Paul Mackenzie of Good News International Church, in custody over the deaths of 337 followers of the church.

After Roe v. Wade fell, this father-daughter duo left Texas to go on providing abortions

The day Alan Braid opened his abortion clinic for business in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last August, he looked out at a waiting room full of patients fresh off trips from Texas, some with suitcases in tow. Several months later, Dr. Braid's daughter Andrea Gallegos drew a similar crowd to the opening of their abortion clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, with patients arriving from far-flung states to end pregnancies.

Colombia senate votes down recreational marijuana bill

Colombia's Senate voted down a measure to approve the sale of recreational cannabis to adults late on Tuesday, although supporters including the government of leftist President Gustavo Petro said they would continue to pursue legalization. The South American country already allows some cannabis derived products, such as oils and creams, to be made and sold for medicinal uses, while legislation passed in the 1980s and 1990s allows consumption and the cultivation of up to 20 plants.

Ukraine to come up with new debt relief plan early next year

Ukraine is likely to decide early next year whether to try and extend the current freeze on its international bond repayments or begin looking at potentially more complex alternatives, its top debt management chief said. Kyiv's bondholders agreed last August to suspend Ukraine's repayments for two years, but attention is already turning to what to do next as the war with Russia continues to rage.

China hits back as Biden labels Xi a 'dictator'

China hit back on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden referred to President Xi Jinping as a "dictator", saying the remarks were absurd and a provocation in an unexpected row following efforts by both sides to lower tensions. Biden made his comments just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing to stabilize relations that China says are at their lowest point since formal ties were established.

Rescuers race to find Titanic sub after hearing undersea sounds

Rescue teams were racing on Wednesday to trace the origin of sounds heard from the depths of the North Atlantic in a search for a tourist submersible with five people on board that vanished on its descent to the century-old wreck of the Titanic. The U.S. Coast Guard said remotely operated vehicle (ROV) searches were deployed in the area where Canadian aircraft detected the undersea noises on Tuesday, as the clock ticked in the last 24 hours of the missing craft's presumed air supply.

Ukraine offensive 'slower than desired', Zelenskiy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that progress in Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian forces was "slower than desired" but that Kyiv would not be pressured into speeding it up as its troops advance through dangerous minefields. "Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It's not," Britain's BBC quoted him as saying in an interview. "What's at stake is people's lives."

In Africa, France targets Russian and Wagner disinformation

After armed men killed nine Chinese nationals at a gold mine in Central African Republic in March, a video circulated on the internet saying France had secretly ordered the attack and planned to discredit Russian mercenary group Wagner in the country. In the video, a Central African Republic rebel fighter says "the French want to drive Wagner out of Africa".

(With inputs from agencies.)