Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Israel says US to announce it has joined Visa Waiver Program

Israel's Foreign Ministry said on Monday it expects the United States to announce this week that it will be admitted to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which would allow Israeli citizens visa-free entry to America as of November. The deadline for Israel to show compliance with the U.S. conditions is Sept. 30. If successful, it would offer a win for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist government, whose relations with Washington have been strained over its plans to overhaul the judiciary as well as over its policies towards the Palestinians.

Ethnic Armenians flee Karabakh after breakaway region's defeat

Thousands of ethnic Armenians fled the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday, queuing up for fuel and jamming the mountain road to Armenia after their fighters were defeated by Azerbaijan in a lightning military operation. The leadership of the 120,000 Armenians who call Karabakh home told Reuters on Sunday that they did not want to live as part of Azerbaijan and that they would leave for Armenia because they feared persecution and ethnic cleansing.

Russian air strikes on Ukraine kill four, damage grain and port facilities

Russian air strikes and shelling killed six people in Ukraine and caused "significant damage" to infrastructure at the Black Sea port of Odesa and to grain storage facilities, Ukrainian officials said on Monday. The air attacks were part of a campaign that has made it harder for major grain producer Ukraine to export its products since Moscow quit a deal in mid-July that had enabled Black Sea shipments and helped combat a global food crisis.

South Korea hosts Japan, China as US allies try to reassure Beijing

South Korea on Tuesday will host senior diplomats from China and Japan for a rare trilateral meeting seen as aimed at assuaging Beijing's concerns over the two U.S. allies' tightening cooperation between themselves and Washington. The meeting aims in part to set the stage for the resumption of three-way summits between the countries' leaders, which were last held in 2019. Those talks were suspended amid legal, diplomatic, and trade disputes between Seoul and Tokyo over issues dating to Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea.

Anti-Muslim hate speech in India concentrated around elections, report finds

Anti-Muslim hate speech incidents in India averaged more than one a day in the first half of 2023 and were seen most in states with upcoming elections, according to a report by Hindutva Watch, a Washington-based group monitoring attacks on minorities. There were 255 documented incidents of hate speech gatherings targeting Muslims in the first half of 2023, the report found. There was no comparative data for prior years.

US House to press forward with spending cuts despite shutdown risk

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is due to try to advance steep spending cuts this week that stand no chance of becoming law and could force a partial shutdown of the U.S. government by next Sunday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sought to avoid that scenario when he hammered out a spending agreement with Democratic President Joe Biden this spring. But some members of his own party have threatened to depose him if he does not support steeper cuts that are sure to be rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Kosovo says Serbia should hand over escaped Serb gunmen after deadly shootout

Kosovo called on Serbia on Monday to hand over ethnic Serb gunmen it said had escaped after a shootout with Kosovar police that killed four people in the restive north of the country, aggravating tensions between Pristina and Belgrade. The gunmen stormed the village of Banjska on Sunday, battling police and barricading themselves into a Serbian Orthodox monastery. Police retook the monastery late on Sunday, after three attackers and one police officer were killed.

Canadian Sikhs stage protests against Indian government over murder

Canadian Sikhs staged small protests outside India's diplomatic missions on Monday, a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there may be a link between New Delhi and the murder of a Sikh separatist advocate in British Columbia. Trudeau a week ago stood in parliament to say that domestic intelligence agencies were actively pursuing credible allegations tying New Delhi's agents to the shooting of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, in June.

US Central Command forces capture Islamic State official in Syria after helicopter raid

The United States Central Command on Monday said its forces had captured an Islamic State official after conducting a helicopter raid in northern Syria on Saturday. "Abu Halil al-Fad'ani, an ISIS Syria Operational and Facilitation official, was captured during the raid. Al-Fad'ani was assessed to have relationships throughout the ISIS network in the region," the US Central Command said in a statement.

Poland to check vehicles crossing Slovak border amid migrant surge

Poland will introduce checks on vehicles crossing the border from Slovakia, the prime minister said on Monday, in measures to stem the flow of immigrants. The ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has made migration a central issue in its campaign to win a third term in office in an Oct. 15 election, and it has included questions on the topic in a referendum which will run alongside the vote.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)