Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Moldovan president says Russia's Wagner head plotted coup against her -FT

Moldova's pro-European President, Maia Sandu, said Russia's Wagner paramilitary force was the main force behind an attempt to foment a coup against her, she told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday. Sandu, interviewed by the Financial Times during the European Union's European Political Community summit in Spain, said Wagner's late leader Yevgeny Prigozhin stood behind the bid to overthrow her.

'Half the village is gone': Ukraine hamlet reels after missile strike

In a burial plot next to a field outside the remote Ukrainian hamlet of Hroza, residents removed undergrowth and cleared away litter to make space for more graves. Working quietly, it was something to distract them from the horror of what happened the day before.

Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins Nobel Peace Prize

Imprisoned Iranian women's rights advocate Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a rebuke to Tehran's theocratic leaders and boost for anti-government protesters, prompting the Islamic Republic's condemnation. The award-making committee said the prize honoured those behind recent unprecedented demonstrations in Iran and called for the release of Mohammadi, 51, who has campaigned for three decades for women's rights and abolition of the death penalty.

Turkey steps up strikes on militants as conflict escalates in Syria

Turkish security forces attacked Kurdish militants in northern Syria and eastern Turkey, and Ankara said it will continue to destroy their capabilities across the region as conflict escalated on Friday nearly a week after a bomb attack in Ankara. After U.S. forces shot down a Turkish drone in northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey confirmed the incident but assigned no blame, indicating it may want to contain any tensions with its NATO ally.

US charges ex-soldier for allegedly trying to give China defense information

U.S. authorities have arrested a former U.S. army sergeant and charged him for attempting to pass national defense information to China, the Justice Department said on Friday. Joseph Daniel Schmidt, whose last duty post was Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, was charged with federal felonies for attempting to deliver national defense information and retention of national defense information, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Cocaine and grenades? Patriotic bloggers scorn Putin's Prigozhin plane crash theory

Russian patriotic bloggers on Friday poured scorn on President Vladimir Putin's intimation that mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane was blown up with hand grenades while those on board were high on cocaine and alcohol. The private Embraer jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 people on board on Aug. 23, including Dmitry Utkin, co-founder of the mercenary Wagner group, four bodyguards and a crew of three.

Xi meeting in November 'a possibility,' Biden says

The White House is working to arrange a face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping next month in San Francisco, U.S. officials say, but they and Biden warn that plans are still uncertain. THE TAKE:

As US and Mexico seek more migrant deportation flights, Venezuelans press on

Despite a planned increase in deportation flights from the U.S. in an attempt to stem growing numbers of migrants arriving through the border with Mexico, several Venezuelans making the journey said they would not be deterred. "This comes as a surprise ... but going back isn't an option for me," said Kelvin Romero, 25, who had recently entered Panama, having crossed the perilous Darien jungle from Colombia - a common route for Latin American migrants headed to the U.S.

Palestinian killed during settler assault on West Bank town

A Jewish settler killed a 19-year-old Palestinian during a settler attack on the occupied West Bank town of Huwara on Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Residents said a group of settlers had erected a tent in Huwara, held prayers and later marched through the town. Some of them were carrying arms and began vandalising shops and cars, they said.

Russia to reverse nuclear test ban pact ratification, envoy says

Russia's envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said on Friday that Moscow will revoke its ratification of the pact, a move that Washington denounced as endangering "the global norm" against nuclear test blasts. The announcement by Mikhail Ulyanov added new fuel to tensions between Russia and the United States over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and arms control disputes between the world's largest nuclear weapons powers.

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