Reuters World News Summary

Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told a think-tank conference in Washington the conversation with Henry was intensive, as Haiti faced a continuing wave of gang violence that has threatened to bring down the government. Ukraine presses peace plan, points to N.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Six Sri Lankans knifed to death in Canadian capital in rare case of mass murder

Six people from Sri Lanka, including a mother and four young children, were knifed to death in the Canadian capital Ottawa late on Wednesday, police said on Thursday, rocking a country where mass murders are rare. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was horrified by what he called a "terrible tragedy." The father of the family was also wounded in the attack and is in hospital.

Israeli tank in 'likely scenario' fired machine gun at reporters after deadly shelling, report finds

An Israeli tank crew killed a Reuters reporter in Lebanon in October by firing two shells at a clearly identified group of journalists and then "likely" opened fire on them with a heavy machine gun in an attack that lasted 1 minute and 45 seconds, according to a report into the incident published on Thursday. The report by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) - which was contracted by Reuters to analyse evidence from the Oct. 13 attack that killed visuals journalist Issam Abdallah - found that a tank 1.34 km away in Israel fired two 120 mm rounds at the reporters.

IAEA Board calls on Russia to leave Zaporizhzhia, two years on

The U.N. nuclear watchdog's Board of Governors voted on Thursday to demand Russia withdraw from Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), in a resolution passed days after the two-year anniversary of the plant's capture by Russian troops. It was the board's fourth resolution condemning Russia's actions against Ukrainian nuclear facilities. The first was passed in March 2022, the day before Russia captured Europe's largest nuclear plant. The last was in November 2022.

US to build temporary port to deliver Gaza aid

President Joe Biden will announce in his State of the Union speech on Thursday that the U.S. military will construct a temporary port on Gaza's Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian aid by sea, senior administration officials said. Planning for the operation, initially based on the island of Cyprus, does not envisage the deployment of U.S. military personnel in Gaza, the officials told a news briefing.

Venezuela failing to meet some key commitments despite election announcement, US says

The United States on Thursday accused the Venezuelan government of failing to deliver on some of its key commitments that resulted in U.S. sanctions relief last year, despite this week's announcement of a July 28 date for a presidential election. Speaking to a think tank in Washington, Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had taken a number of steps in the "wrong direction." These measures, he said, include maintaining an election ban on Maria Corina Machado, the leading opposition candidate, and arresting dozens of opposition activists.

North Korea's Kim guides artillery firing drill, KCNA says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided an artillery firing drill by the Korean People's Army, the country's military force, on Thursday, state media KCNA reported on Friday. The drill involved units that are in firing range of "the enemy's capital," the state media said, referring to Seoul, the South Korean capital and added it "fulfilled important military missions for war deterrence."

Sweden joins NATO as war in Ukraine prompts security rethink

Sweden joined NATO in Washington on Thursday, two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine forced it to rethink its national security policy and conclude that support for the alliance was the Scandinavian nation's best guarantee of safety.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson handed over the final documentation to the U.S. government on Thursday, the last step in a drawn-out process to secure the backing of all members to join the military alliance.

Blinken pressed Haitian PM to accelerate government transition, US official says

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone on Thursday to Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and told him there was an urgent need to accelerate the transition to a more inclusive government, a senior State Department official said. Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told a think-tank conference in Washington the conversation with Henry was intensive, as Haiti faced a continuing wave of gang violence that has threatened to bring down the government.

Ukraine presses peace plan, points to N. Korean involvement in talks with Chinese envoy

Senior Ukrainian officials, in a meeting with a Chinese regional envoy on Thursday, pressed Kyiv's plan to end the two-year conflict with Russia and presented what they said was evidence of North Korean weaponry supplied to Moscow. Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine's presidential administration, wrote on Telegram that he and his team presented the situation on the battlefield and Kyiv's peace proposals to Li Hui, China's special representative for Eurasian affairs.

Haiti healthcare near collapse, says UN, as state of emergency extended

Haiti's government on Thursday said it would extend a state of emergency around Port-au-Prince for another month as gang violence that has threatened to bring down the government and led thousands to flee their homes appeared to show no sign of abating. The U.N. humanitarian affairs agency warned that the country's health system was "nearing collapse," with shortages of staff, equipment, beds, drugs and blood to treat patients with gunshot wounds.

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