Reuters World News Summary

"I think that the matter is coming to an end," Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. He also said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany's ⁠former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Israeli strikes ​in Gaza kill three, medics say, testing fragile ceasefire Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including ⁠two members of the Hamas-run police force, health officials said, in violence that underscored the fragility of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Car bombing and shootout kills 14 Pakistani police officers

A car bombing at a police post in northwestern Pakistan followed by an ambush on police personnel rushing to the scene has killed at least 14 officers, police said on Sunday. Images ​from after the attack on Saturday showed the structure had been reduced to rubble, with bricks, charred wreckage and mangled vehicles scattered around the area.

All passengers on hantavirus-hit ship considered high-risk contacts, EU ​health agency says

All passengers on the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak are considered high-risk contacts as a precautionary measure, ‌Europe's public health ​agency said ahead of the ship's expected anchoring on Sunday off the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Passengers without symptoms will be repatriated for self-quarantine via specially arranged transport, not regular commercial flights, by their respective countries, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Saturday as part of its rapid scientific advice.

Countries prepare to evacuate hantavirus ship passengers

Countries prepared to evacuate their citizens from the luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly strain of hantavirus that is due to anchor near Tenerife early on Sunday, as health authorities said the risk of the virus spreading was low. The World Health Organization briefed member states with nationals on board ‌on Saturday on how to manage the process, advising active monitoring of passengers for a 42-day period from the last point of exposure.

Settlers force exhumation of Palestinian man from West Bank grave, family says

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank forced Palestinians to exhume the body of their father from his freshly dug village grave, his family said, near a settlement re-established by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Hussein Asasa, 80, died on Friday of natural causes and was buried that evening at the cemetery of Asasa village near Jenin, with all the necessary permits from Israel's military, whose forces were at the site, his son Mohammed said.

Kuwait's army says it has intercepted hostile drones over airspace

Kuwait’s army said it had detected and dealt with several hostile drones in the country’s airspace at dawn on Sunday, the latest incident following similar cross-border drone activity linked to the Iran conflict. On April 25, Kuwait's army said two drones ‌launched from Iraq had targeted two northern border posts, causing damage.

Iran denies reports of oil leak near Kharg Island export hub

Iran’s Oil Terminals Company denied reports of an oil leak near Kharg Island on Sunday, according to state media, after satellite imagery this week appeared to show a large slick west of the country’s main oil export hub in the Gulf. The company’s chief executive said inspections had found ‌no evidence of leaks from storage tanks, pipelines, loading facilities or tankers operating near the island. He added that the Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Centre (MEMAC), a regional marine pollution body, had also reported no sign of leakage in the area.

Two Singaporeans confirmed dead in Indonesia volcano eruption, bodies retrieved

Two Singaporean nationals missing following the eruption of Mount Dukono on Indonesia's Halmahera island were confirmed dead on Sunday, the local rescue agency said. Rescuers found the bodies holding each other under rock debris around the crater rim, agency head Iwan Ramdani said.

Putin says he thinks Russia-Ukraine war is coming to an end

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he thought the Ukraine war was coming to an end, remarks that came just hours after he had vowed victory in Ukraine at Moscow's most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. "I think that the matter is coming to an end," Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. He also said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany's ⁠former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Israeli strikes ​in Gaza kill three, medics say, testing fragile ceasefire

Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including ⁠two members of the Hamas-run police force, health officials said, in violence that underscored the fragility of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Medics said an air strike killed one person in the Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, while another killed the head of the criminal police force in Khan Younis, Wessam Abdel-Hadi, and his aide, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry.

Germany sceptical on Putin's suggestion of Schroeder role in Ukraine peace talks

Germany dismissed on Sunday a suggestion from Russian President Vladimir Putin that former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could coordinate talks with ⁠the European Union to secure a peace deal in Ukraine. European Council President Antonio Costa said recently he believed there was "potential" for the EU to negotiate with Russia, and to discuss the future of the security architecture of Europe. Putin said that if such talks were to take place, Schroeder would be his preferred mediator.

Passengers begin evacuating from cruise ship hit by hantavirus

Groups of passengers and crew disembarked from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak on Sunday to be evacuated to their respective countries ​in a process overseen by global health officials and expected to last until Monday. The passengers, none of whom were showing symptoms of the virus, were taken to Tenerife airport in military buses to be evacuated from the island in government planes sent by their respective countries, government officials said, emphasising that they will have no contact with the public.

Tanker crosses Strait of Hormuz as US waits ⁠for Iran's response to peace proposal

A Qatari natural gas tanker crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday for the first time since the start of the Iran war, heading for Pakistan, while Washington continued to wait for Tehran's response to its latest proposals to begin peace talks. After some 48 hours of relative calm following sporadic clashes last week that have shaken a month-old ceasefire, Kuwait detected several hostile drones in its airspace early on Sunday, authorities said.

Germany revives effort to buy US Tomahawks, FT reports

Germany is reviving efforts to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles from ⁠the ​U.S., the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of Berlin's strategy. Berlin hopes to persuade the Trump administration to agree to the sale of the Tomahawks together with their Typhon ground launchers, the newspaper said.

Magyar sworn in as Hungary's prime minister on promises of change

Centre-right leader Peter Magyar was sworn in as Hungary's prime minister on Saturday, propelled into office on promises of change after years of economic stagnation and strained ties with key allies under his predecessor Viktor Orban. Magyar defeated nationalist Orban after 16 years in power in an April 12 election landslide, handing his Tisza party a constitutional majority that will allow him to roll back reforms critics say have weakened democracy.

UAE says air defences dealt with two drones coming from Iran

The United Arab Emirates' air defences dealt with two drones coming from Iran on Sunday, the Defence Ministry said, the latest in renewed attacks ⁠on the oil-rich Gulf country. The UAE has reported being attacked in the past days by Iran after four weeks of relative calm since a ceasefire in the Iran war was announced by the United States.

Brazil Supreme Court justice suspends bill that ordered early release of ex-president Bolsonaro

Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes prohibited the implementation of a sharp reduction in the 27-year prison sentence of former President ⁠Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election, a court document showed on Saturday. Two Brazilian political parties and ⁠the press association ABI this week separately challenged the bill, which would have potentially freed Bolsonaro in 2028.

Kremlin accuses Armenia of providing platform for Ukraine's Zelenskiy, agencies report

Russia accused Armenia on Sunday of providing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with "a platform for anti-Russian remarks", in a further sign of a chill in relations between traditional allies Moscow and Yerevan. On a visit to Yerevan last week, Zelenskiy said Russia feared "drones may buzz over Red Square" in Moscow during the annual parade on May 9 to commemorate the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

British paratroopers lead airdrop onto Tristan da Cunha for suspected hantavirus case

British paratroopers have dropped onto ‌Britain's most remote overseas territory, Tristan da Cunha, along with medics and medical supplies, ‌after a case of suspected hantavirus was confirmed there. A team of six paratroopers and two military clinicians from 16 Air Assault Brigade jumped from an RAF A400M transport aircraft that flew 6,788 km (4,218 miles) from RAF Brize Norton ​air base in Oxfordshire to Ascension Island then another 3,000 km due south to Tristan da Cunha.