Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. EU lower court must reexamine Puigdemont and Comin's bid to take up seats as EU lawmakers

The Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU's highest court, said on Friday that a lower EU court must reexamine the requests of former Catalan leaders Carles Puigdemont and Antoni Comin to take up their seats as European lawmakers. The decision comes after the EU's highest court ruled on Thursday that jailed Catalan separatist leader Oriol Junqueras was entitled to immunity as a member of the European Parliament. Erdogan says Turkey will retaliate against possible U.S. sanctions

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Friday that Ankara would retaliate against potential U.S. sanctions over its purchase of Russian defense systems and a natural gas pipeline. U.S. Congress has moved to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of S-400 defense systems from Russia and related to Russia's TurkStream pipeline, which will carry Russian gas to Turkey. In rare move, U.S. and Iranian envoys talk after U.N. meeting on nuclear deal

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations made a rare compassionate public gesture toward her Iranian counterpart in the Security Council chamber on Thursday, expressing condolences over the death of an Iranian toddler. Since Washington pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, tensions between the United States and Tehran have risen. UK policy to allow secret agents to commit crimes is lawful, tribunal rules

A policy which allows British security service agents to commit serious criminal activities including violence is lawful, a tribunal ruled by a slim majority on Friday. Four human rights groups had argued that it was against British law and the European Convention on Human Rights for the MI5 domestic spy agency to permit agents, those who are informants or provide intelligence but do not work directly for the government, to commit crimes including murder and torture. Protesters chant "Remove Modi" after prayers at historic Indian mosque

Chants of "Remove Modi" filled the air after Friday prayers at the historic Jama Masjid as protesters gathered to march toward New Delhi's center, one of many demonstrations across India over a citizenship law critics say discriminates against Muslims. While the latest rally in the capital started peacefully, police herded away some 100 protesters picketing parliament. Many other protests during the past week have turned violent, with at least seven people killed. Rohingya weep in Myanmar court as they face charge of illegal travel

Dozens of Rohingya Muslims including children wept in a Myanmar court on Friday as they were brought in to face charges of illegally traveling without proper documents. They were arrested on Nov. 28 on a beach in the Irrawaddy river delta region while fleeing from western Myanmar's Rakhine State. UK PM Johnson promises to wrap up parliament Brexit vote for Christmas

The British parliament will vote on Boris Johnson's deal to leave the European Union on Friday, a move the prime minister described as delivering on his promise to "get the Brexit vote wrapped up for Christmas" after his landslide election victory. After suffering several defeats in the previous parliament, Johnson now enjoys a large majority and should face little opposition in passing the bill to implement Britain's biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years. Russia honours two of Britain's 'Cambridge Five' spies

Russia on Friday honored two members of the British "Cambridge Five" spy ring who passed information to the Soviet Union with a memorial plaque and a tribute from the head of Russia's foreign intelligence service. The plaque, unveiled on the day Russia celebrates the work of its security services, was dedicated to Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean and attached to the wall of the building where they lived from 1952-1955 in the city of Samara, then known as Kuibyshev. Japan PM asks Iran's Rouhani to stick to nuclear deal

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday asked Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to stick to commitments made in a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and said Japan would do what it can to ensure stability in the Middle East. "Japan would like to do its utmost to ease tensions and stabilize the situation in the Middle East," Abe told Rouhani at the start of a meeting between the two leaders in Tokyo. 'Before it is too late': Diplomats race to defuse tensions ahead of North Korea's deadline

A last minute flurry of diplomacy aimed at engaging with North Korea ahead of its declared year-end deadline for talks has been met with stony silence from Pyongyang so far, with the looming crisis expected to top the agenda at summits in China next week. The U.S. special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, was due to leave Beijing on Friday after meeting with Chinese officials. Earlier in the week, Biegun also made stops in Seoul and Tokyo for discussions with counterparts.