World News Roundup: Honduras caravan, Afghan election, Khashoggi disapperance

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday allowed the Palestinians to act more like a full U.N. member state during meetings in 2019 when they will chair the group of 77 developing nations

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Immigrant caravan organizer detained after Trump threatens Honduras

The organizer of a migrant caravan from Honduras was detained on Tuesday in Guatemala after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw funding and aid from Honduras if the flow of migrants north to the United States was not stopped. Guatemalan police officers detained Bartolo Fuentes, a former member of the Honduran Congress, from the middle of a large crowd he and three other organizers had led from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, since Saturday, bound for Mexico.

At U.N., Cuban diplomats shout down U.S. event on political prisoners

Protesting Cuban and Bolivian diplomats shouted, chanted and banged their hands on desks at the United Nations on Tuesday to drown out the launch of a U.S. campaign on the plight of Cuban political prisoners. U.S. envoy to the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Kelley Currie persisted, delivering her remarks in the ECOSOC chamber, followed by several other speakers, including Secretary General of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro.

Australian government braces for voter anger in make-or-break by-election

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison could face a backlash in a by-election this weekend as voters in a once-safe seat weigh whether to strip the conservative government of its one-seat parliamentary majority. The Saturday by-election in Sydney's diverse, affluent Wentworth constituency is the first major test of Morrison's standing with voters, many of whom are angry over the ousting of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in August following a backbench revolt.

Women candidates face 'small-scale war' in Afghan election

More female candidates than ever are set to contest Afghanistan's upcoming parliamentary election, braving violence and opposition from social conservatives in a campaign seen as a test of the war-torn nation's democratic institutions. "Elections in my country are not just about victory or defeat," said Dewa Niazai, a 26-year-old candidate from the eastern province of Nangarhar, who holds a degree in computer science from India. "It is about launching a small-scale war. I can get killed, injured or abducted."

Trump gives Saudi Arabia benefit of doubt in journalist's disappearance

U.S. President Donald Trump gave Saudi Arabia the benefit of the doubt in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi even as senior U.S. lawmakers pointed the finger at the Saudi leadership and Western pressure mounted on Riyadh to provide answers. "Here we go again with you're guilty until proven innocent," Trump told the Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday.

Italy brands France a 'disgrace' after police dump migrants across border

Italy's far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini branded France an "international disgrace" on Tuesday for having driven two migrants across its border and dumping them in Italy. Tensions between the neighbours have risen as Rome has accused Paris of hypocrisy by refusing to take in a fair share of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have reached Italy by boat since 2014.

Iran says it has killed mastermind of deadly attack on parade

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they had killed the "mastermind" behind an attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz last month which left 25 people dead, nearly half of them members of the Guards. The Guards said in a statement published on state media their forces had killed a man named Abu Zaha and four other militants in Diyala province in Iraq. One news website run by Iran's state television said Abu Zaha was a member of the Islamic State.

Indonesians seek talismans of former lives in quake rubble

Wooden beams tilted at crazy angles poke out of piles of shattered concrete littered with battered motorbikes and household items, from crumpled pots and pans to smudged notebooks and soft toys. After an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 hit Indonesia's coastal city of Palu, a pile of broken pink concrete is all that remains of fruit vendor Kaharuddin's home.

U.N. allows Palestinians to act more like full member in 2019

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday allowed the Palestinians to act more like a full U.N. member state during meetings in 2019 when they will chair the group of 77 developing nations. The United States, Israel and Australia voted against the move, which won 146 votes in favour. There were 15 abstentions and 29 countries didn't vote.

Brazil right-winger would follow Trump's lead on foreign policy

The far-right front-runner in Brazil's presidential race plans to put foreign policy in the hands of a diplomat who has praised the nationalist agenda of U.S. President Donald Trump that has shaken the global order, an adviser to the candidate said. Policy experts said the pick fits conservative firebrand Jair Bolsonaro's plan to make Brazil's most dramatic foreign policy shift in decades. Bolsonaro has already vowed to rethink membership in developing nation blocs Mercosur and BRICS and move the country's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, embracing Trump as few in Latin America have done.

(With inputs from Reuters)