Reuters World News Summary

Over 7.5 tonnes of cocaine seized in Colombia-U.S. joint operation Colombia and the United States seized over 7.5 tonnes of cocaine worth $286 million in a joint operation, the Colombian government said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Military deployed in Ethiopian capital after more than 80 killed in protests

The military was deployed in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday, as armed gangs roamed neighbourhoods in a second day of unrest that has claimed more than 80 lives and deepened political divisions in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's political heartland. The protests were sparked by the assassination of popular musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa on Monday night and spread from Addis Ababa to the surrounding Oromiya region. Russians grant Putin right to extend his rule until 2036 in landslide vote

Russians opened the door to Vladimir Putin staying in power until 2036 by voting overwhelmingly for constitutional changes that will allow him to run again for president twice, but critics said the outcome was falsified on an industrial scale. Official results, after 90% of ballots had been counted, showed that the former KGB officer who has ruled Russia for more than two decades as president or prime minister had easily won the right to run for two more terms. That means he could remain president for 16 more years. Israeli foreign minister says annexation move unlikely on Wednesday

Israel's foreign minister said an announcement on the proposed annexation of occupied West Bank land was unlikely on Wednesday, the start-date set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government for discussing such a move. "It seems unlikely to me that this will happen today," Gabi Ashkenazi, a member of the centrist Blue and White party partnered up with Netanyahu's conservative Likud, told Israel's Army Radio. Burkina Faso probes bullet-ridden bodies discovered after army operation

Burkina Faso's defence ministry said on Wednesday it has launched an investigation following the discovery of seven bullet-ridden corpses in the outskirts of a town in the east where the army had carried out an operation. Security forces in Burkina Faso and neighbouring Sahel nations are on the offensive against jihadi militants linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State, who have carried out attacks and stoked inter-communal conflicts. Over 7.5 tonnes of cocaine seized in Colombia-U.S. joint operation

Colombia and the United States seized over 7.5 tonnes of cocaine worth $286 million in a joint operation, the Colombian government said on Wednesday. The narcotics were mixed with a construction product and were being transported between the Colombian port city of Cartagena and Panama, the government said in a statement. Coronavirus slump threatens Mexican president's crusade on poverty

When President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won office with the biggest popular mandate since Mexico's transition to democracy, he pledged to transform the country from the bottom up, putting the poor first. Two years on, recession, rows with business and the coronavirus pandemic have jeopardized that ambition. Millions of people have lost their jobs and his response to the crisis has drawn criticism. Khashoggi's fiancee hopes Turkish trial will reveal fresh evidence

A Turkish court will open the trial on Friday of 20 Saudi officials indicted over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a step his fiancee hopes will shed more light on the death and reveal where his body was hidden. The indictment by Istanbul prosecutors accuses the former deputy head of Saudi Arabia's general intelligence, Ahmed al-Asiri, and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani of instigating "premeditated murder with monstrous intent", the prosecutor's office said in March. U.S. warns firms of human rights abuse risks in China's Xinjiang province

The United States on Wednesday issued an advisory warning U.S. companies about the risks faced from maintaining supply chains associated with human rights abuses in China's western Xinjiang province. The advisory, issued by the U.S. State, Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security departments, seeks to add more U.S. pressure on China at a time of heightened tensions over China's treatment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang and Beijing's new national security law for Hong Kong. Vatican summons U.S., Israeli envoys over West Bank annexation moves

The Vatican, in a highly unusual move, summoned both the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors to express the Holy See's concern about Israel's moves to extend its sovereignty to Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. A Vatican statement on Wednesday said meetings with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, and U.S. Ambassador Callista Gingrich and Israeli Ambassador Oren David, took place on Tuesday. Hong Kong police arrest more than 300 protesting China's 'birthday gift' of security law

Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas and arrested more than 300 people on Wednesday as protesters took to the streets in defiance of sweeping security legislation introduced by China to snuff out dissent. Beijing unveiled the details of the much-anticipated law late on Tuesday after weeks of uncertainty, pushing China's freest city and one of the world's most glittering financial hubs on to a more authoritarian path.