Reuters World News Summary

Since the military seized power on Feb. 1 and ousted an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has seen daily protests and a surge of violence with security forces killing hundreds of civilians. Exclusive: U.S. backing for Guatemala drug cartel fight key to ending graft, minister says Guatemala has asked the United States for support in fighting drug cartel money-laundering that the Central American country sees as a key source of corruption, Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo said, as Washington ramps up a focus on graft in the region.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Brazil's Bolsonaro says United States will soon send vaccines to Brazil

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday that U.S. President Joe Biden will soon send doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the South American country, which has recorded the world's second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak. Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga had previously said Brazil is seeking vaccine supplies from the United States.

Some 200 rights groups push for U.N. arms embargo on Myanmar

More than 200 civil society groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, called on the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar to help protect civilians peacefully protesting a military coup. Since the military seized power on Feb. 1 and ousted an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has seen daily protests and a surge of violence with security forces killing hundreds of civilians.

Exclusive: U.S. backing for Guatemala drug cartel fight key to ending graft, minister says

Guatemala has asked the United States for support in fighting drug cartel money-laundering that the Central American country sees as a key source of corruption, Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo said, as Washington ramps up a focus on graft in the region. The government of President Joe Biden has put the battle against corruption at the heart of efforts to slow migration to the United States from Central America.

Vaccine tourism: Canadians fly south for shot as U.S. demand falls

With COVID-19 vaccine demand declining in the United States, some Canadians facing third-wave lockdowns are flying south to get inoculated, perhaps months earlier than they would be able to at home. Jimmy Simmons, 37, saw friends in their 40s struggling to get a shot in the hard-hit Canadian province of Ontario. The Toronto businessman decided to spend a few weeks in New York City to meet clients and get vaccinated. He got his first of two shots on Tuesday.

Italian court hands U.S. tourists life sentences for murdering policeman

Two American tourists were sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court on Wednesday for the 2019 murder of a policeman near their Rome hotel in a case that shook the nation.

Finnegan Lee Elder, who was 19 at the time, had admitted to stabbing Mario Cerciello Rega in the early hours of July 26, 2019, while his friend Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, then 18, was tussling with another police officer.

U.S. Vice President Harris to go to Guatemala, Mexico June 7-8

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday she will travel to Guatemala and Mexico next month, as she spearheads the Biden administration's efforts to deal with an increase in migration at the U.S. southern border. "Currently, the plan is for me to travel to Mexico and Guatemala on June 7 and 8th. And I'm very much looking forward to that trip," Harris told reporters while on a visit to Rhode Island.

Exclusive: U.S. targets Central America officials for possible sanctions over corruption - envoy

The Biden administration plans to release by the end of June a list of corrupt Central American officials who may be subject to sanctions, a U.S. envoy told Reuters, as Washington seeks to cut back on a root cause of increased migration to the U.S.-Mexican border. Ricardo Zuniga, President Joe Biden's special envoy for Central America's Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, also said the administration was considering further sanctions against officials in the region for alleged graft under the Global Magnitsky Act.

G7 scolds China and Russia over threats, bullying, rights abuses

The Group of Seven scolded both China and Russia on Wednesday, casting the Kremlin as malicious and Beijing as a bully, but beyond words there were few concrete steps aside from expressing support for Taiwan and Ukraine. Founded in 1975 as a forum for the West's richest nations to discuss crises such as the OPEC oil embargo, the G7 this week addressed what it perceives as the biggest current threats: China, Russia and the coronavirus pandemic.

Blinken heads to Ukraine in show of support after Russia troop standoff

U.S. President Joe Biden's top diplomat visits Kyiv on Thursday in a show of support after Russia massed troops near Ukraine's eastern border in a weeks-long standoff that sent alarm bells ringing in Western capitals. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, mixing solidarity with calls for Ukraine to stick to a path of reforms and fighting corruption, days after a reformist energy official was sacked.

In northern England's Hartlepool, UK PM Johnson faces test

The northern English town of Hartlepool will vote for a new member of parliament on Thursday, a test of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the future of the opposition Labour Party's new leader. Johnson's governing Conservative Party hopes to break Labour's decades-long hold over Hartlepool, a former industrial port town, to bolster a 2019 election victory in which he won votes from traditional opposition supporters.

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