Reuters World News Summary

Police said it was the deadliest operation in Rio state since a 2005 raid on the city's northern outskirts. Britain free of coronavirus by August, outgoing vaccine task force chief says - Telegraph The new coronavirus will no longer be circulating in Britain by August, the government's departing vaccine taskforce chief Clive Dix told the Daily Telegraph on Friday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

White house says Iran sanctions could only be lifted if nuclear deal conditions met

Sanctions on Iran could only be lifted if the country comes back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement, the White House said on Friday. There has been some progress made in talks between world powers and Iran, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, and it is a good sign that talks are continuing.

U.S. President Biden says he is confident he can meet Russia's Putin soon

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he expected to be able to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin soon and the White House said ongoing differences between the United States and Russia would not need to be resolved in advance of a summit.

Biden told reporters at the White House he wanted to meet Putin despite Russia's build-up of military forces near Ukraine.

Crucial Scottish elections on 'knife edge' as pro-independence SNP win early seats

Scotland's main pro-independence party captured dozens of seats on Friday in a Scottish parliament election that could determine the future of the United Kingdom, but early results left uncertainty over whether it would win a crucial majority. The Scottish National Party says it will seek to hold a new vote on secession by the end of 2023 if there is a pro-independence majority returned to the devolved 129-seat parliament - setting up a potential legal showdown with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who says he will refuse any such vote.

Gandhi warns 'explosive' COVID wave threatens India and the world

India's main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi warned on Friday that unless the deadly second COVID-19 wave sweeping the country was brought under control it would devastate India as well as threaten the rest of the world. In a letter, Gandhi implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prepare for another national lockdown, accelerate a countrywide vaccination programme and scientifically track the virus and its mutations.

Israeli police, Palestinians clash at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa, scores injured

Israeli police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinian youth at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday amid growing anger over the potential eviction of Palestinians from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers. At least 178 Palestinians and six officers were injured in the night-time clashes at Islam's third-holiest site and around East Jerusalem, Palestinian medics and Israeli police said, as thousands of Palestinians faced off with several hundred Israeli police in riot gear.

Exclusive: China urges U.N. states not to attend Xinjiang event next week

China has urged United Nations member states not to attend an event planned next week by Germany, the United States and Britain on the repression of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang, according to a note seen by Reuters on Friday. "It is a politically-motivated event," China's U.N. mission wrote in the note, dated Thursday. "We request your mission NOT to participate in this anti-China event."

Brazil judge sees signs of 'arbitrary execution' in Rio police raid

A Supreme Court justice called on Friday for Brazil's top prosecutor to investigate Rio de Janeiro's deadliest police raid in over a decade, which has drawn condemnation from the United Nations, human rights groups and local activists. The shootout killed a police officer and 24 others in Rio's Jacarezinho neighborhood on Thursday. Police said it was the deadliest operation in Rio state since a 2005 raid on the city's northern outskirts.

Britain free of coronavirus by August, outgoing vaccine task force chief says - Telegraph

The new coronavirus will no longer be circulating in Britain by August, the government's departing vaccine taskforce chief Clive Dix told the Daily Telegraph on Friday. "Sometime in August, we will have no circulating virus in the UK", Dix said, adding that he believed the vaccine booster programme could be pushed back to early 2022.

Maldives former president Nasheed critical after bomb blast

The Maldives speaker of parliament and former president, Mohamed Nasheed, was in critical care on Friday after being severely wounded in a bomb blast outside his home, hospital authorities said, in what police are treating as a terrorist attack. Nobody has claimed responsibility for Thursday's explosion in the capital Male that has revived security concerns in the Indian Ocean islands, known for luxury resorts but which have also faced political unrest and Islamist militant violence.

Cuba protests diplomat's expulsion from Colombia amid protests

Communist-run Cuba called in Colombia's ambassador on Friday to protest the expulsion of one of its diplomats from the Andean country amid a wave of violent protests against its right-wing government. Colombia's foreign ministry had on Thursday accused Omar Rafael García Lazo, the first secretary of Cuba's embassy in Bogota, of breaching the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, without adding further details.

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