Reuters World News Summary

Lasso, a conservative, has repeatedly blamed violence, including inside prisons, on drug gang retaliation for his government's efforts to combat the trade. Israel PM Lapid: Will wait for final election results and continue to fight Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid stopped short of conceding Tuesday's election, saying he will wait until final results were in after exit polls predicted a loss for his camp and a comeback for former premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Zelenskiy demands firmer defence of Ukraine grains export corridor

A long-term defence is needed for Ukraine's grain export corridor and the world must respond firmly to any Russian attempts to disrupt it, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as more ships were loading despite Moscow suspending its participation in a U.N.-brokered deal. Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, had withdrawn from the accord over the weekend, saying it could not guarantee safety for civilian ships because of an attack on its Black Sea fleet.

Five police killed in Ecuador; state of emergency declared

At least five Ecuadorean police officers were killed on Tuesday in explosive attacks in response to prisoner transfers from overcrowded and violent penitentiaries, prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency in two provinces. Lasso, a conservative, has repeatedly blamed violence, including inside prisons, on drug gang retaliation for his government's efforts to combat the trade.

Israel PM Lapid: Will wait for final election results and continue to fight

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid stopped short of conceding Tuesday's election, saying he will wait until final results were in after exit polls predicted a loss for his camp and a comeback for former premier Benjamin Netanyahu. "We have no intention to stop," Lapid told his supporters at his centrist There is a Future party headquarters. "We will continue to fight for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic, liberal and progressive state," Lapid said.

Guards on India bridge struggled to control crowd before collapse, witnesses say

A security guard stood at either end of a 145-year-old footbridge in the Indian town of Morbi on Sunday evening, blowing whistles and repeatedly asking surging crowds to get off the structure spanning the murky Machchhu river, witnesses said.

One of the six people who saw the bridge collapse and gave an account of its final moments to Reuters said he and his colleagues also shouted from the shore to warn of the danger.

U.S. says China resisting nuclear talks after Xi vow to boost deterrent

Despite the lesson of the Cuban missile crisis 60 years ago, China has shown no interest in discussing steps to reduce the risk posed by nuclear weapons, senior U.S. officials said on Tuesday, after Chinese leader Xi Jinping signaled last month that Beijing would strengthen its strategic deterrent. The Pentagon says China is undergoing a major expansion of its nuclear forces and is moving toward having 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030. But Beijing has long resisted arms control talks with Washington, arguing that the United States already has a much larger arsenal.

Venezuela and Colombian presidents discuss trade, human rights

The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela held their first bilateral meeting in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Tuesday, where they discussed topics including trade, human rights and protecting the Amazon rainforest. The neighbors' fraught relationship has improved since Colombian President Gustavo Petro - the Andean country's first leftist leader - took office in August on promises to fully restart trade with Venezuela.

Netanyahu poised for comeback in Israeli election, exit polls show

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared well placed to return to power as exit polls following Tuesday's election showed his right-wing bloc heading for a narrow majority lifted by a strong showing from his far-right allies. Israel's longest-serving premier, on trial over corruption charges which he denies, was poised to take 61 or 62 of the Knesset's 120 seats, a narrow majority, according to Israeli television exit polls.

Brazil's Bolsonaro does not concede to Lula, but authorizes transition

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday did not concede defeat in his first public remarks since losing Sunday's election, saying protests by his supporters were the fruit of "indignation and a sense of injustice" over the vote. However, he stopped short of contesting the election result and authorized his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, to begin the transition process with representatives of leftist President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Ukraine's first lady: Tech must be used to save people, not to kill

In an emotional appeal, Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska urged tech workers from around the world on Tuesday to create innovations to stop Russia and help save people in her war-torn country. "The dystopias we read about in science fiction novels ... are much closer than you think," Zelenska told a packed venue at the opening event of Europe's largest tech conference, Lisbon's Web Summit, as she showed a video of the aftermath of a drone attack in Kyiv.

Former Danish PM Rasmussen set to be election king-maker -early vote count

Former Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen looked set to become the king-maker after Denmark's election on Tuesday, in which neither the ruling left nor right-wing opposition appeared to win a majority in parliament, according to early projections. Such an outcome could for the first time in more than four decades pave the way for a government spanning the traditional left-right divide and would transform the Nordic country's political landscape.