Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Biden nominates China specialist to be ambassador to strategic Marshall Islands

President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated a senior career diplomat to be U.S. ambassador to the Marshall Islands, a strategic Pacific territory that has become a focus for competition with China. The nominee, Laura Stone, is currently deputy coordinator at the State Department's Office of COVID Response and previously served as deputy assistant secretary for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives.

Random shelling kills 34 people, including children, in Sudan -health authorities

Random shelling killed 34 people, including children, in a popular market in the Sudanese City of Omdurman, the Khartoum state health ministry said on Tuesday. Most of the casualties were Melga Market dealers and truck drivers, according to the health authorities.

Frontline videos offer grim, close-up view of Kyiv's counteroffensive

Vivid helmet camera videos filmed by Ukrainian soldiers at the front line can give viewers a visceral feel of combat as Kyiv's counteroffensive finally unfolds, even though experts warn against drawing strong conclusions about how the war is going. Ukrainian officials have been tight-lipped about the long-awaited operation since it was launched in June, and independent news crews are generally barred from filming operations while they are under way.

Russia's Medvedev: NATO's military aid to Ukraine brings World War Three closer

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said late on Tuesday that the increase in military assistance to Ukraine by the NATO alliance brings World War Three closer. Commenting on the first day of the summit of the U.S.-led alliance in Lithuania, where a number of countries pledged more weaponry and financial support, Medvedev said the aid would not deter Russia from achieving its goals in Ukraine.

Germany tells UN: Nord Stream inquiry found subsea explosive traces on yacht

Germany found traces of subsea explosives in samples taken from a yacht that it suspects "may have been used to transport the explosives" to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, it told the U.N. Security Council in a letter with Sweden and Denmark. A series of unexplained explosions hit the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines connecting Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea last September in the exclusive economic zones of Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

Israel occupation makes Palestinian territories 'open-air prison' - UN expert

A United Nations expert on Tuesday said Israel had transformed the occupied Palestinian territories into an "open-air prison" through widespread detentions of Palestinians, an assertion swiftly dismissed by Israel. Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, told reporters in Geneva that Israel had carried out widespread, systematic and arbitrary detention of Palestinians since the 1967 Middle East war.

Analysis-Turkey sets new Western tilt in foreign policy as economy weighs

After pivoting Turkey away from Western allies, President Tayyip Erdogan has changed tack with moves that have pleased the U.S. and upset Russia, a turnaround seen aimed partly at reversing his country's economic downturn and boosting foreign investment. The foreign policy rethink is part of a wider recalibration by Erdogan six weeks after his re-election: he has also changed course on the economy, reversing unorthodox financial policies blamed for Turkey's runaway inflation and collapsing currency.

NATO welcomes Ukraine's membership but stops short of invitation

NATO leaders said on Tuesday that Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance at some point in the future but they stopped short of offering Kyiv an immediate invitation, angering Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The leaders were meeting at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius as Ukrainian troops struggled to make significant gains in a counteroffensive against the Russian invasion forces occupying parts of the country.

UK to provide $65 million support package to Ukraine

The British government said on Tuesday it will provide a 50 million pounds ($64.7 million) support package for equipment repair and establishment of a military rehabilitation centre in Ukraine. Under the new tranche of support, which will be discussed at this week's NATO summit, Britain and G7 members will provide thousands of additional rounds of Challenger 2 ammunition and more than 70 combat and logistics vehicles.

BBC presenter sent abusive messages to second young person, broadcaster says

A crisis at Britain's BBC over alleged payments by an unnamed star to a young person for explicit images deepened on Tuesday when its news division reported that the male presenter had sent abusive messages to a second person, aged in their early 20s. The new revelation came after the BBC sought to defend its handling of the growing scandal, after acknowledging that it did not flag the first complaint to senior management for seven weeks until a tabloid newspaper approached it about the story.

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