World News Roundup: Navalny to be buried on Friday, wife fears possible arrests; South Korea to send military doctors to hospitals amid doctors' protest and more

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Navalny to be buried on Friday, wife fears possible arrests

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny's funeral service and burial will take place in Moscow on Friday, his spokesperson said, but his allies accused the Kremlin of thwarting their attempts to organise a bigger event a day earlier. Kira Yarmysh, his spokesperson, posted on X that a service for Navalny would be held on Friday at 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in the Moscow district of Maryino where Navalny used to live.

South Korea to send military doctors to hospitals amid doctors' protest

South Korea will send its military and community doctors to hospitals within the next few days as part of emergency measures to support the healthcare system after a mass walkout by trainee doctors, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Wednesday. Han also pleaded with the young doctors to return to work by a Thursday deadline set by the government, and said the authorities would listen to their concerns.

UK's Northern Ireland amnesty law in breach of human rights, court rules

Belfast's High Court ruled on Wednesday that a law introduced by Britain to offer conditional amnesties to ex-soldiers and militants involved in the region's decades of violence is in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The law, introduced last year to offer immunity from prosecution for those who cooperate fully with a new investigative body, sparked more than 20 legal challenges in Northern Ireland, mostly from victims' families, who said it contravenes the ECHR and a 1998 peace deal that ended the three decades of bloodshed.

Gaza's warring enemies cautious over truce talks after Biden says deal nearing

Israel and Hamas as well as Qatari mediators all sounded notes of caution on Tuesday about progress towards a truce in Gaza, after U.S. President Joe Biden said he believed a ceasefire could be reached in under a week to halt the war for Ramadan. Hamas is weighing a proposal, agreed by Israel at talks with mediators in Paris last week, for a 40-day ceasefire, which would be the first extended truce of the five-month-old war. Both sides have delegations in Qatar this week hammering out details.

Malaysia court reinstates abuse of power charges against ex-PM Muhyiddin

A Malaysian appeal court on Wednesday reinstated charges of abuse of power against opposition leader and former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, state news agency Bernama reported. A Kuala Lumpur high court had thrown out the four charges and acquitted Muhyiddin in August, ruling those had not detailed his alleged offences. Muhyiddin, who led Malaysia for 17 months between 2020 and 2021, had pleaded not guilty and had called the charges politically motivated.

Imran Khan's party urges IMF to consider Pakistan's instability in talks - sources

The party of Pakistan's jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, has asked the International Monetary Fund to factor in the country's political stability in any further bailout talks, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has sent a letter to the IMF detailing its position, two senior sources in the party said, adding more details would be made public in due course.

In South Korea, world's lowest fertility rate plunges again in 2023

South Korea's fertility rate, already the world's lowest, continued its dramatic decline in 2023, as women concerned about their career advancement and the financial cost of raising children decided to delay childbirth or to not have babies. The average number of expected babies for a South Korean woman during her reproductive life fell to a record low of 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022, data from Statistics Korea showed on Wednesday.

Israel presses on with settlement plans despite US criticism

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pledged to continue expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, defying international pressure on Israel to stop building on land Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state.

Late on Tuesday, Smotrich announced the approval of a new settlement called Mishmar Yehuda, in Gush Etzion, a cluster of Jewish settlements located south of Jerusalem, and said work would continue on authorizing further settlements.

Pope Francis has hospital check-up, returns to Vatican

Pope Francis, who has been suffering from influenza, made a brief trip to a Roman hospital for medical checks on Wednesday but has now returned to the Vatican, his office said in a statement. The pope, who is 87, had checks at the Tiber Island hospital after his weekly general audience, the statement said, without giving further details.

'I hope Biden wins,' Brazil's Lula says ahead of US election

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hopes U.S. counterpart Joe Biden will win his bid for re-election in November, he said in an interview aired late on Tuesday. "Although I am not a U.S. voter, I think it's obvious that Biden is a greater guarantee for the survival of democracy in the world and the United States," Lula told local TV channel RedeTV.