Reuters World News Summary

A joint news conference at the White House reflected the growing importance of Japan on the world stage and to the United States, as the two leaders weighed in on Gaza and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, North Korea and other world flashpoints. China tried to meddle but Canadians decided the last two elections, says PM Trudeau China tried to meddle in the last two Canadian elections but the results were not impacted and it was "improbable" Beijing preferred any one party over another, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an official probe on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Mali's junta suspends political party activities until further notice

Mali's junta has issued a decree halting political party activities, government spokesperson Abdoulaye Maiga announced in a statement read on state television on Wednesday evening. The decree suspends until further notice all activities by political parties and "associations of a political nature" on the grounds of maintaining public order, the statement said.

Ecuador's ex-Vice President Glas attempted suicide, on hunger strike, former president says

Ecuador's former Vice President Jorge Glas attempted suicide earlier this week and is now on a hunger strike at a prison in Guayaquil to protest his arrest, his lawyer Sonia Vera and former President Rafael Correa said on Wednesday. Glas, already twice convicted of corruption and now facing fresh charges, was arrested on Friday after a raid by police on Mexico's Quito embassy, where he had been living since December.

Three sons of Hamas leader Haniyeh killed in Israeli airstrike

Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamist group and Haniyeh's family said. The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the attack, describing the three sons as operatives in the Hamas armed wing.

Floods swamp swathes of Russia and Kazakhstan but worse still to come

Floods engulfed cities and towns across Russia and Kazakhstan on Wednesday after Europe's third-longest river burst its banks, forcing about 110,000 people to evacuate and swamping parts of the Russian city of Orenburg. The deluge of melt water overwhelmed scores of settlements in Russia's Ural Mountains, Siberia, Volga and areas of Kazakhstan after major rivers such as the Ural, which flows into the Caspian, rose more 70 cm (2 foot 3 inches) beyond its bursting point to over 10 metres.

Biden, Japan's Kishida forge new partnership, eyeing China and Russia

U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday unveiled plans for military cooperation and projects ranging from missiles to moon landings, strengthening their alliance with an eye on countering China and Russia. A joint news conference at the White House reflected the growing importance of Japan on the world stage and to the United States, as the two leaders weighed in on Gaza and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, North Korea and other world flashpoints.

China tried to meddle but Canadians decided the last two elections, says PM Trudeau

China tried to meddle in the last two Canadian elections but the results were not impacted and it was "improbable" Beijing preferred any one party over another, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an official probe on Wednesday. In sworn testimony before a commission conducting a public inquiry into alleged foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian elections, Trudeau answered questions about intelligence briefings he had received and asserted the elections were "free and fair."

Chinese firms helping military get AI chips added to US export blacklist

The United States is adding four Chinese companies to an export blacklist for seeking to acquire AI chips for China's military, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. The companies are "involved with providing AI chips to China's military modernization programs" and military intelligence users, the Commerce Department's Kevin Kurland, an export enforcement official, said at a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on strengthening export control enforcement.

South Korea opposition wins landslide parliamentary vote in resounding blow to Yoon

South Korea's liberal opposition parties scored a landslide victory in a parliamentary election held on Wednesday, dealing a resounding blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative party but likely falling just short of a super majority. The Democratic Party (DP) was projected to take more than 170 of the 300 seats in the new legislature, data by the National Election Commission and network broadcasters showed with more than 99% of the votes counted as of 5:55 a.m. on Thursday (2055 GMT Wednesday).

US general warns time running out for Ukraine without US aid

The top U.S. general in Europe told Congress on Wednesday that Ukraine will run out of artillery shells and air defense interceptors "in fairly short order" without U.S. support, leaving them vulnerable to a partial or total defeat. In a sign of how scarce some weapons were, General Christopher Cavoli, commander of European Command, told the House Armed Services Committee that Russia was currently firing five artillery shells for every one fired by Ukrainian forces and that disparity could increase in coming weeks to 10 to one.

Gazans live on memories of past Eid festivals as war ruins special day

Palestinians visited the graves of loved ones killed in the Gaza war and prayed beside the wreckage of a mosque and in shattered streets as the devastating conflict cast a pall over the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Millions of Muslims around the world are observing Eid, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, with festivities, feasts and family gatherings.

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