Reuters World News Summary

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank town of Sinjil are forming grassroots volunteer groups to defend against rising Israeli settler violence, as the military and government appear unable to prevent attacks.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

How a Palestinian town is defending itself from Israeli settler attacks

On a cool night in June, some 15 Palestinians from the town of Sinjil in the occupied West Bank gathered on a hilltop to watch the shadowed valleys below for any sign of movement that might signal an impending Israeli settler attack. They are part of a grassroots volunteer group — similar to others in the West ​Bank — that has stepped in to defend the town from rising settler violence that Palestinians say the Israeli military and their own government have proved unable or unwilling to prevent.

Russia eyes mid-July start for commercial logistics hub at Syrian port

Russia hopes by mid-July to have a commercial logistics ​hub up and running in one of two berths at the naval base it leases in the Syrian port of Tartous, while keeping a military presence at the other, Syrian officials told ‌Reuters. The hub will handle a wide ​range of Russian goods including wheat and grains, and target initial cargo volumes of around 250,000 tons per month, one of the officials said.

ASEAN foreign ministers to hold meeting with Myanmar counterpart at weekend

Foreign Ministers of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN will hold an informal meeting with their Myanmar counterpart in Bangkok on July 12, Thailand and Vietnam said on Thursday. The meeting comes as the new army-backed government in Myanmar, in place following an election earlier in the year, seeks the lifting of a ban on its leaders, after they were sidelined from ASEAN's summits following a 2021 military coup and an ensuing civil war.

Turkey's Erdogan gives NATO leaders revolver conundrum after summit

Belgium's prime minister was a little surprised on landing back home from Wednesday's NATO summit in Turkey to find that he had a handgun and ammunition in his luggage. After NATO leaders gathered for Wednesday's fractious summit in Ankara, their host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, handed each an unusual ‌parting gift: a vintage revolver, along with live ammunition indicating it was not just for show.

Russian couple sentenced for spying in Poland after parcel blast probe

A Russian husband and wife were convicted of spying for Moscow by a Polish court and sentenced to prison, prosecutors said on Thursday, with one of them also found guilty of involvement in a plot to send a parcel bomb. European authorities have been on high alert for explosive packages since a series of blasts at courier depots in Britain, Germany and near the Polish capital, Warsaw, in July 2024. Authorities blamed those incidents on Russia.

Germany to buy US Tomahawks in shift towards own long-range capability

Germany will purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States and station them on German soil, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday, in a shift from planned U.S. deployments to Germany's own long-range strike capability. Merz told lawmakers he had sealed the deal with the U.S. government on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara, adding that the meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday had exceeded his expectations.

Syria regains its voting rights at chemical weapons watchdog

Member states handed back Syria's voting rights at the global chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday, following what they described as "a significant change in circumstances" since the fall of the Assad regime. Syria was stripped of its rights at the Organisation for the Prohibition of ‌Chemical Weapons in 2021, after its forces were found to have repeatedly used poison gas during the civil war.

Replica of mosque on bonfire in Northern Ireland condemned as 'sickening'

Northern Irish police arrested a man on Thursday over the placing of a replica of a mosque at the top of a bonfire due to be lit in a pro-British town, an action condemned by the British government and local politicians. Bonfires are lit across the British region in mainly Protestant "loyalist" neighbourhoods on the eve of July 12 commemorations of William of Orange's victory over the Roman Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Opinion polls ‌see France's Le Pen winning 2027 election despite guilty verdict

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen could well win France's presidential election next year despite an appeal court this week upholding a guilty verdict for embezzlement of EU funds, two opinion polls suggest. Much can happen until the ballot's first round on April 18 next year, and the pollsters stress this is not a forecast, but rather a snapshot of current voting intentions.

Russia and Sahel states deepen military ties as insurgent attacks persist

Russia and the West African countries making up the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) - Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso - have pledged to strengthen military cooperation as jihadist insurgents gain ground in the region, according to a joint statement issued on Wednesday night after talks in Niger's capital, Niamey. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met counterparts from the three military-led countries, which all turned to Moscow for support after breaking with France and other Western allies.

Iran to bury slain Supreme Leader in culmination of mass funeral

Iran buries its slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday at the country's holiest shrine, with his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei still hidden from public view after being disfigured in the strike that killed his father. The burial in Mashhad in northeast Iran follows a week of mass funeral processions, rallies and mourning ceremonies that has coincided with a renewed burst of conflict with the United States following weeks of truce.

Far-right ex-mayor of Rome emerges as unlikely prison campaigner

Far-right, fresh out of jail, and teamed up with a man who wants criminals to "rot" behind bars: Italy's Gianni Alemanno is an unlikely champion of prisoners' rights, as he seeks to balance a tough ⁠stance on law and order with ​concern for human rights. The 68-year-old has a solid right-wing political profile, starting in the youth wing of the post-fascist MSI party, serving under late Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as minister of ⁠agriculture, and as mayor of Rome from 2008 to 2013.

Xi signals significant casualties in China shoe factory fire

Firefighters worked to reach people trapped in a burning shoe factory in southeastern China on Thursday as state media reported an unknown number of casualties and President Xi Jinping suggested the blaze may have caused heavy loss of life. The fire broke out at around noon (0400 GMT) on Thursday in the city of Jinjiang in Fujian province, with some people trapped on the rooftop, state broadcaster CCTV said. It was not immediately clear how many have been killed or injured.

Australia, India strike deal on uranium exports during Modi visit

Australia and India reached a deal on Thursday to export Australian uranium to India for use in the nuclear energy industry, while agreeing to deepen cooperation ⁠in renewables, critical minerals and green hydrogen. India has long eyed Australia's uranium reserves to help meet a target of 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047, while Australia is looking to diversify trade beyond its reliance on China, its top partner.

Iran says it hits US military targets in Gulf, prepares to bury slain leader

Iranian armed forces launched attacks on U.S. military infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf states on Thursday following U.S. strikes on Iran's southern coastal and eastern provinces, putting further strain on a three-week-old ceasefire agreement. Iran was also preparing on Thursday to bury its slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the country's holiest shrine in Mashhad, in the northeast, the culmination of a week of mass funeral processions and rallies. Khamenei was killed ​in a U.S. airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28.

Explainer-How will Marine Le Pen's legal problems affect her presidential campaign?

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is running for president, but unresolved legal questions loom over her campaign. Below are attempts to address the main issues:

Exclusive-Putin likely to escalate Ukraine war, despite Trump peace push, sources say

President Vladimir Putin is rejecting calls to negotiate peace with Kyiv, three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters, with Ukraine's recent drone strikes on Russia's oil refineries and ports strengthening his resolve to keep fighting for now. Two ⁠of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Putin was instead likely to escalate the conflict, now well into its fifth year. One of them, who meets regularly with the president, described a “high probability" of escalation in the coming months.

Taiwan pushes back at China patrols with Coast Guard trip for foreign lawmakers

Taiwan's government took a small group of foreign lawmakers on a Coast Guard ship around sensitive Taiwan-controlled islands next to the Chinese coast on Thursday, pushing back against China's Coast Guard whose patrols have angered Taipei. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and recognises no claims of sovereignty or maritime jurisdiction by Taipei.

South Korea's Supreme Court upholds lower court ruling in ex-president Yoon's obstruction case

South Korea's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a seven-year prison sentence handed down to former President Yoon Suk Yeol for obstructing authorities' attempts ⁠to arrest ​him over his short-lived imposition of martial law in 2024. The ruling came after the Seoul High Court in April increased his prison sentence to seven years from five, after finding Yoon guilty of additional charges.

Pakistani rescuers find wreckage of lost cargo plane; search on for missing crew

Pakistani rescuers found the wreckage of a cargo plane in a deep-sea search operation on Wednesday, 12 hours after it went missing off the coast of Karachi, with efforts underway to find the five crew members who were on board, authorities said. The wreckage of the K2 Airways Boeing 737 was recovered 53 nautical miles (98 km) south of Ormara port, the Pakistan Airports Authority said.

Oil tanker traffic through Hormuz at near standstill as attacks strain Iran truce

Oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was at a near standstill on Thursday, according to data and sources, as shipping risks escalated after the U.S. renewed airstrikes on Iran, triggering retaliation by Tehran in the Gulf. Just two tankers had so far sailed through the strait in the early hours of Thursday. They included the crude supertanker Berg 1, which had loaded at Iran's Kharg Island and is subject to U.S. sanctions, according to analysis from Kpler.

China, Taiwan brace for Typhoon Bavi, possibly the most powerful storm in years

Fishermen sheltered in harbours, residents queued for sandbags and ⁠farmers raced to bring in crops on Thursday as China and Taiwan braced for Typhoon Bavi, possibly the most destructive tropical storm in years. As Bavi churned southeast of Taiwan, rescue workers in southern China continued to search for victims and survivors of Typhoon Maysak, which killed at least 39 people earlier this week.

Ukraine's top prosecutor says no signs of Kyiv being behind Nord Stream blasts

Ukraine's Prosecutor General denied on Thursday Kyiv's involvement in blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, and proposed forming a joint investigation team with Germany, which suspects that Ukrainian state entities were behind the explosions. The explosions, ⁠months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, a vital route for Russian gas exports to Europe, as well as the Nord Stream 2 ⁠branch, which had yet to enter service.

NATO weathers another Trump storm but braces for more after Ankara summit

NATO has weathered another storm from Donald Trump but European members of the military alliance are bracing for more turbulence ahead in relations with the U.S. president. It says much about the state of U.S.-European ties when a NATO summit that began with a U.S. leader ordering a cutoff in trade with one member, Spain, and rebuking others was widely hailed as a success after he re-committed to the alliance hours later.

Families of crew aboard crashed Pakistani cargo plane face agonising wait

The family of Faisal Jatoi, the Pakistani co-pilot missing with four others after their cargo plane crashed into the Arabian Sea, faced an agonising wait for news on Thursday, as rescuers continued their search. Jatoi was co-piloting a K2 Airways Boeing 737 freighter from Sharjah in the UAE to Karachi on Tuesday night when it went down off Pakistan's southern coast. Pakistani rescuers found ‌the wreckage in a deep-sea search operation on Wednesday.

US military carries out fresh strikes on Iran, prompting Iran attacks on ‌Kuwait and Bahrain

The U.S. military said on Wednesday it launched fresh strikes on Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping, triggering Iranian attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain in the latest escalation to derail efforts to end the war. The latest round of attacks, which the U.S. said was carried out in response to ​Tuesday's assault on three cargo ships transiting the strait, came hours after President Donald Trump said he believed an interim ceasefire with Iran to be "over."