Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Street fires burn in Hong Kong amid running battles between protesters and police

Hong Kong police fired water cannon, rubber bullets and round after round of tear gas at petrol bomb-throwing protesters on Sunday in some of the most widespread and violent clashes in more than three months of anti-government unrest. Running battles in the Causeway Bay shopping district, Wan Chai bar area and the Admiralty district of central government offices followed a night of showdowns with police in the Chinese-ruled city, where street fires burned as dusk fell. Mexican activists take to streets demanding safe, legal abortions

Mexican activists took to the streets in large cities on Saturday to demand safe and legal abortions, many wearing green bandanas that have become a symbol with the abortion rights movement in Latin America. The protests on International Safe Abortion Day come after the Mexican state of Oaxaca on Wednesday approved a bill to legalize abortion, making it only the second region after Mexico City to permit the procedure. Countries that make weapons of war foment migration but refuse refugees, Pope Francis says

Pope Francis on Sunday scolded countries that produce weapons for wars fought elsewhere and then refuse to take in refugees fleeing the very same conflicts. The 82-year-old Argentine pope, whose parents were of Italian immigrant stock, has made the defense of migrants and refugees a plank of his pontificate and he has often clashed over immigration policy with U.S. President Donald Trump and populist anti-immigrant politicians in Europe. Netanyahu to meet centrist rival in last-ditch bid to form unity government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a final effort this week to salvage a deal from talks to form a unity government with his centrist election rival, he said on Sunday. An inconclusive ballot on Sept. 17, the second this year, has created a political deadlock and left Israel's longest-serving prime minister weakened. Afghan election sees big drop in voter numbers: unofficial estimate

Afghanistan's presidential election turnout is unofficially estimated at just over 2 million people or about 20 percent of registered voters, an official said on Sunday, amid concern that low participation could mar the vote. Roughly 7 million turned out to vote in the last presidential election in 2014. British PM Johnson vows to stay put to hit Oct 31 Brexit deadline

Boris Johnson vowed on Sunday to stay on as Britain's prime minister even if he fails to secure a deal to leave the European Union, saying only his Conservative government can deliver Brexit on Oct. 31 no matter what. At the beginning of his party's annual conference in the northern city of Manchester, Johnson wants to rally his party with the "do or die" message that he will deliver Brexit by the end of October, with or without a deal. Lebanese demonstrators decry deteriorating economic conditions

Protesters blocked several main roads in the Lebanese capital, some setting tires and rubbish bins on fire, as several hundred people gathered in the heart of the city on Sunday to protest against corruption and deteriorating economic conditions. Demonstrators carrying signs and flags marched along a main road, chanting "Down with capitalism" and "Leave!" amid heightened security in the area, while others stood outside parliament. Moscow rally draws 9,000 people: protest monitor

A Moscow rally to demand the release of protesters had drawn 9,000 people on Sunday as of 1200 GMT and more people were arriving, a Russian protest monitor, White Counter, said on Twitter. It said police were not blocking the entrance to the venue. Queues as far as the eye can see: new fuel shortage hits Yemen

A fuel shortage is deepening Yemen's humanitarian crisis, forcing drivers to wait for days in queues that stretch back from some petrol stations as far as the eye can see. The new shortage is just one of many problems causing suffering in the civil war being fought by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and a Saudi-led coalition backed by the West. Austria votes as clear favorite Kurz keeps coalition options open

Sebastian Kurz is expected to emerge victorious in Austria's snap parliamentary election on Sunday, but it remains unclear whether the conservative leader will lean left or to the far right in seeking the coalition partner he needs for a majority. The election follows the collapse in May of Kurz's coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) after a video sting scandal that forced FPO Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down.

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