Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. France's prime minister defies unions with pension overhaul

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe defied striking workers on Wednesday with plans for a long-anticipated overhaul of France's byzantine pension system that he said would be fairer and encourage people to work longer. France would replace a convoluted system of more than 42 separate state-funded plans with a universal, points-based system that will apply to those entering the job market for the first time in 2022, Philippe said in a speech that followed days of protests and strikes. Thai election panel wants opposition party dissolved over loans from the leader

Thailand's election panel asked the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to dissolve the opposition Future Forward Party, accusing it of infringing laws governing political parties by accepting multimillion-dollar loans from its leader. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 41, has emerged as the most outspoken opponent of the government headed by former junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha after the party he helped found came to a surprise third in an election in March and has since emerged as the most vocal challenge to the government. With Netanyahu's fate in question, Israel poised for a new election

Israel headed on Wednesday toward a third national election in less than a year with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing the fight of his life for political survival after a criminal indictment. After giving its preliminary approval, and barring last-minute progress in deadlocked efforts to form a new government, parliament was set to vote for its dissolution later in the day and approve a March 2 election date already agreed by the two major parties. Taliban attack on U.S. military base kills one, injures scores

Suicide bombers struck the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one person and injuring scores in a major attack that could scupper plans to revive peace talks between the United States and the Taliban. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which struck the Bagram airbase north of Kabul. U.S. grounds Saudi pilots halts military training after base shooting

The Pentagon announced on Tuesday it was halting operational training of all Saudi Arabian military personnel in the United States until further notice after a Saudi Air Force lieutenant shot and killed three people last week at a base in Florida. The decision will have far-reaching impacts on visiting Saudi personnel, including grounding more than 300 Saudi Arabian military aviation students as part of a "safety stand-down," first reported by Reuters earlier on Tuesday. Suu Kyi tells U.N.'s top court charge of Rohingya genocide is 'misleading'

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday rejected accusations of genocide committed against her country's Muslim Rohingya minority as "incomplete and misleading", and said the case should not be heard by the U.N.'s highest court. The Nobel Peace laureate, speaking during three days of hearings at the International Court of Justice, challenged allegations in a lawsuit brought by Gambia last month accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention. U.N. head demands bigger climate action or 'we are doomed'

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres exhorted the world's major economies on Wednesday to signal more ambitious commitments to cut greenhouse emissions as climate talks in Madrid hit an intense phase. "We need to have the big emitters understanding that their role is essential because if the big emitters fail, everything will fail," Guterres told Reuters in an interview. U.S. sanctions five South Sudan officials over killings of government critics

The United States has imposed sanctions on five South Sudanese officials it says are responsible for the likely murders of two human rights activists in 2017, as Washington piles more pressure on the war-torn country's government. The U.S. Treasury named Abud Stephen Thiongkol, Malual Dhal Muorwel, Michael Kuajien, John Top Lam and Angelo Kuot Garang as responsible for the disappearance and alleged killing of human rights lawyer Dong Samuel Luak and opposition politician Aggrey Idri in January 2017. Tremors worsen on New Zealand volcano island, prevent recovery of bodies

Increasing tremors on a volcanic island in New Zealand on Wednesday heightened the risk of another massive eruption, preventing the recovery of bodies two days after an eruption engulfed dozens of tourists in steam and hot ash. Six people were killed in Monday's explosion at White Island, which lies some 50 km (30 miles) off the mainland, with another nine officially listed as missing, and 30 injured. New climate pact is EU's 'man on the moon moment': chief executive

The European Union's executive wants to mobilize 100 billion euros worth of investment to help the bloc's economies become more environmentally friendly, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday. Von der Leyen will propose her hallmark "Green Deal" for the EU later on Wednesday to commit the bloc to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.