Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. UK-U.S. treaty bans extradition of Assange, lawyer says

Lawyers for Julian Assange said on Thursday they will argue that the WikiLeaks founder cannot be sent from Britain to the United States to face spying charges because a treaty between the two countries bans extradition for political offences. Assange, 48, faces 18 counts in the U.S. including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted. Hundreds defy ban on protests against Indian citizenship law

Hundreds of Indians held for defying a ban on demonstrating against a controversial new citizenship law continued their protest in police detention on Thursday. Public anger over the new law widely considered to be discriminatory is building across the country, with marches and rallies planned despite bans on public gatherings in several areas, raising the possibility of further violence and arrests. Lights out for multilateralism? Alarm as U.N. faces cash squeeze

During talks on disarmament at the U.N.'s Geneva headquarters last month, alarm bells went off in the chamber to indicate that delegates had infringed new cost-cutting rules that restrict the length of meetings. Screens and microphones were also shut off, forcing ambassadors to shout their speeches across the hall as events became "chaotic, confusing and noisy", and some feared the lights would be next, according to one of several people present who described the scene to Reuters. Erdogan says 50,000 Syrians fleeing Idlib to Turkey

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that 50,000 people were fleeing Syria's northwestern region of Idlib to Turkey, and slammed Muslim nations for not supporting his plans to resettle refugees in other parts of north Syria. Turkey currently hosts some 3.7 million Syrian refugees, the largest refugee population in the world, and fears another influx from the Idlib region, where up to 3 million Syrians live in the last significant insurgent-held swathe of territory. Exclusive: The Brits who won't Brexit

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a thumping election victory last week on a campaign to "get Brexit done," but not before some wealthy donors to his Conservative Party quietly took steps to stay inside the European Union. Cyprus government documents seen by Reuters show that Conservative Party donors have sought citizenship of the island, an EU member state, since Britain voted to leave the bloc in 2016. Putin says he's open to tweaking presidential term limits

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was open to the possibility of altering Russia's constitution, including proposals to increase parliament's power and to limit the number of presidential terms anyone can serve. The issue of constitutional change in Russia is watched closely amid speculation about Putin's own political ambitions. Hong Kong protesters seek international support on rights

Hong Kong protesters rallied outside diplomatic missions on Thursday to urge foreign governments to follow the United States and pass human rights bills to raise pressure on Beijing and support their pro-democracy campaign. U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation last month requiring the State Department to certify, at least once a year, that Hong Kong retains enough autonomy from Beijing to justify favorable U.S. trading terms. Political deadlock delays choice of new PM to steer Iraq out of crisis

Iraqi lawmakers said on Thursday that deadlock in parliament was holding up the selection of an interim prime minister, meaning leaders would miss a deadline to name a replacement for Adel Abdul Mahdi and prolong nationwide unrest. More than 450 people, mostly unarmed demonstrators but also some members of the security forces, have been killed since a wave of popular unrest began on Oct. 1. Protesters, most of them young, are demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and keeping most Iraqis in poverty. Pakistan court adds grisly 'hang for three days' rider to Musharraf death sentence

A Pakistan special court issued a bizarre but apparently symbolic order for former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Thursday, saying his corpse should be dragged to parliament and hang for three days if he dies before his execution. The court sentenced Musharraf to death on Tuesday after finding him guilty of high treason for subverting the constitution in 2007. Algeria swears in new president, protest movement debates response

Algeria swore in Abdelmadjid Tebboune as president on Thursday as the Hirak protest movement debated its response to his offer of dialogue to end a months-long political crisis. Hirak has mobilized huge street protests since February demanding a full clear-out of a shadowy, long entrenched ruling elite that it sees as corrupt and undemocratic, and the army’s withdrawal from politics.