Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Sydney knife attacker shot dead after killing 6 in Bondi mall

An attacker who fatally knifed six people in a Sydney mall was shot dead by police in the beachside suburb of Bondi on Saturday, police said, as hundreds fled the scene. The assailant was shot by a police officer after he attacked shoppers in the busy Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre, police said in a statement.

US, Japan, Philippines trilateral deal to change dynamic in South China Sea, Marcos says

A cooperation agreement by the Philippines, the United States and Japan will change the dynamic in the South China Sea and the region, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday, while seeking to assure China it was not a target.

"I think the trilateral agreement is extremely important," Marcos told a press conference in Washington a day after meeting President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the nations' first trilateral summit.

Serbian runway honours shooting victim with Dior designs

Jelena Acimovic is not a model, but on Friday evening she walked the runaway at Belgrade Fashion Week in a dress designed by Dior after drawings by her 14-year old sister who was killed in a school massacre last year. Angelina Acimovic was in history class when her classmate, a 13-year old boy, entered the school and killed nine pupils and a guard in a shooting spree.

Russian armoured assaults ramp up pressure on Ukraine's east, army chief says

Ukraine's army chief said on Saturday the situation on the eastern front had deteriorated in recent days with Russia intensifying its armoured assaults and battles raging for control of a village west of the devastated city of Bakhmut. The statement by Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi more than two years since Russia's invasion evoked the increasingly grim mood in Kyiv as vital U.S. military aid that Kyiv expected to receive months ago remains stuck in Congress.

China natural disasters cost $3.3 billion in first quarter, government says

Floods, droughts, an earthquake and freezing conditions in China caused direct economic losses of 23.76 billion yuan ($3.28 billion) in the first quarter, the government said on Saturday. The emergency management ministry cited damage from several cold spells, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, landslides in Yunnan province in the southwest and flooding on the Yellow River.

Level of Ural River in Russia's Orenburg reaches 11.83 metres, say local authorities

The level of the Ural river in the Russian city of Orenburg has reached 11.83 metres, or around 39 feet, local authorities said on Saturday, after major rivers burst their banks due to a historic deluge of melting snow. Authorities in the city called on thousands of residents to evacuate immediately on Friday due to rapidly rising floodwaters.

Missing Israeli teen found dead in West Bank, military says

Israeli military and police said the body of a missing Israeli teenager who was likely killed in a Palestinian attack was found on Saturday in the occupied West Bank, in an incident that could trigger further violence. The 14-year-old went missing on Friday, authorities said, and they described his killing as "a terrorist attack".

One killed, 10 injured in cable car accident in southern Turkey

One person was killed and 10 others were injured on Friday in the southern Turkish province of Antalya after a cable car cabin collided with a broken pole, the interior ministry said on Saturday. Twenty-four cabins were stranded in the air at 5:23 p.m. (1423 GMT) on Friday. Sixteen hours later, more than 60 people were still stranded in the remaining nine cabins in the air, the ministry said. One hundred and twelve people had been rescued.

Iran seizes cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz after threats to close waterway

Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, days after Tehran said it could close the crucial shipping route and warned it would retaliate for an Israeli strike on its Syria consulate.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that a Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese flagged MSC Aries, saying it was linked to Israel.

Can Israel's ultra-Orthodox military volunteers help defuse the battle over conscription?

Yossi Levi is a member of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, whose exemption from compulsory military service is dividing Israel and threatens to topple its government. He is also a major in the infantry reserves of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). The long-standing military waiver for the ultra-Orthodox has sparked waves of protest in recent weeks by more secular Israelis, angry that they are shouldering the risk and drudgery of fighting the war in Gaza, now six months old. In city streets, ultra-Orthodox demonstrators have scuffled with combat veterans who sport khaki shirts and hoist national flags.