Reuters World News Summary

08/18/2016 8:59

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Spain's acting PM agrees to terms of centrists, to set investiture date

Spain's acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy has agreed to the terms of a reform pact with the centrist Ciudadanos party, opening the way for a new government after eight months of uncertainty, Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera said on Thursday. Rivera told journalists after meeting Rajoy that the acting premier had agreed to set a date on Thursday for an investiture vote on a second term for Rajoy.

Serbia intercepts over 3,000 illegal migrants in a month: spokesman

Serbia detained over 3,000 migrants illegally entering into the country in one month, a military spokesman said, suggesting many were still trying to make their way along a Balkan corridor to the European Union despite border closures. Balkan countries along the route processed hundreds of of thousands of migrants over their borders last year, but clamped down in February to stop the mass influx and many migrants now resort to people smugglers to try to reach the EU.

Turkey seizes assets as post-coup crackdown turns to business

Turkish authorities ordered the detention of nearly 200 people, including leading businessmen, and seized their assets as an investigation into suspects in last month's failed military rebellion shifted to the private sector. President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to choke off businesses linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the July 15 coup attempt, describing his schools, firms and charities as "nests of terrorism."

Syrian refugees in discarded holiday homes dream of anything but Greece

A small house close to the beach in western Greece is replete with a small rose garden, flowers in a vase, a thatched roof and a kennel, all created by its newly arrived refugee occupants. It may sound ideal, but for all the coziness, they say it will never be a home.

Germany treads cautiously in court case to ban far-right party

In his decade as a neo-Nazi skinhead in eastern Germany, Manuel Bauer says he beat up foreigners and disabled people, stabbed a cigarette in the eye of a 12-year old boy and assaulted a Muslim man and his pregnant German wife. Bauer, who led two racist gangs, the "League of Aryan Fighters" and "Revenge Act," says groups like his carried out violence on behalf of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), which has a seat in the European Parliament and five seats in one of Germany's 16 state assemblies.

U.N. Syria envoy bemoans lack of aid deliveries, seeks Aleppo truce

No aid convoys have reached civilians trapped in besieged areas of Syria this month and a humanitarian task force has been suspended as a warning to big powers to double down on securing a ceasefire, the U.N. peace envoy on Syria said on Thursday. Staffan de Mistura said a 48-hour pause in fighting in the northern city of Aleppo was the main goal for a meeting later in the day of major and regional powers tasked with resurrecting a collapsed cessation of hostilities accord.

Russia launches third day of Syria strikes from Iran

Russian bombers launched a third day of air strikes against militants in Syria from an Iranian air base, the Russian defense ministry said on Thursday. The ministry said Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 fighter bombers struck Islamic State targets in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zor.

Bomb attacks kill seven, wound 224 in southeast Turkey

Two bomb attacks blamed on Kurdish militants killed seven members of the security forces and wounded 224 people in southeast Turkey on Thursday, officials and security sources said, in a renewed escalation of violence across the region. A car bomb ripped through a police station in the city of Elazig at 9:20 a.m. (0620 GMT) as officers arrived for work. Three police officers were killed and 217 people were wounded, 85 of them police officers, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

Venezuela crushes 2,000 guns in public, plans registry of bullets

Venezuelan police crushed and chopped up nearly 2,000 shotguns and pistols in a Caracas city square on Wednesday, as the new interior minister relaunched a long-stalled gun control campaign in one of the world's most crime-ridden countries. Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the event marked the renewal of efforts to disarm Venezuelans, through a combination of seizures and a voluntary program to swap guns for electrical goods.

Syrian planes bomb Kurdish-held city: militia, Observatory

Syrian government warplanes bombed Kurdish-held areas of the northeastern city of Hasaka on Thursday for the first time in the five-year-old civil war, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and a monitoring group said. People's Protection Units (YPG) spokesman Redur Xelil said the air strikes had hit Kurdish districts of the city, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish groups, and the positions of a Kurdish security force known as the Asayish.

08/18/2016 8:59