Reuters World News Summary

09/07/2016 19:54

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Mexico president replaces finance minister after damaging Trump visit

President Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday replaced his close ally and finance minister, Luis Videgaray, after the two were heavily criticized for Republican U.S presidential candidate Donald Trump's controversial visit to Mexico last week. A somber-looking Pena Nieto told a news conference that Videgaray, who officials said was the architect of Trump's visit, would make way for former Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade.

Top Saudi cleric says Iran leaders not Muslims as haj row mounts

Saudi Arabia's top religious authority said Iran's leaders were not Muslims, drawing a rebuke from Tehran in an unusually harsh exchange between the regional rivals over the running of the annual haj pilgrimage. The war of words on the eve of the mass pilgrimage will deepen a long-running rift between the Sunni kingdom and the Shi'ite revolutionary power. They back opposing sides in Syria's civil war and a list of other conflicts across the Middle East.

U.S. says Libya close to eliminating Islamic State from Sirte

U.S.-backed Libyan forces are close to vanquishing Islamic State from its last holdouts in the city of Sirte, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday. Carter said forces aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed government, who have been aided by U.S. air strikes since the beginning of August, had cornered Islamic State in one small section of the city.

Russian jet came within 10 feet of U.S. spy plane: U.S. officials

A Russian fighter jet carried out an "unsafe and unprofessional" intercept of a U.S. spy plane over the Black Sea and came within 10 feet (3.05 meters) of the American aircraft, two U.S. defense officials said on Wednesday. The incident is likely to cause more tension between the United States and Russia, who are at odds over the Syrian civil war and Ukraine.

Maoists push back against modernizing China

Tears well up in Wang Shiji's eyes as he describes the first time he saw Mao Zedong, waving to a crowd of Red Guards in Beijing at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 when Mao declared class war. "It was then I decided to give my life to Chairman Mao," Wang, a former soldier, told Reuters. "I swore to live and die as a Red Guard and that is what I will always be."

Tensions over South China Sea belie summit cordiality

The Philippines said on Wednesday it was "gravely concerned" that Chinese boats were preparing to build structures at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, shattering an appearance of cordiality at an Asian summit in Laos. Officials said talks between Southeast Asian leaders and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang went smoothly. There was no reference to a July ruling by an court in The Hague that declared illegal some of China's artificial islands and invalidated its claims to almost the entire waterway.

U.S., Russia 'not there yet' on Syria deal: State Department

The United States and Russia have not reached a ceasefire deal for Syria, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday, saying it could not confirm Moscow's announcement that the U.S. and Russian foreign ministers would meet in Geneva on Thursday. "We're not there yet," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a briefing after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone for 45 minutes.

Iraq militia fighters join battle for Syria's Aleppo

An Iraqi Shi'ite militia said on Wednesday it had dispatched more than 1,000 fighters to the frontline in neighboring Syria, escalating foreign involvement in the battle for Aleppo, the biggest prize in five years of relentless civil war. New footage emerged of civilians choking in the aftermath of an apparent attack with poison chlorine gas on an opposition-held district as the battle for Syria's biggest city approaches what could be a decisive phase.

U.S. Republicans seek to tie Syria refugee issue to spending bill

Some conservative U.S. Republican lawmakers want to tie President Barack Obama's Syrian refugee resettlement program to a spending bill that must pass in order to keep the federal government open after the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. In a move that could complicate congressional leaders' efforts to pass the bill on time, members of the House of Representatives' conservative "Freedom Caucus" said they would support a temporary spending measure if it includes a moratorium on admitting the Syrians to the United States.

Exclusive: ACT partners with test-prep firms despite signs of cheating in Asia

Standardized testing giant ACT Inc continues to partner with Asian test-preparation operators, despite widespread cheating at overseas education centers it licenses. The maker of America's most popular college entrance exam approved South Korea's Seoul Scholars International school to administer the ACT test this year, Reuters found, even though the school is owned by a company that offers test-preparation services. That company's test-prep center says on one of its websites that its students achieve "astonishing" increases in their ACT scores.

09/07/2016 19:54