Reuters World News Summary

09/08/2016 19:53

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Three suspected female militants seized in France, policeman stabbed

Three women arrested on Thursday in connection with a car laden with gas cylinders found abandoned near Paris's Notre Dame cathedral were likely planning an imminent attack, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. The minister said one of the women had stabbed a police officer during the arrest before being shot and wounded. A source close to the investigation said the attacker was the missing 19-year-old daughter of the car's owner.

U.S. attempted to rescue two hostages in Afghanistan -Pentagon

U.S. forces attempted to rescue two civilian hostages in Afghanistan last month, but the captives were not at the location and no U.S. personnel or civilians were harmed in the attempt, the Pentagon said on Thursday. "In August, at the recommendation of Secretary Carter, President Obama authorized U.S. forces to conduct a mission in Afghanistan, aimed at recovering two civilian hostages," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.

Top commander of former Nusra group killed in Syria: rebel sources

The top military commander of the militant Jabhat Fateh al Sham, a former al Qaeda offshoot in Syria, was killed in an aerial raid that targeted a meeting of the group's leaders, two rebel sources said on Thursday. They said the commander, whose alias is Abu Omar Saraqeb, was killed at a location in the countryside of Aleppo where the group has been playing an instrumental role in ongoing battles against the Syrian army troops and Iranian backed Shi'ite militias. The nationality of the jets that hit the location was not immediately known.

U.S. links Venezuelan official related to Maduro to drug probe

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent testified on Thursday that a probe of two nephews of Venezuela's first lady began after a drug trafficker cooperating with authorities told him of a meeting arranged by her brother, a top police official. The agent testified in Manhattan federal court about the origins of the probe of Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores as he detailed how two key informants deceived investigators to conduct drug deals.

Mexico's new finance minister spurns Donald Trump

Mexico's new finance minister on Thursday delivered a stern reproach to Donald Trump, saying the only thing he agreed on with the U.S. Republican presidential candidate was that his predecessor in the ministry was an excellent public servant. "I'd like to point out that the only thing, absolutely the only thing I agree on with candidate Trump is that Luis Videgaray is an exceptional public servant," Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade told a news conference.

Iraq gears up for late-year push to retake Mosul from Islamic State

The U.S.-led war on Islamic State has depleted the group's funds, leadership and foreign fighters, but the biggest battle yet is expected later this year in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his "caliphate" two years ago. The jihadist insurgents have lost more than half the territory they seized in Iraq and nearly as much in neighboring Syria, but still manage to control their twin capitals of Mosul and Raqqa, symbols of the state they sought to build at the heart of the Middle East.

U.N. nuclear agency says Iran sticking to nuclear deal

Iran has kept to a nuclear deal it agreed with six world powers last year limiting its stockpiles of substances that could be used to make atomic weapons, a report by the U.N. nuclear agency found. The confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seen by Reuters did not point to any violations in Tehran's observance of the deal which was opposed by hardliners inside Iran and by skeptics in the West.

Dozens stuck overnight in cable cars near Mont Blanc

Forty-five people were stranded overnight in cable cars near Europe's highest mountain, Mont Blanc, when a ride between two mountain peaks came to a halt on Thursday, French authorities said. Four helicopters had managed to rescue 65 people from the cable cars before night fell over the Alps, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement.

Kerry does not believe worthwhile to meet Lavrov on Syria now

The United States does not believe it is worthwhile for Secretary of State John Kerry to meet Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, now about a ceasefire in Syria, the State Department said on Thursday. "Secretary Kerry is willing to meet with Foreign Minister Lavrov to discuss remaining issues. However, I think it's our belief that ... the remaining issues are at a technical level that need to be addressed within our interagency and also by some of the working groups," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. "We're just not at a point where we believe ... that it's worth his while to go have a meeting."

Gabon opposition leader challenges vote as mediation mission postponed

Gabon's opposition leader lodged a constitutional court challenge on Thursday against a presidential election he narrowly lost, hoping to overturn a result whose validity has been questioned at home and abroad. Former foreign minister Jean Ping lost the Aug. 27 election to President Ali Bongo by fewer than 6,000 votes, an outcome that sparked days of riots in which at least six people were killed.

09/08/2016 19:53