Reuters World News Summary

09/22/2016 8:58

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Senate clears way for $1.15 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia

The U.S. Senate cleared the way for a $1.15 billion sale of tanks and other military equipment to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, defending a frequent partner in the Middle East recently subject to harsh criticism in Congress. The Senate voted 71 to 27 to kill legislation that would have stopped the sale.

Brazil police arrest former minister in Petrobras probe: source

Brazilian police arrested former Finance Minister Guido Mantega on Thursday as part of a sweeping corruption investigation into political kickbacks on contracts at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasiliero, according to a source close to the former minister. In a statement, prosecutors said they were investigating a former minister who was chairman in 2012 of Petrobras, as the company is known, a description fitting Mantega. They did not name the minister.

People wounded after rocket fire hits Turkish border town: CNN Turk

A rocket fired from Syria hit a market in a Turkish border town on Thursday, wounding people, CNN Turk reported, without elaborating on the casualties. The ammunition hit the town center of Kilis, which straddles the Syrian frontier, the private broadcaster said. The ordnance was fired from Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria, Dogan news agency said.

South African police clash with students in tuition fees protest

South African police fired tear gas in clashes with students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday and arsonists torched a building at another campus overnight, police said on Thursday, as protests over tuition costs spread. The protests erupted at a Johannesburg university three days ago after the government announced a rise of up to 8 percent in 2017 tuition fees - well above the inflation rate.

EU reviews ex-commissioner Kroes' offshore directorship

The European Commission said on Thursday it was looking into whether to take action against former EU commissioner Neelie Kroes for failing to declare a directorship of an offshore firm in the Bahamas. Kroes, who was the Commission's anti-trust chief and then oversaw digital affairs under former president Jose Manuel Barroso for a decade until 2014, confirmed to newspapers which published leaked Bahamas documents that she should have declared her interest in the offshore company.

Italian officials support each other in lonely stand against mafia

Benedetto Zoccola wore a wiretap to put a mob boss in jail. To pay him back, the mafia planted a small bomb on the window sill of his office last year. He was less than a meter (3.3 feet) away when it exploded, permanently damaging his hearing.

Death toll from air strike in Yemen rises to 26, sources say

The death toll from an Arab coalition air strike which hit a house in a residential area in western Yemen has risen to 26 people, medics and residents said on Thursday. A spokesman for the Saudi-led alliance was not immediately available for comment on the strike, the latest in a string of deadly raids that have killed civilians.

Iraqi army says it reached center of key town south of Mosul

Iraq's military backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition on Thursday seized the center of Shirqat, a northern town seen as a stepping stone in the campaign to recapture Mosul from Islamic State. The army, backed by local police and Sunni Muslim tribal fighters, were still clashing with the ultra-hardline jihadists after taking control of the mayor's office, the municipal building and the hospital, said a source from the Salahuddin Operations Command, which oversees military operations in the area.

Warplanes hit Aleppo in heaviest attack in months, defy U.S.

Warplanes mounted the heaviest air strikes in months against rebel-held districts of the city of Aleppo overnight, as Russia and the Syrian government spurned a U.S. plea to halt flights, burying any hope for the revival of a doomed ceasefire. Rebel officials and rescue workers said incendiary bombs were among the weapons that rained from the sky on the city. Hamza al-Khatib, the director of a hospital in the rebel-held east, told Reuters the death toll was 45.

Bangladesh finds 18 bodies after ferry capsizes

Bangladeshi rescue workers have recovered 18 bodies since an overcrowded ferry capsized on Wednesday under the weight of a collapsing river bank, police said on Thursday. Low-lying Bangladesh, with extensive inland waterways and slack safety standards, has an appalling record of ferry accidents, with casualties sometimes running into the hundreds.

09/22/2016 8:58