Reuters World News Summary

08/21/2016 19:54

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Show of European unity: Merkel, Hollande, Renzi meet to discuss gameplan

The leaders of Germany, France and Italy will meet on Monday to discuss how to keep the European project together in the second set of talks between the premiers of the euro zone's three largest economies since Britain's shock vote to leave the bloc. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi hosts German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on an island off the coast of Naples ahead of September's EU summit called to discuss reverberations from the Brexit vote.

Iraq hangs 36 people sentenced to death for killing of troops in 2014

Iraq said on Sunday it had hanged 36 militants sentenced to death over the mass killing of hundreds of mainly Shi'ite soldiers at a camp north of Baghdad two years ago. It is the highest number of militants executed in one day by the Iraqi government since Islamic State fighters took control of parts of northern and western Iraq in 2014.

Kerry, African ministers to meet on South Sudan violence, Somalia

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from eight African nations meet in Nairobi on Monday to discuss ways to prevent South Sudan from sliding back into civil war and advance a political transition in Somalia. Kerry arrived in the Kenyan capital late on Sunday - after a two-week summer break - for his second trip as secretary of state to Nairobi since May 2015.

Twin suicide bombs claimed by al Shabaab kill 20 people in Somalia

More than 20 people were killed on Sunday when suicide bombers from the militant al Shabaab group detonated two car bombs at a local government headquarters in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, witnesses and officials said. Residents of the town of Galkayo in north central Somalia said they heard two loud blasts in quick succession followed by heavy gunfire.

Turkey's Erdogan blames child bomber for attack that killed 51

A suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 carried out the attack on a wedding party in the Turkish city of Gaziantep on Saturday that killed at least 51 people, the president said. The attack was the deadliest in a series of bombings in Turkey this year, and President Tayyip Erdogan said Islamic State was likely behind it.

Yemen's ex-president says could work with Russia to 'fight terrorism'

A newly-formed governing council in Yemen could work with Russia to "fight terrorism" by allowing Moscow use of the war-torn country's military bases, Yemen's former president said on Sunday. Ali Abdullah Saleh, a former counter-terrorism ally of the U.S. who was toppled by mass protests in 2011, told state-owned channel Russia 24 that Yemen was ready to grant Moscow access to air and naval bases.

Syrian rebels prepare to attack Islamic State town from Turkey

Syrian rebels are preparing to launch an attack to seize a town from Islamic State on the border with Turkey, a senior rebel said on Sunday, in a move that would frustrate Kurdish hopes to expand in the area. The rebels, Turkish-backed groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), are expected to assault Jarablus from inside Turkey in the next few days, said the rebel official, who is familiar with the plans but declined to be identified.

Gaza militant rocket hits Israel, Israel responds with air strikes, shells

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip launched a rocket that landed in the Israeli border town of Sderot on Sunday and Israeli aircraft and tanks responded by shelling the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, the army and police said. The rocket caused no injuries or damage in Sderot, where it landed in a residential area, police said.

Chileans step up pension reform demands with nationwide protests

Hundreds of thousands of Chileans took to the streets throughout the country on Sunday, seeking to increase pressure on the government to throw out Chile's private pension system in favor of one that would provide better retirement benefits. Under the current system, which was started in the 1980s during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, six private pension funds, known as AFPs, manage some $160 billion in assets.

Libyan forces say they capture mosque, prison from Islamic State in Sirte

Libyan forces renewed their push to oust Islamic State from its former North African stronghold of Sirte on Sunday, saying they had seized the city's main mosque and a jail run by the militants' morality police. The forces, mainly brigades from the city of Misrata, say they are close to capturing Sirte after taking most of the city in a three-month campaign and restricting militants to a shrinking residential area in the city center. Since Aug. 1, they have been supported by U.S. air strikes.

08/21/2016 19:54