Reuters World News Summary

09/04/2016 19:52

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Syrian forces besiege rebel-held Aleppo as Turkish-backed fighters drive Islamic State from border

Syrian government forces and their allies again laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Sunday, while Turkish-backed fighters drove Islamic State from all the areas along its border, in two significant but separate developments in the multi-sided conflict. The fighting - two potential turning points in the conflict if the gains can be sustained - complicated efforts by the United States and Russia to reach a ceasefire deal for Syria, whose civil war is in its sixth year.

German anti-immigrant party beats Merkel in her home district

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats were beaten into third place by the anti-immigrant and anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a north-eastern state election on Sunday, TV exit polls showed. In a stinging defeat for Merkel in her home district that could weaken her chances of a fourth term in next year's federal elections, the upstart AfD took 21.9 percent of the vote behind the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in their first election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern by campaigning hard against the chancellor's policies on refugees, according to a projection by ARD TV at 1.15 p.m. ET.

UK PM May charts collision course with Brexiteers over immigration

British Prime Minister Theresa May cast doubt on Sunday on the effectiveness of 'points-based' immigration systems that screen applicants on the basis of factors like education and skills, setting up a potential conflict with some of her own ministers. Foreign minister Boris Johnson and trade minister Liam Fox were part of the 'Brexit' camp that argued that voting to leave the European Union would free Britain from the duty to admit all EU nationals who want to live and work here, enabling it to cut immigration by introducing an Australian-style points system.

South Sudan agrees to more U.N. troops in bid to avoid arms embargo

The government of South Sudan agreed on Sunday to accept 4,000 extra peacekeepers in a bid to avoid an arms embargo threatened by the United Nations Security Council, but said the details of the deployment were still being discussed. The announcement came after a meeting in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, between President Salva Kiir and the U.N. Security Council, led by U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power.

Turkish-backed rebels clear IS from Turkey's Syrian border

Turkish-backed rebels on Sunday cleared Islamic State from Turkey's Syrian border, securing a 90 km (55 miles) corridor and marking a substantial gain in Ankara's plan to drive out Sunni militants and stop the advance of Syrian Kurdish fighters. The rebels, mainly Syrian Arabs and Turkmen fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, took charge of the frontier between Azaz and Jarablus after seizing 20 villages from the Sunni hardline group, the Turkish military said in a statement.

To Iranian eyes, Kurdish unrest spells Saudi incitement

A decision by a Kurdish opposition group to take up arms against Iranian authorities has senior officials in Tehran worrying that Saudi Arabia is seeking to undermine its stability in a deepening of their regional rivalry. Riyadh denies the charge. But tension between the two countries is surging, with Saudi Arabia and Iran supporting opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon. The contest has largely hewed along sectarian lines as mainly Shi'ite Iran and Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Sunni country, vie for influence.

Philippines worried, says more Chinese boats spotted at disputed shoal

The Philippines expressed "grave concern" on Sunday and demanded an explanation from China's ambassador over what it said was an increasing number of Chinese boats near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. A Philippines air force plane flew over the rocky outcrop on Saturday and spotted more boats than usual in a flotilla China has maintained since seizing the shoal after a tense standoff in 2012, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.

As bodies pile up in Philippines, many fear to talk about Duterte's war

The body of 22-year-old pedicab driver Eric Sison lies in a coffin in a Manila slum with a chick pacing across his casket, placed there in keeping with a local tradition to symbolically peck at the conscience of his killers. Cellphone video footage circulating on social media purports to capture the moment Sison was killed last month when, according to local officials, police were looking for drug pushers in the Pasay township of the Philippines' capital.

Pope proclaims 'dispenser of mercy' Mother Teresa a saint

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, known as the "saint of the gutters" during her life, was declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis on Sunday, fast-tracked to canonization just 19 years after her death. Tens of thousands of pilgrims packed St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for a service to honor the tiny nun, who worked among the world's neediest in the slums of the Indian city now called Kolkata and become one of the most recognizable faces of the 20th century.

China's Xi at G20 says world economy at risk, warns against protectionism

The global economy is being threatened by rising protectionism and risks from highly leveraged financial markets, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the open of a two-day summit of leaders from G20 nations. His warning on Sunday followed bilateral talks with Barack Obama that the U.S. president described as "extremely productive," but which failed to bring both sides closer on thornier topics such as tensions in the South China Sea.

09/04/2016 19:52