Reuters World News Summary

07/26/2016 19:52

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Mali arrests leader of Islamist group linked to deadly attack on troops

Malian forces arrested a regional leader of Islamist group Ansar Dine in central Mali on Tuesday, after it claimed an attack in the region that killed 17 soldiers, the army spokesman said. Ansar Dine laid claim to the attack last week by gunmen who fired on troop positions, burned buildings and pillaged shops, killing 17 Malian soldiers and wounded 35 on an army base in the central town of Nampala last week.

Patient shoots, kills doctor in Berlin then kills himself

A patient shot a doctor in a university clinic in Berlin on Tuesday before killing himself, but there were "no signs at all" of a link with Islamist militancy, police in the German capital said. Germany is on edge because of a spate of violent attacks on civilians by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin since July 18 that have killed 10 people. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for two of those four attacks before Tuesday.

Pope's trip to Poland overshadowed by killing of priest in France

Pope Francis will start his first trip to Poland on Wednesday to preside at an international Catholic youth jamboree, a usually joyous event that has been dampened by the murder of a Catholic priest in France. News that suspected Islamist militants interrupted a church service in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, forced 85-year-old parish priest Father Jacques Hamel to his knees and slit his throat, sent a sudden deep chill over the World Youth Day event.

Turkish troops hunt remaining coup plotters as crackdown widens

Turkish special forces backed by helicopters, drones and the navy hunted a remaining group of commandos thought to have tried to capture or kill President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup, as a crackdown on suspected plotters widened on Tuesday. More than 1,000 members of the security forces were involved in the manhunt for the 11 rogue soldiers in the hills around the Mediterranean coastal resort of Marmaris, where Erdogan was holidaying on the night of the coup attempt, officials said.

Obama says it is possible Russia would try to sway U.S. election

U.S. President Barack Obama said it was possible that Russia would try to influence the U.S. presidential election, after a leak of Democratic National Committee emails that experts have attributed to Russian hackers. "Anything is possible," Obama told NBC News in an interview broadcast on Tuesday when asked if the Russians would try to influence the Nov. 8 election.

Knife attacker in Japan moved from jail to see prosecutors: NHK

A Japanese man accused of breaking into a facility for the disabled in a small town near Tokyo before stabbing and killing 19 patients was taken from a regional jail to see prosecutors on Wednesday, footage on public broadcaster NHK showed. Satoshi Uematsu, the 26-year-old suspect and former employee of the facility, was sent from the town of Sagamihara, about 45 km (25 miles) southwest of Tokyo, to the Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office in Kanagawa prefecture.

Malaysia's Najib gets new powers amid planned protests over fund scandal

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak will get sweeping security powers on Monday amid planned protests calling for his resignation over U.S. allegations that millions of dollars from a state fund wound up in his personal bank account. The new National Security Council (NSC) Act, which comes into force on Aug. 1, allows Najib to designate any area as a "security area," where he can deploy forces to search any individual, vehicle or premise without a warrant. It also allows investigators to dispense with formal inquests into killings by the police or armed forces in those areas.

Indonesia's energy minister to be replaced in cabinet reshuffle: sources

Indonesia's energy and mining minister Sudirman Said will be replaced as part of a cabinet reshuffle expected to be announced by President Joko Widodo on Wednesday, sources close to the minister told Reuters. Asked whether Said would be replaced, a source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said: "Yes, correct."

Islamists attack French church, slit priest's throat

Knife-wielding attackers interrupted a French church service, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat on Tuesday, a murder made even more shocking as one of the assailants was a known would-be jihadist under supposedly tight surveillance. As the attackers came out of the church shouting "Allahu akbar" ("God is Greatest") they were shot and killed by police.

Kerry hopes to work with Russia on Syria, U.N. aims to restart talks

The United States said on Tuesday it hoped to announce in early August details of planned military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russia on Syria, and a United Nations envoy said he would also aim to resume peace talks next month. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington and Moscow, which support opposing sides in Syria's five-year-old conflict, had made progress in recent days towards working more closely together.

07/26/2016 19:52