Reuters World News Summary

08/04/2016 8:59

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Bangladesh detains two over July cafe attack that killed 20 hostages

A court in Bangladesh on Thursday allowed police to detain two men over an attack claimed by militant group Islamic State on a cafe in the capital, Dhaka, that killed 20 hostages, mostly foreigners. The case has drawn criticism from human rights groups who say the suspects were illegally detained and denied access to a lawyer. A lawyer for one of the two men, Hasnat Karim, said his client was innocent and demanded his immediate release.

Turkey detains 20 suspected Islamic State members: media

Turkish police detained 20 suspected members of the Islamic State militant group in the southern city of Adana early on Thursday, the private Dogan news agency reported. It said anti-terror police, supported by a helicopter, staged simultaneous raids on 22 addresses in the city after a tip-off that Islamic State cells were planning attacks.

Japan's defense minister ducks questions on war aggression, Nanjing massacre

Japan's new defense minister, known for her revisionist views of Japan's wartime actions, declined on Thursday to say whether Japan liberated or invaded Asian countries before World War Two or if Japanese troops massacred civilians in China. Tomomi Inada, a 57-year old ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker and close ally of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, took up her post on Thursday, a day after being appointed.

U.S. envoy hits back at suggestion U.S. provoked North Korea

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, hit back on Wednesday at suggestions that a United States decision to deploy an advanced anti-missile defense system in South Korea had provoked recent ballistic missile tests by North Korea. Pyongyang's ally China has said Washington's decision last month to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system would only worsen tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea threatened a physical response to the deployment decision.

Pentagon not to pay Pakistan $300 million in military reimbursements

The Pentagon will not pay Pakistan $300 million in military reimbursements after U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter decided not to tell Congress that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network, a U.S. official said. Relations between the two countries have been frayed over the past decade, with U.S. officials frustrated by what they term Islamabad's unwillingness to act against Islamist groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.

Putin to meet Japan's Abe, South Korean president in early September

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the first days of September, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. The two will meet in the port city of Vladivostok in Russia's Far East, on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, an annual business conference hosted by Russia. The forum will take place Sept. 2-3.

'Jump! Jump!' - video shows chaos in cabin of crashed Emirates plane

Amateur video taken inside a crashed Emirates Boeing 777 shows chaos as passengers try to grab their luggage from overhead compartments while one woman, apparently a flight attendant, shouts at them to evacuate the plane. "Jump! Jump! Jump! Leave your bags behind!" the woman shouts, seconds after the burning plane came to rest on the runway of Dubai International Airport after a flight from Thiruvananthapuram in southern India.

Paris police on alert for Afghan who may be planning attack: police source

Security agencies in Paris have circulated a photo of an Afghan asylum seeker on suspicion that he might be plotting an attack on the capital, a police source said on Thursday, as France reels from two strikes in a month by Islamic State loyalists. Police did not have a name for the Afghan, the source said, and no active manhunt was underway. Metronews reported that the man had been in France for the past two months.

Nepal's new prime minister names core team, seeks reconciliation

Nepal's new Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda named a minority leader to the key position of home minister in his first appointments on Thursday, seeking reconciliation after months of protests by southern plainsfolk over a new constitution. The 61-year-old former rebel commander has vowed to tackle the grievances of the Madhesi minority that demands a greater say in central government by amending the constitution adopted last September.

U.S. woman killed in London knife attack, no evidence of terrorism link say police

A U.S. woman was killed and five other people injured by a man with suspected mental health issues who went on a rampage with a knife in central London, but police said there was no evidence that the attack was terrorism related. Armed police were called at 10:33 p.m. (2133 GMT) after a Norwegian man of Somali origin with a knife started to attack people in London's Russell Square, an elegant park near the site of a 2005 suicide bombing.

08/04/2016 8:59