Reuters World News Summary

08/23/2016 19:52

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

With Biden visit, U.S. seeks balance with truculent Turkey

When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Turkey in January, he struck a difficult balance between showing support for a NATO ally faced with multiple security threats while criticizing its record on free speech and dissent. Now with relations between Washington and Ankara going through one of their testiest periods in recent memory, he may find it even tougher to get those dual messages across when he visits on Wednesday.

One killed, 30 wounded by explosions in southern Thailand: police

One Thai person was killed and 30 wounded when two bombs exploded late on Tuesday near a hotel in the southern Thai beach town of Pattani, police said, less than two weeks after a series of blasts hit the south. The first blast in a parking lot behind the Southern Hotel caused no casualties, Police Lieutenant Colonel Winyu Tiamraj told Reuters on Wednesday. All the casualties were Thais.

North Korea test-fires submarine-launched ballistic missile

North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile off its east coast early on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, the latest in a string of missile launches by the isolated country in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. The missile was fired at around 5:30 a.m. (4:30 p.m. ET) from near the coastal city of Sinpo, where satellite imagery shows a submarine base to be located, and traveled about 500 kilometers (311 miles), officials at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defence Ministry told Reuters.

Turkey's Erdogan, Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani discuss fight against militants

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday discussed strategy in fighting Islamic State and Kurdish PKK militants with visiting Iraqi Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani, sources at Erdogan's office said. They said Erdogan and Barzani also addressed necessary steps to shut down schools and institutions in Iraqi Kurdistan that are affiliated with Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic cleric whom Turkey blames for last month's failed military coup.

Special Report: Massacre reports show U.S. inability to curb Iraq militias

Shi'ite militias in Iraq detained, tortured and abused far more Sunni civilians during the American-backed capture of the town of Falluja in June than U.S. officials have publicly acknowledged, Reuters has found. More than 700 Sunni men and boys are still missing more than two months after the Islamic State stronghold fell. The abuses occurred despite U.S. efforts to restrict the militias' role in the operation, including threatening to withdraw American air support, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.

Syria Kurds win battle with government, Turkey mobilizes against them

Syrian Kurdish forces took near complete control of Hasaka city on Tuesday as a ceasefire ended a week of fighting with the government, consolidating the Kurds' grip on Syria's northeast as Turkey increased its efforts to check their influence. The Kurdish YPG militia, a critical part of the U.S.-backed campaign against Islamic State, already controls swathes of northern Syria where Kurdish groups have established de facto autonomy since the start of the Syria war in 2011.

U.S., Russia make 'headway' in Syria talks, but no deal yet -State Dept

The United States and Russia continue to make "headway" in talks on advancing cooperation to ease the Syria conflict, but haven't reached a final deal yet, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday. "We are continuing those discussions. We continue to make headway. We're not quite there yet," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing.

U.N. braces for refugee exodus from Iraq's Mosul

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in and around Mosul could be uprooted by the military assault to retake the city from Islamic State, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday. "In Mosul we believe the displacement situation may be about to dramatically worsen," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told a briefing in Geneva, saying the agency needed more land for camps.

As Kerry visits Nigeria, air force says top Boko Haram fighters killed

Nigeria's air force said it had killed a number of senior Boko Haram fighters and possibly their overall leader, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pledged to consider ways to ramp up military assistance to Nigeria to defeat the militant group. Government planes attacked the Islamist group inside the Sambisa forest in its northeast heartland on Friday, the air force said, adding that it had only just confirmed details of the impact of the raid.

Over 1,900 killed in 'chilling' Philippines war on drugs

More than 1,900 people, or about 36 per day, have been killed in a violent campaign against drugs in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte came to office seven weeks ago, the country's national police chief said on Tuesday. Director-General Ronald dela Rosa told a Senate hearing there was no declared policy to kill drug users and pushers and that about 1,100 deaths were still being investigated.

08/23/2016 19:52