Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Exclusive-Regulators warned Air India Express about delay on Airbus engine fix, forging records

India's aviation watchdog reprimanded Air India's budget carrier in March for not timely changing engine parts of an Airbus A320 as directed by European Union's aviation safety agency, and falsifying records to show compliance, a government memo showed. In a statement, Air India Express told Reuters it acknowledged the error to the Indian watchdog and undertook "remedial action and preventive measures".

Russia becomes first country to recognise Taliban government of Afghanistan

Russia said on Thursday it had accepted the credentials of a new ambassador of Afghanistan, making it the first nation to recognise the Taliban government of the country. In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow saw good prospects to develop ties and would continue to support Kabul in security, counter-terrorism and combating drug crime.

UN pulls nuclear inspectors out of Iran for safety reasons, WSJ reports

The United Nations atomic agency is pulling its inspectors out of Iran over safety concerns, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

French air traffic controllers' strike disrupts flights for second day

A strike by French air traffic controllers entered its second day on Friday, leaving many passengers stranded at the start of Europe's peak travel season. Civil aviation agency DGAC told airlines to cancel 40% of flights at the three main Paris airports on Friday because of the strike, which the air traffic controllers say is over staff shortages and ageing equipment.

Germany plans six-month voluntary military service, sources say

Germany plans to introduce a voluntary six-month military service scheme, sources familiar with the plan said on Friday, as Berlin tries to train more reservists and bolster national defences over security concerns about Russia. Volunteers would be sought for training in simple tasks such as guard duties under the scheme, but a military draft to recruit more people could be considered if uptake were deemed too low, the sources said.

US Supreme Court liberals increasingly marginalized as conservatives flex muscles

The U.S. Supreme Court's three liberal justices exerted waning influence during its recently concluded term, and their frustrations with the conservative majority spilled into public view in major cases involving President Donald Trump and issues such as transgender rights. In five of the biggest cases of the term, which wrapped up with its final rulings on June 27, the court's six conservative justices were in the majority and liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson were in dissent.

Exclusive-UBS, Goldman passed on opening bank accounts for U.S.-backed Gaza aid foundation, sources say

UBS declined a request by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to open a bank account in Switzerland while Goldman Sachs did not set up a Swiss account for GHF after initial talks, two people with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. GHF is a U.S.- and Israeli-backed organisation that began delivering humanitarian supplies to Palestinian civilians in Gaza in May, bypassing traditional aid channels including the United Nations. GHF had sought to open a bank account for a unit based in Geneva to help facilitate donations from outside the United States, two other people with knowledge of its plans said. The foundation started talks with lawyers and banks including UBS and Goldman last autumn about the Swiss entity's structure, before deciding to withdraw from Switzerland in May, they said. The two people declined to say which other banks GHF had engaged with and Reuters could not establish that information independently. GHF did not respond to questions about whether it had spoken to other banks. According to two of the people, the foundation's plans for a Geneva branch faced setbacks including a lack of donations and resignations of founding members, including GHF executive director Jake Wood, as well as difficulties opening a Swiss bank account.

Russian use of chemical weapons against Ukraine 'widespread', Dutch defence minister says

Dutch and German intelligence agencies have gathered evidence of widespread Russian use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, including dropping a choking agent from drones to drive soldiers out of trenches so they can be shot, they said on Friday. Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans called for tougher sanctions against Moscow.

Indonesia resumes search for 30 missing ferry passengers

Indonesian rescuers are battling strong currents on Friday as they resume the search for 30 people still missing at sea about 35 hours after a ferry sank killing at least six people, officials said. The ferry named KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya was carrying 65 people, all Indonesians, when it sank about 30 minutes after setting sail from East Java bound for the holiday island of Bali on Wednesday night, said search and rescue agency official Ribut Eko Suyatno.

El Salvador president denies that Abrego Garcia was tortured in prison

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Thursday denied accusations that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant returned to the U.S. in early June after being wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador, was tortured in a Salvadoran prison. In a court filing in the U.S. on Wednesday, Abrego Garcia gave a first-hand description of his experience at the Salvadoran high-security prison CECOT and reported severe mistreatment.

Liverpool's Diogo Jota mourned by family, Portugal's PM in hometown wake

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro joined members of Diogo Jota's family for a private wake on Friday in the Liverpool footballer's hometown in northern Portugal following his death alongside his brother Andre Silva in a car crash in Spain. Jota's longtime agent Jorge Mendes was also seen joining the family that included wife Rute Cardoso, who had married the footballer just weeks earlier. Montenegro spent almost half an hour with the family before leaving without making a statement.

Russia pounds Kyiv with largest drone attack, hours after Trump-Putin call

Russia pummelled Kyiv with the largest drone attack of the war, killing one person, injuring at least 23 and damaging buildings across the capital hours after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to Russia's Vladimir Putin, officials said on Friday. Air raid sirens, the whine of kamikaze drones and booming detonations reverberated from early evening until dawn as Russia launched what Ukraine's Air Force said was a total of 539 drones and 11 missiles.

Trump, disappointed by call with Putin, to speak with Zelenskiy on Friday

U.S. President Donald Trump said early on Friday he came away disappointed from a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin because it does not appear the latter is looking to stop Russia's war against Ukraine. U.S. attempts to end Russia's war in Ukraine through diplomacy have largely stalled, and Trump has faced growing calls - including from some Republicans - to increase pressure on Putin to negotiate in earnest.

Czech Republic hit by major power outage

A major power outage that hit parts of the Czech Republic on Friday, briefly halting underground trains in the capital Prague, was probably the result of a technical outage, with no signs of a cyber or terrorist attack, authorities said. The incident is likely to add to concerns about the resilience of Europe's power grids and infrastructure after Spain suffered the worst blackout in its history in April and a fire knocked out the power supply to London's Heathrow airport in March.

British group Palestine Action seeks to pause government ban

A co-founder of pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action asked a London court on Friday to pause a British government decision to ban it under anti-terrorism laws, a move her lawyers said was an "authoritarian abuse" of the law. Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, asked London's High Court to stop the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, before a full hearing of her case that banning Palestine Action is unlawful later this month.

WHO says Gaza's Nasser hospital 'one massive trauma ward'

Nasser hospital in Gaza is operating as "one massive trauma ward" due to an influx of patients wounded at non-United Nations food distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the World Health Organization said on Friday. The U.S.-and Israeli-backed GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of deliveries that the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It has repeatedly denied that incidents involving people killed or wounded at its sites have occurred.

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