Reuters World News Summary

Russia and Ukraine say they fear a Chernobyl-like catastrophe due to shelling they blame on each other. S.Korea official: no soft response in case of N.Korea nuclear test South Korea's national security advisor has said he and his counterparts from the United States and Japan have agreed there will be no soft response if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Gorbachev died shocked and bewildered by Ukraine conflict - interpreter

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, was shocked and bewildered by the Ukraine conflict in the months before he died and psychologically crushed in recent years by Moscow's worsening ties with Kyiv, his interpreter said on Thursday. Pavel Palazhchenko, who worked with the late Soviet president for 37 years and was at his side at numerous U.S.-Soviet summits, spoke to Gorbachev a few weeks ago by phone and said he and others had been struck by how traumatised he was by events in Ukraine.

U.N. says China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang

China's "arbitrary and discriminatory detention" of Uyghurs and other Muslims in its Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity, the outgoing U.N. human rights chief said in a long-awaited report on Wednesday. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who some diplomats and rights groups have criticized as soft on China, released the report just minutes before her four-year term ended. She visited China in May.

Iran sends 'constructive' response to U.S. proposals on nuclear deal -state media

Iran has sent a "constructive" response to U.S. proposals aimed at reviving Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani was quoted by state media as saying on Friday. "The text that was sent (by Iran) has a constructive approach aimed at finalising the negotiations," Kanaani was quoted as saying by state broadcaster IRIB.

U.S.-Russia nuclear weapons inspections must resume before new arms talks, says U.S

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said on Thursday it cannot hold talks with Moscow on a treaty to replace the last U.S.-Russian pact limiting strategic nuclear arms until inspections of the two countries' nuclear weapons sites, which are currently paused, resume. "The first step is to resume inspections under the existing New START Treaty and we have been trying to work with the Russians toward that end," a spokesperson at the White House National Security Council said in an email to Reuters, referring to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty the two countries signed in 2010.

Putin denies Gorbachev a state funeral and will stay away

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to miss the funeral of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, denying the man who failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet empire the full state honours granted to Boris Yeltsin. Gorbachev, idolised in the West for allowing eastern Europe to escape Soviet communist control but unloved at home for the chaos that his "perestroika" reforms unleashed, will be buried on Saturday after a public ceremony in Moscow's Hall of Columns.

Poland puts its WW2 losses at $1.3 trillion, demands German reparations

Poland estimates its World War Two losses caused by Germany at 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.32 trillion), the leader of the country's ruling nationalists said on Thursday, and he said Warsaw would officially demand reparations. Poland's biggest trade partner and a fellow member of the European Union and NATO, Germany has previously said all financial claims linked to World War Two have been settled.

Rising energy prices could fuel social unrest across Europe this winter

Europe's wealthiest nations face rising risks of civil unrest over the winter, including street protests and demonstrations, due to high energy prices and mounting costs of living, according to a risk consultancy firm. Both Germany and Norway are some of the developed economies experiencing disruptions to everyday life because of labour actions, a trend already seen in the United Kingdom, Verisk Maplecroft's principal analyst Torbjorn Soltvedt told Reuters.

South Pakistan braces for yet more flooding as waters flow down from north

Southern Pakistan braced for yet more flooding on Thursday as a surge of water flowed down the Indus river, threatening further devastation in a country already a third inundated, in a growing disaster blamed on climate change. Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountains have triggered floods that have killed at least 1,208 people, including 416 children, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

U.N. inspectors assess damage to Ukraine nuclear plant in high-stakes visit

United Nations nuclear experts who crossed into Russian-held territory in Ukraine to assess the safety of Europe's biggest atomic energy plant were seeking on Friday to assess physical damage to the facility, where both sides warn of possible disaster. An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection team braved intense shelling to reach the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday. Russia and Ukraine say they fear a Chernobyl-like catastrophe due to shelling they blame on each other.

S.Korea official: no soft response in case of N.Korea nuclear test

South Korea's national security advisor has said he and his counterparts from the United States and Japan have agreed there will be no soft response if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday. Kim Sung-han made the comment in Hawaii where he held trilateral talks with U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan and Akiba Takeo of Japan amid signs the North has completed preparations to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)