Global Power Struggles and Diplomatic Maneuvers: A Current World News Overview

This comprehensive roundup highlights current global news events, from diplomatic efforts involving Trump and East Asia to clashes over North Korea at the UN. It covers Putin's missile strategies, complexities in the AUKUS defense pact, France's far-right violence surge, U.S. aid to Ukraine, Iranian elections, Israeli-Gaza conflicts, and Biden's political stance.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Trump will encourage Japan, South Korea ties, allies tell foreign officials

Donald Trump's allies are assuring officials in Japan and South Korea that the Republican presidential candidate will support a Biden-era effort to deepen three-way ties aimed at countering China and North Korea, five people familiar with the conversations said. In conversations over the past weeks, policy advisers with Trump's ear have delivered this message to officials in Seoul and Tokyo: if Trump takes office again, the ex-U.S. president will support the two capitals' work to warm once-frigid ties and advance military, economic and diplomatic cooperation to ease global tensions, the people said.

Global powers clash at United Nations over North Korea

The United States, Britain, France confronted Russia at the United Nations Security Council on Friday over accusations it is violating an arms embargo on North Korea by using missiles and munitions from Pyongyang in its war against Ukraine. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia rejected the accusations as "completely false." The council meeting came after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact last week with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in which they agreed to provide military assistance if either faces armed aggression.

Putin says Russia may resume global deployment of intermediate range missiles

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia should resume production of intermediate and shorter range nuclear-capable missiles and then consider where to deploy them after the United States brought similar missiles to Europe and Asia. Putin's move finally kills off all that remains from one of the most significant arms controls treaties of the Cold War amid fears that the world's two biggest nuclear powers could be entering a new arms race together with China.

Australian diplomat says adding AUKUS partners 'complicated'

Adding partners to the AUKUS defense project would be "complicated," a senior Australian diplomat said on Friday, saying he did not believe the U.S. Congress is open to expanding the pact involving Australia, the U.S. and Britain. AUKUS was formed in 2021 to counterbalance China's growing power. A first "pillar" involves cooperation between the three partners to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, but they have raised the possibility of other countries joining a second pillar to develop other high-tech weaponry.

France's election stokes far-right linked violence

When a Green party activist was headbutted in the street, his attackers told him there was more to come when the far right's Jordan Bardella wins France's parliamentary election. A Muslim family received a note with similar threats. Hours after Bardella's National Rally (RN) party scored big in the European election this month, four men in Paris assaulted a teenager at whom they hurled homophobic and transphobic slurs.

US to send Ukraine air defense missiles in next aid package-officials

The Biden administration will provide Ukraine with $150 million worth of weapons and ammunition, including HAWK air defense interceptors and 155 millimeter artillery munitions, two U.S. officials said on Friday. The weapons aid package is expected be unveiled on Monday, the officials said, declining to be named because the package was not public.

Iran votes for new president amid voter apathy, mounting pressure

Iranians voted for a new president on Friday following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month, choosing from a tightly controlled group of four candidates loyal to the supreme leader at a time of growing public frustration and Western pressure. Polling ended at midnight in Iran after being extended three times for a total of six hours. While some insiders said the turnout was around 40%, witnesses told Reuters that polling stations in Tehran and some other cities were not crowded.

Israeli forces push deeper into southern and northern Gaza

Israeli forces pressed their incursion deeper into two northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip on Friday, and Palestinian health officials said tank shelling in Rafah killed at least 11 people. Residents and Hamas media said tanks advanced further west into the Shakoush neighbourhood of Rafah, forcing thousands of displaced people there to leave their tent camps and head northward to the nearby Khan Younis.

US has sent Israel thousands of 2,000-pound bombs since Oct. 7

The Biden administration has sent to Israel large numbers of munitions, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the war in Gaza, said two U.S. officials briefed on an updated list of weapons shipments. Between the war's start last October and recent days, the United States has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Biden acknowledges age, bad debate performance but vows to beat Trump

President Joe Biden said on Friday he intended to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump in the November presidential election, giving no sign he would consider dropping out of the race after a feeble debate performance that dismayed his fellow Democrats. "I know I'm not a young man, to state the obvious," an ebullient Biden said at a rally one day after the head-to-head showdown with his Republican rival, which was widely viewed as a defeat for the 81-year-old president.

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