Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Conservative People's Party wins a resounding solo victory in Andalusia

Spain's opposition People's Party won an absolute majority in Andalusia's regional elections on Sunday for the first time in Spanish democracy, boosting the new Conservative leader's odds for the national elections in late 2023. Andalusia, with 8.5 million inhabitants, is the most populated region in Spain. For 40 years it was a stronghold of the main socialist party, which ceded power in 2018 to a conservative coalition government led by the People's Party (PP).

French election: Macron loses absolute majority in parliament in 'democratic shock'

French President Emmanuel Macron lost control of the National Assembly in legislative elections on Sunday, a major setback that could throw the country into political paralysis unless he is able to negotiate alliances with other parties. Macron's centrist Ensemble coalition, which wants to raise the retirement age and further deepen EU integration, was on course to end up with the most seats in Sunday's election.

Truce ends clashes among Turkey-backed rebels in northwest Syria

Clashes among Syrian rebel groups backed by Turkey ended on Sunday after they agreed to a truce, residents and rebel sources said, easing fears of wider internecine warfare among opponents of President Bashar al Assad's rule. Rebel negotiators told Reuters that Turkey, which maintains thousands of troops inside northwest Syria, mediated a deal among Failaq al Sham, Levant Front, Jaish al Islam and Ahrar al Sham.

Macron's hung parliament dilemma: what to do next?

French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies on Sunday lost their absolute majority in the National Assembly and with it control of the reform agenda, a crushing outcome for the newly re-elected president. There is no set script in France for how things will now unfold as Macron and his centrist Ensemble bloc seek a way forward to avoid paralysis. Here are possible scenarios.

Far-right sends shockwaves in France after electoral breakthrough

France's far-right scored a historic success in legislative elections on Sunday increasing its number of lawmakers almost tenfold and cementing the party's rise from fringe status to the mainstream opposition. Since taking the helm of the party in 2011, leader Marine Le Pen has sought to rid the National Front - now called the National Rally (RN) - of the anti-Semitic image it acquired under the nearly 40-year leadership of her father, ex-paratrooper Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Leftist Petro wins Colombia presidential election

Leftist Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement who has vowed profound social and economic change, will be Colombia's next president after beating construction magnate Rodolfo Hernandez in an election on Sunday.

Petro, a current senator and previous mayor of Bogota, won 50.8% of votes, figures from the national registry office showed, while Hernandez trailed by 797,973 votes, tallying 46.9%.

Four months into war, more Ukrainians decide to flee besieged areas

Four months into the Russian invasion on Ukraine, Lilya, a 22-year-old mother from the eastern city of Bakhmut, decided the time has come to leave the beleaguered region. "It is very difficult. No electricity, no water, no gas, nothing," Lilya, who would give only her first name, said, sitting on a train at the Pokrovsk train station in Ukraine's Donetsk region and breastfeeding her year-old baby.

Russia advances in battle for eastern Ukraine city as NATO warns of long war

Russia said on Sunday it seized a village near Ukraine's industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, a prime target in Moscow's campaign to control the country's east, as the head of NATO predicted the war could last for years. Russia's defence ministry said it had won Metyolkine, a settlement of fewer than 800 people before the war began. Russian state news agency TASS reported that many Ukrainian fighters had surrendered there.

Colombia elects former guerrilla Petro as first leftist president

Leftist Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement who has vowed profound social and economic change, won Colombia's presidency on Sunday, the first progressive to do so in the country's history. Petro beat construction magnate Rodolfo Hernandez with an unexpectedly wide margin of some 720,000 votes. The two had been technically tied in polling ahead of the vote.

Brazil police identify five more suspects in murder of British journalist

Brazilian federal police on Sunday said that five more suspects helped hide the bodies of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, after having already arrested three men for their murder in the Amazon rainforest. The police did not name the new suspects, adding in a short statement that ongoing investigations aim to "clarify all the circumstances, motives and those involved in the case".

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