World News Roundup: Ukrainians try to conserve electricity, endure water outages after Russian strikes; Liz Truss to quit as UK prime minister next week and more

Although Ukraine is successfully prosecuting counter-offensives against Russian forces in the east and the south, it is struggling to protect power generating facilities and other utilities from Russian air and drone strikes designed to disrupt lives and demoralise people as winter approaches. Exclusive-Spain, France have owners pay for yachts frozen under Russia sanctions Spain and France have authorized the owners of superyachts frozen under sanctions against Russian businessmen to pay for their upkeep, three sources told Reuters.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Ukrainians try to conserve electricity, endure water outages after Russian strikes

Ukrainians conserved electricity and some went without running water to try to ease pressure on the grid and give engineers a chance to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by Russian strikes as Kyiv's forces advanced towards the city of Kherson. Although Ukraine is successfully prosecuting counter-offensives against Russian forces in the east and the south, it is struggling to protect power-generating facilities and other utilities from Russian air and drone strikes designed to disrupt lives and demoralize people as winter approaches.

Liz Truss to quit as UK prime minister next week

Liz Truss said on Thursday she was resigning as British prime minister just six weeks after she was appointed, brought down by an economic program that sent shockwaves through financial markets last month and divided her Conservative Party.

Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office, Truss accepted that she could not deliver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader, having lost the faith of her party.

Exclusive-Spain, France have owners pay for yachts frozen under Russia sanctions

Spain and France have authorized the owners of superyachts frozen under sanctions against Russian businessmen to pay for their upkeep, three sources told Reuters. In Spain, six vessels were frozen following sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. The "majority" of the owners are paying their maintenance, crew, docking and insurance fees, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

UK's Truss says she will resign as PM

Liz Truss said on Thursday she would resign as prime minister, brought down by her economic program that sent shockwaves through the markets and divided her Conservative Party just six weeks after she was appointed. A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss, who is the shortest-serving prime minister in Britain's history. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827, when he died.

UK expects China to waive consulate officials' immunity if they face police charges

Britain expects China to waive diplomatic immunity for any official facing police charges over an attack on a protester who was dragged inside the grounds of a Chinese consulate, a junior British foreign office minister said on Thursday. The British government has described as "unacceptable" the treatment of the man who was protesting outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester, northern England, and who said he was dragged inside the grounds by masked men, kicked and punched.

Turkey slams allegations of chemical weapons use in northern Iraq

Turkey's defence ministry and top government officials on Thursday firmly rejected allegations that the Turkish Armed Forces had used chemical weapons in their operations against Kurdish militants. Media close to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group published videos this week which it said showed chemical weapons being used by the army against the PKK in northern Iraq.

Russian oligarch's luxury yacht departs Hong Kong port

A luxury yacht belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov departed Hong Kong waters on Thursday heading for the South African port of Cape Town, according to private tracking site MarineTraffic. The prominent sight of the 465 foot (141-meter) multi-deck Nord in the city's Victoria harbour in recent weeks had sparked criticism from the United States' State Department, which questioned the "transparency" of the financial hub and warned of reputational risks.

Child sex abuse in Britain is epidemic, UK inquiry says

Child sex abuse is epidemic in Britain, affecting millions of victims, and those who work with young people should be prosecuted if they fail to report it, a seven-year public inquiry concluded on Thursday. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) said institutions and politicians had prioritized reputations over the welfare of young people, meaning horrific acts were hidden away for decades, while there were still inadequate protection measures in place.

Exclusive-Deadly Iran jail fire erupted as police clashed with inmates, sources say

Two days before a fire ripped through a section of Iran's Evin prison and killed at least eight people, a riot police unit arrived at the compound and began to patrol the corridors, shouting "God is Greatest" and banging batons on cell doors, six sources told Reuters. The patrols at the Tehran jail began without any apparent provocation by inmates, the sources said. These patrols continued from Thursday to Saturday, when some prisoners reacted by shouting for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, echoing protests raging across Iran since September.

UK says Russian aircraft fired missile near British spy plane over Black Sea

A Russian fighter jet released a missile near an unarmed British spy plane patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea on Sept. 29, UK defence minister Ben Wallace said, in an apparent accident and not a deliberate escalation of tensions. Britain has condemned Russia for invading Ukraine and hit Moscow with punitive sanctions while giving military and civil support to Kyiv, and relations between the two countries are at historic lows.