Reuters World News Summary

"I am encouraged and grateful that today the (UNESCO) membership accepted our proposal, which will allow the United States to take the next, formal steps toward fully rejoining the organization," Blinken said in a statement. Belarus leader says nuclear arms will not be used Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin's staunchest ally in its war in Ukraine, said on Friday he was certain Russian tactical nuclear weapons deployed in his country would never be used.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

France deploys 45,000 police after riots over teen's death

France's interior minister said on Friday the coming hours would be decisive as he sent 45,000 police onto the streets following three nights of riots since an officer shot dead a teenager at a traffic stop in a working class suburb of Paris. The violence, in which buildings and vehicles have been torched and stores looted, has plunged President Emmanuel Macron into the gravest crisis of his leadership since the Yellow Vest protests that started in 2018.

Survivors of Greece boat disaster say coastguard rope toppled boat

Survivors of a boat disaster that likely killed hundreds of migrants near Greece have given accounts of traffickers in North Africa cramming them into a clapped-out fishing trawler. They recounted hellish conditions above and below deck, with no food or water. Some also said the tragic end, when it came, was precipitated by the actions of the Greek coastguard. They have told judicial authorities of a doomed attempt to tow the overloaded trawler that caused the vessel to capsize in the early hours of June 14.

A devastated mother bids farewell to twin daughters killed in Russian strike

Outside an apartment block scarred by the missile strike that struck a bustling restaurant in Ukraine's city of Kramatorsk this week, a mother sat still on Friday, resting a pale hand on the head of each of her two dead twin daughters. Fourteen-year-olds Anna and Yuliia Aksenchenko were among 12 people who were killed when a Russian missile hit a pizza restaurant in the eastern city on Tuesday evening. They had been in the vicinity of the restaurant during the attack.

Exclusive-Ukraine brings first charges for deporting Kherson orphans

Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson, some of them as young as one. They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine, which says more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory, officials told Reuters.

North Korea: "No intention to examine" Hyundai chief's bid to visit

North Korea said it has no intention to "examine" South Korea's Hyundai Group chief's plan to visit the North's Mount Kumgang, North Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun has been seeking to visit North Korea in August and submitted applications to South Korea's unification ministry, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, citing an unnamed official at the ministry. Hyundai's late founder, Chung Ju-Yung, was born in North Korea.

Ukraine, US agree: counteroffensive creeps ahead, measured in blood

Ukraine has been publicly cautious in counting gains in a counteroffensive it launched this month to reclaim territory occupied by Russian forces, and on Friday its president and a U.S. general acknowledged that progress is measured in blood. The top U.S. military officer, Army General Mark Milley, told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington that the counteroffensive was "advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields ... 500 meters a day, 1,000 meters a day, 2,000 meters a day, that kind of thing."

Venezuela bars leading opposition candidate Machado from holding office

Maria Corina Machado, one of the favorites to win the Venezuelan opposition's nomination for president in an October primary, has been barred from holding public office for 15 years, the country's controller general said in a letter. Machado, a 55-year-old industrial engineer and former lawmaker, is leading polling for the 13-candidate primary, convened to select a unity candidate to face socialist President Nicolas Maduro in a 2024 election.

Bolsonaro barred from holding public office in Brazil until 2030

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's political career was in tatters on Friday as Brazil's federal electoral court (TSE) barred the far-right nationalist from public office until 2030 for his conduct during last year's fraught election.

Five out of seven justices voted to convict the 68-year-old Bolsonaro for abuse of power and misuse of the media over his actions in July 2022, ahead of the election, when he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about Brazil's electronic voting system.

UNESCO member states give green light to US return, Blinken says

UNESCO's member states backed the United States' return to the United Nations' cultural organization almost five years after then-President Donald Trump ordered an American withdrawal, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday. "I am encouraged and grateful that today the (UNESCO) membership accepted our proposal, which will allow the United States to take the next, formal steps toward fully rejoining the organization," Blinken said in a statement.

Belarus leader says nuclear arms will not be used

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin's staunchest ally in its war in Ukraine, said on Friday he was certain Russian tactical nuclear weapons deployed in his country would never be used. Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin have acknowledged that some tactical weapons have arrived in Belarus and the remainder would be put in place by the end of the year.

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