Reuters World News Summary

Armed gangs are rife across Nigeria's northwest where they rob or kidnap for ransom, and violence has been increasing, where thinly stretched security forces often fail to stop the attacks. Cuba slams US funding to “promote democracy” as illegal Cuba slammed U.S. funding for "democracy promotion" programs as interventionist and illegal, aimed at toppling the government just as the island nation faces its worst economic crisis in decades, the country's Vice Foreign Minister said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Eight Colombia police killed in deadliest attack since leftist took office

Eight police officers were killed in an explosives attack in western Colombia on Friday, President Gustavo Petro said, the deadliest attack on security forces since he took office promising to end the country's nearly 60-year conflict. Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla, has pledged to seek "total peace" by restarting talks with leftist ELN rebels, applying a 2016 peace accord to former FARC guerrilla fighters who reject it and negotiating the surrender of crime gangs in exchange for reduced sentences.

Attempted Kirchner assassination prompts Bolsonaro, Lula security re-think

The attempted assassination of Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner by a Brazilian has forced Brazil's main presidential candidates to re-evaluate their security arrangements ahead of the Oct. 2 vote, sources said on Friday. Kirchner escaped unharmed on Thursday after a 35-year-old man of Brazilian origin fired a loaded gun, just inches (cm) from her head, that failed to go off. The shooter's nationality underlined growing concerns about political violence in highly polarized Brazil in the lead-up to its election.

Russia to bury Gorbachev, darling of the West, with a shrug

Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader beloved of the West who lived long enough to see all the reforms he had championed in his homeland undone, will be buried on Saturday without state honours or the presence of the current Kremlin incumbent. Gorbachev became a hero in the West for allowing eastern Europe to shake off more than four decades of Soviet communist control, letting East and West Germany reunite, and forging arms control treaties with the United States.

U.S. rejects linking Iran nuclear deal, IAEA probes

The White House on Friday rejected linking a revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with the closure of investigations by the U.N. nuclear watchdog a day after Iran reopened the issue according to a Western diplomat. Iran on Thursday sent its latest response to a European Union (EU) proposed text to revive the agreement under which it had restrained its nuclear program in exchange for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. economic sanctions.

Argentina shaken by assassination attempt on vice president

Hundreds of thousands of Argentines descended on the capital's main plaza on Friday in a show of solidarity against a shocking assassination attempt on the country's vice president a day earlier, which triggered an outpouring of support in a country gripped by deep political polarization and economic crisis. An assailant pointed a loaded pistol from close range at Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner outside her Buenos Aires home where crowds had gathered Thursday night, but the gun failed to discharge.

Energy war as West caps Russian oil price, Moscow keeps gas pipe shut

Rich countries agreed on Friday to try to cap the global price of Russian oil, while Russia delayed the re-opening of its main gas pipeline to Germany, as both sides raised the stakes in an energy war between Moscow and the West over Ukraine. Russia's state-controlled energy giant Gazprom blamed a technical fault in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. But the high-level manoeuvres in energy politics underlined the pervasive impact of the conflict, far beyond Ukraine's borders.

Gunmen kidnap Nigerian worshippers attending prayers at mosque

Gunmen kidnapped dozens of worshippers attending Friday afternoon prayers at a mosque in Nigeria's northwestern state of Zamfara, police and witnesses said. Armed gangs are rife across Nigeria's northwest where they rob or kidnap for ransom, and violence has been increasing, where thinly stretched security forces often fail to stop the attacks.

Cuba slams US funding to "promote democracy" as illegal

Cuba slammed U.S. funding for "democracy promotion" programs as interventionist and illegal, aimed at toppling the government just as the island nation faces its worst economic crisis in decades, the country's Vice Foreign Minister said on Friday. The Biden Administration in July announced a call for applications to award up to $6.25 million to nongovernmental organizations and individuals as part of a decades-long program authorized by U.S. law to "promote peaceful, nonviolent democratic change in Cuba."

U.S. approves potential $1.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan amid China tensions

The U.S. State Department has approved a potential $1.1 billion sale of military equipment to Taiwan, including 60 anti-ship missiles and 100 air-to-air missiles, the Pentagon said on Friday, amid heightened tensions with China. The package was announced in the wake of China's aggressive military drills around Taiwan following a visit to the island last month by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking U.S. official to travel to Taipei in years.

Russia says no U.S. visas yet for Lavrov visit to United Nations

Russia has asked for 56 visas from the United States to allow Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his delegation to travel to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations this month, but so far has received none. In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, seen by Reuters on Friday, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said this was "alarming" because during the past several months Washington had "been constantly refusing to grant entry visas" to a number of Russian delegates for other U.N. events.

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