Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Pakistan port attack kills two soldiers, eight militants, say officials

Pakistani security forces on Wednesday repulsed a gun and bomb attack by militants on a complex outside the strategic port of Gwadar, which killed all eight militants and two soldiers, officials said. China has invested heavily in the mineral-rich southwestern province of Balochistan, including developing Gwadar, despite a decades-long separatist insurgency.

US appeals court appears divided over Texas border enforcement law

A U.S. appeals court panel on Wednesday seemed divided over whether to continue blocking a Republican-backed Texas law that would empower state authorities to arrest and prosecute migrants and asylum seekers suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering whether to allow the law known as S.B. 4 to take effect while the state appeals a judge's ruling that prevented it from being enforced pending the outcome of a challenge by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden and civil rights groups.

Trump campaign pleads for one million donations as cash crunch looms

Donald Trump's campaign on Wednesday called for donations from one million of his backers, warning he could lose his New York properties, two days after the former president failed to secure a bond to cover a $454 million judgment in a civil fraud case. "KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF TRUMP TOWER!," reads a message to supporters from a joint fundraising committee that allocates the money it collects to his campaign and a separate political committee that has been paying Trump's legal bills.

Assange team sees no sign of resolving US charges after reported plea deal talks

A lawyer for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday his legal team saw no indication of resolution to U.S. charges against him, following the publication of a Wall Street Journal report on exploration of a guilty plea. The Journal reported that the U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to allow Assange to plead guilty to a reduced charge of mishandling classified information. The newspaper cited people familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors charge Bolsonaro's son in money laundering probe, O Globo reports

Brazilian prosecutors have charged Jair Renan Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, for alleged crimes including money laundering and falsifying documents for a bank loan, newspaper O Globo reported on Wednesday. Public prosecutors in Brazil's federal district declined to comment on the case due to confidentiality rules. Reuters could not immediately reach Jair Renan's attorney.

Dozens of former U.S. officials urge Biden to take harder line with Israel

Nearly 70 former U.S. officials, diplomats and military officers on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to warn Israel of serious consequences if it denies civil rights and basic necessities to Palestinians and expands settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. "The United States must be willing to take concrete action to oppose" such practices, the group said in an open letter to Biden, "including restrictions on provision of (U.S.) assistance (to Israel) consistent with U.S. law and policy."

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar unexpectedly quits

Leo Varadkar announced on Wednesday he was stepping down as Ireland's prime minister in a surprise move, saying the country's coalition government would stand a better chance of reelection under another leader. Varadkar's Fine Gael party will open nominations for a new leader on Thursday with the results to be announced on April 5. Parliament would then vote on that person succeeding Varadkar as prime minister after it returns from Easter recess on April 9.

Blinken begins Middle East tour with strains growing in US-Israel ties

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a tour of the Middle East on Wednesday by holding talks in Saudi Arabia, hoping to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza war as increasing strain shows in Washington's relationship with its ally Israel. In the Gaza Strip, where hunger is spreading and hopes were dashed for a ceasefire in time for Ramadan last week, residents of Gaza City in the north described the most intense fighting for months around the Al Shifa hospital.

U.S. military aid package 'will get to Ukraine', Jake Sullivan says on Kyiv trip

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a trip to Kyiv on Wednesday that a major U.S. aid package that has been blocked by Republicans for months would "get to Ukraine" and vowed that Washington's support would continue. Vital U.S. aid for Ukraine has been stuck in Congress since late last year, piling more pressure on already outgunned Ukrainian troops fighting a better armed and larger foe two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Analysis-The Kremlin saw off Navalny - what now for Russia's opposition?

On the night he celebrated extending his rule to at least 2030, Russian President Vladimir Putin did something very unusual: for the first time in memory, he spoke the name of Alexei Navalny in public. Answering a U.S. broadcaster's question after official results from Russia's election gave him a landslide victory on Sunday, Putin described Navalny's death in an Arctic penal colony last month as a "sad event".

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