Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

British parliament to reconvene on December 17: Downing Street statement

Britain's parliament will be reconvened on Dec. 17 following the general election, and if Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains leader, his government plans to set out its legislative agenda on Dec. 19, the government said on Monday. The emailed statement from Johnson's government office said if there were to be a change of government after the Dec. 12 election, the plans could change.

Mayor says Turkish state banks shut out Istanbul after poll win

Istanbul's new mayor has said Turkey's state banks stopped making routine loans to the city after a June election in which he pulled off a shock victory over President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party (AKP), forcing it to borrow from abroad. Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), told reporters on Sunday that Turkey's largest city needs more than 20 billion lira ($3.50 billion) in financing, more than half of it for stalled metro projects.

Iran says pro-government rally to show the 'real' Iranians

A pro-government rally in Tehran on Monday will show the world who "real" Iranians are, Iran's Foreign Ministry said, expressing surprise at foreign statements of support for a wave of protests against the authorities over a fuel price rise. The protests grew into anti-government unrest that saw at least 100 banks and dozens of buildings torched in the worst violence at least since Iran put down a "Green Revolution" in 2009, when dozens were killed over several months.

Britain is a dangerous mess, former PM Blair says

Former prime minister Tony Blair said on Monday that Britain was in a dangerous mess and that neither his own Labour Party nor Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives deserved to win a Dec. 12 election. Britain is holding an election three years ahead of schedule because parliament was deadlocked over Brexit, unable to agree on how or even whether to leave the European Union.

Fresh headache for China after Hong Kong democrats rout pro-Beijing candidates

After months of sometimes-violent unrest in Hong Kong, an election with record turnout handed a big victory to pro-democracy local district council candidates, posing a new conundrum for Beijing and adding pressure on the city's leader. In the run-up to the citywide elections on Sunday, extreme clashes had broken out between riot police and anti-government protesters who had barricaded themselves in several universities.

Pope urges world leaders to renounce nuclear weapons during visit to Japan

Pope Francis appealed on Monday to world leaders to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again, a day after he visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only cities ever to be hit by atomic bombs. Nuclear disarmament has been a key theme of the pope's trip to Japan, a country not only haunted by the memory of the two attacks that ended World War Two but also alarmed by the nuclear programme and missile tests of nearby North Korea.

UK man in truck deaths case pleads guilty to immigration, property offences

A British truck driver charged with the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese nationals found dead in a truck near London last month pleaded guilty on Monday to plotting to assist unlawful immigration and to acquiring criminal property. Appearing in court by video link from Belmarsh Prison in east London, Maurice Robinson, 25, from Northern Ireland, was not asked to enter a plea to 41 other charges, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

More secrets of China's Xinjiang camps leaked to foreign media

Classified Chinese government documents made public by an international group of journalists describe the repressive inner workings of detention camps in Xinjiang, in a second rare leak in days of secret files concerning the troubled western region. The publication on Sunday of the documents by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) follows a New York Times report on Nov. 16 based on a cache of secret papers revealing details of China's clamp-down on ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in the region.

Europe police agency hits Islamic State servers in blow to jihadist publicity

Belgian prosecutors have knocked out several internet servers used by Islamic State, shutting a large number of accounts and websites run by its news arm, in an operation led by Europe's police agency, the Belga press agency reported on Monday. Europol, the European policy agency, said it would release details of the initiative at a news conference later on Monday.

Special report: ‘Time to take out our swords' - Inside Iran’s plot to attack Saudi Arabia

Four months before a swarm of drones and missiles crippled the world’s biggest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia, Iranian security officials gathered at a heavily fortified compound in Tehran. The group included the top echelons of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite branch of the Iranian military whose portfolio includes missile development and covert operations.