Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Igniting global outrage, Brazil's Bolsonaro baselessly blames NGOs for Amazon fires

Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday accused non-governmental organizations of burning down the Amazon rainforest to hurt his government, as a growing global outcry against the wildfires raged through social media. Presented without evidence and disputed by environmental and climate experts, Bolsonaro's comments enraged critics and fanned a growing social media campaign over the dangers to the Amazon, one of the world's key bulwarks against climate change.

Salvadoran woman acquitted in abortion case calls for reform

Evelyn Hernandez has a message for El Salvador's president: End the criminalization of abortion in the conservative Central American country. Hernandez, 21, was exonerated earlier this week in a closely watched retrial after an earlier judgment found her guilty of killing her stillborn son and sentenced her to 30 years in prison.

Frontline view: Making the case for violence in Hong Kong protests

Pun sees himself as a peaceful, middle-class Hong Kong student. Yet since the beginning of June, he has been building barricades and throwing bricks at police, risking his own liberty to fight, as he sees it, for the city's freedoms. In one of the world's safest cities, the idea of violence as a legitimate form of political expression - hand-in-hand with peaceful protest - is becoming increasingly mainstream in the evolving tactics of a decentralized pro-democracy movement that has disrupted Chinese-ruled Hong Kong for 11 weeks.

Shock in Denmark after Trump, spurned over Greenland, cancels visit

Danes voiced shock and disbelief on Wednesday at U.S. President Donald Trump's cancellation of a visit to Denmark after his idea to buy Greenland was rebuffed, although Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she believed relations would not be affected. Trump's proposal at first elicited incredulity and humor from politicians in Denmark, a NATO ally of the United States, with former premier Lars Lokke Rasmussen saying: "It must be an April Fool's Day joke."

Italy's PD opens door to possible 5-Star government, sets conditions

Italy's main opposition party said on Wednesday it was ready to hold talks with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement over forming a government following the collapse of the previous, populist coalition. Nicola Zingaretti, the head of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), said he wanted to explore the possibility of sharing power with 5-Star for the final three years of the legislature. If this bid failed, snap elections should be held, he said.

Trump says other countries need to fight Islamic State

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that other countries will need to take up the fight against Islamic State militants, citing Russia, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran as examples. Earlier this year, U.S.-backed forces reclaimed the last remaining territory once held by Islamic State militants in Syria. Since then, however, there has been concern about the militant group gaining new strength in Iraq and Syria.

After Germany hints at compromise, France tells UK: no new Brexit deal

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday challenged Britain to come up with alternatives to the Irish border backstop within 30 days, but French President Emmanuel Macron cautioned there would be no renegotiation of the Brexit deal. More than three years after the United Kingdom voted to quit the European Union, it is still unclear on what terms - or indeed whether - the bloc's second largest economy will leave the club it joined in 1973.

Canada's Trudeau says won't back down in dispute with China, urges restraint in Hong Kong

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said he would not escalate a deepening trade and diplomatic dispute with China but added that his government had no intention of backing down as it defended its interests. Speaking to an audience in Montreal just days after Beijing warned Ottawa not to meddle in Hong Kong's affairs, Trudeau also repeated his call for restraint and respect for human rights as protests sweep the former British colony.

Canada's two main parties tied ahead of October vote, Greens rise: poll

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals and the main opposition Conservatives are in a statistical tie of voters' preferences, according to a new opinion poll ahead of the Canadian federal election on Oct. 21. Trudeau and the Liberals appear to have suffered minimal damage after a damning report from Canada's ethics commissioner came out this month condemning Trudeau's handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair.

North Korea says U.S. cruise missile test, military moves 'dangerous,' still committed to dialogue: KCNA

A North Korean spokesman said on Thursday the United States' recent mid-range cruise missile test and plans to deploy F-35 jets and offensive military equipment around the Korean peninsula were "dangerous" moves that would "trigger a new cold war" in the region. North Korea remains unchanged in its position to resolve all issues through dialogue and negotiation, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said, but "dialogue accompanied by military threats is of no interest to us," according to state media KCNA.