Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is Time's Person of the Year

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swede who inspired millions of young people to take action against climate change, has been named Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2019. Thunberg launched a grassroots campaign aged 15 by skipping school every Friday to demonstrate outside Swedish parliament, pushing for her government to meet its ambitious goals to curb carbon emissions.

'Dear Donald Trump': The children's book in New Zealand PM Ardern's office

The reading pile in New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office includes a children's picture book about U.S. President Donald Trump's border wall. "Dear Donald Trump" tells the tale of a young New Zealand boy who writes a series of unanswered letters to the U.S. president seeking advice about building a wall to keep his "undesirable" older brother out of his side of a shared bedroom.

UK Labour cuts Conservative lead ahead of election: poll

Britain's governing Conservatives have seen their lead over the opposition Labour Party cut to five percentage points, according to a Savanta ComRes poll for The Telegraph newspaper published on the eve of an election. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's party stands unchanged at 41%, according to the survey, whilst Labour was up 3 percentage points to 36%, the smallest lead recorded by the pollster since mid-October and the best showing for Labour since January.

Honduras lawmakers urge president to shut down anti-corruption body

Honduran lawmakers allied with President Juan Orlando Hernandez have voted against renewing an agreement with the Organization of American States (OAS) to extend the mandate of an anti-corruption body. The Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), which was formed in 2016 and has tackled public graft and illicit campaign financing, will end its term in January 2020 if Hernandez does not renew its mandate with the OAS.

Pompeo says Trump warned Russia on election meddling, disputes Lavrov's account

President Donald Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting that Moscow's meddling in America's elections is unacceptable, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday, contradicting Lavrov's account that the two didn't discuss elections. Trump on Tuesday met with Lavrov at the White House, a visit that revived questions about whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power and whether it might do so again in 2020.

Suu Kyi tells U.N.'s top court charge of Rohingya genocide is 'misleading'

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday rejected accusations of genocide committed against her country's Muslim Rohingya minority as "incomplete and misleading", and said the case should not be heard by the U.N.'s highest court. The Nobel Peace laureate, speaking during three days of hearings at the International Court of Justice, challenged allegations in a lawsuit brought by Gambia last month accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.

U.S. tells U.N. it is ready to be flexible in North Korea talks, warns against provocations

The United States is ready "to simultaneously take concrete steps" toward a deal aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs, but the Security Council must be prepared to respond to any provocations, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Wednesday. The 15-member Security Council met on Wednesday at the request of the United States as concerns grow internationally that North Korea could resume nuclear or long-range missile testing - suspended since 2017 - because denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington have stalled.

Brazil president Bolsonaro says has a possible skin cancer

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday that he has a possible skin cancer, after a medical visit where he had a mole removed from his ear. The president said he was in good health but had been advised to cancel a trip to Salvador, in the state of Bahia, due to suffering from exhaustion.

'Highly volatile' NZ volcano prevents body recovery, death toll rises to eight

The New Zealand volcano that fatally erupted earlier this week is "highly volatile" and could explode again in the next day, making it too risky to send in recovery teams to retrieve bodies, officials said on Thursday. The bodies of eight victims presumed dead are on White Island, and the official death toll is expected to rise from eight to 16. More than two dozen people are in hospital, many in a critical condition with burn injuries. One of the injured has not yet been identified.

Two rockets fell near Baghdad airport, no casualties: statement

Two Katyusha rockets landed near the "outside perimeter" of Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday, a statement from the military said. The statement said there were no reported damages.