Reuters: World

Pope Francis departs Indonesia for Papua New Guinea, stop two of 12-day trip Pope Francis left Indonesia on Friday morning for Papua New Guinea, where the 87-year-old leader of the global Catholic Church will continue an ambitious 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania. The Garuda Indonesia plane carrying the pope and his entourage left Jakarta's airport for the flight to Port Moresby, the Papua New Guinean capital, where he will stay for the next three nights. While in PNG Francis will make a day trip to the northwestern town of Vanimo, before departing the country on Monday. He is then scheduled to visit East Timor and Singapore before returning to Rome on Sept. 13. read more

Pope Francis, in Muslim-majority Indonesia, warns against religious extremism Pope Francis on Wednesday urged political leaders in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, to guard against religious extremism, which he said distorted people's religious beliefs through "deception and violence". In his first speech during an ambitious 12-day journey across Southeast Asia, where Christians are broadly a small minority of the regional population, the pontiff said the Catholic Church would increase its efforts toward inter-religious dialogue in hopes of helping tamp down extremism. "In this way, prejudices can be eliminated, and a climate of mutual respect and trust can grow," the 87-year-old pope said in an address to some 300 politicians and religious leaders at Jakarta's Merdeka Presidential Palace. read more

Russia says Telegram boss Durov is a victim of his own independence Pavel Durov, the Telegram boss arrested in France, was "too free" in his approach to running the social media platform, and this was his undoing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday. A French judge put Russian-born Durov under formal investigation last week for suspected complicity in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, child sex abuse images, drug trafficking and fraud. His lawyer has said it is "absurd" to suggest he should be held responsible for any crimes committed on the app, which has nearly 1 billion users and is widely popular in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries. read more

Ukraine's Zelenskiy presses US to greenlight deeper strikes into Russia Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy increased pressure on the United States to let Kyiv strike military targets deep inside Russian territory after his representatives met senior U.S. officials in Washington on Saturday. Washington has provided Ukraine with more than $50 billion worth of military aid since 2022, but has limited the use of its weapons to Ukrainian soil and defensive crossborder operations. Zelenskiy said guided aerial bombs killed six people and injured 97 in Kharkiv on Friday, with more attacks on Saturday. These could be averted only "by striking Russian military airfields, their bases, and the logistics of Russian terror." read more

Fighting rages in Gaza as Palestinians hope for a pause for polio vaccinations Palestinians in Gaza were waiting on Thursday to see if there would be a pause in fighting to allow a polio vaccination campaign to begin, as the conflict raged across the besieged enclave, killing at least 34 people. The United Nations is preparing to vaccinate an estimated 640,000 children in Gaza, where the World Health Organization confirmed on Aug. 23 that at least one baby has been paralysed by the type 2 poliovirus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years. read more

Donald Trump faces revised US indictment in election subversion case Donald Trump faced a revised federal indictment on Tuesday accusing him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, with prosecutors narrowing their approach after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution. U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith's team obtained the superseding indictment in the Washington case, though it was highly unlikely to proceed to trial ahead of the Nov. 5 election when the Republican Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. read more

Telegram messaging app CEO Durov arrested in France Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV said, citing unnamed sources. Telegram, particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union, is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat. It aims to hit one billion users in the next year. Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold. read more

Indonesia lawmakers shelve plan to change election law as protests rage Indonesia's legislature will not ratify changes to election rules during the current government's term, its deputy speaker said on Thursday, as demonstrations flared outside parliament and security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters. Sufmi Dasco Ahmad told Reuters deliberations will continue in the parliament's next sitting period, meaning it would not apply to this year's elections or under the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who leaves office in October. Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon as protesters breached and set ablaze part of the gates of parliament, television footage showed, while demonstrations broke out across the country against planned changes to an elections law. read more

Australia and Indonesia seal treaty-level defence pact Australia and Indonesia agreed a treaty-level defence cooperation agreement which allow Australian and Indonesian militaries to operate from each other's countries, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday. "It will be a vital plank for our two countries to support each other's security, which is vital to both countries, but also to the stability of the region that we share," Albanese told a joint press conference in Canberra with Indonesia President-elect Prabowo Subianto. Australia and Indonesia share the world's longest maritime boundary and already collaborate on a number of issues, including security, people-trafficking and drug smuggling. read more

Brazil ex-minister formally accused of blocking voters in 2022 election razil's federal police formally accused the country's former justice minister, who served under ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, of acting to block voters in an opposition stronghold from reaching polling stations in the 2022 presidential election, two sources told Reuters on Friday. The former minister, Anderson Torres, was accused of political violence alongside the ex-chief of Brazil's Federal Highway Police, Silvinei Vasques, and four other people, according to one of the sources. Local news outlet g1 reported the political violence charges earlier on Friday. read more

Indonesia's president-elect Prabowo secures parliamentary majority Indonesia's president-elect Prabowo Subianto has secured a parliamentary majority after the party that backed his rival in the February elections announced it was joining his big-tent coalition. The NasDem party, which accounts for about 10% of parliament, announced late on Thursday that it would support the incoming administration of Prabowo. The move will give the Prabowo government control over parliament, boosting its stake from 43% to 52%. read more

U.S. Navy's newest air-to-air missile could tilt balance in South China Sea The U.S. Navy's deployment of new extremely long-range air-to-air missiles in the Indo-Pacific could erase China's advantage in aerial reach, experts say, part of an intensifying focus on projecting power amid high tensions in the region. The AIM-174B, developed from the readily available Raytheon (RTX.N), opens new tab SM-6 air defence missile, is the longest-range such missile the United States has ever fielded and was officially acknowledged in July. read more