Reuters: World

Israel parliament starts vote on limiting supreme court power Israel's parliament on Monday began final voting on contested changes sought by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the judiciary as last-gasp talks continued to ease one of the country's worst political crises set off by his plans. President Isaac Herzog who called the standoff "a national emergency" was still trying to forge a compromise on the government's judicial plans which have sparked unprecedented nationwide protests, a person familiar with the matter said. Police used a water cannon to disperse demonstrators opposed to the judicial campaign by Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition and officers dragged away protesters who had chained themselves to posts and blocked the road outside parliament. read more

Second US submarine arrives in South Korea amid North Korea tensions A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine arrived in South Korea on Monday, only days after the first U.S. nuclear armed submarine made port in the country in four decades, as the two allies seek to boost American strategic assets to deter North Korea. The USS Annapolis entered a naval base in South Korea' southern island of Jeju, to load military supplies while on an unspecified operational mission, the South Korean navy said. "The two countries' navies plan to strengthen the combined defence posture with the arrival of the USS Annapolis, and conduct exchange activities to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the alliance," it said in a statement. read more

Ukraine has recaptured 50% of the territory that Russia seized, Blinken says U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that while Ukraine has recaptured half the territory that Russia initially seized in its invasion, Kyiv faced "a very hard fight" to win back more. "It's already taken back about 50% of what was initially seized," Blinken said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. "These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough," he said, adding: "It will not play out over the next week or two. We're still looking I think at several months." read more

USS Canberra: US commissions first Navy warship in foreign port The United States commissioned a warship in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday, the first time a U.S. Navy vessel joined active service at a foreign port, as the two close allies step up their military ties in response to China's expanding regional reach. The Independence-class littoral combat ship - named after a Royal Australian Navy cruiser that was sunk while supporting the U.S. Marine landings on Guadalcanal in 1942 - was commissioned at a ceremony at an Australian naval base on Sydney Harbour, officially joining the U.S. Navy's active fleet. "Australians can be proud that this ship, designed in Western Australia by local industry and named after HMAS Canberra, is being commissioned here for the first time in the history of the United States Navy," Australian Defence Minister Marles said in a statement. read more

Indian women set fire to house of suspect as Manipur sex assault case triggers outrage Women in India's northeastern state of Manipur attacked the house of the main suspect in a sexual assault case that has enraged the nation, state police said on Friday. The person had allegedly dragged two tribal women onto the streets in May and incited a mob to rape and parade them naked, police said on Friday. The sexual assault took place over two months ago but it captured national attention after a video went viral on social media this week, triggering unrest in Manipur. The main suspect, a Manipur resident, was arrested on Thursday hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the assault as "shameful" and promised tough action. read more

Iraq expels Swedish ambassador over planned Koran burning Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador on Thursday in protest at a planned burning of the Koran in Stockholm that had prompted hundreds of protesters to storm and set alight the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. An Iraqi government statement said Baghdad had also recalled its charge d'affaires in Sweden, and Iraq's state news agency reported that Iraq had suspended the working permit of Sweden's Ericsson on Iraqi soil. Anti-Islam protesters, one of whom is an Iraqi immigrant to Sweden that burned the Koran outside a Stockholm mosque in June, had applied for and received permission from Swedish police to burn the Koran outside the Iraqi embassy on Thursday. read more

Indian opposition parties form alliance called 'INDIA' for 2024 elections More than two dozen Indian opposition parties said on Tuesday that they had joined hands to form an alliance called "INDIA" to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in parliamentary elections next year. Naming the alliance INDIA is seen as an attempt by the opposition parties to challenge the BJP on its own nationalist platform in elections due by May 2024. Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the main opposition Congress party, said INDIA stood for "Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance". read more

Russian scientists warn of powerful solar flare activity on Monday Powerful solar flare activity is forecast for Monday which may interfere with short-wave communications, Russian scientists said after three flares were observed on the sun on Sunday. The Fedorov Institute of Applied Geophysics in Moscow said class X flares were possible, including proton flares, and short-wave radio conditions were expected to deteriorate. X-class flares are the largest explosions in the solar systems and can create long-lasting radiation storms. Proton flares are a storm of solar energetic particles, composed chiefly of proton. read more

Israel's Netanyahu suffers dehydration after holiday in heatwave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered hospital on Saturday with apparent dehydration after a coastal break during a heatwave, delaying the weekly cabinet meeting even though he declared himself well. Netanyahu's office said the 73-year-old was admitted to Sheba Hospital, close to his private residence, after experiencing dizziness, and would stay there overnight. In a video from hospital, a smiling Netanyahu said he had taken holiday on Friday at the Sea of Galilee in temperatures hitting 38 Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit). "Thank God, I feel really well," he said. read more

China's top diplomat urges stable ties with India as military tensions simmer China's top diplomat urges stable ties with India as military tensions simmer India and China share a 3,800-km (2,360-mile) frontier, much of it poorly marked, and fought a brief but bloody war over it in 1962. read more

Signs 'crypto winter' ending as regulatory fog begins to lift Cryptocurrencies were testing year highs on Friday as a run of favourable regulatory and investment moves have started to shift momentum in markets that had been stuck in a rut for months. Bitcoin traded at its highest price since June 2022 overnight, touching $31,818 on the Bitstamp exchange. It is up more than 90% for the year so far and nearly 30% in a month. Second-biggest token Ether had its best session since March and Ripple , which a U.S. judge ruled could be legally sold on public crypto exchanges, soared 73%. read more

Chip wars: How ‘chiplets’ are emerging as a core part of China’s tech strategy The sale of struggling Silicon Valley startup zGlue’s patents in 2021 was unremarkable except for one detail: The technology it owned, designed to cut the time and cost for making chips, showed up 13 months later in the patent portfolio of Chipuller, a startup in China’s southern tech hub Shenzhen. Chipuller purchased what is referred to as chiplet technology, a cost efficient way to package groups of small semiconductors to form one powerful brain capable of powering everything from data centers to gadgets at home. The previously unreported technology transfer coincides with a push for chiplet technology in China that started about two years ago, according to a Reuters analysis of hundreds of patents in the U.S. and China and dozens of Chinese government procurement documents, research papers and grants, local and central government policy documents and interviews with Chinese chip executives. read more