Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Russian gas cut to Europe hits economic hopes, Ukraine reports attacks on coastal regions

Russia said it will cut gas supplies to Europe from Wednesday in a blow to countries that have backed Ukraine, while missile attacks in Black Sea coastal regions raised doubts about whether Russia will stick to a deal to let Ukraine export grain. The first ships from Ukraine may set sail in days under a deal agreed on Friday, the United Nations said, despite a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port of Odesa over the weekend, and a spokesman for the military administration in the saying another missile had hit the Odesa region on Tuesday morning.

Al Jazeera reporter’s family meets Blinken to demand justice in her killing

The family of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday to demand justice for the killing of the Al Jazeera reporter during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank. U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told a regular news briefing that Blinken was meeting the family at the department and would reiterate the need for accountability.

Tunisian officials say new constitution passed in vote with low turnout

A new Tunisian constitution giving far more power to President Kais Saied passed in a referendum with a 30.5% turnout, the electoral commission said on Tuesday, tightening his grip in what critics fear is a march to a new era of autocracy. The commission said 95% of voters approved the constitution in Monday’s referendum boycotted by opposition groups, which accuse Saied of staging a coup against the young democracy that emerged from Tunisia’s Arab Spring uprising of 2011.

WHO official: we believe monkeypox outbreak can be stopped

The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak can be stopped, an official from the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. “We do at this moment still believe that this outbreak of monkeypox can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups but time is going by and we all need to pull together to make that happen,” Rosamund Lewis, WHO Technical Lead on Monkeypox, told reporters.

Myanmar defends executions as ‘justice for the people’ as condemnation grows

Myanmar’s ruling military on Tuesday defended its execution of four democracy activists as “justice for the people”, brushing off a deluge of international condemnation including from its closest neighbours. The military, which seized power in a coup last year, announced on Monday it had executed the activists for aiding “terror acts” by a civilian resistance movement, Myanmar’s first executions in decades.

UK leadership live debate ends after presenter faints on air

A live debate between the two candidates vying to succeed Boris Johnson as British prime minister came to a dramatic end on Tuesday when the presenter fainted. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the bookmakers’ favourite to win the Conservative Party leadership election, and former finance minister Rishi Sunak had been sparring over their plans for about 30 minutes when there was a loud crash in the studio.

At Mass in Canada, Pope praises indigenous reverence for elders

Pope Francis on Tuesday praised the indigenous tradition of showing great respect for elders and learning from them, saying their memory must not be lost in modern society’s “fog of forgetfulness.” Francis is on a week-long tour of Canada to apologize for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in running residential schools that tore indigenous children away from their families and became places where abuse was rampant.

U.S. says Biden-Xi call expected to cover Taiwan tensions, Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping are expected to talk on Thursday, a source familiar with the planning said, amid tensions over Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that managing economic competition between the two countries would also be a focus of the call.

EU puts forward new draft text to revive Iran nuclear deal

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Tuesday he has proposed a new draft text to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying there is no room left for further major compromises. “I have now put on the table a text that addresses, in precise detail, the sanctions lifting as well as the nuclear steps needed to restore the JCPOA,” the European Union’s Josep Borrell wrote in an essay in the Financial Times. He was referring to the 2015 deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Far from Ukraine, Russia plans big eastern war games next month

Russia plans to hold strategic military exercises in the east of the country starting next month, the defence ministry said on Tuesday, thousands of miles from the war in Ukraine. The “Vostok” (East) exercises will take place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5. They appear intended to send a message that Russia, despite the costly five-month war in Ukraine, remains focused on the defence of its entire territory and capable in military terms of sustaining “business as usual”.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)