Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Italy’s conservatives strike deal over candidate for PM

The party with the most votes in Italy’s centre-right coalition will choose the prime minister if the bloc wins the coming election, the alliance said on Wednesday, putting far-right leader Giorgia Meloni in pole position for the top job. Mario Draghi’s government collapsed last week, opening the way for snap elections on Sept. 25, with polls suggesting the rightist alliance is well placed to win the ballot.

U.S. says ‘substantial offer’ on the table for Russia to release detainees Griner, Whelan

The United States has made “a substantial offer” to Russia to release U.S. citizens detained there, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, adding he would press his Russian counterpart to respond in a conversation planned for the coming days. Washington offered Moscow a deal to bring home WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan weeks ago, Blinken told reporters, and hoped to advance the process when he speaks to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Russia captures power station, redeploys troops toward southern Ukraine

Russian forces have taken over Ukraine’s second-biggest power plant in eastern Donetsk region and are undertaking a “massive redeployment” of troops to three southern regions, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said. Russian-backed forces claimed on Wednesday that they had captured the Soviet-era coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant intact, in what was Moscow’s first strategic gain in more than three weeks.

Haiti gangs wage battles in downtown Port-au-Prince

Haitian gangs waged intense gun battles on Wednesday in Port-au-Prince, shuttering main avenues and a municipal market in the downtown area of the capital. One video filmed downtown showed men running toward police with their hands in the air as gunshots rang out, in a new outbreak of violence following gang clashes this month outside the capital that killed hundreds of people.

N.Korea’s Kim says country ready to mobilise nuclear war deterrent

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country is ready to mobilise its nuclear war deterrent and for any military clash with the United States, state media reported on Thursday, amid signs the North could conduct its first nuclear test since 2017. Kim made the remarks during a speech at an event to mark the 69th anniversary of the July 27 Korean War armistice, which left the two Koreas technically still at war, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Powerful 7.1 earthquake strikes Philippines; at least 5 dead

A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the northern Philippine island of Luzon on Wednesday killing at least five people, damaging buildings and sending strong tremors through the capital, Manila. At least 64 people were injured and 173 buildings damaged, officials said, many in Abra province, just 11km (six miles) from the epicentre of the quake. Over 200 aftershocks have been recorded in the area, according to the state seismology agency, and 58 landslides were also reported in the aftermath.

Russia to NASA: Sticking with space station until at least 2028

Russian space officials have told their U.S. counterparts that Moscow expects to remain a part of the International Space Station at least until their own outpost in orbit is built in 2028, a senior NASA official told Reuters on Wednesday. Yuri Borisov, the newly appointed director-general of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, surprised NASA on Tuesday by announcing that Moscow intended to end the longstanding space station partnership “after 2024.”

Pope’s apology in Canada falls short for some indigenous survivors

A historic apology by Pope Francis to survivors of residential schools in Canada evoked strong emotions for many as the pontiff begged for forgiveness but fell short of what some survivors and indigenous leaders had hoped for. Greeted with drumming and dancing on First Nations soil, the pope on Monday said he was “deeply sorry” for the “deplorable evil” and “disastrous error” of “cultural destruction and forced assimilation,” drawing cheers from the largely indigenous crowd.

Iran welcomes nuclear diplomacy, urges U.S. to show interest

Iran welcomed diplomatic efforts to revive its 2015 nuclear pact with major powers on Wednesday, a day after the European Union’s top diplomat proposed a new text to restore the agreement. “Iran welcomes the continuation of diplomacy and negotiations,” Iranian state media quoted Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian as telling EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell by telephone.

Pakistanis plant trees to provide relief from scorching sun

Mulazim Hussain is proud of the trees he has planted. Surrounded by neem saplings and vegetables sprouting up from scrubland in the Clifton district of Pakistan’s largest city Karachi, the 61-year-old recalls a time a few years ago when the area was a giant, informal rubbish tip.

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