Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Soldiers, prisoners, displaced people vote early ahead of Iraq election

Soldiers, prisoners and displaced people voted in special early polls in Iraq on Friday as the country prepared for a Sunday general election where turnout will show how much faith voters have left in a still young democratic system. Many Iraqis say they will not vote, having watched established parties they do not trust sweep successive elections and bring little improvement to their lives.

Journalists who took on Putin and Duterte win 2021 Nobel Peace Prize

Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, journalists whose work has angered the rulers of the Philippines and Russia, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, an award the committee said was an endorsement of free speech rights under threat worldwide. The two were awarded “for their courageous fight for freedom of expression” in their countries, Chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told a news conference.

‘You are playing with fire’: EU faces crisis after Polish court ruling

A Polish court ruling challenging the supremacy of EU law plunged the European Union into an existential crisis on Friday and raised the possibility of Poland leaving the 27-nation bloc. Politicians across Europe voiced dismay at the court’s move to undermine the legal pillar on which the EU stands, with one minister warning the eastern European country that it was “playing with fire”.

U.N. fears ‘imminent attack’ in Myanmar after army build-up

The United Nations human rights office said on Friday it is concerned the military in Myanmar could be preparing an imminent attack aimed at its opponents amid a build-up of heavy weapons and troops in areas of the country where the internet has also been shut down. Ravina Shamdasani, U.N. human rights spokeswoman, said that it had documented intensifying attacks by the army in the past month in Chin state and other areas, with killings and burning of houses, in an apparent attempt to seek out armed resistance.

China’s Xi, Japan’s new PM hold first talks, agree on need for dialogue

Japan’s new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday he had agreed in his first talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping since taking office on the need to work together on issues of shared concern. “I frankly raised concerns between both countries from my side, and I suggested we should continue dialogue in the future,” Kishida said in comments aired by public broadcaster NHK after he spoke with Xi on the telephone.

Russian editor Muratov dedicates Nobel Prize to staff murdered for their work

Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov dedicated the Nobel Peace Prize he won on Friday to six of of his paper’s journalists murdered for their work, and said he would try to use the award to help defend reporters under pressure. “Igor Domnikov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Stas Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Natasha Estemirova – these are the people who have today won the Nobel Prize,” Muratov said, reciting the names of six slain journalists or contributors to the paper whose portraits hang in its headquarters.

U.S. troops rotating into Taiwan for training -sources

Small numbers of U.S. special operations forces have been rotating into Taiwan on a temporary basis to train with Taiwanese forces, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon, which historically has not disclosed details about U.S. training or advising of Taiwan forces, did not specifically comment on or confirm the deployment.

More than 100 killed and wounded in mosque blast in northeastern Afghanistan – UN

A suicide bomb tore through a mosque in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunduz province on Friday, killing or wounding more than 100 people, a UN agency said. Video footage showed bodies surrounded by debris inside the mosque that is used by people from the minority Shi’ite Muslim community.

N.Korea’s food situation appears perilous, experts say

North Korea’s food situation remains perilous according to analysts and a United Nations expert who raised doubts this week about its harvest, and there are signs that it is receiving large shipments of humanitarian aid from China. North Korea has long suffered from food insecurity, with observers saying that government mismanagement of the economy is exacerbated by international sanctions, natural disasters, and now the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted unprecedented border lockdowns there.

Call Taiwan a country, French senator says, angering China

Taiwan should be called a country, a senior French senator said on Friday during a visit to Taipei, doubling down on earlier comments that have angered Beijing, which views the island as one of its provinces, not a country. Taiwan’s name is a tricky issue.

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