Reuters World News Summary

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that after a new Israeli government has been sworn in he will investigate whether there are "realistic options" for a return to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clinched a deal to form a new government on Wednesday just before a deadline expired, but his coalition will rule by the slimmest of majorities in Israel's turbulent parliament.

U.S. military starts training Syrian fighters to combat Islamic State

The United States has begun a long-awaited program to train Syrian fighters to go into combat against Islamic State, the Pentagon said on Thursday, deepening America's role in Syria's civil war after eight months of airstrikes against the Sunni militants. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the military was starting small, training a first group of just 90 Syrians, who would be paid a stipend and could expect some still-undefined support once they return to the battlefield.

Jailed Malaysian opposition leader's wife wins his parliament seat

The wife of jailed Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has won his seat in a by-election, officials said on Friday, one of two votes held this week that were seen as a test of Prime Minister Najib Razak's leadership. Anwar's family has held the seat in Penang state for decades. His wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, retained it in Thursday's vote over the candidate from the ruling Barisan Nasional, Suhaimi Sabudin, although with a slightly reduced majority.

United Kingdom votes in most unpredictable election in decades

British voters get to decide on Thursday who they want to rule the world's fifth-largest economy in a tight election that could yield weak government, propel the United Kingdom towards a vote on EU membership and stoke Scottish desire for secession. Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives and Ed Miliband's opposition Labour Party have been neck and neck in opinion polls for months, indicating neither will win enough seats for an outright majority in the 650-seat parliament.

Saudi-led coalition vows to hit Yemen's Houthis despite truce offer

Saudi-led forces said on Thursday they would respond harshly against Yemen's Houthi rebels following attacks on citizens in border areas, hours after the kingdom offered a five-day humanitarian truce if the Shi'ite militia stopped fighting. Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the Houthis had changed the situation by targeting cities in recent days, and vowed that the coalition would go after leaders of the rebel group.

Senate passes Iran nuclear review bill, House up next

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to pass a bill giving Congress the right to review, and potentially reject, an international agreement with Iran aimed at keeping it from developing nuclear weapons. The 98-1 vote sent the measure to the House of Representatives, which could consider it as soon as next week. The White House said President Barack Obama would sign it into law if it also passes the House, as expected, without significant changes.

Germany's Steinmeier presses for Ukraine progress on Russia visit

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict on a visit to Volgograd on Thursday, expressing hope a peace deal agreed in Minsk would enter its "next phase". Steinmeier's visit to the Russian city formerly called Stalingrad, where Soviet forces drove back Nazi troops in one of the bloodiest battles in history, comes days before the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe.

Survivors battle for helicopters near Nepal village that vanished

It was three foreign trekkers who used their satellite telephone to call the rescue helicopter that landed in Nepal's Langtang Valley around midday on Tuesday, April 28. Three days earlier, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake had triggered a catastrophic landslide that buried hundreds of people in one village in the valley. But villagers clung to the chopper's landing skids, preventing it from taking off, witnesses said. They then led the uninjured foreign trekkers out of the aircraft and carried injured Nepalis aboard, including a toddler with broken legs, at a rescue in another village, Kyanjin Gompa.

Omar Khadr, once a Guantanamo inmate, freed on bail in Canada

Omar Khadr, a Canadian who was once the youngest prisoner held on terror charges at Guantanamo Bay, was released on bail from an Alberta prison Thursday while he appeals a murder conviction by a U.S. military tribunal. A judge in an Alberta court ruled that Khadr, who was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15 and pleaded guilty to killing a U.S. soldier, can be released on bail, denying an appeal by the Canadian government to keep him in custody.

Al Qaeda says U.S. strike kills man who claimed Paris killings

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said on Thursday a U.S. air strike had killed the senior figure who issued the group's claim of responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, according to a report. The SITE Intelligence Group quoted al Qaeda as saying in an online video that AQAP ideologue Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi was killed with his eldest son and other fighters in Yemen.