Catholic, US department, Pompeo, Australia PM: World news round-up

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Catholic conference hears appeal for Church to welcome gay people

A Catholic conference on family issues that Pope Francis is due to address this weekend heard a plea from a U.S. priest on Thursday for the Church to welcome gay members, who he said had been made to feel like lepers. At the first major speech on the issue at the World Meeting of Families, which is organized by the Vatican every three years and is being held in Dublin this year, U.S. Jesuit priest James Martin told delegates that excluding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics violated the teachings of Jesus Christ.

U.S. State Department softens travel advisory on Cuba

The United States on Thursday revised its travel advisory on Cuba to "exercise increased caution," from "reconsider travel," a move that some in the tourism sector hope could help reverse a decline in American visitors to the Caribbean island. The U.S. State Department had warned its citizens last year not to visit the country because of a spate of still unexplained illnesses among its embassy personnel in Havana.

Seizing land would send South Africa down the wrong path: U.S.

The United States warned South Africa on Thursday that seizing land without compensation risked sending the country down the wrong path, deepening a spat over Pretoria's efforts to fix a glaring racial disparity almost 25 years after the end of apartheid. South Africa accused U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday of stoking racial divisions in a late-night tweet in which he said he had asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study South African "land and farm seizures" and the "killing of farmers".

Colombia to host meeting with Ecuador, Peru on Venezuelan migrant issue

Officials from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru will meet in Bogota next week to seek a solution to a growing exodus of migrants overwhelming South American countries as they flee a devastating economic crisis in Venezuela. The head of Colombia's migration authority, Christian Kruger, said in a statement on Thursday the three nations would meet on Monday and Tuesday to discuss problems caused by thousands of Venezuelans who cross borders each day and the impact of recently implemented passport controls by Peru and Ecuador.

Pompeo to travel to North Korea with new special envoy

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit North Korea again next week to try to persuade it to abandon its nuclear weapons and will take a new U.S. special representative, Stephen Biegun, with him in an attempt to break the deadlock. Pompeo on Thursday named the Ford Motor Co executive, a veteran Republican foreign policy hand, as the U.S. special envoy to North Korea.

U.S. says Facebook fugitive Paul Ceglia arrested in Ecuador

The New York man who spent nearly 3-1/2 years as a fugitive after being charged with trying to defraud Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg out of half of the social media company has been arrested in Ecuador and may be extradited, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday. Paul Ceglia, 45, a wood pellet salesman from Wellsville in upstate New York, had been missing since March 2015, when he removed his electronic ankle bracelet and disappeared with his wife, two children and a dog.

Australia PM's party expected to force leadership vote on Friday

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has yet to receive the petition from his challenger that he requested as a condition for calling a second vote on his leadership in a week, but a key player said he is confident the meeting will happen at noon local time (0200 GMT). Turnbull narrowly defeated a leadership challenge from former Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton on Tuesday but has come under sustained pressure to call the second contest with the resignations of several prominent Cabinet figures.

Canada's Conservatives face split ahead of 2019 election

Canada's opposition Conservatives face a potential split a year ahead of national elections after a prominent former cabinet minister quit the party on Thursday to form his own right-leaning faction, focused on limited immigration and promoting free trade. Maxime Bernier, who failed in his bid to lead the Conservative Party more than a year ago, said he hoped to have an alternative party up and running within weeks to challenge Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the 2019 election.

U.S. senator plans measure to help Taiwan keep its allies

A leading U.S. Republican senator said Thursday he is preparing legislation to discourage Taiwan's few remaining allies from switching their allegiance to China after El Salvador became the third country this year to move toward Beijing. Senator Cory Gardner, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee's Asia subcommittee, told Reuters he will introduce within a few days a measure encouraging countries to stick with Taipei.

Netanyahu still hopes U.S. will recognize Israel's Golan claim

Israel still hopes the United States will recognize its claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, after a top U.S. official said the issue was not currently under consideration by Washington. Israel captured much of the Golan from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed it, a move not endorsed internationally. Netanyahu raised the possibility of U.S. recognition in his first White House meeting with President Donald Trump in February 2017.

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