Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. China defends handling of coronavirus, backs review of global response under WHO

China's president called on Monday for an independent review of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic under the World Health Organization once the virus is under control, and defended Beijing's own handling of the pandemic. In a video message to a virtual meeting of the WHO's decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, President Xi Jinping also pledged $2 billion over two years to help with the COVID-19 response. Explainer: The U.N. tribunal set up to try Rwanda genocide perpetrators

French gendarmes arrested Felicien Kabuga, wanted for allegedly financing the Rwandan genocide, near Paris on May 16 after a global manhunt spanning more than a quarter of a century. Kabuga, 84, is accused of funding ethnic Hutu militias that massacred about 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus during the 1994 genocide. He was one of the last three major fugitives hunted by international investigators. Outbreak at Chinese-owned factory shows challenges of easing India's lockdown

Chinese smartphone maker OPPO suspended operations at a recently re-opened plant in India after workers tested positive for the coronavirus, an official said on Monday, underlining the challenges of easing a near two-month nationwide lockdown. The factory, located on the outskirts of capital New Delhi, had received government permission to resume production, the company said on May 7, as part of a gradual relaxation of the shutdown that began on March 25. Russian army sets up mobile hospital to fight coronavirus at Siberian gold mine

Russia's defence ministry is setting up a mobile field hospital at the largest Siberian mine of the country's top gold producer, Polyus, to treat miners who contract the new coronavirus, the company said on Monday. Russia produces dozens of metals for global markets and the decision to open the field hospital at the mine underlines its concern to maintain smooth production amid the pandemic. Hong Kong's veteran pro-democracy activists defiant as they hear charges in court

Some of the 15 pro-democracy activists arrested in police raids in Hong Kong showed defiance on Monday as they appeared in court to hear charges of participating in illegal anti-government demonstrations last year. Veteran politicians, a publishing tycoon and senior lawyers were among those arrested last month in the biggest crackdown on the movement's key figures since the protests began. The move drew criticism from rights activists and Western politicians. Israel Katz takes over as Israeli finance minister

Israel Katz took over as Israel's finance minister on Monday as part of a new government, saying he planned to work towards helping the economy recover from the effects of the coronavirus while also promoting competition. Katz -- who replaces Moshe Kahlon after a five-year stint -- said he didn't want to talk about specific economic policies, preferring to first meet the ministry's experts. Taliban blast near Afghan intelligence base kills seven, injures 40

Taliban fighters detonated a car bomb on Monday near an Afghan intelligence agency installation in the central province of Ghazni, killing at least seven people and wounding 40, officials and the Taliban insurgents said. The blast, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when tens of thousands of Afghans are fasting, is the latest in a spate of violence across the country despite a peace accord signed between the United States and Taliban in February. Cafes and churches open in Italy and Greece; Spain eyes summer reboot

Italian shops, restaurants and churches reopened their doors to spring sunshine on Monday, Greece welcomed visitors back to the Acropolis - and Spain hoped for tourists to return in summer in cautious steps to ease coronavirus lockdowns. Italians could once again sip their morning cappuccino at the bar, albeit at a distance from one another, in what Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte admitted at the weekend was a "calculated risk" in rolling back the curbs. Climate activists line London's Trafalgar Square with kids' shoes

Climate activists placed more than 2,000 pairs of children's shoes in neat rows across London's Trafalgar Square on Monday to demand the British government stop bailing out carbon intensive industries that pollute the environment. In the shadow of Nelson's Column, Extinction Rebellion activists lined up the shoes across the square and unfurled a banner reading "Covid Today > Climate Tomorrow > Act Now." Zimbabweans go hungry as coronavirus compounds climate woes

Rosemary Pamire struggled to feed her family well before Zimbabwe entered lockdown in March to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Now she can hardly put together a meal a day as the country faces a deepening food crisis. Sitting on a bed in her two-room lodgings in Harare's poor Mbare township, Pamire told Reuters she had exhausted the little food she had stocked up during the first 21 days of an extended seven-week lockdown.