Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Defying police ban, Hong Kongers hold Tiananmen candle memorial

Thousands defied a police ban to gather with candles in Hong Kong on Thursday to mark China's bloody Tiananmen Square democracy crackdown in 1989 and accuse Beijing of stifling freedoms too on their semi-autonomous territory. Meeting in the city's Victoria Park, some chanted slogans such as "End one party rule" and "Democracy for China now" as they skirted an unprecedented prohibition on the annual vigil justified by police due to the coronavirus crisis. Two girls' lockdown learning underlines South Africa's educational divide

When Zinzi Lerefolo was sent home from her fee-paying girls' school in a leafy Johannesburg suburb in March, her family set up a virtual classroom that allowed her to continue studying uninterrupted. The 13-year-old has access to the internet and her school has the means to provide online teaching during the coronavirus lockdown. Inspired by U.S. protests, some Belgians want colonial king statues removed

Inspired by global protests at the death of unarmed black American George Floyd, some 30,000 people in Belgium have signed two petitions to remove statues of the country's colonial-era King Leopold II, whose troops decimated Congo in the late 1800s. The online petitions, one of which was started by a 14-year-old boy on photo-sharing app Instagram, demand the removal of the monuments across Brussels and a bust in the city of Halle. Some Israeli settlers hit out at Trump-backed annexation plan

Israel's intention to annex parts of the occupied West Bank is being challenged by Jewish settlers who might have been expected to cheer the plan promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under a U.S. peace blueprint. A month before the proposed expansion of Israeli jurisdiction is due to be discussed by Netanyahu's new unity government, some settler leaders have resorted to rhetoric likely to embarrass him at the White House. Hong Kong passes China national anthem bill amid protests by democracy lawmakers

Hong Kong passed a bill on Thursday that would criminalise disrespect of China's national anthem, a move critics see as the latest sign of Beijing's tightening grip on the semi-autonomous city. The move comes just days after Chinese authorities gave the green light to move ahead with a national security law, which the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, as well as international human rights groups, say will erode freedoms in the global financial hub. Eastern forces quit Libyan capital after year-long assault

Libya's internationally recognised government regained control of Tripoli on Thursday, driving eastern forces out of the capital after a year-long battle in which foreign powers poured in arms and fighters. A military source with the eastern forces, whose base is in the eastern city of Benghazi, said they were pulling back from all of Tripoli's suburbs. Government forces said they now held everything within the city boundary. Italian judge orders seizure of neo-fascist CasaPound headquarters

An Italian judge ordered police to seize the headquarters of a far-right group in central Rome, authorities said on Thursday in a move hailed as a victory by the city's mayor Virgina Raggi from the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement. Successive administrations have tried for years to evacuate the building occupied by CasaPound, a group that espouses a neo-fascist ideology and that has gained increasing visibility across Italy during the economic downturn of recent years. India's urban COVID-19 outbreak is morphing into a rural health crisis

Rural parts of India have begun to see a surge in novel coronavirus infections, as millions of migrant workers returning from big cities and industrial hubs bring the virus home with them, according to data collected from seven Indian states. Officials said the spike in cases was a fresh challenge for the country's health authorities, even as they struggle to check the outbreak in cities amid the easing of a months-long lockdown. Confirmed cases in India crossed the 200,000 mark on Wednesday. Some experts say that a peak remains weeks away. Coronavirus frustrates Saudi women's push for financial independence

Abeer al-Howayan despaired of ever working after spending eight years trying to find a job that would put her chemistry degree to use in the Saudi Arabian town of Al Ula. She eventually abandoned her scientific ambitions and turned to selling homemade cakes, before she was chosen last year for a government training programme to support a $20 billion flagship tourism project in the kingdom's northwestern region. Madeleine McCann's family says police lead on new suspect is 'very significant'

The parents of Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal in 2007 aged just three sparking a worldwide hunt, said a police announcement of a new suspect was a potentially very significant development in the long-running case. McCann disappeared from her bedroom on May 3 during a family holiday in the Algarve while her parents were dining with friends nearby in the resort of Praia da Luz.