World News Roundup: Merkel says Greece entering new era, reforms must continue; In Cairo, Pompeo blasts Obama's Middle East policies

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Former U.S. Marine held for spying had Russian contacts with military backgrounds

Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine held in Moscow on spying charges, had online contact with more than 20 Russians with military backgrounds, an analysis of social media shows. Russian men with military education or a history of military service make up nearly half of Whelan's more than 50 friends on VK, a popular Russian social network that resembles Facebook, the analysis by Reuters shows.

Macron's will to reform intact despite concessions to protesters: central banker

The French government remains committed to its push to reform the economy, the head of the central bank governor said on Thursday, describing a package of measures to appease a social uprising as "justified". President Emmanuel Macron has faced since mid-November violent anti-government protests originally against since-scrapped fuel tax hikes, but which have snowballed into rage against the high cost of life and Macron's reform drive.

Israel says U.S. blocks its sale of fighter jets to Croatia

Israel will not be able to deliver to Croatia a dozen used F-16 fighter jets which Croatia decided to buy last year to modernize its air force, Croatia's Defense Minister Damir Krsticevic said on Thursday. "Israel has officially informed us that it cannot get an approval from the United States for delivery of the planes to Croatia," Krsticevic told reporters after a meeting with an Israeli delegation in Zagreb.

Saudi woman's flight rallies opposition to male guardianship

An 18-year-old Saudi woman's flight from what she said was an abusive family has rallied opposition to the kingdom's male guardianship system, still a major constraint on women despite the conservative Muslim country's efforts to open up. Some freedoms have been granted under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who ended a ban on women driving, eased restrictions on gender mixing, and championed firsts such as allowing women to serve in the armed forces.

Merkel says Greece entering new era, reforms must continue

German Chancellor Angela Merkel commended Greece on Thursday for entering "a new era" after it exited its third bailout program, and said it must continue pushing ahead with reforms. She also said, after meeting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, that she expected Greece would be able to return to financial markets and that Germany supported those efforts.

Venezuela's Maduro starts new term as U.S. decries him as 'usurper'

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro started a second term on Thursday, defying critics in the United States and Latin America who called him an illegitimate usurper of a nation where economic chaos has wrought a humanitarian crisis. The country's pro-government Supreme Court, which has largely supplanted the opposition-run Congress, swore him in following a welcome with a symphony orchestra and cheering supporters waving miniature yellow, blue and red Venezuelan flags.

Grisly Mexican gang battle near U.S. border leaves 21 dead

Mexican authorities are investigating a battle between two suspected gangs that left 21 dead in a border town near where U.S. President Donald Trump visited on Thursday to win support for his plan to build a wall. Tamaulipas state officials said that 21 bodies were found Wednesday in the city of Ciudad Miguel Aleman. Seventeen were burned, they said.

After meeting UK's May, Japan's Abe says world does not want no-deal Brexit

Japan's Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that the world did not want to see a disorderly Brexit and that he fully supported British Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal deal from the European Union now facing defeat in parliament. Some of Japan's leading companies in Britain have warned that a no-deal Brexit could be a disaster. After meeting May in London, Abe said it was scenario no one wanted to see.

In Cairo, Pompeo blasts Obama's Middle East policies

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday accused Barack Obama of sowing chaos by abandoning the Middle East to Islamist militants and Iranian influence in a blistering critique of the former president's policies even as Pompeo's boss, President Donald Trump, moves to pull American troops out of Syria. In a speech at the American University in Cairo, Pompeo dispensed with a U.S. diplomatic tradition of avoiding public airing abroad of domestic disputes by blasting Obama at the site of a landmark 2009 speech by Trump's predecessor aimed at improving relations with the Islamic world.

Congo presidential loser's supporters cry foul after surprise result

Furious supporters of the runner-up in Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential election denounced Thursday's results as a fix, while France said the outcome was at odds with what was seen on the ground. The electoral commission (CENI) announced around 3 a.m. (0200 GMT) that opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi had won the chaotic Dec. 30 vote, edging ahead of another opposition candidate, businessman Martin Fayulu.

(With inputs from agencies.)