Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Thailand suspends TV channel linked to ex-PM Thaksin ahead of poll

Thailand's telecoms regulator on Tuesday suspended the operating license of a television channel linked to ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra weeks ahead of a general election, citing national security concerns. Two programs on Voice TV, Tonight Thailand and Wake Up News, spread information that caused public confusion and divisiveness, said the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, without elaborating. Slow progress in Islamic State Syria pocket: U.S. coalition

Kurdish-led fighters battling to capture Islamic State's last major stronghold in Syria are making "slow and methodical" progress, the U.S.-led coalition that backs them said on Tuesday. "The enemy is fully entrenched and ISIS fighters continue to conduct counter attacks," said coalition spokesman Colonel Sean Ryan in an email, adding it was "too early for a timetable" on when the operation might end. We must 'hold our nerve' on Brexit, May to tell UK lawmakers

Prime Minister Theresa May will tell British lawmakers on Tuesday they must hold their nerve over Brexit to force the European Union to accept changes to the divorce deal that would pave the way for an orderly exit. The United Kingdom is on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal unless May can convince the bloc to amend the divorce deal she agreed in November and then sell it to skeptical British lawmakers. Myanmar police use rubber bullets, tear gas to break up ethnic minority protest

Myanmar police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon on Tuesday to disperse a protest over a statue of independence hero General Aung San that is opposed by members of the Karenni ethnic minority, police and a protest leader said. Organisers said at least 3,000 people had gathered on the Union Day holiday in Loikaw, the capital of the mountainous eastern state of Kayah, also known as Karenni, despite being denied permission for the demonstration. Tensions high as Spain starts trial of Catalan separatists

Twelve Catalan secessionist leaders go on trial in Spain's high court on Tuesday, charged for their role in a failed independence bid 16 months ago that deeply divided the country and triggered the biggest political crisis in decades. Hundreds of police, including from anti-terrorism units, have been deployed around the Supreme Court building in central Madrid. Pakistan, India hope to reap investment from Saudi prince's visit

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to announce investments in energy and infrastructure during a visit to India and Pakistan in coming days. The prince, known as MBS, is also expected to visit China, Malaysia and Indonesia during a tour that will be his first through the region since the storm over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October. North Korea may have made more nuclear bombs, but threat reduced: study

North Korea has continued to produce bomb fuel while in denuclearization talks with the United States and may have produced enough in the past year to add as many as seven nuclear weapons to its arsenal, according to a study released just weeks before a planned second summit between the North Korean leader and U.S. President Donald Trump. However, the country's freeze in nuclear and missile testing since 2017 mean that North Korea's weapons program probably poses less of a threat than it did at the end of that year, the report by Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation found. Turkey orders 1,112 arrested over links to cleric Gulen: state media

Turkey launched on Tuesday one of its largest operations against alleged supporters of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused of leading an attempted coup in 2016, ordering the arrest of 1,112 people, state media reported. The operation, related to alleged cheating in police examinations, showed authorities were not letting up on their crackdown two-and-a-half years after rogue soldiers used warplanes, helicopters and tanks in a bid to seize power. Venezuela opposition rallies to tell Maduro: Let aid in

Venezuela's opposition supporters will take to the streets nationwide on Tuesday to keep up the heat on embattled President Nicolas Maduro and to call on him to let humanitarian aid into the country where food and medicine shortages are rife. The rallies will take place nearly three weeks to the day that opposition chief Juan Guaido invoked a constitutional provision to declare himself Venezuela's legitimate president, arguing that Maduro's re-election last year was a sham. Give us our 284 APEC summit cars back, Papua New Guinea police plead

Papua New Guinea police are seeking the return of nearly 300 imported cars loaned to officials for driving world leaders around its capital during last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation meeting, a commander said on Tuesday. The purchase of the fleet, including 40 slick Maserati Quattroporte sedans, sparked public protest in a country beset by poverty, and potholes, and the government had promised to auction the cars after the November summit.