Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Iran's Rouhani urges Pakistan to act against group behind border attack

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on Saturday for "decisive" action by Pakistan against a militant group behind a deadly suicide attack in a border area, saying failure to act could jeopardize relations. Iran's state news agency IRNA said Rouhani's remarks were made during a telephone conversation with neighboring Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, who said he would soon have "good news" for Iran, according to the report. Algeria orders early university holiday as students spur protests

Algerian authorities on Saturday ordered an early start to the spring university holiday, an apparent attempt to weaken two weeks of student-led protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The Higher Education Ministry's decision came a day after tens of thousands of demonstrators packed central Algiers to challenge the veteran leader's 20-year-old rule in the biggest protests in the capital in 28 years. Italian PM sets conditions over rail link to defuse crisis

Italy's prime minister said on Saturday tenders for a high-speed rail link to France could not be finalised without explicit government approval, buying time to defuse a dispute within the ruling coalition over the project. The multibillion-euro TAV link (Treno Alta Velocita) is backed by Matteo Salvini's League party but strongly opposed by its coalition partner, 5-Star Movement, which argues that Italy's share of the funding would be better spent upgrading existing roads and bridges. More civilians leave Islamic State's Syria enclave, delaying final assault

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) paused military operations against Islamic State (IS) militants holed up in the group's final enclave in eastern Syria, expecting more civilians to be evacuated from the area on Saturday, an SDF official said. Thousands of people - many of them the wives of IS fighters and their children - have been streaming out of besieged enclave at Baghouz for weeks, forcing the SDF to delay the assault to wipe out the last vestige of the jihadists' territorial rule. What Brexit game is EU playing? British parliament leader Leadsom asks

The leader of Britain's parliament Andrea Leadsom said she was beginning to wonder what game the European Union was playing over Brexit as relations between London and Brussels deteriorated ahead of a vote by lawmakers next week. Less than three weeks before Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, Prime Minister Theresa May has failed to secure the changes to the divorce agreement she needs to gain the support of lawmakers who rejected it in a record rebellion in January. Turnout falls to lowest yet in French 'yellow vest' protests

Turnout at "yellow vest" protests across France, a backlash against high living costs that has lasted nearly four months, fell on Saturday to its lowest level yet. People wearing the neon high-visibility vests that have come to symbolize the movement were joined in Paris by others donning pink tops, as child-care workers turned out against a reform of their unemployment subsidies. Exclusive: Islamic State fighter wants to return to Italy, warns of 'sleeper cells'

An Islamic State fighter detained in Syria urged Italy on Saturday to let him come home to start a new life, saying he had abandoned the self-styled jihadist "caliphate" after growing disillusioned with its rulers. Mounsef al-Mkhayar, a 22-year-old of Moroccan descent who grew up in Italy, spoke to Reuters in his first interview since surrendering to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) two months ago. Venezuela's Guaido to lead rally as blackout lingers

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Saturday will lead a rally in the capital of Caracas to maintain pressure on President Nicolas Maduro as authorities slowly restored power after the country's worst blackout in decades. The OPEC nation was plunged into darkness on Thursday evening in what the governing Socialist Party called an act of U.S.-sponsored sabotage but opposition critics derided as the result of two decades of mismanagement and corruption. British government condemned after Islamic State teenager's baby dies

A decision by Britain to strip a teenage girl of her citizenship after she joined Islamic State in Syria was described as a "stain on the conscience" of the government on Saturday after her three-week old baby died. Shamima Begum was stripped of her citizenship on security grounds last month, leaving her in a detention camp in Syria where her baby died, the third of the 19-year-old's infant children to die since she traveled to Syria in 2015. Germany tightens travel advice on Turkey

Germany changed its travel advice for visitors to Turkey on Saturday, warning its citizens that they risked arrest for expressing opinions that would be tolerated at home but may not be by Turkish authorities. "It cannot be ruled out ... that the Turkish government will take further action against representatives of German media and civil society organizations," an updated Foreign Ministry travel advisory read.