Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. U.S.-Thai pair facing death for 'sea home' should fight the charge: Thailand says

A senior Thai government official on Friday urged a U.S. man and a Thai woman on the run from a possible death sentence for building an off-shore "sea home" to fight the charge in court. The two, Chad Elwartowski and his partner Supranee Thepdet, have been accused of violating Thai sovereignty by raising a small cabin on top of a big, weighted spar in what they say are international waters, 14 nautical miles off the west-coast Thai island of Phuket. Doctors assessing when Madeira bus crash survivors can fly home to Germany

Doctors from Germany are working with a Portuguese medical team to evaluate when the German tourists who survived a fatal bus crash on the island of Madeira can be transferred home, the hospital said on Friday. The bus - carrying 55 tourists and a tour guide - veered off a steep road in the coastal town of Canico on Wednesday, and came to a halt next to a house, killing 29 Germans and injuring 27, including the Portuguese driver and tour guide. Explainer: Egypt votes on changing its constitution

Egypt holds a three-day referendum from Saturday on constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in office until 2030. Parliament this week overwhelmingly approved the proposals, which would also bolster the role of the military and expand the president's power over judicial appointments. Tens of thousands of protesters back on Algeria's streets, demanding radical reform

Tens of thousands of demonstrators returned to Algeria's streets on Friday to press demands for wholesale democratic change well beyond former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika's resignation after six weeks of mass protests, witnesses said. Parliament named an interim president and a July 4 election date was set in a transition endorsed by the country's powerful military. But Bouteflika's April 2 exit failed to placate many Algerians who want to topple the entire, largely elderly elite that have dominated the country since independence from France in 1962. Turkey arrests suspected spies for UAE, probing Khashoggi link

Turkey has arrested two intelligence operatives who confessed to spying on Arab nationals for the United Arab Emirates, and it is probing whether the arrival in Turkey of one of them was related to Jamal Khashoggi's murder, a senior Turkish official said on Friday. One of the two men arrived in Turkey in October 2018, days after Khashoggi was murdered inside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, the official said, adding the other arrived to help his colleague with the workload. Turkey pins hopes on Trump to avoid sanctions over Russia missile deal

Turkey's hopes of avoiding punishing U.S. sanctions over its purchase of a Russian air defense system appear increasingly pinned on intervention from Donald Trump, but the president has little leeway to counter Ankara's many critics in Washington. The two NATO allies have argued for months over Turkey's order for the advanced S-400 missile defense batteries, which Washington says are incompatible with the Western alliance's defense network and would pose a threat to U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jets which Turkey also plans to buy. More protesters flood Sudan's sit-in to demand civilian rule

Thousands of protesters demanding an end to military rule flocked to the sit-in outside Sudan's Defence Ministry on Friday, in the biggest turnout in the center of the capital since last week when former President Omar al-Bashir was ousted and a military council took over. Protesters waved the Sudanese flag and chanted "freedom, peace and justice". Children sitting on a bridge nearby banged with stones on the metal pillars to the rhythm of the chants. Weeping teenage climate activists in peaceful protest near London's Heathrow

Teenage protesters staged an emotional protest at political inaction on climate change near London's Heathrow Airport on Friday, a further day of actions that have caused transport snarl-ups in the British capital. The Extinction Rebellion group of climate-change campaigners stood weeping and singing in a peaceful roadside protest less than a mile from Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3. Around a dozen teenagers, some as young as 13, held a banner which read "Are we the last generation?" Filipino devotees nailed to crosses to re-enact crucifixion

Hundreds of tourists watched in shock as actors dressed as Roman soldiers hammered four-inch nails through the hands and feet of a Filipino into a wooden cross for the 33rd time in a Good Friday re-enactment of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. The gory display of devotion, which the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines looks down upon, draws tourists to the province of Pampanga, north of the capital, year after year as barefoot penitents also whip themselves as a form of penance. Off-duty journalist shot dead during Northern Ireland riot

An off-duty journalist was killed after shots were fired during rioting in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry overnight, an attack that shocked the province and police said was likely the work of nationalist militants. Rioting erupted in the Irish nationalist Creggan area of the city late on Thursday following a raid by police, who said they were trying to prevent militant attacks over the weekend. At least 50 petrol bombs were thrown and two cars set on fire.