Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Putin: nothing wrong with us giving passports to east Ukraine residents

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday there was nothing wrong with easing rules for residents of Ukrainian rebel regions to receive Russian passports, a decision that prompted condemnation and calls for more sanctions against Moscow. Speaking to reporters at the end of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Putin said Poland, Romania and Hungary grant citizenship to their ethnic kin outside their borders and he saw no reason why Russia could not do the same. Exclusive: In rare move, French warship passes through Taiwan Strait

A French warship passed through the strategic Taiwan Strait this month, U.S. officials told Reuters, a rare voyage by a vessel of a European country that is likely to be welcomed by Washington but increase tension with Beijing. The passage, which was confirmed by China, is a sign that U.S. allies are increasingly asserting freedom of navigation in international waterways near China. It could open the door for other allies, such as Japan and Australia, to consider similar operations. Britain wants Brexit deal approved before July: May's deputy

British Prime Minister Theresa May's government wants to get her thrice-defeated Brexit deal approved by parliament before the new European parliament opens in July, her de-facto deputy, David Lidington, said on Thursday. Lidington, cabinet office minister, said the timing was heavily dependent on how talks progressed with the opposition Labour Party on finding a consensus for a deal but said the issue could not drag on. Catalonia: the crisis at the heart of Spain's election

Proudly displaying two Spanish flags he brought to wave at a Vox rally, retired police officer Jose Antonio Corrales Sierra says he will vote for the far-right party in Sunday's election and is ditching the mainstream PP conservatives because of Catalonia. The northeastern region's independence drive has been an agent of radical change. It was instrumental in triggering the election, has been a pivotal issue throughout campaigning and is expected to be crucial in determining the composition of the next government. Sri Lanka on edge with scares, lock-downs and sweeps for bomb suspects

Sri Lankan authorities locked down the central bank and shut the road leading to the jittery capital's airport because of a bomb scare on Thursday as more people were swept up in the search for those behind Easter Sunday bombings that killed 359. Two bank officials told Reuters the street outside the building near the World Trade Center in the capital, Colombo, was blocked to traffic before the security alert was lifted. Sri Lanka's crisis of leadership opens space for nationalist Rajapaksas

Sri Lanka's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, then the defense secretary, crushed Tamil Tiger separatists with such ferocity ten years ago that Western powers sought war crime trials against them and greeted their defeat in elections later with barely concealed glee. But now the tiny Indian Ocean island is faced with South Asia's deadliest militant attack - claimed by Islamic State - and may well again turn to the Rajapaksas for a strong-willed response to the new threat, politicians and diplomats say. Extinction Rebellion protesters glue themselves to London Stock Exchange

Protesters from the environmental group Extinction Rebellion glued themselves to the London Stock Exchange building on Thursday on the final day of protests that have caused mass disruption in the British capital. At London Stock Exchange's headquarters, six protesters dressed in black suits and red ties were blocking the revolving doors of the building. In east Aleppo, bodies still under rubble show limits of Syria's recovery

The bodies of three-year-old Malak Kasas and two neighbors still lie under a pile of rubble in Aleppo's Kalasa district more than two years after the Syrian government recaptured the area. Malak's grandfather, Omar, and uncle, Mahmoud, live in the building opposite. When they stand on the balcony, they see the collapsed building that is her tomb. Whenever Omar says her name he bursts into silent, convulsive, sobs. Putin says U.S. guarantees unlikely to prompt North Korea to de-nuclearize

Russian President Vladimir Putin said after holding his first face-to-face talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday that U.S. security guarantees would probably not be enough to persuade Pyongyang to shut its nuclear program. Putin and Kim held a day of talks on an island off the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok two months after Kim's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ended in disagreement, cooling hopes of a breakthrough in the decades-old nuclear row. India's Modi faces fight in Maharashtra state that could decide majority

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party and a Hindu nationalist ally face a big electoral challenge in the critical western state of Maharashtra where rural distress, unemployment and drought may hurt Modi's bid for a second term. Strategists already expect Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to lose ground in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh in the north, as voting is underway in a general election that began on April 11 and ends on May 19.