Reuters World News Summary

Biden says he will make announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday President Joe Biden on Saturday said his administration would make an announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday, following a U.S. intelligence report that found Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Cuba approves animal welfare law after civil society pressure

Cuba has approved a long called-for decree on animal welfare in what some rights activists are hailing as an unusual triumph of civil society in the Communist-run country where animal sacrifice and cock and dog fighting remain commonplace. The move aims to prevent cruelty and raise awareness about the need to protect animals, marking a cultural advance in a nation where strays abound and the coast is strewn with chicken carcasses sacrificed in religious rituals.

New Zealand's Auckland starts second lockdown in month Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, woke up on Sunday morning to a second lockdown in a month as health authorities try to rein in a coronavirus cluster of the more contagious UK variant. The seven-day lockdown, announced late Saturday by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, follows a three-day stay-at-home order in mid-February after a local emergence of the UK variant of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Dominican Republic to construct fence along border with Haiti The Dominican Republic will begin constructing a fence along its 376-kilometer (234 mi) border with Haiti later this year to curb unauthorized migration and illicit trade, President Luis Abinader said on Saturday. "In a period of two years, we want to put an end to the serious problems of illegal immigration, drug trafficking and the movement of stolen vehicles," Abinader said in a presentation to Congress.

Israeli team in Greece probing ship suspected of oil spill, ministry says Israel has sent investigators to Greece to inspect a ship suspected of causing an oil spill that has covered much of Israel's shoreline with tar, the Environment Protection Ministry said on Saturday. Israel has been looking at a spill from a ship that passed about 50 km (30 miles) offshore on Feb. 11 as the possible source of what environmental groups are calling a disaster for wildlife.

Myanmar's U.N. ambassador vows to fight after junta fired him Myanmar's United Nations envoy in New York vowed to fight on Saturday after the junta fired him for urging countries to use "any means necessary" to reverse a Feb. 1 coup that ousted the nation's elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "I decided to fight back as long as I can," Kyaw Moe Tun told Reuters on Saturday.

Nigerian schoolboys freed as forces search for 300 abducted girls Gunmen in Nigeria on Saturday released 27 teenage boys who were kidnapped from their school last week in the north-central state of Niger, while security forces continued to search for more than 300 schoolgirls abducted in a nearby state.

Schools have become targets for mass kidnappings for ransom in northern Nigeria by armed groups. Myanmar police launch most extensive crackdown; hundreds arrested

Police in Myanmar launched their most sweeping crackdown in three weeks of nationwide protests against military rule on Saturday, arresting hundreds of people and shooting and wounding at least one person. State television announced that Myanmar's U.N. envoy had been fired for betraying the country, a day after he urged the United Nations to use "any means necessary" to reverse the Feb. 1 coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Ten arrested in Barcelona as protests over jailed rapper turn violent

Ten people were arrested in Barcelona on Saturday for assaulting police officers in fresh unrest over the jailing of a rapper for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in his songs. Pablo Hasel, known for his anti-establishment lyrics, was arrested on Feb. 16 after failing to report to serve his sentence, prompting debate over freedom of expression and sparking sometimes violent protests in Barcelona and Madrid. Biden says he will make announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday

President Joe Biden on Saturday said his administration would make an announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday, following a U.S. intelligence report that found Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Biden administration has faced some criticism, notably an editorial in the Washington Post, that the president should have been tougher on the crown prince, who was not sanctioned despite being blamed for approving Khashoggi's murder. Analysis: U.S. seeks to put Saudi crown prince in his place - for now

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have been spared direct punishment after a U.S. intelligence report implicated him in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but he has not emerged unscathed. The declassified report, based on CIA intelligence, concludes that the prince approved an operation to "capture or kill" Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.