World News Roundup: New compensation offer made over Suez Canal blockage- lawyer; Hong Kong seeking closer integration with mainland China, Lam says and more

The Armenian government called the snap election to try to end a political crisis that erupted after ethnic Armenian forces lost a six-week war against Azerbaijan last year and ceded territory in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran says nuclear talks to be adjourned for consultations in capitals Negotiators for Iran and six world powers will on Sunday adjourn talks on reviving their 2015 nuclear deal and return to respective capitals for consultations as remaining differences cannot be easily overcome, Tehran's delegation chief said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Libyan unity PM says coast road reopened ahead of Berlin talks

The head of Libya's unity government said on Sunday he had reopened the main coast road across the frozen front line, a gesture of progress in the fragile peace process, but eastern forces said the road remained closed. Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh's move to reopen the road is in line with a ceasefire deal agreed last year as part of efforts to resolve Libya's decade of chaos and violence.

Hong Kong seeking closer integration with mainland China, Lam says

Hong Kong's strategy to strengthen the city's global financial hub status is through greater integration with mainland China, now that Beijing has helped restore "stability" in the city, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Sunday. Contributing to China's financial reform and opening will inject fresh vigour into Hong Kong's economy, Lam told a financial forum in Beijing.

New compensation offer made over Suez Canal blockage- lawyer

The owners of a giant container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March have made a new offer in a compensation dispute with the canal authority, a lawyer for the authority said on Sunday, as a court ruling on the case was postponed for two weeks. The Ever Given container ship has been anchored in a lake between two stretches of the canal since it was dislodged on March 29. It had been grounded across the canal for six days, blocking hundreds of ships and disrupting global trade.

Taiwan welcomes US vaccine aid, bolstering its COVID fight

Taiwan welcomed 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from the United States on Sunday as help from a true friend, more than doubling the major semiconductor-producing island's arsenal of shots as it deals with a cluster of domestic infections. Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through "vaccine diplomacy," initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden's administration advances its pledge to send 80 million U.S.-made shots around the world.

Taiwanese staff to leave Hong Kong office in 'one China' row

Taiwanese staff working at the island's representative office in Hong Kong will begin leaving the Chinese-run city from Sunday, a senior official said, after the government there demanded its officials sign a document supporting Beijing's claim to Taiwan. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong has become another bone of contention between Taipei and Beijing, especially after Taiwan lambasted a security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing and began welcoming Hong Kongers to settle on the island.

French far right tests voters' appetite in regional elections

French voters went to the polls on Sunday in regional elections that will test the appeal of far-right leader Marine Le Pen's softened image less than a year before the next presidential election. Coming after a gruelling year and a half of lockdowns, curfews and restrictions, Sunday's first round is likely to prove dire for President Emmanuel Macron, whose party is projected to win none of mainland France's 13 regions.

Israeli cabinet orders inquiry on deadly festival stampede

Israel's new government approved on Sunday an official inquiry into a stampede in April in which killed 45 people at a Jewish pilgrimage site long deemed dangerously crowded by authorities. Though it was the country's worst civilian disaster, a full-scale investigation into the Mount Meron deaths and dozens of injuries had lagged under the previous government amid feuding between its ultra-Orthodox Jewish and opposition politicians.

Israel's Bennett warns against nuclear talks with Iran's "hangmen regime"

Israel condemned on Sunday the election of hardline judge Ebrahim Raisi as Iranian president, saying his would be a "regime of brutal hangmen" with which world powers should not negotiate a new nuclear deal. Raisi, who is under U.S. sanctions for human rights abuses, secured victory as expected on Saturday in Iran's presidential election after a contest marked by voter apathy over economic hardships and political restrictions.

Armenia votes in neck-and-neck parliamentary election

Voting was underway in a parliamentary election in Armenia on Sunday, with opinion polls putting the party of acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and that of former President Robert Kocharyan neck-and-neck. The Armenian government called the snap election to try to end a political crisis that erupted after ethnic Armenian forces lost a six-week war against Azerbaijan last year and ceded territory in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Iran says nuclear talks to be adjourned for consultations in capitals

Negotiators for Iran and six world powers will on Sunday adjourn talks on reviving their 2015 nuclear deal and return to respective capitals for consultations as remaining differences cannot be easily overcome, Tehran's delegation chief said. "We are now closer than ever to an agreement but the distance that exists between us and an agreement remains and bridging it is not an easy job," Abbas Araqchi told Iranian state TV from Vienna. "We will return to Tehran tonight."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)