Reuters World News Summary

'mercenaries' The Kremlin said on Tuesday it did not know the location of two Americans captured while fighting in eastern Ukraine, but that they were mercenaries and could be sentenced to death in Russian-backed breakaway territories.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Saudi crown prince visits Jordan in thaw of ties, raising hope for new investments -officials

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday amid a thaw in relations after years of tension due to divergent views on regional conflicts and unfulfilled pledges of aid. The first visit to Jordan in years by the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia comes at a time, officials say, when Jordan's economy is struggling with the economic knock-on effects of the Ukraine war.

Mexico president will ask Biden to look into WikiLeaks' Assange case

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday he will ask U.S. President Joe Biden to address the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying Mexico would open its doors to him if he were released. British Home Secretary Priti Patel on Friday approved the WikiLeaks founder's extradition to the United States to face criminal charges. Assange's wife vowed to fight using every possible legal avenue.

Moscow fumes over Lithuania rail ban to Russian region

Russia warned Lithuania on Tuesday that it would face measures of a "serious negative impact" for blocking some shipments by rail to Moscow's Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, in its latest dispute over Western sanctions imposed on the country for the war in Ukraine. Russian forces and separatists in eastern Ukraine made further advances, pushing towards the city of Lysychansk, the Ukrainian forces' main bastion in an area that is part of the Donbas region Moscow claims for the separatists.

Exclusive-Three migrants were kidnapped in Mexico. The U.S. had vowed to protect them

Three asylum seekers were kidnapped in April while in a U.S. migration program that had placed them in the care of Mexican officials in the city of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Texas, one of the victims and the U.N. migration agency said. The kidnapping, reported here for the first time, happened in spite of measures the Biden administration says improved the safety of the program, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. immigration court hearings.

French opposition tells 'arrogant' Macron: compromise to win support

French opposition leaders told President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday they would not make life easy for him as he sought a way to avoid political paralysis after this weekend's election setback in parliament. Some opponents said Macron should fire his prime minister, review his reform plans and drop his top-down approach to power.

U.S. arrests airman in connection with attack in Syria

A member of the U.S. air force has been taken into custody in connection with an April attack in Syria that wounded four fellow service members, the Air Force said on Tuesday. The U.S. military initially blamed the attack in Green Village in eastern Syria on indirect fire, possibly a rocket strike.

Lithuanians near Kaliningrad put faith in NATO after Russia's threats

Russia's threat to punish Lithuania over blocked rail shipments to Moscow's enclave of Kaliningrad jangled nerves on Tuesday for residents living just across the border who put faith in NATO membership to thwart any potential military action. Lithuania has shut the route for transport of steel and other ferrous metals, which it says it is required to do under EU sanctions that took effect on Saturday, raising the ire of Russian officials who threatened a "serious negative impact."

UK's biggest rail strike in 30 years disrupts travel, PM Johnson vows to stay firm

Tens of thousands of workers walked out on the first day of Britain's biggest rail strike in 30 years on Tuesday, with millions of passengers facing days of chaos as both the unions and government vowed to stick to their guns in a row over pay. The strike by more than 40,000 rail staff, which is due to be replicated on Thursday and Saturday, caused major disruption across the network, bringing most services to a standstill and leaving major stations deserted. The London Underground metro was also mostly closed due to a separate strike.

Kremlin says it does not know location of captured U.S. 'mercenaries'

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it did not know the location of two Americans captured while fighting in eastern Ukraine, but that they were mercenaries and could be sentenced to death in Russian-backed breakaway territories. Americans Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, went missing this month while fighting near Kharkiv. Russian state media later showed video interviews with the pair, saying they had been captured by Russian-backed forces.

Taiwan scrambles jets to warn away Chinese planes in its air defence zone

Taiwan scrambled jets on Tuesday to warn away 29 Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone, including bombers that flew to the south of the island and into the Pacific, in the latest uptick in tensions and largest incursion since late May. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past two years or so of repeated missions by the Chinese air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.