Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Despite Yemen violence spike, Saudi says talks with Houthis progressing

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Saturday that Riyadh was still committed to back-channel peace talks with Yemen's Houthi rebels, despite a recent increase in violence in the five-year conflict. Yemen has been mired in fighting since the Iran-backed Houthi movement ousted the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi from the capital in late 2014. Russian artist who published Paris mayor candidate kompromat arrested

A Russian dissident artist who published screenshots of sexual images that forced President Emmanuel Macron's candidate for Paris City Hall to pull out of the race was arrested in the French capital on Saturday, the prosecutor's office said. Benjamin Griveaux, one of Macron's closest lieutenants, abandoned his bid to become mayor of Paris on Friday after it was alleged he sent sexual images of his genitals to a woman who is not his wife. Griveaux has not disputed that he sent the messages. Turkey says it fulfilled responsibilities in Syria's Idlib in line with agreements

Turkey has fulfilled its responsibilities in the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib in line with the agreements it made with Russia and Iran, Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Saturday, after violence spiked in recent weeks. Turkey and Russia back opposing sides in the conflict, and agreed in 2018 to set up a de-escalation zone in the region. A Syrian government offensive disrupted Ankara and Moscow's fragile cooperation, after 13 Turkish soldiers were killed in the past two weeks. North Korea's Kim jong Un visits his father's mausoleum, pays tribute: KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited his father and former leader Kim Jong Il's mausoleum, the Kumsusan Palance of the Sun, to mark the anniversary of the late leader's birth, the country's state media said on Saturday. Chinese tourist in France becomes first to die in Europe of coronavirus

An 80-year-old Chinese tourist infected with the coronavirus has died in France, the first fatality in Europe and the fourth outside mainland China from an epidemic that has shut Chinese factories, curbed travel and disrupted global supply chains. The outbreak, thought to have originated at a wildlife market in the central Chinese province of Hubei, has presented China's ruling Communist Party with the huge challenge of halting its spread while at the same time minimizing damage to the world's second-largest economy. Venezuela holds military exercises as Maduro attempts to show force

Venezuela's military on Saturday held exercises that deployed civilian militia and armored vehicles in the capital Caracas and around the country, an effort by President Nicolas Maduro to show strength as Washington prepares to escalate sanctions. Maduro accuses the United States of preparing an invasion of the OPEC nation, which in 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump described as a possibility. Since last year the United States has ramped up economic sanctions against his government. Flights canceled amid flood alerts as second storm in week hits Britain

The second storm in a week hit Britain on Saturday, prompting flooding alerts for many parts of the country and disrupting flights and train services just as many schools start their half-term holidays. The heavy rain and strong winds from Storm Dennis hit barely a week after Storm Ciara caused disruption to transport, flooded homes and left thousands without electricity. Bosnian police tussle with migrants protesting over camp conditions

Bosnian police scuffled on Saturday with hundreds of migrants who tried to break out of an overcrowded camp during a protest over conditions at the facility and their treatment by authorities in nearby Croatia. The Miral camp lies in western Bosnia, just 10 km (six miles) from the Croatian border, and currently houses about 1,000 migrants -- 300 more than its capacity. Over 6,000 bodies found in Burundi's mass graves

Burundi’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found more than 6,000 bodies in six mass graves in Karusi Province, the largest finding since the government launched a nationwide excavation in January. The commission chairman Pierre Claver Ndayicariye told journalists on Friday that the remains of 6,032 victims as well as thousands of bullets were recovered. Clothes, glasses and rosaries were used to identify some of the victims. U.S. relaxes restrictions on U.S. civilian flights over Gulf

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is allowing U.S. airlines to resume operations over large areas of the Gulf, saying that a lower military posture by Iran has reduced the threat of miscalculation or misidentification of civilian flights. A notice issued on Friday by the FAA rescinded restrictions imposed on U.S. air carriers in early January that prohibited flights over large swaths of the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman as tensions rose between Iran and the United States.