Reuters World News Summary

Pompeo lifts 'self-imposed restrictions' on U.S.-Taiwan relationship Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday said he was lifting restrictions on contacts between U.S. officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, a move likely to anger China and increase tensions between Beijing and Washington in the waning days of President Donald Trump's presidency.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. French city of Marseille gets tougher curfew as new COVID-19 variant discovered

France has imposed a stricter evening curfew in Marseille after authorities said the new variant of the COVID-19 virus initially found in the UK had been discovered in the Mediterranean city. Marseille joined other French cities such as Strasbourg and Dijon in having its curfew moved forward to 6 p.m. from 8 p.m., and running through to 6 a.m. the following morning. The stricter Marseille measures will start on Sunday evening. Pompeo lifts 'self-imposed restrictions' on U.S.-Taiwan relationship

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday said he was lifting restrictions on contacts between U.S. officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, a move likely to anger China and increase tensions between Beijing and Washington in the waning days of President Donald Trump's presidency. China claims democratic and separately ruled Taiwan as its own territory, and regularly describes Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States. In Central America, tensions rise as soldiers aim to stop migrants

Guatemalan and Honduran soldiers will be deployed to prevent new U.S.-bound migrant caravans from advancing, military officials said, amid growing desperation among those seeking to cross and signs that some groups will depart later this month. Two devastating hurricanes late last year along with severe economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic have pushed millions of people in the already-poor region closer to hunger, leading to a steady rise in U.S.-bound migration through Mexico. Cuba tightens COVID-19 measures as visitors fuel record contagion

Cuba's top epidemiologist said on Saturday irresponsible partying over year-end, often with relatives from abroad, fueled a surge in coronavirus infections and he warned of a crackdown to prevent the spread of the disease. Authorities in the capital at the same time announced new containment measures including suspension of interprovincial transport, cultural activities and the use of public spaces such as the famous Malecon boulevard during night hours. Spaniards ski through Madrid as snow storm kills four

A storm in Spain killed four people, paralysed travel and blanketed the capital Madrid in so much snow on Saturday that skiers took to the main Gran Via thoroughfare. Forecasters warned of more havoc next week after Storm Filomena brought the heaviest snowfall in decades across central Spain. Iraq calls U.S. blacklisting of militia leader 'unacceptable'

Iraq denounced on Saturday as "unacceptable" a U.S. decision to blacklist the leader of a state umbrella group for mainly Iran-backed Shi'ite militia. Washington imposed sanctions on Friday on Faleh al-Fayyad, head of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). Pope Francis, speaking of U.S. Capitol assault, condemns people working against democracy

Pope Francis said on Saturday people working against democracy must be condemned whoever they are, and lessons should be learned from this week's attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump. Rioters surged into the building on Wednesday after Trump urged them to go the Capitol and press his baseless claims that he won re-election in November. Five people including a police officer died in the ensuing chaos. Indonesian plane crashes after take-off with 62 aboard

A Sriwijaya Air plane crashed into the sea on Saturday minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital Jakarta on a domestic flight with 62 people on board, and their fate was not known. The Boeing 737-500, en route to Pontianak in West Kalimantan, disappeared from radar screens after taking off just after 2.30 p.m. (0730 GMT) - 30 minutes after the scheduled time because of heavy rain. Pope Francis to have COVID-19 vaccine, says it is the ethical choice for all

Pope Francis said on Saturday he planned to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as early as next week and urged everyone to get a shot, to protect not only their own lives but those of others. "I believe that ethically everyone should take the vaccine," the Pope said in an interview with TV station Canale 5. "It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others." Kazakh ex-president's party set to retain hold on power in Sunday's vote

A party led by Kazakhstan's powerful ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev is set to sweep Sunday's parliamentary election, as it has done for decades, with no major opposition groups running in the vote. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, handpicked by Nazarbayev as his successor in 2019, is also a senior member of the Nur Otan political party which controls 84 of 107 seats in Kazakhstan's lower house.