Reuters World News Summary

Biden and Xi may meet at Singapore's 'Davos' summit in May: WEF President United States President Joe Biden and China President Xi Jinping may meet at the World Economic Forum's summit in Singapore in May, the organisation's president said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Military threats, coup fears overshadow Myanmar parliament opening

Myanmar members of parliament are set to take up their seats on Monday as escalating tension between the civilian government and the powerful military stirs fears of a coup in the aftermath of an election the army says was fraudulent. The army has said it plans to "take action" if its complaints about the election are not addressed and a spokesman this week declined to rule out the possibility of a coup. Biden and Xi may meet at Singapore's 'Davos' summit in May: WEF President

United States President Joe Biden and China President Xi Jinping may meet at the World Economic Forum's summit in Singapore in May, the organisation's president said on Friday. The summit has been moved from its usual home in the Swiss alpine town of Davos, from where it takes its informal name, to Singapore over concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. Environmentalists, farmers win Dutch court case over Shell Nigeria spills

In a victory for environmentalists, a Dutch appeals court on Friday said that the Nigerian subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell was responsible for multiple oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta and ordered it to pay unspecified damages to farmers. The case was brought in 2008 by four farmers and environmental group Friends of the Earth, seeking reparations for lost income from contaminated land and waterways in the region, the heart of Nigeria's oil industry. Tired and upset: a lament for Portugal's long lockdown

Portugal's extension of a nationwide lockdown this week in the face of spiking COVID-19 infections was no surprise to Marco, 43, who had to shut his Lisbon fitness studio earlier this month. But he is tired and upset. Pakistan government appeals against acquittal of men convicted of beheading U.S. journalist Pearl

Pakistan's government on Friday petitioned the Supreme Court to review its decision to free an Islamist and his co-accused convicted of kidnapping and beheading U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, the Pearl family's lawyer said. The court on Thursday acquitted British-born Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh and Faisal Siddiqi, who had been convicted in 2002. UK offers Hong Kong residents a route to citizenship, angering China

Britain on Friday hailed a new visa offering Hong Kong citizens a route to citizenship after China's crackdown but Beijing said it would no longer recognise special British passports offered to residents of the former colony. Britain and China have been bickering for months about what London and Washington say is an attempt to silence dissent in Hong Kong, though Beijing says the West's views are clouded by misinformation and an imperial hangover. EU agrees 'dark red' COVID-19 zones with stricter travel limits

Hotspots of COVID-19 infection in the European Union will be labelled "dark red" zones to discourage all but essential travel, EU governments agreed on Friday. The EU has already set up a "traffic light" system to designate the seriousness of the spread of the novel coronavirus in each of its 27 states and to try to limit travel. Tractors to Delhi: How thousands of farmers marched on Indian capital

Thousands of farmers overwhelmed police in central Delhi on Jan. 26, India's Republic Day, eventually storming the city's historic Red Fort. Angry with agricultural reforms they fear will benefit large private buyers at the expense of growers, tens of thousands of farmers have been camped peacefully at sites on the outskirts of Delhi for more than two months. Iran says it will not reverse nuclear steps before U.S. sanctions are lifted

Tehran will not accept U.S. demands that it reverse an acceleration of its nuclear programme before Washington lifts sanctions, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday. The demand "is not practical and will not happen”, he said at a joint news conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Biden pledge to reopen PLO mission in Washington faces legal hurdles U.S. President Joe Biden's plan to work to reopen the Palestinians' diplomatic mission in Washington could be held up over a law that exposes Palestinian officials to U.S. anti-terror lawsuits, officials and advisers to the Palestinians say. The Biden administration hopes to repair relations with the Palestinians after a sharp deterioration under former President Donald Trump, who closed the Palestine Liberation Organization's Washington office in 2018 and cut millions of dollars in aid to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.