Reuters World News Summary

The resulting clashes on Friday between Kosovan police and protesters opposed to the ethnic Albanian mayors prompted Serbia to put its army on full combat alert and to move units closer to the border. Ukraine says Russia eases Bakhmut attacks, Kyiv talks up counteroffensive Russian troops have temporarily eased attacks in and around the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to regroup and strengthen their capabilities, a senior Kyiv official said on Saturday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Charity vessel rescues almost 600 migrants off Italy

A vessel operated by the charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) rescued nearly 600 migrants sailing on an overcrowded boat which was in distress off the island of Sicily on Saturday, the group said on Twitter. "After three hours of operation, the 599 survivors, including women and children, are now safely aboard ... and being cared for by the medical team," MSF tweeted, saying its vessel the Geo Barents had been conducting training activities when it was called in to undertake the rescue.

NATO urges Kosovo to de-escalate tension with Serbia

NATO on Saturday urged Kosovo to dial down tensions with Serbia, a day after its government forcibly accessed municipal buildings to install mayors in ethnic Serb areas in the north of the country. The resulting clashes on Friday between Kosovan police and protesters opposed to the ethnic Albanian mayors prompted Serbia to put its army on full combat alert and to move units closer to the border.

Ukraine says Russia eases Bakhmut attacks, Kyiv talks up counteroffensive

Russian troops have temporarily eased attacks in and around the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to regroup and strengthen their capabilities, a senior Kyiv official said on Saturday. Separately, senior Ukrainian officials indicated their forces were ready to launch a long-promised counteroffensive to recapture territory taken by Russia since the start of the war.

France's Triet becomes third female director to win Cannes' top prize

French director Justine Triet became the third female director to win the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or on Saturday, beating out 20 other films in competition for the top prize. Triet called being only the third woman to win "surprising" and said the decision was encouraging for the future.

Putin orders stronger Russian border security

President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered stronger border security to ensure "fast" Russian military and civilian movement into Ukrainian regions now under Moscow control. Speaking in a congratulatory message to the border service, a branch of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), on their Border Guard Day holiday, Putin said their task was to "reliably cover" the lines in the vicinity of the combat zone.

Five months in with no deal in sight, Israel's judicial protests endure

Amid a sea of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Israeli flags at an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday, a plain white poster protruded with a handwritten message in black: "Democracy without compromise." For five months now, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the street every week to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed judicial overhaul that would give politicians greater sway over selecting judges.

Avalanche kills 11 members of nomadic tribe in northern Pakistan

At least 11 people died after an avalanche hit members of a nomadic tribe as they crossed a mountainous area in northern Pakistan, the country's disaster management agency said on Saturday. Another 13 people were injured in the avalanche which struck a group of families at Shounter Top Pass late on Friday. The pass, which is located at 4,420 meters (14,501ft) above sea level, connects the Astore district of the Gilgit-Baltistan region to the bordering Kashmir valley.

Tens of thousands in Serbia protest mass shootings, government policies

Tens of thousands braved rain and wind in Belgrade on Saturday in an anti-government protest over two mass shootings that killed 18 people, blaming the deaths on a culture of violence that critics say authorities have allowed to permeate society. On May 3 a teenage boy killed nine pupils and a security guard in Belgrade in the first school mass shooting in Serbia, and a day later a 21-year-old man killed eight outside the city.

Truce reduces fighting in Sudan, but little relief for humanitarian crisis

Khartoum was calmer on Saturday as a seven-day ceasefire appeared to reduce fighting between two rival military factions although it has not yet provided the promised humanitarian relief to millions trapped in the Sudanese capital. A truce signed on Monday by the two fighting parties - Sudan's army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - aimed to secure safe passage for humanitarian aid and lead to wider talks sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Erdogan positioned to extend rule in Turkey runoff election

Turks vote on Sunday in a presidential runoff that could see Tayyip Erdogan extend his rule into a third decade and intensify Turkey's increasingly authoritarian path, muscular foreign policy and unorthodox economic governance. Erdogan, 69, defied opinion polls and came out comfortably ahead with an almost five-point lead over his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the first round on May 14. But he fell just short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff, in a race with profound consequences for Turkey itself and global geopolitics.

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