Reuters World News Summary

New South Wales state emergency service said in a statement that heavy rains over the prior 24 hours had caused flooding.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Assange supporters form human chain at UK parliament

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange formed a human chain outside Britain's parliament on Saturday to demand an end to an attempt by the United States to have him extradited to face criminal charges. Hundreds of protesters, including Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, gathered in a line which stretched from parliament's perimeter railings and snaked across nearby Westminster Bridge to the other side of the River Thames.

'Malicious and targeted' sabotage halts rail traffic in northern Germany

Cables vital for the rail network were intentionally cut in two places causing a near three-hour halt to all rail traffic in northern Germany on Saturday morning, in what authorities called an act of sabotage without identifying who might be responsible. The federal police are investigating the incident, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, adding the motive for it was unclear.

F-35 jet deliveries can resume following waiver for Chinese-origin alloy, Pentagon says

Deliveries can resume for Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 jet under a waiver allowing Chinese-origin alloy to go into an engine part, the Pentagon said on Saturday. In September the Pentagon stopped accepting new F-35 jets after it discovered a magnet in the stealthy fighter's engine was made with unauthorized material from China.

Blast hits Crimea bridge crucial to Russia's war

A powerful blast damaged Russia's road-and-rail bridge to Crimea on Saturday, hitting a prestigious symbol of Moscow's annexation of the peninsula and the key supply route to forces battling to hold territory captured in southern Ukraine. The early morning explosion on the bridge over the Kerch Strait, for which Russia did not immediately assign blame, prompted gleeful messages from Ukrainian officials but no claim of responsibility.

Women students tell Iran's president to 'get lost' as unrest rages

Female students in Tehran chanted "get lost" as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited their university campus on Saturday and condemned protesters enraged by the death of a young woman in custody, videos on social media showed. Raisi addressed professors and students at Alzahra University in Tehran, reciting a poem that equated "rioters" with flies, as nationwide demonstrations entered a fourth week.

Magnitude 5.1 earthquake hits Greece, no reports of damage

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck in the Gulf of Corinth in central Greece early on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, authorities said. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which revised down an initial reading of 5.7 magnitude, said the quake struck 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) below the surface in the gulf separating mainland Greece from the Peloponnese peninsula, 16 kilometres from the town of Itea.

French Nobel literature winner, others urge protests against Macron as inflation bites

A group of French intellectuals including Nobel literature prize winner Annie Ernaux on Sunday urged people to join protests planned by the left for next week, accusing President Emmanuel Macron of not doing enough to help the poor cope with high prices while some companies make windfall profits. "Emmanuel Macron is using inflation to widen the wealth gap, to boost capital income at the expense of the rest", the group of 69 signatories, including writers, film directors and university teachers, said in a text published in the Journal Du Dimanche.

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles after series of recent launches

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles early on Sunday, authorities in neighbouring countries said, the seventh such launch by Pyongyang in recent days that added to widespread alarm in Washington and its allies in Tokyo and Seoul. Both missiles reached an altitude of 100 km (60 miles) and covered a range of 350 km, Japan's state minister of defence, Toshiro Ino, told reporters. The first was fired at around 1:47 a.m. local time (1647 GMT) and the second one some six minutes later.

Breakaway church gives gay ex-monk what Vatican would deny him: a holy wedding

Anselm Bilgri, a former monk and prior at one of Germany's most famous monasteries, had to leave the Roman Catholic Church to wed his long-term male partner. Now he hopes their wedding within a breakaway church will normalise such unions. Bilgri, 68, and his partner Markus Achter, 41, were wed in a Munich church on Saturday by a priest of the Old Catholic Church, which emerged in the Netherlands in the 19th century and lets priests marry and allows same-sex relationships.

Heavy rains ease in Australia's New South Wales, flood warnings remain in place

Heavy rains that battered Australia's New South Wales started to ease on Sunday, but several areas still faced flood warnings. New South Wales state emergency service said in a statement that heavy rains over the prior 24 hours had caused flooding. Emergency services overnight responded to 343 requests for assistance and performed 21 flood-related rescues. They ordered the evacuation of two camping and holiday park areas and Gronos Point, northwest of Sydney, due to flooding.

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