Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Five protesters die, dozens injured in clashes in Iraqi city

At least five protesters were killed and more than 175 people injured on Friday in clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, a Reuters witness and other sources said. Among the fatalities, most died from bullet wounds, a hospital source said, adding that about 120 protesters were wounded. At least 57 members of the security forces were injured, according to a another hospital source and a security source. Gunmen kidnap 300 schoolgirls in increasingly lawless northwest Nigeria

An operation to rescue more than 300 girls kidnapped in Nigeria had failed to pinpoint their location by late on Friday, almost 24 hours after gunmen seized them in a raid on their school. The raid in Zamfara state, where the governor ordered all boarding schools to close immediately, was the second such kidnapping in little over a week in the country's northwest, a region increasingly targeted by militants and criminal gangs. Iran 'can't act with impunity,' Biden says after U.S. air strikes

President Joe Biden said Iran cannot act with impunity and warned Iran to "be careful" when asked what message he was sending the country with the U.S. air strikes in Syria. "You can't act with impunity. Be careful," Biden told reporters while traveling to survey the damage from a severe winter storm in Texas. Blinken says U.S. stands in solidarity with Canada in calling for release of two Canadians detained in China

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that the United States stands in absolute solidarity with Canada in insisting on the immediate and unconditional release of two Canadian citizens detained in China. Businessman Michael Spavor, who worked with North Korea, and former diplomat Michael Kovrig were detained separately in 2018, shortly after Canada arrested Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. Syria condemns 'cowardly' U.S. air strikes on Iran-backed militias

Syria said U.S. air strikes against Iranian-backed militias in the east of the country on Friday were a cowardly act and urged President Joe Biden not to follow "the law of the jungle". An Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the strikes killed one fighter and wounded four. U.S. officials said they were limited in scope to show Biden's administration will act firmly while trying to avoid a big regional escalation. Murder in the consulate: Pressure grows on Saudi crown prince

Saudi Arabia's crown prince, accused in a U.S. intelligence report of approving an operation to capture or kill a prominent journalist, crushed dissent and sidelined rivals in a push for power that has delighted admirers, unsettled Riyadh's traditional foreign allies and shocked human rights advocates. A declassified U.S. intelligence assessment released on Friday said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation against Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a royal insider-turned-critic who was killed at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate in 2018 and his body dismembered. Myanmar envoy appeals to U.N. to stop coup as police break up protests

Myanmar's U.N. envoy urged the United Nations to use "any means necessary" to stop a military coup there, making a surprise appeal on behalf of the ousted government as police cracked down on anti-junta protesters. The Southeast Asian country has been in crisis since the army seized power on Feb. 1 and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party had won. Exclusive: Biden team considering a halt to 'offensive' arms sales for Saudis

President Joe Biden's administration is considering the cancellation of arms deals with Saudi Arabia that pose human rights concerns while limiting future military sales to "defensive" weapons, as it reassesses it relationship with the kingdom. Four sources familiar with the administration's thinking said that after pausing half a billion dollars in arms deals with Saudi Arabia out of concern over casualties in Yemen earlier this year, officials are assessing the equipment and training included in recent sales to determine what can be considered defensive. Those deals would be allowed. State to announce actions in response to Khashoggi killing at 2:30 pm: source

The U.S. State Department has informed lawmakers that it will announce actions taken in response to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at 2:30 pm EST (1930 GMT) on Friday, a congressional source said. Saudi de facto ruler approved operation that led to Khashoggi's death: U.S.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler approved an operation to capture or kill murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to U.S. intelligence released on Friday as the United States imposed sanctions on some of those involved but spared the crown prince himself in an effort to preserve relations with the kingdom. Khashoggi, a U.S. resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington Post critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's policies, was killed and dismembered by a team of operatives linked to the prince in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.

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