Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

China’s Xi vows ‘reunification’ with Taiwan, but holds off threatening force

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Saturday to achieve “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, and did not directly mention the use of force after a week of tensions with the Chinese-claimed island that sparked international concern. Taiwan responded shortly after by calling on Beijing to abandon its coercion, reiterating that only Taiwan’s people could decide their future.

Philippine Nobel winner Ressa calls Facebook ‘biased against facts’

Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa used her new prominence to criticise Facebook as a threat to democracy, saying the social media giant fails to protect against the spread of hate and disinformation and is “biased against facts”.

The veteran journalist and head of Philippine news site Rappler told Reuters in an interview after winning the award that Facebook’s algorithms “prioritise the spread of lies laced with anger and hate over facts.”

Czech polls close as PM Babis seeks to cling to power

Czechs wrapped up voting in a tight election on Saturday in which Prime Minister Andrej Babis battled criticism that he mismanaged the pandemic, stoked fast-rising debt with handouts and tended to his own business interests in office. The billionaire, who denies all the accusations, and his populist ANO party took a slight poll lead going into the central European country’s vote.

Battle-hardened Taliban fighters enjoy a day off at amusement park

Strolling casually with their machine guns in hand, Halimi and hundreds of fellow Taliban fighters enjoyed a rare day off with a visit to a popular waterside amusement park in Kabul. Friday’s day trip to the sandy shores of the capital’s Qargha reservoir was a welcome break for the fighters after months of conflict and weeks of security duty since the Taliban took power in mid-August.

Former Iranian President Bani-Sadr dies in Paris

Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, who became Iran’s first president after the 1979 Islamic revolution before fleeing into exile in France, died on Saturday aged 88. He died at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris following a long illness, his wife and children said on Bani-Sadr’s official website.

Volcanic lava in Spain’s La Palma engulfs more houses

Buildings near the volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma were engulfed by rivers of lava early on Saturday, with the drama of the red-hot eruption intensified by the spectacle of flashes of lightning. The magma destroyed at least four buildings in the village of Callejon de la Gata, Reuters witnesses said.

Afghan acting FM asked U.S. to lift ban on cbank reserves -Al-Jazeera

Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister said on Saturday that an Afghan delegation had asked the United States to lift its ban on the central bank’s reserves during a meeting with their U.S. counterparts in Doha, Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television reported. Amir Khan Muttaqi said that Washington would offer Afghan people coronavirus vaccines, Al-Jazeera cited him as saying.

French EU presidency to push for worldwide end to death penalty, says Macron

France will launch a campaign for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty as part of its upcoming presidency of the European Union, President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday. A conference will be held in Paris gathering civil society groups from countries where the death penalty is in use or suspended, Macron said in a speech to mark the 40th anniversary of France’s abolition of the punishment.

Philippine journalist’s Nobel called ‘rebuke’ to Duterte, who remains silent

The Nobel Peace Prize for Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was hailed by many at home on Saturday as a rebuke on official attacks on the media, but there was no comment from President Rodrigo Duterte, a frequent critic of Ressa’s news site. Ressa, who is free on bail as she appeals a six-year prison sentence last year for a libel conviction and has faced a slew of other court cases, shared the prize with Russian investigative journalist Dmitry Muratov.

Bangladesh signs U.N. deal to help Rohingya refugees on island

U.N. officials signed a deal with Bangladesh on Saturday to help provide basic services to thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who have been moved to camps on a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. The Bangladeshi government has moved nearly 19,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island from border camps despite protests by some refugees and opposition from rights groups, who say the low-lying island is vulnerable to flooding and storms.

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