Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

U.S. border agents briefly detained 14 Mexican soldiers in El Paso

Fourteen Mexican soldiers were detained early Saturday morning for several hours by U.S. border agents after they crossed into El Paso, Texas, from Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)said. “Just after midnight today CBP officers working at the Bridge of America’s international crossing in El Paso noted two Mexican military vehicles crossing the boundary and entering the U.S.,” the CBP told Reuters in an emailed statement.

China welcomes Huawei executive home, Trudeau hugs Canadians freed by Beijing

Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou arrived in China on Saturday, ending her near three-year U.S. extradition fight, the same day two Canadians detained by Beijing for more than 1,000 days returned home, potentially paving the way for improved ties between China and the two western allies. Meng, the daughter of Huawei Technologies founder Ren Zhengfei, was allowed to go home after reaching an agreement with U.S. prosecutors on Friday to end a bank fraud case against her.

Germans vote in close election to decide Merkel successor

Germans went to the polls on Sunday in a national election too close to call, with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) mounting a strong challenge to retiring Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives. Merkel has been in power since 2005 but plans to step down after the election, making the vote an era-changing event to set the future course of Europe’s largest economy.

Taliban ask airlines to resume international flights to Afghanistan

The Taliban government in Afghanistan appealed on Sunday for international flights to be resumed, promising full cooperation with airlines and saying that problems at Kabul airport had been resolved. The statement from the foreign affairs ministry comes as the new administration has stepped up efforts to open up the country and gain international acceptance following the collapse of the Western-backed government last month.

Swiss look set to accept same-sex marriage in referendum

Swiss voters on Sunday looked set to back a proposal to open civil marriage and the right to adopt children to same-sex couples, according to early indications published by Swiss broadcaster SRG. Projections showed 64% of voters had voted in favor of same-sex marriage in a nationwide referendum conducted under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy. A final result is expected later in the day.

Israeli troops kill four Hamas militants in West Bank raids: military

Israeli troops killed four Hamas militants in gun battles during raids on Sunday against one of the group’s cells in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli military spokesperson said. An Israeli officer and a soldier were critically wounded in one of the incidents, the spokesperson added.

Women candidates win majority of seats in Icelandic election

Iceland’s ruling left-right coalition strengthened its majority after a national election that for the first time saw more women than men elected to a European parliament, final results showed on Sunday. Opinion polls had forecast the coalition would fall short of a majority but a surge in support for the center-right Progressive Party, which won five more seats than in 2017, pushed its total count to 37 seats in the 63-seat parliament Althingi, according to state broadcaster RUV.

La Palma’s airport reopens although flights cancelled as island’s volcano eruption continues

The airport on the Spanish island of La Palma reopened on Sunday but flights remained canceled as the volcano continued to spew lava and emit ash clouds over the surrounding area a week after it erupted. Reuters drone footage showed a rapid river of red hot lava flowing down the slopes of the crater, passing close to homes, and swathes of land and buildings engulfed by a black mass of slower-moving, older lava.

Behave normally, UK transport minister tells Britons queuing for fuel

Transport Minister Grant Shapps on Sunday called on Britons to behave normally when buying petrol, saying there was no shortage of fuel and the government was stepping in to ease a shortage of drivers bringing it to petrol stations. In recent days long lines of vehicles have formed at petrol stations as motorists waited, some for hours, to fill up with fuel after oil firms reported a lack of drivers was causing transport problems from refineries to forecourts.

China’s Xi warns of ‘grim’ Taiwan situation in letter to opposition

The situation in the Taiwan Strait is “complex and grim”, Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote in a congratulatory letter on Sunday to the newly elected leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party, who has pledged to renew talks with Beijing. Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) was elected as their leader on Saturday former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu, who said he would rekindle stalled high-level contacts with China’s ruling Communist Party.

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