World News in Brief: May 2

The Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command (ENC) has assumed a high degree of readiness to render necessary humanitarian assistance as cyclone Fani intensifies over southeast and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, about 770 km southeast of southern city of Chennai, official sources said on Tuesday (April 30).

* Cuba on Wednesday (May 1) denied US accusations that it has military troops in Venezuela, saying those allegations serve to justify new punitive economic measures against the island.

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday denounced Washington's support for the Venezuelan opposition in their attempt to seize power as an intervention in the country's internal affairs.

* US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday called his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss the Venezuela issue, and urged Moscow to cease its support for the Maduro government, the State Department said.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed into law a bill on providing stable operation of a Russian national internet system in case of disconnection from the global network infrastructure.

* Turkey and the United States have been working on a possible visit of US President Donald Trump to Turkey, local media reported Wednesday citing Turkish presidential sources.

* Kuwait and the Republic of Korea (ROK) vowed to strengthen bilateral ties and boost cooperation between the two countries, official Kuwait News Agency reported Wednesday.

* Afghanistan's Taliban group on Wednesday announced the start of a new round of peace talks with the United States in the Qatari capital of Doha. The announcement was made by the Taliban's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on his Twitter account.

* Downing Street said Tuesday that British defense secretary Gavin Williamson has been sacked by the Prime Minister.

* Iranian and Iraqi navy commanders discussed military cooperation, Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.

* More than 5 million Yemeni workers lost their jobs as a result of the years of war in the impoverished Arab country, Yemen's Minister of Social Affairs and Labor said Wednesday.

* A total of 376 people have been killed and 1,822 others injured in the fighting between the UN-backed Libyan government and the east-based army in and around the capital Tripoli so far, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.

* Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail in London on Wednesday for breaching bail conditions. Assange was sentenced for breaching his bail by entering the Ecuadorian embassy seven years ago.

Xinhua