WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The United States ambassador held a U.S. flag high as he marched in the yearly Pride parade in Warsaw on Saturday, a clear message of Washington’s opposition to discrimination in a country where LGBTQ+ people are facing an uphill struggle.

“America embraces equality,” Ambassador Mark Brzezinski said, as he marched with more than 30 other members of the U.S. Embassy and alongside representatives from Canada, Austria and other Western countries in the Equality Parade.

AMMAN/SANAA, Jun 17 (NNN-PETRA/SABA) – Negotiations started in Jordan’s capital, Amman yesterday, between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebel group, under the patronage of the United Nations.

In the two-day talks, the delegations from the two sides will discuss the issue of exchanging prisoners and seek solutions to the obstacles to the implementation of a previous agreement in this regard, a well-informed Yemeni source, said.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister arrived in Iran’s capital on Saturday, the latest step in the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two Mideast rivals, Iranian state media reported.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan was officially welcomed by his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran TV said. He carried a message from the Saudi king to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the two were due to meet later Saturday, Iran TV said.

ISTANBUL, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that his government would focus on reducing inflation to single digits from the current nearly 40 percent.

"The uncertainty of the election time is now over. Our hand is stronger," Erdogan told Turkish exporters during a meeting of the Turkish Exporters Assembly in Istanbul.

"We will reduce the inflation, which has been a headache also for the world, to single digits... Our new economic leadership will prioritize this issue," he said.

JAKHAU, India (AP) — Over 100,000 people who had sheltered from Cyclone Biparjoy in relief camps in western India have begun to return home after the storm weakened and headed toward Pakistan, officials said Saturday.

In the coastal village of Jakhau, where the cyclone made landfall in India’s Gujarat state on Thursday, over 130 people had shifted back to their homes from a government-run shelter by midday Saturday.

India’s powerful home minister, Amit Shah, was expected to visit the village later Saturday and take stock of the situation.

NEW DELHI, Jun 17 (NNN-PTI) – The house of federal Junior Minister of External Affairs, R.K. Ranjan Singh, was set on fire by a mob, Thursday night, in a fresh flare-up of violence, confirmed a state government official.

The development followed the burning of two houses and clashes between the Rapid Action Force of Manipur, and a mob in the heart of Manipur’s capital city of Imphal on Thursday.

Ranjan expressed grief over the incident, saying “I am shocked. The law and order situation in Manipur has totally failed,” local media reported, yesterday.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists received an unexpected boost from its main rival in next month’s national election on Saturday when his party won the mayor’s office of Barcelona following a tight vote at city hall.

Sánchez’s Socialists, or PSOE, took a beating in local and regional elections in May when the conservative Popular Party routed leftist mayors and regional chiefs in votes across the country.

SANAA, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's national airline Yemenia Airways restarted on Saturday direct flights from Houthi-held Sanaa to Saudi Arabia after a nearly-eight-year suspension.

The flights connect the Yemeni capital of Sanaa with the Saudi cities of Jeddah and Madinah and are intended to help Yemeni pilgrims travel to the kingdom, marking another breakthrough amid ongoing international efforts to pave the way for peace in Yemen.

Commercial flights from Sanaa International Airport have been suspended since it came under the control of Houthi rebels in 2014.

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed up to 40 Ukrainian troops and two Gvozdika motorized artillery systems in the Kherson area over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Saturday.

"In the Kherson direction, the Ukrainian army lost up to 40 personnel, two vehicles, a Giatsint-B howitzer, as well as two Gvozdika motorized artillery systems in the past 24 hours as a result of damage inflicted by firepower," the spokesman said.

16 June 2023; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday summoned the Swiss ambassador in Ankara after protesters burned the Turkish flag and an effigy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Swiss city of Zurich.

According to a statement by the Turkish presidency's Directorate of Communications, the Swiss authorities were asked to "launch an investigation without delay, identify the perpetrators, and take necessary steps swiftly."

16 June 2023; MEMO: The Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv announced on Friday that a dispute with Israel over a plot Russia purchased in Western Jerusalem in 1885 has been resolved, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Embassy stated on its website that an agreement on clarifying the area of ​​Russian land was signed on 18 May between the Russian Federation and the Jerusalem Municipality, with the assistance of the Russian Embassy and the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

16 June 2023; MEMO: A French citizen tore down a copy of the Quran at a mosque in Greece's Western Thrace, representatives of the region's local Turkish minority said Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.