Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, April 19

U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed Syria and Ukraine in a phone call on Monday, the White House said.

Obama shared his concern over the status of a cease-fire agreement, known as the Cessation of Hostilities in Syria between the Syrian government and the opposition parties, the White House said in a statement. (Obama-Putin)

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TRIPOLI -- Libya's parliament on Monday failed to hold a session to vote on granting approval to the UN-backed government of national accord.

Monday's session was supposed to discuss granting confidence to the government and amendment to the constitutional declaration. Parliament Speaker, Agila Saleh, held a long closed-door meeting with his two deputies, as the rest of the members waited for the session to begin, media reports said. (Libya-Parliament-Vote)

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GENEVA -- The Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) on Monday evening issued a statement, saying that they have asked UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura to place the talks "on a brief hold".

The statement said this is to end the Syrian government's truce violations and the HNC will meanwhile remain in Geneva. (UN-Syria Talks)

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WASHINGTON -- More than 1,200 people have been arrested at the U.S. Capitol during eight-day protests against big money in politics, police said.

Protest organizers put the number at about 1,300, including some 300 detained on the Capitol's east front steps on Monday alone, the final day of the demonstrations attended by thousands of people from all over the United States. (US-Protests-Money Politics)

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PRAGUE -- The Czech Republic will reject the mandatory permanent quotas for the redistribution of migrants at the EU interior ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka announced on Twitter on Monday.

The announcement came after the government approved a mandate to this effect on Monday. (Czech Republic-Quotas-Reject) Endi