World

ANTAKYA/KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey, (Reuters) – Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said a convoy of 14 of its trucks had entered northwestern Syria today to assist in earthquake rescue operations, as concerns grow over lack of access to the war-ravaged area.

MUNICH, (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi of consequences should China provide material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying in an interview after the two met that Washington was concerned Beijing was considering supplying weapons to Moscow.

 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has decided to receive hospice care and “spend his remaining time at home with his family” instead of additional medical intervention, the Carter Center said today.

 (Reuters) – Chinese dealmaker Bao Fan, founder of investment bank China Renaissance Holdings Ltd 1911.HK,

(Reuters) – Canada yesterday released a long-awaited sustainable jobs plan, laying out how the federal government plans to help train workers for roles in the coming clean energy economy as the world aims for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

NEAR BAKHMUT, Ukraine/MUNICH, (Reuters) – Ukrainian soldiers fighting to hold off a Russian push on the small eastern city of Bakhmut pleaded for more weapons from the outside world as senior Western leaders met in Munich yesterday to assess the year-long war shaking Europe.

ARKABUTLA, Miss., (Reuters) – A gunman went on a rampage in a small Mississippi town on Friday, killing his ex-wife and five other people in three locations before sheriff’s deputies arrested him, the county sheriff and witnesses said.

ANTAKYA/KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey,  (Reuters) – Rescue teams pulled three people alive from under collapsed buildings in Turkey yesterday, 11 days after an earthquake that has killed more than 45,000, left millions homeless, and sparked a huge relief effort.

KARACHI, Pakistan,  (Reuters) – Islamists stormed a police station in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi yesterday, killing two people in a hail of gunfire and a series of loud explosions before they themselves were killed, officials said.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuela will reopen its maritime border with the island nation of Aruba starting May 1, the Venezuelan government said, ending a four-year closure of the border between the two countries.

QUITO,  (Reuters) – The value of Ecuador’s mining exports grew 32.6% in 2022 from the year before, reaching $2.78 billion after its two large-scale mines operated at full capacity, the country’s energy and mines ministry said yesterday.

BEIJING,  (Reuters) – China’s top leaders declared a “decisive victory” over COVID-19, claiming the world’s lowest fatality rate, although experts have questioned Beijing’s data as the coronovirus tore across the country after largely being kept at bay for three years.

KYIV,  (Reuters) – Russia rained missiles across Ukraine yesterday and struck its largest oil refinery, Kyiv said, while the head of the Wagner mercenary group predicted the long-besieged city of Bakhmut would take weeks if not months to fall.

KAHRAMANMARAS/ANTAKYA, Turkey,  (Reuters) – Two people were reported to have been pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey yesterday, more than 10 days after a massive earthquake hit the region, but such rescues have become increasingly rare, leaving anger to smoulder as hope dies.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Commodity trader Trafigura has been racing to get a British judge to secretly freeze $625 million worth of assets of a web of firms accused of fraud without alerting the Indian businessman who owns and controls them, Prateek Gupta, according to court documents seen by Reuters yesterday.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, his family said yesterday, nearly a year after the “Die Hard” franchise star retired from acting due to aphasia that hampered his cognitive abilities.

BETHESDA, Md., (Reuters) – Doctors declared U.S. President Joe Biden, 80, healthy and “fit for duty” yesterday after a physical examination that included removing a lesion from his chest and declaring him free of symptoms of long COVID after his bout last year with the virus.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil’s government is taking a fresh tack in its effort to crack down on illegal gold mining in the Amazon, preparing legislation that would require electronic tax receipts for the buying and selling of the precious metal, four sources with knowledge of the plans said.

(Reuters) – A top U.S. law enforcement official yesterday unveiled a new “disruptive technology strike force” tasked with safe-guarding American technology from foreign adversaries and other national security threats.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva confirmed he will appoint former President Dilma Rousseff to head the New Development Bank (NDB) when there is a vacancy, Lula said on Thursday referring to the institution the BRICS group of emerging economies established.