World

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told allies yesterday he aims to represent a seven-party center-left coalition in his challenge to incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in this October’s election.

QUITO,  (Reuters) – Ecuador will immediately lift mask mandates for both indoor and outdoor spaces thanks to significant gains made against coronavirus, President Guillermo Lasso said yesterday.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Russian businessman Oleg Tinkov, who last week criticized Russia’s war in Ukraine, has sold his 35% stake in the company he founded to a firm controlled by Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, the companies said on Thursday.

KYIV, (Reuters) – The United States accused Russia today of planning to stage fake independence votes to justify its conquest of territory in Ukraine, as Russian forces stepped up a major offensive in the east.

 (Reuters) – Ukraine accused Russia today of stealing grain in territory it has occupied, an act which it said increased the threat to global food security posed by disruptions to spring sowing and the blocking of Ukrainian ports during the war.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to support Ukraine – a dramatic escalation of U.S.

GENEVA,  (Reuters) – The U.N. human rights committee said today that corruption proceedings against former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that led to his imprisonment and prevented him from running again for office in 2018 violated due process.

WARSAW/SOFIA/KYIV,  (Reuters) – European leaders denounced Russia’s attempt to “blackmail” Ukraine’s allies over gas supplies, as Western sanctions batter the Russian economy already struggling with its worst crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

(Reuters) – A court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail yesterday after finding her guilty in the first of 11 corruption cases she faces, a source with knowledge of the proceedings said.

ISLAMABAD,  (Reuters) – Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif yesterday appointed Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, son of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto, as foreign minister, giving his coalition ally a senior role in repairing frayed ties with the United States and other Western countries.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his base are energized and spoiling for a new fight, political analysts say, after he defied the Supreme Court by pardoning an ally who was sentenced to jail for threatening its judges.

LIMA,  (Reuters) – Peruvian police said yesterday they had evicted an indigenous community that had established a camp inside a huge open pit owned by MMG’s Las Bambas copper mine that had forced the Chinese-owned company to halt operations.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – The northern English city of York yesterday stripped Britain’s Prince Andrew, who is the Duke of York, of the freedom of the city.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – The Cuban central bank issued regulations yesterday for virtual asset service providers, after giving a nod last year to the personal use of cryptocurrencies, a move some experts said could help the Communist-run Caribbean island skirt stiff U.S.

JAKARTA,  (Reuters) – Indonesia widened the scope of its export ban on raw materials for cooking oil to include crude and refined palm oil, its chief economic minister said yesterday, leaving markets in shock over the latest policy reversal.

WARSAW/SOFIA/KYIV,  (Reuters) – Russia halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland today for rejecting its demand for payment in roubles, taking direct aim at European economies in a move that also exposed divisions in the EU on how to respond to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

 (Reuters) – A court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail today after finding her guilty in the first of 11 corruption cases she faces, a source with knowledge of the proceedings said.

ISLAMABAD,  (Reuters) – Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today appointed Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, son of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto, as foreign minister, giving his coalition ally a senior role in repairing frayed ties with the United States and other Western countries.

WARSAW/SOFIA/KYIV, (Reuters) – Russia halted gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract yesterday, data from the European Union network of gas transmission operators showed, in a deepening of the rift between the West and Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

LAS BAMBAS, Peru,  (Reuters) – Chinese-owned MMG Ltd’s 1208.HK huge Las Bambas copper mine in Peru is considering a plan to evict indigenous communities that have camped on the property and forced a production halt, according to an executive and a document seen by Reuters.