- Explosions rocked Kyiv this morning as Russia launched a new air strike on the Ukrainian capital, hours after unleashing dozens of missiles and drones on targets across the country. Panicked residents rushed to take cover when the sky filled with smoke trails and blast clouds, Reuters witnesses said. Follow the latest developments in the war.
- President Tayyip Erdogan and his supporters celebrated an election win extending his rule into a third decade while Turkey’s opposition, once optimistic of winning, braced for “difficult days” against an increasingly autocratic government. Turkey Bureau Chief Jonathan Spicer unpacks Erdogan’s victory on today’s Reuters World News podcast.
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he would dissolve parliament and the country would hold an early general election on July 23 following the results of Sunday’s local elections. Sanchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and its junior ally Podemos lost ground during the regional elections, while conservative People’s Party and far-right party Vox outperformed.
- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has signed one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws. Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, but the new law goes further in targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. It imposes the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality, and a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality.
- Japan put its ballistic missile defenses on alert and warned that it would shoot down any projectile that threatened its territory after North Korea notified Japan of a satellite launch between May 31 and June 11. North Korea says it has completed its first military spy satellite and leader Kim Jong Un has approved final preparations for the launch.
Biden shakes hands with McCarthy after the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington. Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS |
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- US President Joe Biden finalized a budget agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025, and said the deal was ready to move to Congress for a vote. We look back at Biden and McCarthy’s bumpy journey to the deal.
- With countries meeting this week to work on a global plastics treaty, debate was emerging between countries wanting to limit the production of more plastics and the petrochemical industry favoring recycling as the solution to plastic waste. Many countries have said a goal of the treaty should be “circularity” – or keeping already-produced plastic items in circulation as long as possible.
- PwC Australia ordered nine partners to take leave and overhauled its governance board, as it battles a national scandal over the misuse of confidential government tax plans. The “big four” firm is reeling after a former tax partner consulting on new anti-tax avoidance laws shared confidential drafts with colleagues that were then used to drum up business.
- Artificial intelligence means everyone can now be a programmer as all they need to do is speak to the computer, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said, hailing the end of the “digital divide”. Nvidia has surged to become the world’s most valuable listed semiconductor company as a major supplier of chips and computing systems for AI.
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Dozens of babies die in orphanage as Sudan war takes grim toll on Khartoum |
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A view from inside an orphanage in Khartoum, Sudan, in this handout image released April 20, 2023. Courtesy of Dr. Abdallah Kenany/Handout via REUTERS |
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In the days after war erupted in Khartoum, Dr Abeer Abdullah rushed between rooms at Sudan’s largest orphanage, trying to care for hundreds of babies and toddlers as the fighting kept all but a handful of staff away. Children’s cries rang through the sprawling building as heavy gunfire rocked the surroundings, she said. Then came waves of deaths. There were the infants housed on the upper floors of the state-run orphanage, known as Mygoma. Without enough staff to care for them, they succumbed to severe malnutrition and dehydration, the doctor said. And there were the already-fragile newborns in her medical clinic on the ground floor, some of whom died after developing high fever, she said. |
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