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Daily Briefing

Russia strikes a rail hub in eastern Ukraine, Paraguay's conservatives score a big election win, and JP Morgan steps up to rescue First Republic.

Plus, why are Hollywood writers threatening to strike?

By Linda Noakes

Today's Top Stories

A resident stands near her house, which was hit by a Russian strike, in Pavlohrad, Ukraine May 1, 2023

WAR IN UKRAINE

Russia fired missiles at targets across Ukraine in its second major air strike in three days, setting a huge blaze in a southeastern district where officials said 34 people were wounded and dozens of homes damaged overnight.
Ukrainian counterattacks have ousted Russian forces from some positions in the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, but the situation remains "difficult", a top Ukrainian general said.
The Vatican is involved in a peace mission to try to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Pope Francis said, adding that it was also ready to help repatriate Ukrainian children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied land.
Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now.

IN OTHER NEWS

Fighting could be heard in Sudan's capital Khartoum as the United Nations warned of a humanitarian "breaking point", with rival military forces accusing each other of fresh violations of a ceasefire as their devastating conflict enters a third week.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkish intelligence forces killed Islamic State leader Abu Hussein al-Qurashi in Syria. IS selected al-Qurashi as its leader in November 2022 after the previous leader was killed in an operation in southern Syria.
Paraguayan conservative economist Santiago Pena won the country's presidential election, tightening the ruling Colorado Party's political grip in the country and defusing fears about the end of diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
President Joe Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will agree to new guidelines aimed at strengthening military cooperation, said US officials, underscoring a dramatic turnaround in US-Philippine relations over the past year.
Over 200 law enforcement officers in Texas searched for a man accused of shooting to death five neighbors after being asked to stop firing a semiautomatic rifle in Cleveland, Texas.

Business & Markets

A security guard stands outside a First Republic Bank branch in San Francisco, April 28, 2023

United States regulators said First Republic Bank has been seized and a deal agreed to sell the bank to JPMorgan, in what is the third major US institution to fail in two months. The Wall Street bank will take most of First Republic's assets and all the deposits, including uninsured ones.
Negotiators for Hollywood writers and film and television studios engaged in 11th-hour contract talks to try to avert a strike that would disrupt TV production across an industry grappling with seismic changes. We talk about the threat to Tinseltown in today's Reuters World News podcast.
The bankers running the sale process for Subway have given the private equity firms vying for the sandwich chain a $5 billion acquisition financing plan, hoping to overcome a challenging environment for leveraged buyouts and fetch the company's asking price of more than $10 billion.
Sony's shares fell as much as 4.8% after the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate's annual profit outlook fell short of market expectations.
Oil prices dropped as jitters over the economic impact of the US Federal Reserve potentially raising interest rates and weaker Chinese manufacturing data were enough to outweigh support from new OPEC+ supply cuts taking effect this month.

The Wider Image

Migrants from China emerge from thick brush in Fronton, Texas, April 7, 2023

An increasing number of Chinese nationals are making the 2,300-mile irregular journey overland to the US-Mexico border after flying to Ecuador, where they can enter without a visa.

Over the course of three weeks photographing and reporting from a remote border stretch in southeastern Texas, Reuters witnessed hundreds of Chinese migrants crossing into the United States and interviewed more than two dozen.

All of those interviewed said they got the idea to take the land route on social media and drew on influencers, private groups and comments to plan their trips.

This Reuters photo essay documents the migrants' journey.

And Finally...

Ding Liren competes against Ian Nepomniachtchi at the FIDE World Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, April 30, 2023

China's Ding Liren was crowned as the 17th world chess champion in a tense match against Russian-born Ian Nepomniachtchi in Astana, Kazakhstan, in the last chapter of an odds-defying sequence of events.

Ding had only been invited to the tournament at the last minute to replace Russia's Sergey Karjakin, whom the international chess federation banned for his vocal support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Read more here: China's Ding Liren defies the odds to become world champion

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