Daily Briefing

Biden says the US will withhold weapons from Israel if it invades Rafah, Putin warns of a global clash during a military parade on Victory Day, and China's exports and imports return to growth.

Plus, the devastating impact of the floods in southern Brazil.

By Edson Caldas

Today's Top News

Israeli soldiers near the Israel-Gaza Border, May 9, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israeli forces massed tanks close to built-up areas of Rafah, after US President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launched a major invasion of the southern Gaza city. Correspondent Steve Holland analyzes the tightrope Biden is walking – listen here.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of risking a global conflict as Russia marked the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Separately, we looked at how the Russia's full-scale invasion has upended Ukraine's economy in a shift that may be permanent.
Britain's opposition Labour Party has increased its poll lead over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives, according to a YouGov poll for the Times newspaper. The poll put Labour on 48% and the ruling Conservatives on 18%, the worst reading for Sunak since he became prime minister 18 months ago.
Vietnam's foreign affairs ministry has annoyed the European Union by postponing a meeting next week with the EU's top official on Russian sanctions, ahead of a possible visit to Hanoi by Putin. The country has been striving to pursue a neutral foreign policy in its relations with major world powers.
Relatives of 44 construction workers trapped under a collapsed building in the South African city of George faced a fourth day of anguished waiting as heavy machinery worked at the site in a race against time to find any survivors.

UNITED STATES

Porn star Stormy Daniels will face tough questioning from Donald Trump's lawyers as they try to dismantle the credibility of a woman whose story of a 2006 sexual encounter ultimately led to the first criminal trial of a former US president. Here are five takeaways from the first day of Daniels' testimony.
Staff trust in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's leadership has fallen sharply to well below government averages, with a growing number of workers considering leaving the agency, the latest FDIC staff survey data obtained by Reuters shows.

Business & Markets

Trade upturn in China suggests welcome demand recovery at home and abroad. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

China's exports and imports returned to growth in April. The data suggests a flurry of policy support measures over the past several months may be helping to stabilize fragile investor and consumer confidence, though analysts say the jury is still out on whether the trade bounce is sustainable.
In more news from China, Huawei's latest high-end phone features more Chinese suppliers, including a new flash memory storage chip and an improved chip processor, a teardown analysis showed, pointing to the progress the country is making towards technology self-sufficiency.
The Bank of England took another step towards lowering interest rates, as a second official backed a cut and Governor Andrew Bailey said he was "optimistic that things are moving in the right direction". Its Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 to keep rates at a 16-year high of 5.25%.
Spanish bank BBVA presented a 12.23 billion euro ($13.11 billion) takeover offer for its smaller rival Sabadell directly to shareholders, turning to a hostile bid after Sabadell's board rejected the same proposal this week. Spain's government opposes the hostile takeover bid, its Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said.
Staff at an influential corporate climate action group whose board announced a plan to allow companies to offset greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chain with carbon credits has now found such offsets are largely ineffective, a confidential preliminary draft reviewed by Reuters shows.

In Graphics

Sentinel Hub

Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul is being inundated by its worst flooding in 80 years, killing 100 people and rendering thousands homeless. Rains are expected to persist over the weekend. Bureau Chief Brad Haynes discusses the impact of the floods on today's Reuters World News podcast.

And these before and after images reveal the scale of the disaster.

And Finally...

Meet the British wrestling collective with 'queer joy' at its core. REUTERS/Belinda Jiao

Think fishnet tights, silver hot pants and long false eyelashes, then add in bodies bouncing off ropes and into takedowns which land with bottoms on faces. This is queer wrestling outfit Fist Club. Their mission, they say, is to prove "that wrestling isn't just drag for straight people, it's drag for everyone."

Read more here.

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