Ukraine hits city in Russian-controlled territory

Melitopol is a major logistical hub in the occupied south.

View in Browser Daily Briefing Welcome, Ukraine hits a Russian-held city, Sergio Ermotti returns to UBS, and all eyes are on the Taiwanese president.   Plus, we report exclusively that the WHO will consider adding obesity drugs to its 'essential' medicines list.   By Edson Caldas, Newsletter Editor Today's Top News Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits positions of Ukrainian Border Guards near the border with Russia, in Sumy region, March 28, 2023. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS Ukraine struck a railway depot and knocked out power in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, deep behind the front line, amid growing talk from Kyiv of a counterassault against Russian forces worn out by a failed winter offensive. Here's the latest on the war. Russian forces are relentless in their attempts to capture the bombed-out eastern towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka but were not making progress, Ukraine's military said, while a pro-Moscow official said the Russians are advancing. We also took a look at the areas where the European Union keeps on doing business with Russia despite sanctions. High-profile trips External pressure will not stop Taiwan engaging with the world, President Tsai Ing-wen said as she left for the United States, hitting a defiant note after China threatened retaliation if she met House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.  In Europe, King Charles travels to Germany in his first state visit abroad since becoming British monarch, as part of efforts to turn the page on years of rocky relations between Britain and the European Union after its exit from the bloc. And in Africa, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in Tanzania, the second stop of a three-nation tour of the continent. The visit is part of a diplomatic push by the Biden administration to deepen ties with the continent amid competition from China and Russia. Her first stop was Ghana. Business & Markets UBS rehired Sergio Ermotti in a surprise move that seeks to take advantage of his experience in rebuilding the bank after the global financial crisis. Ermotti, who was chief executive from 2011 to 2020, will retake the helm from April 5. At the top of his to-do list? Steering UBS' massive takeover of neighbor Credit Suisse. "The task at hand is an urgent and challenging one," Ermotti said in a statement. "In order to do it in a sustainable and successful way, and in the interest of all stakeholders involved, we need to thoughtfully and systematically assess all options." Here are five facts about the 62-year-old banker. He isn't the only business leader making headlines Former Starbucks Chief Howard Schultz will defend the company's labor talks before a U.S. Senate committee today. "Starbucks has engaged in good faith bargaining," a written testimony seen by Reuters says, arguing "union representatives have improperly demanded multi-store negotiations, delayed or refused to attend meetings, and insisted on unlawful preconditions." Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in training systems more powerful than OpenAI's newly launched model GPT-4, in an open letter citing potential risks to society and humanity. Investors cheered a major revamp of Alibaba as a sign Beijing's crackdown on the corporate sector was nearing an end, sending shares of the Jack Ma-founded company and its peers soaring. Alibaba said it was planning to split into six units and explore fundraisings or listings for most of them. Analysis: Jack Ma is Beijing's prodigal entrepreneur, writes Breakingviews' Robyn Mak. Exclusive Drugs that combat obesity could for the first time be included on the World Health Organization's "essential medicines list," used to guide government purchasing decisions in low- and middle-income countries, the U.N. agency told Reuters. A panel of advisers to the WHO will review new requests for drugs to be included next month, with an updated essential medicines list due in September. Read more here: WHO to consider adding obesity drugs to 'essential' medicines list And Finally... A meatball made from flesh cultivated using the DNA of an extinct woolly mammoth is presented at NEMO Science Museum, in Amsterdam, March 28, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw This giant meatball above was made from flesh cultivated using the DNA of an extinct woolly mammoth. It was created by Australian cultured meat company Vow, which said it wanted to get people talking about cultured meat, calling it a more sustainable alternative to real meat. (The company promised this was not an April Fools' joke.) Read more here: Giant meatball of extinct mammoth unveiled in The Netherlands Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Reuters Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.   Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. Reuters Terms & Conditions and Privacy Statement © 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036

Six dead after US school shooting

Plus, Zelenskiy accuses Russia of holding nuclear plant 'hostage'.

View in Browser Daily Briefing A shooter kills three children and three adults at a Tennessee school, Zelenskiy says Russian troops are holding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant "hostage", and a study shows China spent $240 billion bailing out 'Belt & Road' countries.   Plus, an intriguing moon water source has been found.   By Kate Turton Today's Top News A child weeps while on the bus leaving The Covenant School, following a mass shooting at the school in Tennessee, March 27, 2023. Nicole Hester/USA Today Network via REUTERS US school shooting A heavily armed 28-year-old fatally shot three children and three adult staffers at a private Christian school the suspect once attended in Nashville, Tennessee. Police killed the assailant, who had drawn detailed maps of the school and left behind a "manifesto" and other writings that investigators were examining. There have been 89 school shootings – defined as any incident in which a gun is discharged on school property – in the US in 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. We look at the history of major school shootings in the US. President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban after the Nashville shooting. Biden said: "We have to do more to stop gun violence. It's ripping our communities apart."  Israel unrest, France protests, and the latest in Ukraine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paused his signature plan to overhaul Israel's judiciary after a day of nationwide turmoil when workers joined a general strike against the proposal and hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets. Facial recognition technology is helping Russian president Vladimir Putin curb dissent at home. A Reuters review of more than 2,000 court cases shows how Russia uses facial recognition to identify and sweep up the Kremlin's opponents. Ukraine's president said Russian troops were holding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant "hostage" and its safety could not be guaranteed until they left it. Russian troops have occupied the nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, since the early weeks of the invasion of Ukraine. French police are on the lookout for more protesters bent on violence joining marches against planned pension reform, the chief of police in Paris said, hours before a new round of country-wide demonstrations and strikes. Europe is facing a wave of strikes - our Europe Editor Rachel Armstrong tells The World News Podcast why. Business & Markets China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building "Belt & Road" infrastructure, according to a study published today. Almost 80% of the rescue lending was made between 2016 and 2021. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is planning to split its business into six main units covering e-commerce, media and the cloud, the company said, adding that each of the units will explore fundraising or initial public offerings. US-listed shares of Alibaba rose 3.5% in trading before the bell. The Biden administration plans to send Mexico an "act now or else" message in coming weeks in an attempt to break a stalemate in an energy trade dispute as bipartisan calls grow for the US to get tougher with its southern neighbor, according to people familiar with the discussions. The European Union reached a provisional deal on the deployment of more service stations for cars running on electricity and alternative fuels as the bloc seeks to reduce the carbon footprint of its transport sector. Commentary: Bullish bitcoin has been a surprise winner of the banking blowout. Yet investors aiming to amp up their bets face an ominous obstacle: a lack of liquidity that could trigger wild price swings. Sign up for the Reuters Crypto Wire newsletter for a weekly round-up of news about the tumultuous world of cryptocurrency. The Wider Image: Sharks and tourists jostle for space A newborn blacktip reef shark is silhouetted as it swims past the Maya Shark Watch Project's baited remote underwater video station, Thailand, February 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jorge Silva On any given day in Thailand's Maya Bay, up to 40 blacktip reef sharks cruise in the cyan shallows while about 4,000 tourists visit its white-sand beach flanked by towering cliffs.   Shark numbers have improved since almost every last one was driven from the bay by the influx of tour boats and tourists keen to see the uninhabited idyll that was made famous as the set of Leonardo Di Caprio's 2000 thriller "The Beach". This Reuters Special Report documents the efforts of authorities and conservationists as they try to keep tourists from swimming in the bay and driving away the baby sharks. And Finally... A screen shows footage of the Chang'e-5 Mission, during an event on China's lunar exploration program, at the National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing, China, January 18, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Glass beads spawned in violent impacts from space rocks on the lunar surface have been found to have water trapped inside, offering what scientists describe as a potential reservoir of this precious resource for future human activities on the moon.   Scientists said an analysis of lunar soil samples retrieved in 2020 during China's robotic Chang'e-5 mission showed that these spheres of glass - rock melted and cooled - created in the impacts bore within them water molecules formed through the action of the solar wind on the moon's surface. Read more here: Intriguing moon water source found in glass beads from impacts Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Reuters Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.   Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. Reuters Terms & Conditions and Privacy Statement © 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036