Reuters World News Summary
Following is a summary of current world news briefs.
North of Bakhmut, another key battle tests Ukraine's defenses
From a small, non-descript house in a badly bombed village in eastern Ukraine, Andrii "Tuman," who goes by his call sign meaning "fog," commands his battalion around the clock to hold intensifying Russian attacks at bay. What Ukrainian forces have long described in the city of Bakhmut is also playing out to the north in Luhansk region - more Russian troops, weapons and aggressive tactics that Moscow hopes will produce a badly needed breakthrough.
Time and money for love: China brainstorms ways to boost birth rate
Concerned by China´s shrinking population, political advisors to the government have come up with more than 20 recommendations to boost birth rates, though experts say the best they can do is to slow the population's decline. China dug itself into a demographic hole largely through its one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015. Authorities raised the limit to three in 2021, but even during the stay at home COVID times couples have been reluctant to have babies.
Chinese doctor who blew the whistle on SARS dies at 91
A Chinese military doctor who exposed the full extent of the SARS epidemic when it ripped through Beijing in 2003 has died at the age of 91, according to his friends and local media reports. Jiang Yanyong accused the government of deliberately underreporting the spread of the respiratory disease in an open letter sent to state media in 2003. The disease killed nearly 800 people worldwide.
Malawi, Mozambique race to rescue survivors as cyclone toll rises above 270
Malawi and Mozambique were racing to rescue survivors from Tropical Cyclone Freddy on Wednesday as the death toll rose above 270 from one of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere. Freddy tore through southern Africa for the second time in a month over the weekend and was still causing heavy rain on Wednesday, hampering relief efforts.
Exclusive-Britain and Japan to pay for most of fighter project agreed with Italy-sources
Britain and Japan are set to dominate a three-nation project with Italy to build an advanced jet fighter, with Rome set to pay around only a fifth of the overall development cost, two sources said. Known as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), the project is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars before the new jet fighter enters service around the middle of the next decade.
Honduras to seek China relations, pressuring Taiwan ahead of US trip
Honduran President Xiomara Castro said on Tuesday she had asked the country's foreign minister to open official relations with China, pressuring Taiwan ahead of a sensitive visit by President Tsai Ing-wen to the United States and Central America. China does not allow countries with which it has diplomatic relations to maintain official ties with Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan strongly disputes.
Pakistan police postpone arrest of ex-PM Imran Khan, easing unrest
A Pakistan court ordered police on Wednesday to suspend an operation to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan, bringing a halt to pitched battles in which police baton-charged supporters of the former cricketer and fired water cannon and tear gas. Security forces withdrew from around his home in the eastern city of Lahore, easing political instability in the nuclear-armed nation which is struggling with an economic crisis and awaiting an International Monetary Fund bailout.
Italy finds 5 more bodies from Feb. 26 shipwreck, taking death toll to 86
Italian authorities have found the bodies of five more victims of a shipwreck last month off the coast of Calabria, bringing to 86 the death toll from one of the worst migration disasters in recent European history. The tragedy, followed by another shipwreck on Sunday in which 30 people are missing and feared dead, has exposed Italy's right-wing government to accusations that it did not do enough to save the migrants.
Analysis-China, North Korea loom large as South Korea and Japan try to make amends
South Korea's willingness to resolve historical disputes in the name of improving relations with Japan is largely driven by concerns over North Korea's growing capabilities, and managing any rivalry with China, officials and analysts say. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will visit Tokyo on Thursday for a summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the first such meeting in Japan in more than a decade.
Human Rights Watch says over 2,000 Afghan evacuees in detention in UAE
Human Rights Watch accused Emirati authorities on Wednesday of arbitrarily detaining for more than 15 months as many as 2,700 Afghan evacuees who have not qualified for resettlement elsewhere. Many of the Afghans in Emirates Humanitarian City are suffering from depression and other psychological ailments, have no access to legal counsel, and have inadequate educational services for their children, a Human Rights Watch report (HRW) said.
