Eight dead in Sloviansk strike as Ukrainians said to pull back in Bakhmut

By Kai Pfaffenbach and Manuel Ausloos NEAR BAKHMUT, Ukraine (Reuters) -A Russian missile strike killed eight people in eastern Ukraine on Friday as a British assessment said Ukrainian troops had been forced to withdraw from parts of the city of Bakhmut, the focus of Moscow’s slow advance through the region. Ukrainian troops have been doggedly…

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Security of Europe, Indo-Pacific in focus as G7 foreign ministers gather

By Sakura Murakami TOKYO (Reuters) -Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations will focus on the security of both Europe and the Indo-Pacific as they gather in Japan from Sunday against a worrying backdrop of the war in Ukraine and China’s growing assertiveness.        The three-day meeting in the resort town of Karuizawa also…

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Emergency Credit Suisse rescue shakes faith in Switzerland

By John Revill and Noele Illien ZURICH/BERN (Reuters) -Switzerland’s tradition of dependable consensus politics has taken a battering after the government used an emergency law to push through a state-backed mega-merger of UBS and Credit Suisse, sidelining the country’s parliament. Switzerland’s two parliamentary chambers voted to reject the government’s 109 billion Swiss francs ($122.82 billion)…

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‘Zero capacity to save’: Argentines buckle as inflation tops 104%

By Horacio Soria and Juan Carlos Bustamante BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentina’s annual inflation rate soared to 104.3% in March, the official statistics agency said on Friday, one of the highest rates in the world, straining people’s wallets and stoking a cost-of-living crisis that has pushed up poverty. The inflation reading for the month came in…

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In signing 6-week ban, DeSantis wades into thorny debate over abortion and 2024

By Joseph Ax (Reuters) – When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban on April 14, 2022, he held a morning ceremony at a church in front of an enormous “Protect Life” sign, flanked by women and children. On Thursday, exactly one year later, DeSantis – now a likely 2024 Republican presidential candidate…

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U.S. Supreme Court’s Alito temporarily blocks abortion pill curbs

By Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday temporarily halted lower court rulings that set limits on access to the abortion pill mifepristone, giving the nation’s top judicial body time to weigh a bid by President Joe Biden’s administration to defend the drug amid a challenge by anti-abortion groups. The…

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Trudeau’s top aide tight-lipped on Chinese election meddling in Canada, citing security

By Rod Nickel and Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top aide on Friday refused to say when Trudeau first learned about allegations that China tampered with recent elections, citing security concerns. Canadian authorities have started several investigations into the allegations of interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections, accusations that…

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