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Daily Briefing

After a one-day delay, the courtroom showdown in the defamation lawsuit by Dominion against Fox is set to begin. In Ukraine, Putin visits two occupied regions and Russia steps up its assault on Bakhmut.

Plus, a new coral reef is discovered in the depths of the Galapagos Islands.

By Edson Caldas

Today's Top News

A person walks by Fox News signage posted on the News Corporation building in New York City, April 12, 2023 REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

One of the most closely watched US media trials in decades kicks off in a Delaware court, with jury selection due to be completed and opening statements delivered as Fox Corp and Fox News face a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.
Anticipation has been building for this day since Dominion sued in 2021 over Fox's airing of false claims that the company's ballot-counting machines were used to rig the 2020 US presidential election in favor of Joe Biden over Donald Trump. Here is an explanation of the case and a timeline of key events leading up to the trial.

War in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited security forces in parts of Ukraine that Russia says it annexed last year. The Kremlin said Putin visited the Kherson and Luhansk regions, attending a military command meeting in the former and visiting a national guard headquarters in the latter. Meanwhile, his forces are stepping up their use of heavy artillery and air strikes in Bakhmut.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will appeal today against his arrest and detention in Moscow. Gershkovich, the first US journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War, and the Journal have denied he was involved in espionage, as has Washington.
The Group of Seven industrial powers drew together to criticize Russia's threat to station nuclear weapons in Belarus, promising to intensify sanctions. In a communique issued at the end of a three-day meeting in Japan, foreign ministers said: "Russia's irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and its threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus are unacceptable." Follow the latest on the war.

Power struggle in Sudan

Gunfire echoed across the Sudanese capital Khartoum for a fourth day, accompanied by the sound of warplanes and explosions. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was nearly impossible to provide humanitarian services around the city and warned that the country's health system was at risk of collapse.
The United States spoke to rival Sudanese commanders who have been waging fierce battles, telling them to stop fighting after a US diplomatic convoy came under fire. Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Response Forces that erupted on Saturday has killed at least 185 people and injured more than 1,800. We took a look on what's behind the crisis.

Business & Markets

China's economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter, as the end of strict COVID curbs lifted businesses and consumers out of crippling pandemic disruptions, although headwinds from a global slowdown point to a bumpy ride ahead. Gross domestic product grew 4.5% year-on-year in the first three months of the year, faster than the 2.9% in the previous quarter.
Global automakers, including Toyota and Volkswagen, took the stage at the Shanghai auto show with built-for-China and electric-drive products to compete for a high-stakes comeback in the world's largest market. But executives from Chinese automakers offered a reality check: the game is moving faster and the pressure to cut prices is getting more intense.
The European Parliament approved sweeping reforms to make EU climate change policies more ambitious, including an upgrade of the bloc's carbon market that is set to hike the cost of polluting in Europe. Under the upgrade, factories will lose the free CO2 permits they currently receive by 2034, and shipping emissions will be added to the CO2 market from 2024.
About 300 people queued at Apple's store in Mumbai earlier today, as fans took selfies with Chief Executive Tim Cook, who inaugurated the first store run by the tech giant in India. People flocked from across the country, hoping to be among the first to enter, in an opening event featuring local music and folk dancers.
Elon Musk said he will launch an artificial intelligence platform that he calls "TruthGPT" to challenge the offerings from Microsoft and Google. He criticized Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, of "training the AI to lie" and accused Larry Page, co-founder of Google, of not taking AI safety seriously.

And Finally...

Fish gather at an ancient coral reef discovered by an expedition in the Galapagos Islands. Handout via REUTERS

A scientific expedition has discovered a coral reef with abundant marine life off Ecuador's Galapagos Islands. Scientists believed that the only Galapagos reef to survive El Niño weather in 1982 and 1983 was one called the Wellington reef, along the coast of Darwin Island, but the new discovery shows other coral has persisted.

"This is very important at a global level because many deepwater systems are degraded," said Stuart Banks, senior marine researcher at the Charles Darwin Foundation, who participated in the expedition. The coral is several thousand years old at least, he added.

Read more here: New coral reef discovered in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands

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