Plus, how Sudan's military factions set a path to war.

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Daily Briefing

Ukraine says it's preparing for a counteroffensive, China flies a combat drone around Taiwan, and US officials lead urgent rescue talks for First Republic Bank.

Plus, why anti-monarchists are looking forward to King Charles' coronation.

 

By Linda Noakes

Today's Top News

 

Rescuers carry a body covered with a bag at the site of a residential building hit by a Russian missile in the town of Uman, Ukraine, April 28, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria 

  • Russia hurled missiles at cities across Ukraine as people slept, killing at least 12 people in the first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months. The early-morning attacks were carried out as Kyiv prepares to launch a counteroffensive to try to retake Russian-occupied territory.
  • Strikes from the air, tanks and artillery shook Sudan's capital of Khartoum and a heavy bombardment pounded the adjacent city of Bahri, witnesses said, even though the army and a rival paramilitary force agreed to extend a truce by 72 hours. Here's how Sudan's military factions set the path to war as mediation stalled.
  • Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman in international waters, the US Navy said, the latest in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels in sensitive Gulf waters since 2019.
  • A Chinese uncrewed combat aircraft has flown around Taiwan, the island's defense ministry said, showcasing Beijing's ability to attack targets on the east coast - where Taiwan would shelter reserve forces in the event of a war.
  • Donald Trump said that if he wins the 2024 presidential election, he will order the Justice Department to investigate "radical" county and state prosecutors whom he accused, without evidence, of targeting conservatives. Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence appeared before a grand jury investigating Trump's role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
  • King Charles' approval rating has dipped since he took the throne but nearly half of Britons still think he is doing a good job, according to a poll released a week before his coronation, while his daughter-in-law Kate is the most liked royal. The coronation is being seized on by republicans as a chance to ditch the monarchy.
 

Business & Markets

 
  • US officials are coordinating urgent talks to rescue First Republic Bank as private-sector efforts led by the bank's advisers have yet to reach a deal, according to sources familiar with the situation.
  • Amazon.com signaled its long lofty cloud growth would slow further as its business customers braced for turbulence and clamped down on spending, overshadowing the company's quarterly sales and profit that topped expectations.
  • The Bank of Japan kept ultra-low interest rates but announced a plan to review its past monetary policy, laying the groundwork for new Governor Kazuo Ueda to gradually phase out his predecessor's massive stimulus program.
  • Decades-long foreign bullishness on China's capital markets is breaking down, investment flows and interviews with fund managers suggest, with a new era of uncertainty fueled by geopolitical risks and US investors especially wary. Many are steering clear after seeing wartime sanctions erase the value of Russian investments.
  • Companies deploying generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, will have to disclose any copyrighted material used to develop their systems, according to an early EU agreement that could pave the way for the world's first comprehensive laws governing the technology.
  • JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon sent a clear message to employees this month: get back to the office. It touched a nerve among his staff. Read our exclusive story on the backlash from the largest US lender's employees.
 

The Week Ahead

 
  • Meetings at the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and Australia's central bank top the agenda, while megacap Apple brings the US earnings season to an end, as markets work through fresh banking tremors. Here's a roundup from our markets team.
  • Rishi Sunak faces his first big electoral test as British prime minister in local polls where the opposition Labour Party hopes to capitalize on a year of chaos for the governing Conservatives, ahead of a national election expected next year.
  • Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is due to meet President Joe Biden in Washington and plans to discuss a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty that he feels must evolve in the face of "heating up tensions".
  • Paraguay's conservative ruling party presidential candidate Santiago Pena will need all the composure he has from a journey as a teenage father to the International Monetary Fund as he faces down an opposition challenge at the ballot box.
  • Hollywood TV and film writers may go on strike as early as Tuesday if they cannot reach a deal with studios for a new contract with a pay raise.
 

Photos Of The Week

 

Take a look at this week's top images from our global team of photographers.

 

And Finally...

 

Scientists unveiled the results of a project comparing the genomes of 240 mammal species - from aardvarks and aye-ayes to zebus and zebras, as well as people - to trace evolutionary changes spanning 100 million years, pinpointing genetic traits widely shared and those more uniquely human.

  • Read more about the ambitious genome project showing how humans fit with other mammals
 

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