| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Thursday, May 5, 2022 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Zelenskiy appeals for a truce to dig out civilians trapped under the Mariupol steel plant, the Bank of England raises rates despite a looming recession risk, and victims are angry as the son of a dictator closes in on the Philippine presidency | | | | | Today's biggest stories  A bloodstained jacket is seen beside a Russian ration box inside a building in Bucha, Ukraine, April 19, 2022. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AT WAR When Russian troops retreated from Ukraine’s Bucha they left reminders of their deadly occupation for all the world to see. As prosecutors begin the work of identifying those responsible for alleged atrocities, Reuters has examined the aftermath of Russia’s hasty retreat – and found vital clues to the identities of individual soldiers and military units present during the bloody occupation.
Civilians including women and children will need to be dug from bunkers under a steel works that is the last holdout of resistance in Ukraine's Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as Russian forces pressed their assault.
After failing to capture the capital Kyiv in the early weeks of a war that has killed thousands and flattened cities, towns and villages, Russia has accelerated its attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin said that the United States, Britain and other NATO countries were "constantly" feeding intelligence to Ukraine but this would not stop Russia from achieving its military objectives there. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a New York Times report that the U.S. had provided intelligence that helped Ukrainian forces kill a dozen Russian generals.
After two months in a bunker, Mariupol evacuee Tetyana Trotsak is feeling the sun on her face and staring up at the bright blue sky on her first day of freedom. But she can't forget the 42 people she believes are still stuck in a shelter they shared under the besieged steel works.
Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now
|  The sun rises behind skyscrapers and offices in the City of London financial district, May 5, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville BUSINESS
The Bank of England raised interest rates to their highest since 2009 at 1% to counter inflation now heading above 10%, even as it sent a warning that Britain risks falling into recession. British private-sector growth slowed to its weakest pace in four months in April as businesses raised prices on the broadest basis since at least the late 1990s, a closely watched survey showed.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave investors a glimmer of hope that the central bank is unlikely to become more hawkish in coming months, though few see reason for long-term optimism in the face of soaring inflation and fears of slowing growth. The Fed delivered an expected 50 basis point interest rate increase, but said larger hikes were not on the table.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission added over 80 firms, including China's JD.com, to a list of entities facing possible expulsion from American exchanges amid a long-running auditing standoff between the United States and China.
With more U.S. travelers expected to take to the skies and the roads this summer as COVID restrictions ease, unbridled demand will strain capacity in the leisure and travel industry and push prices even higher. Airlines, hotels, rental car companies and booking sites all reported a surge in demand for their services in the latest batch of company earnings.
Tech and financial companies leading efforts to cut climate changing emissions are finding a new challenge from remote work: the CO2 spewing out of home offices. Here's how companies account for remote work in their carbon footprints.
|  People ride bicycles during morning rush hour at the Central Business District in Beijing, May 5, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
WORLD
Beijing returned to work after a five-day Labor Day holiday devoid of the usual trips across the country or lavish family dinners, as China's capital tried to eradicate a COVID outbreak of dozens of new cases a day.
Taiwan signaled that it had abandoned a plan to buy advanced new anti-submarine warfare helicopters from the United States, saying they were too expensive. The island, claimed by China as its own territory, is undertaking a military modernization programme to improve its capabilities to fend off a Chinese attack.
A major North Korean propaganda website denounced South Korea's incoming president Yoon Suk-yeol, who has vowed to take a tougher line on weapons tests by Pyongyang, describing him as "pro-United States", and "confrontational".
Emboldened by an oil price surge since Russia invaded Ukraine, Iran's clerical rulers are in no rush to revive a 2015 nuclear pact with world powers to ease sanctions on its energy-reliant economy, officials familiar with Tehran's thinking said.
Former political prisoner Cristina Bawagan still has the dress she wore the day she was arrested, tortured and sexually abused by soldiers during the late Philippines' dictator Ferdinand Marcos's brutal era of martial law. Bawagan fears the horrors of Marcos's rule would be diminished if his namesake son wins the presidency in next week's election.
U.S.
President Joe Biden sharply criticized former President Donald Trump's 'MAGA' movement as extreme while touting his Democratic administration's efforts to reduce the U.S. deficit, which rose under his Republican predecessor.
The Supreme Court's leaked draft opinion has injected new urgency into a Texas primary that pits the House of Representatives' lone anti-abortion Democrat against an advocate of abortion rights.
A member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia admitted to engaging in seditious conspiracy during last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol, the latest in a string of courtroom victories for the Justice Department.
The man accused of tackling comedian Dave Chappelle to the stage floor during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon. The suspect had in his possession a replica handgun containing a knife blade when he attacked Chappelle.
Actor Amber Heard is expected to testify for a second day in the defamation case brought by her ex-husband Johnny Depp, the Hollywood star she said assaulted her multiple times before and during their brief marriage.
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