Daily Briefing

Countries are rushing to evacuate embassy staff from Khartoum, Russia says its forces have advanced in Bakhmut, and the UK's Sunak launches a charm offensive on business leaders.

Plus, LGBTQ Ugandans live in fear as new law looms.

By Kate Turton

Today's Top News

Spanish military plane and military vehicles as diplomatic personnel and citizens are evacuated, Sudan, April 23, 2023. Spanish Defence Ministry Handout/Handout via REUTERS

Around the world

European nations, China and others from around the world raced to extract thousands of their citizens from Khartoum during an apparent lull in fierce fighting between the army and a paramilitary force. What is happening in Sudan? Fighting in Khartoum explained.
Russia said its forces had advanced in Bakhmut while a top Ukrainian commander said his troops were holding the frontline through the city, all but destroyed in some of the bloodiest combat of the 14-month war. The latest from the war in Ukraine.
China said it respects the sovereignty of ex-Soviet states after comments by a Chinese ambassador that appeared to question that sovereignty, drawing ire from several EU countries.
Global military spending rose to a record last year as Russia's war in Ukraine drove the biggest annual increase in expenditure in Europe since the end of the Cold War three decades ago, a leading conflict and armaments think tank said.
Vietnam is in talks with the Czech Republic for military supplies, including aircraft, radars, upgrades of armored vehicles and firearms, a Czech government source told Reuters, as Hanoi aims at diversifying its mostly Russian arsenal.

US News

As Joe Biden gears up for a bruising re-election battle, the realities of the 2024 race and differences with 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic create new challenges for him.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to meet with Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis when the expected 2024 presidential candidate visits Israel this week.
Nine teenagers were shot at an after-prom party in Jasper, Texas, prompting what will be an increased police presence at the town's high school this week, officials said. None of the gunshot wounds were life-threatening.
Too many people have access to the US government's closest secrets and a central entity should oversee the classification process, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said, addressing leaks of documents in an online chat group.
When the US Supreme Court decides in the coming months whether to weaken a powerful shield protecting internet companies, the ruling also could have implications for rapidly developing technologies like artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.
The Reuters World News podcast is in Arizona at a clinic on the frontlines of the Fentanyl epidemic where the patients are newborn babies.

Business & Markets

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech in London, April 17, 2023. Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool via REUTERS

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will host a conference for business leaders where he will pledge to work with companies in the hope of reviving the economy and turning around his party's fortunes before an election expected next year. The Conservative Party's relations with business were damaged during the economic turmoil of the premierships of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Credit Suisse said that $68 billion in assets left the bank in the first quarter and that outflows were continuing, underscoring the challenge faced by UBS in rescuing its rival. It also said customer deposits declined in the quarter and that there had been significant non-renewals of maturing time deposits.
Passengers at two major German airports, Berlin and Hamburg, faced disruptions as security workers and ground services held a one-day strike over pay. Berlin-Brandenburg airport, which serves the capital, said all departures were canceled and some landings would also be affected
After a bumper year for floating offshore wind farm tenders, the nascent industry is poised for explosive growth in the coming decade as countries strive to cut their carbon emissions. Sign up for Reuters Power Up for newsletters about the global energy industry and the forces driving the transition to renewable fuels.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric's plan to nationalize his country's immense lithium industry is putting the spotlight on an emerging crop of filtration technologies aimed at revolutionizing how the metal is produced for the electric vehicle industry. Factbox: World's biggest lithium producers

LGBTQ Ugandans live in fear as new law looms

Quin Karala poses for a picture with rainbow colors, Kampala, Uganda April 4, 2023. REUTERS/Abubaker Lubowa

At a shelter for lesbian women in Uganda's capital Kampala, gone are the days when the residents, having fled abuse and stigma at home, could breathe easy and be themselves.

That came to an end a month ago when parliament passed some of the world's strictest anti-LGBTQ legislation, which would criminalize the "promotion" of homosexuality and impose the death penalty for certain crimes involving gay sex.

LGBTQ Ugandans interviewed by Reuters say nothing could have prepared them for the past few weeks as the bill's passage sent homophobic abuse into overdrive.

And Finally...

A mural by French painter Antonin Katre, on a façade of the 'Pyramid', Abidjan, Ivory Coast, April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

International and local artists paint giant, colorful murals on the exterior of a 15-storey building in Ivory Coast's commercial capital called "the Pyramid," an architectural gem that fell into disuse 20 years ago. A symbol of Ivorian prosperity in the 1970s and one of the first towers built in the central business district of Plateau in Abidjan, this futuristic building was neglected for years.

Read more here: Artists give new life to Ivory Coast's neglected 'Pyramid'

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