| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Thursday, March 24, 2022 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Britain imposes new sanctions on Russian elites, North Korea returns to long-range missile launches, and Trump will urge a court to block a congressional committee from getting his tax returns | | | | | Today's biggest stories  U.S. President Joe Biden talks with France's President Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead of an extraordinary summit at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, March 24, 2022 RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AT WAR Western leaders meeting in Brussels will agree to strengthen their forces in Eastern Europe and increase military aid to Ukraine as the Russian assault on its neighbor entered its second month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged them to go further and repeated his call for a no-fly zone over his country, where thousands of people have been killed, millions become refugees, and cities pulverized since Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed his invasion on February 24.
A month into the war, communicator-in-chief Zelenskiy is striving to keep all eyes on Ukraine. Here's how he's doing it.
The United States plans to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, two sources familiar with the forthcoming announcement told Reuters.
Ukrainian authorities in besieged Mariupol said about 15,000 civilians had been illegally deported to Russia since Russian forces seized parts of the southern port city.
Ukraine is using facial recognition software to identify the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in combat and to trace their families to inform them of their deaths, Ukraine's vice prime minister told Reuters.
Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now
|  The office of the Moscow Exchange, March 24, 2022 BUSINESS Russia's stocks jumped on the first day of trading in almost a month, with gains in commodity stocks offset by a drop in a flagship bank and airline, in volatile trading backed by the promise of support from sovereign wealth fund money.
After Putin said the world's largest natural gas producer would soon require "unfriendly" countries to pay for their fuel in roubles, we look at the challenges this throws up.
Britain sanctioned another wave of Russia's banks, critical industries and a host of members of its elite, including Gazprombank, Alfa Bank, and a woman they said was the stepdaughter of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Global banks including Citigroup, JPMorgan and Societe Generale face pressure to commit to remaining as custodian banks in Russia, as rivals and funds fret they may lose services critical to future investment in the country.
The Biden administration warned Beijing not to take advantage of business opportunities created by sanctions, help Moscow evade export controls or process its banned financial transactions. But Washington may put down its sanctions bazooka when it comes to China, says Breakingviews columnist Gina Chon.
BlackRock's chief executive, Larry Fink, said that the Russia-Ukraine war could end up accelerating digital currencies as a tool to settle international transactions, as the conflict upends the globalization drive of the last three decades.
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WORLD
North Korea conducted what is thought to be its largest intercontinental ballistic missile test ever, militaries in South Korea and Japan said, marking a dramatic end to a self-imposed moratorium on long-range testing. It represents a major step in the North's development of weapons that might be able to deliver nuclear warheads anywhere in the United States.
Chinese investigators began examining the cockpit voice recorder from a China Eastern Airlines jet that plunged into a mountainside with 132 people on board as recovery crews searched muddy fields for a second black box.
Singapore said it will lift quarantine requirements for all vaccinated travelers from next month, joining a string of countries in Asia moving more firmly toward a 'living with the virus' approach. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the financial hub will also drop requirements to wear masks outdoors and allow larger groups to gather.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate his country wants to be "independent" and address "unresolved" issues, a day after protesters called on the United Kingdom to pay reparations for slavery.
Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye left hospital three months after she was released from prison where she spent nearly five years following a conviction on corruption charges.
U.S.
An appeals court will debate today whether a congressional committee can obtain former President Donald Trump's tax returns from the U.S. Treasury Department, the latest face-off in a three-year old legal fight.
Trump withdrew his endorsement of Senate Republican hopeful Mo Brooks' struggling campaign, dealing a crippling blow to the ambitions of one of his staunchest allies in Congress. In a statement underscoring the loyalty Trump demands, he castigated Brooks for telling voters in Alabama that it was time to move on from the 2020 presidential election and Trump's false claims that it was stolen from him.
Republicans pressed their attacks on a range of issues against Ketanji Brown Jackson, Biden's nominee to become the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, as she inched closer to the end of an intense two days of questioning with Democrats coming to her defense.
Crews were assessing the damage on the east side of New Orleans where a powerful tornado killed at least one person and injured eight others as it left a two-mile path of destroyed homes, uprooted power lines and overturned vehicles.
The toll of the COVID-19 pandemic was reflected in a natural decrease last year in the population of nearly three-quarters of U.S. counties versus the two previous years, the census bureau said.
| | | | | | | | | | | Video of the day  Sri Lankans protest against food and fuel shortages Thousands of protesters marched through a suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo as anger grew over a worsening economic crisis. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
