| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Tuesday, May 17, 2022 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. Musk says there will be no Twitter deal without proof on bot numbers, baby formula makers ramp up U.S. supplies, and a rare voice of dissent on Russian state TV | | | | | Today's biggest stories  A bus carrying wounded members of Ukrainian forces from the besieged Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol arrives in Novoazovsk, Ukraine, May 16, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AT WAR Ukraine's military said it aimed to evacuate its remaining soldiers from their last stronghold in Mariupol, as fighters who have held out for 82 days began to surrender, heralding the end of Europe's bloodiest battle in decades.
Reuters saw buses leave the huge Azovstal steelworks overnight and five of them arrive in the Russian-held town of Novoazovsk. In one, marked with the Latin letter 'Z' that has become the symbol of Russia's assault, wounded men were lying on stretchers three bunks high.
At the core of the last stand has been the Azov Regiment whose fighters are lionized as heroes in Ukraine, but reviled by Putin's Kremlin as a band of Russia-hating neo-Nazis.
One military analyst had a brutally frank message for viewers of Russian state television: The war in Ukraine will get much worse for Russia, which is facing a mass mobilization supported by the United States while Russia is almost totally isolated.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for U.S. allies to step up financial support for Ukraine, saying that funds announced so far would not be sufficient for the country's short-term needs.
Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now
|  A woman lights a candle at a memorial for victims at the scene of a shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, May 16, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
U.S.
President Joe Biden will travel to New York State today to meet families of victims of a white teenage gunman who targeted a Black community, as the racist violence that inspired his presidential run continues to plague the United States. The 18-year-old man accused of the deadly mass shooting in Buffalo visited the city in March and the day before the rampage, police said.
The man accused of killing a doctor and wounding five other people in a shooting at a Taiwanese-American church banquet in California methodically planned the attack because he was upset over Chinese-Taiwanese tensions, authorities said.
The antic-ridden career of Republican U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn comes down to the wire in North Carolina, as voters choose whether to keep the conservative firebrand in office after a string of self-inflicted controversies. We look at how midterm primaries are the latest test of former President Donald Trump's sway.
The U.S. Air Force said it had conducted a successful test of a hypersonic weapon, which flew at five times the speed of sound. The test was conducted on Saturday off the coast of Southern California when a B-52 bomber released an Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon.
Actor Amber Heard will face more questioning from attorneys for her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, the Hollywood star she has accused of physical and emotional abuse before and during their brief marriage.
WORLD
Shanghai achieved its long-awaited milestone of three consecutive days with no new COVID cases outside quarantine zones but most residents will have to put up with confinement for a while longer before resuming more normal life. Meanwhile, North Korea has mobilized its military to distribute COVID medications and deployed more than 10,000 health workers to help trace potential patients.
Sri Lanka's parliament reconvened for the first time since violence flared last week and the prime minister quit, as his replacement warned that the country was in a precarious economic situation and down to its last day of petrol supplies.
Clashes erupted in Libya's capital as the parliament-appointed prime minister, Fathi Bashagha, tried to take over government there but was forced back by a rival administration that refuses to cede power.
Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies have lost their majority in Lebanon's parliament in a general election, a Reuters tally of final results showed, a major blow to the heavily armed group.
The number of people officially listed as disappeared in Mexico has risen to more than 100,000, government data showed, as family groups called on authorities to do more to find victims of violence linked to organized crime.
| BUSINESS Asian shares led a global rally on optimism about an easing of China's crackdowns on tech and COVID, but concerns about rising prices worldwide set a nervy tone in markets as investors wait for more signals from policymakers.
Elon Musk said his $44 billion offer would not move forward until Twitter shows proof that spam bots account for less than 5% of its total users, hours after suggesting he could seek a lower price for the company.
The European Commission has explained how EU companies can pay for Russian gas without breaching the bloc's sanctions against Russia, in an updated guidance on the issue seen by Reuters.
Top baby formula makers Reckitt Benckiser and Nestle have ramped up supplies to the United States to resolve a shortage that has emptied shelves and caused panic among parents. Baby formula aisles at U.S. supermarkets have been decimated since top U.S. manufacturer Abbott Laboratories in February recalled formulas after complaints of bacterial infections.
Britain's unemployment rate fell to its lowest since 1974 in the first three months of this year, but soaring inflation led to the biggest annual fall in real earnings for most workers since 2013, official figures showed.
Home Depot increased its full-year sales forecast as demand for home improvement tools and building materials holds up after a surge in the early months of the pandemic.
| | | | | | | | | Video of the day  Iraq sandstorm disrupts schools and flights Hundreds of people across the capital and southern cities went to hospital with breathing difficulties, as the latest in an unprecedented number of sandstorms hit the country. | | | | And finally… U.S. Congress panel to hold first UFO hearings in half a century  The hearing before a U.S. House Intelligence subcommittee comes 11 months after a report documenting more than 140 cases of what the government officially calls "unidentified aerial phenomena" that military pilots have reported observing since 2004. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
