Tuesday Briefing: Russia unleashes rockets in Mariupol, EU readies oil sanctions

The Reuters Daily Briefing Tuesday, May 3, 2022 by Linda Noakes Hello Here's what you need to know. A potential U.S. Supreme Court move to overturn abortion rights sends protesters onto the streets, Russia says Israel supports neo-Nazis in a row over Ukraine, and venture capitalists are catching crypto fever Today's biggest stories Pro-Russian troops fire a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launch system near a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, May 2, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AT WAR Russian forces fired rockets at the encircled steel works in Ukraine's Mariupol and smoke darkened the sky above the plant, where officials say 200 civilians are still trapped despite evacuations, while the EU prepared to sanction Russian oil. Reuters images showed volleys of rockets fired from a Russian truck-mounted launcher on the outskirts of the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol. Ukraine hoped a first column of evacuees from the ruins of the steel works would reach the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia today. Russia has rerouted internet traffic in the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson through Russian communications infrastructure, the internet service disruption monitor NetBlocks said. The move appeared aimed at tightening Moscow's grip on a region where it claims it has taken full control. Russia's foreign ministry accused Israel of supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine, further escalating a row which began when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Adolf Hitler had Jewish heritage. Two months after warning that Beijing appeared poised to help Russia in its fight against Ukraine, senior U.S. officials say they have not detected overt Chinese military and economic support, a welcome development in the tense U.S.-China relationship. Here's what you need to know about the Russia-Ukraine conflict right now Protestors outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, May 2, 2022. REUTERS/Moira Warburton U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court looks set to vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a leaked initial draft majority opinion published by Politico. Anti-abortion activists and pro-abortion rights supporters took to the streets of Washington after the news. Donald Trump's influence gets its first big test of the midterm election cycle today, when Ohio Republicans pick their candidate for the U.S. Senate, kicking off a series of critical nominating contests in the coming weeks. Here are four races to watch in Ohio's primaries. The three known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa massacre that saw a white mob murder scores of Blacks and raze much of their neighborhood can proceed with a lawsuit seeking reparations for the death and destruction, a judge in Oklahoma ruled. Hundreds of households in the historic New Mexico city of Las Vegas were told to evacuate as fierce winds and drought pushed the largest active wildfire in the United States closer to town. Maria Hernandez spent countless hours in Honduras imagining a stable life in Los Angeles reunited with the two young daughters U.S immigration agents took from her at the border in 2017. Instead, she and the children are living in a windowless homeless shelter a two-hour bus ride from the girls' schools, after a government program brought her to the United States earlier this year. WORLD If Ferdinand Marcos Jr. triumphs in the upcoming Philippines presidential election, he will wield broad powers over government agencies seeking to recover as much as $10 billion plundered by his namesake father during his autocratic rule. Read our special report on how Marcos could control the hunt for his family’s wealth. India's western state of Maharashtra has registered 25 deaths from heat stroke since late March, the highest toll in the past five years, with more fatalities likely elsewhere in a country sweltering in temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius. Scientists have linked the early onset of an intense summer to climate change. Some of Shanghai's 25 million people managed to get out for short walks and shopping after enduring more than a month under a COVID-19 lockdown, while China's capital, Beijing, focused on mass tests and said it would keep schools closed. Haitians in the capital Port-au-Prince fled their homes as gun battles broke out between rival gangs, according to a Reuters witness, following clashes between armed groups that killed at least 20 last week. Gustavo Petro, the leftist front-runner in Colombia's presidential election, canceled events in the country's coffee region because of what his office said was a plot by a crime gang to attempt to take his life. BUSINESS World stocks rose and U.S. 10-year Treasury yields held above 3% as investors prepared for the Federal Reserve's biggest rate hike since 2000. In a busy week for central bank meetings, Australia's central bank raised its key rate by a bigger-than-expected 25 basis points. BP recorded its biggest quarterly loss after writing down $24 billion to exit its Russia businesses but a strong operational performance on the back of rocketing oil and gas prices helped the British energy firm step up share buybacks. Shares in HSBC gained after its largest shareholder, Chinese insurance giant Ping An, urged a break-up of the London-headquartered bank in a bid to improve returns. A radical break-up would do little to solve the bank's problems, argue Breakingviews columnists Peter Thal Larsen and Jennifer Hughes. Elon Musk is in talks with large investment firms and high net-worth individuals about taking on more financing for his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and tying up less of his wealth in the deal, people familiar with the matter said. Musk said he wants to expand the reach of Twitter beyond the current "niche" until most Americans use the social media platform. Alphabet's Google said it had recently fired a senior engineering manager after colleagues, whose landmark research on artificial intelligence software he had been trying to discredit, accused him of harassing behavior. The dispute threatens to undermine the reputation of Google's research in the academic community. Venture capital is making a big move on crypto in 2022. Scared of being left in the digital dust, private equity investors are stampeding towards crypto projects - blockchain-based apps and platforms fueled by cryptocurrencies that are native to the virtual economies of the metaverse and Web3. Quote of the day "I fear that Putin cannot, and does not, want to have this meeting at this time. But how can you not stop so much brutality?" Pope says he wants to go to Moscow to meet Putin Video of the day Bird flu and inflation threaten California egg farm While fourth-generation egg farmer Frank Hilliker fears bird flu may wipe out his entire flock of nearly 25,000 chickens, it's inflation that really keeps him up at night. And finally… Kim Kardashian wears Marilyn Monroe gown as Met Gala celebrates American fashion Reality TV star Kim Kardashian donned the sparkling gold gown that Marilyn Monroe wore six decades ago when she serenaded President John F. Kennedy. More from Reuters COVID The Great Reboot Sustainable Business Legal News Breakingviews Thanks for spending part of your day with us. Share your thoughts You are receiving this email because you signed up for newsletters from Reuters. No longer want to hear from us? Unsubscribe from The Reuters Daily Briefing. 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