| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Thursday, June 2, 2022 by Rossalyn Warren | Hello Here's what you need to know. Russia accused the United States of adding "fuel to the fire" with new weapons package, a man kills four people inside a medical building in Oklahoma, and the Queen offers thanks as Platinum Jubilee celebrations begin. | | | | | Today's biggest stories  A woman carries a child as they travel on an evacuation convoy from Russian troops' occupied Kupiansk town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine May 30, 2022. Picture taken May 30, 2022. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AT WAR Russian forces were attempting to extend and consolidate their hold on Ukraine's industrial city of Sievierodonetsk today, edging closer to claiming a big prize in their offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
Russia's failure to pay $1.9 million in accrued interest on a dollar bond will trigger payouts potentially worth billions of dollars, a panel of investors have determined, as the country teeters on its first major external debt default in over a century.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed solidarity for Ukraine in what she described as a "barbaric war" with Russia at an event, after months of silence prompted criticism of her own policy towards Moscow.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday a new $700 million weapons package for Ukraine that will include high mobility artillery rocket systems, which can accurately hit targets as far away as 80 km (50 miles). Russia accused the United States of adding "fuel to the fire".
In addition to the weapons package, the U.S. plans to sell Ukraine four MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones that can be armed with Hellfire missiles for battlefield use against Russia, three people familiar with the situation said.
Here's what you need to know about the conflict right now |  Trainees prepare to enter a building with their airsoft guns during an airsoft gun shooting lesson at the shooting range in New Taipei City, Taiwan, May 22, 2022. REUTERS/Ann Wang
WORLD
People in Taiwan are taking shooting lessons for the first time in their lives as Russia's invasion of Ukraine ratchets up anxiety at the prospect of giant neighbour China making a similar move on the democratic island.
Israeli soldiers shot dead a knife-wielding Palestinian woman, the army said - an account that was disputed by Palestinian officials - and a Palestinian man was killed during an Israeli incursion in the occupied West Bank.
The World Health Organization has cast doubts on North Korea's claims of progress in the fight against a COVID-19 outbreak, saying it believes the situation is getting worse, not better, amid an absence of independent data.
Canada's military has accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft as they monitor North Korea sanction evasions, sometimes forcing Canadian planes to divert from their flight paths.
Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have extended a joint military operation launched late last year against Islamist insurgents in east Congo, the operation's spokesperson said. Uganda sent at least 1,700 troops to its neighbour in December - the largest foreign intervention in Congo in over a decade aside from a United Nations peacekeeping operation.
U.S.
A man armed with a rifle and a handgun killed four people inside a medical building in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday before fatally shooting himself, police said, in the latest of a series of mass shootings to rattle the United States.
The U.S. Department of Education says it will cancel all remaining federal student loans used to attend any campus of for-profit Corinthian Colleges Inc, which shut down in 2015 amid multiple federal and state investigations into whether it misled investors and students.
A New York woman who was injured during the April 12 mass shooting aboard a New York City subway car has sued Glock Inc, arguing the gun manufacturer should have known its weapons could be purchased by people with criminal intent.
North Carolina lawmakers advanced legislation that would prohibit classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for some public school students, a move decried by opponents as harmful to LGBTQ youth.
A federal judge has granted John Hinckley, the man who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan and three others in a 1981 assassination attempt, unconditional release from the remaining restrictions he faced, U.S. media reported.
| | | | | | | | | | | Video of the day  Greece's 'souvlaki' prices soar under inflation Averages prices for souvlaki have risen far faster than headline measures of inflation - hovering at a 28-year high at around 10% in Greece. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
