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The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) rose 0.5%, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) lost 0.1% as of 0807 GMT. Oil and gas (.FTNMX601010) added 0.8% as crude prices gained against the dollar, lifting oil giants BP Plc (BP.L) and Shell Plc (SHEL.L) 0.6% and 1.0%, respectively. "The FTSE 100 is falling in line with the positive sentiment we saw at the start of the week, overlooking the China-Taiwan tensions," said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at HYCM. While concerns over a potential recession in the U.S. amid persistent inflation have weighed on sentiment recently, the FTSE 100 has been on a positive streak, helped by commodity stocks and defensives including pharmaceuticals. Shares of West Africa-focused oil producer Tullow Oil (TLW.L) slid 2.9% on Jefferies' downgrade to "underperform" from "hold."

☆ Forty-four dead in two attacks in Burkina Faso
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OUAGADOUGOU, April 8 (Reuters) - Unknown assailants killed 44 people in two attacks in northern Burkina Faso overnight on Thursday, authorities said. It is not clear which group carried out Thursday's attacks. More than 2 million people are displaced and thousands have been killed by the violence in Burkina Faso, one of the world's poorest countries. The violence has since spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger and threatens to destabilise coastal countries further afield. Reporting by Thiam Ndiaga; Writing by Edward McAllister, Editing by Angus MacSwan and Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Houthi official says Saudi Arabia freed 13 detainees
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Mohammed Alghobari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Aden, April 8 (Reuters) - An official of Yemen's Houthi movement said on Saturday the group had received 13 detainees released by Saudi Arabia in exchange for a Saudi detainee freed earlier, ahead of a wider prisoner exchange agreed by the warring sides. Houthi official Abdul Qader al-Mortada said on Twitter the 13 detainees had arrived in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which is held by the Iranian -aligned Houthi group that has been battling a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia since 2015. At talks in Switzerland last month attended by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Yemen's Saudi-backed government and the Houthis agreed to free 887 detainees. A visit by Saudi officials would indicate progress in Oman-mediated talks between Riyadh and the Houthis, which run in parallel to U.N. peace efforts, as well as a reduction in tensions after Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore relations. The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

☆ UK PM Sunak to meet President Biden in Northern Ireland
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Phil Nobel/PoolLONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet Joe Biden in Northern Ireland next week when the U.S. president flies in to take part in events to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace accord. Sunak will greet Biden on Tuesday evening when Air Force One lands for what will be a closely watched visit to both sides of the Irish border at a time of heightened political uncertainty in Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement - signed on April 10, 1998 - largely ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed that had convulsed Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. However the anniversary has been overshadowed by a year-long boycott by Northern Ireland's largest pro-British unionist party of the power-sharing devolved government central to the peace deal. Although that deal has so far failed to restore the devolved government in Northern Ireland, Sunak will seek to bolster his support for the province by announcing a summit later in the year to stimulate international investment.

☆ Hundreds attend Moscow funeral of pro-war blogger
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Russia charged Darya Trepova, 26, on Tuesday with terrorist offences over the killing of Tatarsky in the St Petersburg cafe where he had been due to talk. [1/5] People attend the funeral of Russian military blogger Maxim Fomin widely known by the name of Vladlen Tatarsky, who was recently killed in a bomb attack in a St Petersburg cafe, in Moscow, Russia, April 8, 2023. Tatarsky made extensive reporting trips to the front lines in Ukraine and had ties to Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who on Saturday thanked the blogger on behalf of his fighters. The Wagner group has been spearheading efforts in recent months to capture the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the cafe bomb blast and instead blamed "domestic terrorism" in Russia.

☆ Blinken to visit Vietnam next week, US senator says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HANOI, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Vietnam next week, Senator Jeff Merkley told a news conference in Hanoi on Saturday, as part of Washington's efforts to move diplomatic relations with Hanoi on to a higher level this year. The United States is hoping to upgrade relations with Hanoi this year, ideally to coincide with the 10th anniversary in July of its comprehensive partnership with Vietnam. "Next week the Secretary of State will be here," Senator Merkley told reporters during a visit to Vietnam by a delegation of U.S. lawmakers aimed at boosting relations with Hanoi. Blinken is expected to visit Vietnam, likely on Saturday, before he heads to a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries in Japan on April 16-18. Before the call, multiple analysts had said Vietnam was cautious about an upgrade this year fearing that could cause tensions with China.

☆ Thousands join Israeli judicial protests in shadow of attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Rami Amichay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] People wearing red, stand in a line during a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist coalition government's judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 8, 2023. REUTERS/Ilan RosenbergTEL AVIV, April 8 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court, despite heightened security worries after two deadly attacks a day earlier. In central Tel Aviv, crowds waving the blue and white Israeli flags that have become a hallmark of the protests over the past three months gathered in a show of defiance against plans they see as an existential threat to Israeli democracy. "We're still going to come here and say loud and clear that we will not let this reform pass." Before the protests, police had urged people to leave roads clear to allow emergency services to move freely following Friday's car-ramming on a popular shoreline promenade in Tel Aviv.

☆ Explainer: After COVID and drug shortages, EU revamps drug laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The Commission aims to publish a draft - the biggest overhaul of existing medical laws in two decades - on April 26. A Commission spokesperson said: "The Commission will put forward a balanced and patient-centred proposal, whilst fully supporting an innovative and competitive industry." If the EU health regulator approves a new use for the medicine, they get another year, bringing the total to 11. Fourteen member states have written to the Commission, criticising the idea as costly and harmful for consumers as it could disrupt the generic drugs market. Once the Commission publishes the draft, the European Parliament, Commission and member states will thrash out final details.

☆ In the spotlight: London hosts Olivier Awards for theatre
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Paul Mescal arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar party after the 95th Academy Awards, known as the Oscars, in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., March 12, 2023. The London theatre community will gather at the Royal Albert Hall for the annual ceremony, named after the famed British actor Laurence Olivier and which celebrates the best productions in the capital. These include nods for best entertainment or comedy play, choreography, directing, costume design and music, as well as a best actress nomination for Mei Mac, who plays younger sibling, four-year-old Mei. Paul Mescal, who was nominated at this year's Oscars, has been recognised in the best actor category for playing Stanley Kowalski in a revival of Tennessee Williams' “A Streetcar Named Desire”. "Killing Eve" star Comer is up for best actress in one-woman play "Prima Facie", in which she portrays a barrister who defends men accused of sexual assault before herself being assaulted.

☆ Zelenskiy says Russian UN Security Council presidency is absurd
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERSKYIV, April 1 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said it was absurd Russia had assumed the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, adding this showed the institution's "total bankruptcy". On Saturday Russia took over the presidency of the U.N.'s top security body, which rotates every month. "And at the same time Russia is chairing the U.N. Security Council. Zelenskiy said it was time for a general overhaul of global institutions, including the Security Council. "It is very telling that on the holiday of one terror state – Iran - another terror state – Russia – begins to preside over the U.N. Security Council," Yermak wrote on Twitter, referring to Iran's Islamic Republic Day holiday.

☆ Pakistan army says 'terrorists' from Iran side kill four soldiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

QUETTA, Pakistan, April 1 (Reuters) - Pakistan's army said on Saturday that attackers from Iran killed four of its border patrol soldiers. "A group of terrorists operating from Iranian side attacked a routine border patrol of Pakistani security forces operating along Pakistan-Iran Border," the army said in a statement. The incident took place in Kech district in southwestern Baluchistan province, which shares a long lawless border with Afghanistan and Iran. The army said Pakistani authorities were making contact with Iran to seek ways of preventing such incidents in future. The Baluch groups operate on both side of the border.

☆ Raisi says hijab is the law in Iran as unveiled women face 'yoghurt attack'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 1 (Reuters) - President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that the hijab was the law in Iran after a viral video showed a man throwing yoghurt at two unveiled women in a shop near a holy Shi'ite Muslim city. They were also the subject of arrest warrants for flouting Iran's strict female dress rules, state media reported. Videos of unveiled women resisting the morality police have flooded social media. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei earlier threatened to prosecute "without mercy" women who appear in public unveiled, Iranian media reported. It urged citizens to confront unveiled women.

☆ Brazil's Energisa wins Espirito Santo gas firm at privatization auction
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SAO PAULO, March 31 (Reuters) - Brazilian energy company Energisa Transmissao de Energia SA (ENGI11.SA) won ownership of natural gas firm ESGas at a privatization auction on Friday, buying stakes from the state government and Vibra Energia (VBBR3.SA). Energisa offered 1.42 billion reais ($280 million) for Companhia de Distribuiçao de Gas do Espirito Santo, as it is formally known, marking a 7.28% premium from its minimum fixed grant value. ESGas is responsible for the distribution of piped natural gas to more than 60,000 consumer units in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo, with residential, commercial, industrial, automotive, air conditioning and thermoelectric businesses. ($1 = 5.0744 reais)Reporting by Letícia Fucuchima; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Giles Elgood Editing by Sarah MorlandOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are escorted by police officers outside the headquarters of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, in Bucharest, Romania, February 1, 2023. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERSBUCHAREST, March 31 (Reuters) - Social media personality Andrew Tate will be moved to house arrest on Friday evening after a Romanian court overturned prosecutors' request to keep him in police custody until late April, his lawyer said on Friday. Earlier this week, the same Bucharest court of appeals denied the Tate brothers' request to be released on bail. In previous rulings that extended their stay in police custody, judges have said the Tate brothers posed a flight risk and that their release could jeopardise the investigation. Prosecutors have said the Tate brothers recruited their alleged victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage.

☆ Johnson & Johnson unit loses bid to stay in bankruptcy during Supreme Court appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Johnson & Johnson FollowMarch 31 (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Friday declined to delay the dismissal of a Johnson & Johnson company's (JNJ.N) bankruptcy, directing the bankruptcy to be dismissed despite a planned U.S. Supreme Court appeal that could revive the company's effort to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products in bankruptcy. J&J maintains its consumer talc products are safe and asbestos-free. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia ruled that LTL's bankruptcy should be dismissed because neither LTL nor J&J had a legitimate need for bankruptcy protection because they were not in "financial distress." LTL asked the 3rd Circuit to delay its ruling from taking effect until the company has time to pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 3rd Circuit denied that request in a brief written order Friday, instead directing the a U.S. bankruptcy judge to close LTL's bankruptcy case.

PRETORIA/CAPE TOWN, March 31 (Reuters) - South Africans took to the streets of Pretoria and Cape Town on Friday to protest against a Ugandan law passed last week that makes it a criminal offence to be openly LGBTQ. Singing and waving flags, demonstrators called on Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, not to sign it. "Queer people don't owe anyone anything, but we also deserve to live just like everyone else. You can't strip all our rights. Reporting by Catherine Schenck and Esa Alexander, Writing by Rachel Savage Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Elderly Swiss women bring European court's first climate case
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

STRASBOURG, March 29 (Reuters) - Thousands of elderly Swiss women have joined forces in a groundbreaking case heard on Wednesday at the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that their government's "woefully inadequate" efforts to fight global warming violate their human rights. More than 100 supporters and climate activists from Greenpeace gathered outside the courtroom, holding banners and flowers. Stefanie Brander, a member of the association Senior Women for Climate Protection, said that she felt the government had underestimated the group until now. [1/8] A group from the Senior Women for Climate Protection association hold banners outside the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France March 29, 2023. The Swiss government, which twice won in domestic courts in a six-year legal battle, has argued that the case is inadmissible.

☆ Equatorial Guinea confirms 13 Marburg cases after WHO comments
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, March 29 (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea has confirmed 13 cases of Marburg disease since the beginning of the epidemic, its health officials said on Wednesday after the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) urged the Central African country's government to report new cases officially. Marburg virus disease is a viral haemorrhagic fever that can have a fatality rate of up to 88%, according to the WHO. Marburg is passed on to people from fruit bats and is from the same virus family responsible for the deadly Ebola disease. "WHO is aware of additional cases and we have asked the government to report these cases officially to WHO," its director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier on Wednesday. There is also an outbreak of Marburg virus in Tanzania, where eight cases including five deaths have been reported in the northwest Kagera region, WHO has said.

Shops and banks closed early on Wednesday as the West African nation braced for fresh protests over a court case that has fuelled tension and violence ahead of presidential elections next year. Violence broke out on the day of Sonko's last court appearance on March 16, as police fired tear gas at supporters accompanying his motorcade to the courthouse. Sonko has called for more nationwide protests on Wednesday, Thursday and April 3. Police fired several rounds of tear gas and stun grenades forcing mostly student protesters to retreat into the campus from where they hurled rocks. He is also on trial for allegedly raping a beauty salon employee in 2021 and making death threats against her.

☆ French prosecutors search bank offices over dividend stripping
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The PNF financial prosecution office said in a statement the probe was linked to so-called "cum-ex" dividend stripping, a trading scheme whereby banks and investors swiftly trade shares of companies around their dividend payout day. The searches by French prosecutors are the latest to hit global banks as similar investigations have been conducted in other European countries, including Germany. It was the highest-profile prosecution and longest sentence to date in a series of trials that have also convicted British bankers. It said six German prosecutors were also assisting the investigations. Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, Blandine Hénault and Sudip Kar-Gupta; writing by Silvia Aloisi, Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Israel's Netanyahu buys time, but is still in a fix
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Angus Mcdowall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

It shows the dilemma facing Israel's longest-serving prime minister, who managed a comeback last year, brushing aside an ongoing corruption scandal and the political obituaries written after his last coalition collapsed in 2020. Announcing the delay of the judicial law on television, Netanyahu cited the wisdom of Solomon to say he would extend a hand for dialogue. With polls showing his coalition would lose any new election, Netanyahu can meanwhile count on little goodwill from old foes and former allies still sore from previous encounters. Netanyahu describes the cases as politically motivated, denies wrongdoing and says they are not linked to his judicial reforms. His coalition partners include hard-right supporters of Jewish settlers, who have dismayed Israel's foreign allies with harsh statements about Palestinians.

☆ Myanmar junta dissolves Suu Kyi's party as election deadline passes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the opening session of the 31st ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines, November 13, 2017. "It doesn't matter whether they say our party is dissolved or not. The shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which the junta has declared "terrorists", said the military had no authority to hold what would be a sham election. The election would return Myanmar to the quasi-civilian democratic system that experts say the military can control with the NLD out of the picture. Richard Horsey, senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, said the election was dangerous for the country.

☆ Swiss finance minister defends rushed banking takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"Credit Suisse would not have survived Monday," Karin Keller-Sutter said, explaining the need to find a swift solution for Credit Suisse's woes. Last Sunday it was announced that UBS (UBSG.S) had agreed to buy its rival Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.23 billion) in stock and agreed to assume up to 5 billion francs ($5.4 billion) in losses in a merger engineered by Swiss authorities to prevent more market turmoil in global banking. Shareholders, for example, who would normally get a say in such a takeover were largely bypassed, which has angered some of them. Keller-Sutter said the Swiss government's executive Federal Council "only went as far as was absolutely necessary to achieve the goal of stabilisation". ($1 = 0.9199 Swiss francs)Reporting by Noele Illien Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia pardons 5,000 former criminals after fighting in Ukraine, Prigozhin says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, March 25 (Reuters) - More than 5,000 former criminals have been pardoned after finishing their contracts to fight in Russia's Wagner mercenary group against Ukraine, the founder of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Saturday. Wagner Group, originally staffed by battle-hardened veterans of the Russian armed forces, took on a much more prominent role in the Ukraine war after the Russian army suffered a series of humiliating defeats last year. "At the present time, more than 5,000 people have been released on pardon after completing their contracts with Wagner," Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said in an audio clip posted on Telegram. The United States casts Prigozhin as an oligarch and has sanctioned him for attempts to interfere in U.S. elections and for spreading Russian disinformation across the globe. It dismisses Western criticism of what it says are sometimes harsh methods and strict discipline by pointing to the use of private military contractors by the United States and its allies around the world.

☆ Israeli defence minister calls for halt on judicial overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, March 25 (Reuters) - Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday called on the government to halt legislation on changes to the judiciary, saying the bitter dispute over the measures poses a danger to the country. Israel has been gripped by mass protests since the government announced its judicial plans in January. The judicial overhaul has also stirred concern abroad about Israel's democratic health. Gallant said he supported reforms of the justice system but they must be done with broad agreement. Gallant's statement showed cracks in Netanyahu's coalition, with far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir calling on the premier to fire Gallant soon after his remarks.

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