Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Reuters Daily Briefing :The death toll from a rail crash in Greece rises to 36, Bola Tinubu defends his win in the Nigerian presidential election, and China's manufacturing activity expands at the fastest pace in more than a decade.

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The death toll from a rail crash in Greece rises to 36, Bola Tinubu defends his win in the Nigerian presidential election, and China's manufacturing activity expands at the fastest pace in more than a decade.

by Edson Caldas

World News

Rescue crews operate at the site of a crash, where two trains collided, near the city of Larissa, Greece, March 1, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis

A passenger train and a cargo train collided head-on in Greece, killing at least 36 people. The death toll was expected to rise further, as derailed carriages, badly damaged with broken windows and thick plumes of smoke, could be seen on the site. Witnesses said they felt a strong shudder, then a bang, then chaos.
Nigeria's new president-elect, Bola Tinubu, defended the integrity of the national election that he won, and called on citizens to unite around him after a bitter dispute over results opposition parties have said are flawed. Here's how he went from the "godfather" of Lagos to president-elect.
The death toll in Turkey from last month's devastating earthquake has risen to 45,089, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said, bringing the total toll including Syria to about 51,000. We took a look at how Turkey has been rattled by thousands of aftershocks.
Russian forces carried out relentless attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in their quest for a breakthrough in the war, although one U.S. official predicted few short-term territorial gains for Russia. A takeover of the city would open the way to seizing the last remaining urban centers in the Donetsk province. Follow the latest on the conflict.
The war will play a big role at the G20 foreign ministers meeting, but host India is confident that economic challenges created by the conflict will get equal attention. The event is held days after a meeting of finance chiefs of the bloc, where they wrangled over condemning Russia, failed to reach a consensus on a joint statement and settled instead for a summary document.
Police have arrested six suspects over a settler rampage in the occupied West Bank earlier this week that an Israeli general described as a "pogrom" and which followed a deadly Palestinian gun attack. Today the Reuters World News podcast looks at the spiral of violence in the occupied West Bank and the risk of further escalation.

U.S. News

A sign calling for student loan debt relief is seen in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, February 28, 2023. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

The skepticism expressed by conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices toward President Joe Biden's move to forgive $430 billion in student debt not only cast doubt on the plan's fate but also signaled trouble ahead for the use of executive power to get things done in his remaining time in office.
Closing arguments are set to start in the trial of Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, the now-disbarred South Carolina lawyer charged with gunning down his wife and son in a complex and grisly case that has garnered international attention.
The Biden administration is expected to recommend for approval a rule that would allow expanded sales of gasoline with a higher ethanol blend in certain U.S. Midwest states, based on a request from governors in those states, four sources familiar with the matter said.
The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said he opposed a Republican bill that would give Biden the power to ban Chinese-owned social media app TikTok and other apps. The committee delayed a vote on the measure until today.
Ghislaine Maxwell asked a U.S. appeals court to throw out her conviction for helping the financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls, saying she was immune from prosecution and citing a slew of errors that allegedly tainted her trial.
Los Angeles County will pay the wife of late basketball star Kobe Bryant nearly $29 million to settle a lawsuit over allegations that sheriff officers and firefighters shared gruesome photos of the helicopter crash that killed Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter.

Business & Markets

Employees work on a production line at a factory of SMC Corporation during an organized media tour in Beijing, China, January 10, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

China's manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in more than a decade in February, an official index showed today, smashing expectations as production zoomed after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions late last year. World stocks rebounded following the news.
Tesla is readying a production revamp of its top-selling Model Y, according to three people with knowledge of the plan. Chief Executive Elon Musk has said he will discuss the third part of Tesla's "Master Plan" when the company holds an investor day event today.
General Motors is cutting hundreds of executive-level and salaried jobs as it looks to cut costs and streamline operations, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters. The global reductions are in the "low hundreds," the person said.
India's Adani Group has told creditors it has secured a $3 billion loan from a sovereign wealth fund, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The news comes a day after Adani management told bondholders that it expected to prepay or repay share-backed loans worth $690 million to $790 million by the end of March.
Construction equipment maker Caterpillar said it reached a tentative six-year labor agreement with a union that represents workers at its four facilities. Union workers had threatened to strike for wage increases, improved safety measures and better healthcare benefits.