REUTERS - Daily Briefing, March 22, 2023 - Xi departs Moscow after a show of solidarity, Uganda passes a law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, and it's all eyes on a high-stakes Fed decision.

 

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Daily Briefing

Xi departs Moscow after a show of solidarity, Uganda passes a law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, and it's all eyes on a high-stakes Fed decision.   By Linda Noakes  -March 22, 2023

Today's Top News

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping leave after a reception in honor of the Chinese leader's visit to Moscow, March 21, 2023.

China's President Xi Jinping and Russia's President Vladimir Putin set their sights on shaping a new world order as the Chinese leader left Moscow, having made no direct support for Putin's war in Ukraine during his two-day visit. We spoke to Ukrainians near the frontlines who are facing the daily dilemma of whether to stay or go. About half of Americans believe a New York investigation into whether Donald Trump paid hush money to a porn star is politically motivated, but a large majority find the allegations believable, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll found. We look at how Trump will use the Stormy Daniels case to fire up his campaign for the 2024 election. North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles off its east coast, South Korea's military said, the latest in a series of weapons tests as South Korean and the U.S. forces conduct joint military exercises. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to win parliamentary approval for a key element of a post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland, a victory tainted by a lack of support from the province's biggest unionist party and some of his lawmakers. The Israeli parliament paved the way for Jewish settlers' return to four settlements in the occupied West Bank by amending a 2005 law that ordered their evacuation, a move condemned by the Palestinian Authority and the European Union. Uganda's parliament passed a law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad powers to target gay Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence.

Business & Markets

U.S. authorities are set to consider steps to further strengthen financial stability today, along with scenarios to tackle the problems still facing regional lender First Republic Bank. While recent market turmoil has eased, the Federal Reserve's meeting is now the major focus, with traders split over whether the U.S. central bank will be forced to pause its hiking cycle. Swiss authorities imposed curbs on bonus payments for Credit Suisse employees, a move that will penalize bankers after a multi-billion-franc state rescue of the bank. British consumer price inflation unexpectedly rose to 10.4% in February, pushed up by drinks prices in pubs and restaurants, official data showed, a day before the Bank of England announces its latest decision on interest rates. Tensions over plans to transform Air India into a global airline with hundreds of new jets rippled across the aviation sector as foreign carriers clamored for more access to the world's fastest-growing economy. TikTok's chief executive will tell lawmakers the Chinese-owned short video app with more than 150 million American users has never, and would never, share U.S. user data with the Chinese government amid growing U.S. national security concerns.

And finally... The carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu is seen from a distance of about 12 miles during the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 mission on June 30, 2018

Two organic compounds essential for living organisms have been found in samples retrieved from the asteroid Ryugu, supporting the notion that some ingredients crucial for the advent of life arrived on Earth aboard rocks from space billions of years ago. Find out more about the discovery made by Japanese scientists.