REUTERS Daily Briefing April 04, 2024 : NATO marks its 75th anniversary with a show of unity, chef Jose Andres says Israel targeted his aid workers "systematically," and the latest on Taiwan's strongest earthquake in 25 years.

 

Sign up for Reuters newsletters

Daily Briefing

NATO marks its 75th anniversary with a show of unity, chef Jose Andres says Israel targeted his aid workers "systematically," and the latest on Taiwan's strongest earthquake in 25 years.   Plus, currency markets are in a deep freeze. Rate cuts and Trump could thaw them.   By Edson Caldas

Today's Top News

The site where a building collapsed in Hualien, Taiwan. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

A helicopter plucked to safety six people stranded in a mining area after Taiwan's worst earthquake in 25 years, while hundreds of aftershocks drove scores more to seek shelter outdoors. The number of injured rose to 1,058. We look at why Taiwan was so well prepared for the quake. NATO foreign ministers are celebrating the 75th anniversary of their alliance, having agreed to start planning for a greater role in coordinating military aid to Ukraine. Under a proposal by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO would take over work done by a US-led ad-hoc coalition known as the Ramstein group. Russian drones hit high-rise apartment blocks and private homes in Kharkiv, killing at least four people in Ukraine's second-largest city, officials said. Separately, we report exclusively that US sanctions are hampering Russian efforts to repair refineries. Follow the latest on the war. ISRAEL AND HAMAS AT WAR Israel denies its air strike on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy which killed seven workers was deliberate. Jeff Mason joins the Reuters World News podcast to share his interview with chef Jose Andres, founder of the World Central Kitchen, who says Israel targeted his aid workers "systematically, car by car." Six months since Hamas gunmen stormed into southern Israel on a killing spree, Israel's ground campaign to annihilate the Islamist movement has turned much of the Gaza Strip into a wasteland with an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe. We have an explainer on what the issues are now. ENVIRONMENT The vast majority of recent carbon dioxide emissions can be traced to a group of just 57 producers. From 2016 to 2022, the 57 entities including nation-states, state-owned firms and investor-owned companies produced 80% of the world's CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and cement production, researchers said. The loss of primary forests - those untouched by people - in the tropics declined 9% last year compared to 2022. But other indicators show that the world's woodlands remain under tremendous pressure, according to an analysis by the Global Forest Watch monitoring project.

Business & Markets

Traders and investors are looking to global interest rate cuts and the US election to drag the world's currency markets from their deepest lull in almost four years. Measures of historical and expected volatility have sunk in recent months with the world's biggest central banks stuck in a holding pattern. Today brings new numbers on US weekly jobless claims for Jerome Powell and his Fed colleagues to chew on. Economists think the number will come in at 214,000, up slightly from the week before but in line with the average over the last six months - and hardly commensurate with a faltering labor market. Foreign investors pulled more than a trillion yen out of Japanese stocks last week, as some stocks went ex-dividend and expectations of currency market intervention by the Bank of Japan led to profit booking after a recent rally. It was the largest weekly net disposal since Sept. 29, 2023. With Walt Disney’s months-long proxy war with activist investor Nelson Peltz in the rear-view mirror, attention is refocused on finding CEO Bob Iger’s successor. The board has extended Iger's retirement date five times, continually deferring decisions about finding a replacement. In more news from the media industry, members of Paramount's board agreed on to enter into exclusive merger talks with Skydance, favoring the independent studio over a $26 billion offer from private equity firm Apollo Global Management, a person familiar with the matter said.

In Pictures

Migrants look for entry points at the US-Mexico border. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Alejandra, 32, feeds her one-year-old nephew Manuel as they sit near a fire to stay warm during cold and blustery weather. Like her, many migrants search for an entry point into the United States from along the bank of the Rio Grande River in El Paso, Texas. See our photo gallery.

And Finally...

One of the oldest books in existence expected to fetch over $2.6 million at auction. REUTERS/Andrew Hofstetter

A book from Egypt that was written at the dawn of Christianity and is considered one of the oldest books in existence will go up for auction in June in London. The Crosby-Schoyen Codex - written in Coptic on papyrus around 250-350 AD - has an estimated sale value of $2.6 million to $3.8 million. Read more here.