Reuters: World

New Zealand to seize black boxes from LATAM Boeing 787 as passengers recount incident New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission said on Tuesday it was seizing the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of a LATAM Airlines (LTM.SN), opens new tab Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab 787 after an incident that left more than 50 people injured. The airline and passengers aboard the Sydney-Auckland flight on Monday said the plane with 263 passengers and nine crew members on board dropped abruptly mid-air. read more

Trump won't give money to Ukraine if elected, says Hungary's Orban Former U.S. leader Donald Trump will not give money to help Ukraine fight Russia if he wins the presidency again and that will hasten an end to the war, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after meeting him. Nationalist premier Orban, who is backing his long-time ally's bid to return to White House, met Trump in Florida on Friday. "He will not give a penny into the Ukraine-Russia war and therefore the war will end," Orban told state television late on Sunday. "As it is obvious that Ukraine on its own cannot stand on its feet." read more

Pope says Ukraine should have 'courage of the white flag' of negotiations Pope Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the "white flag" and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow's full-scale invasion two years ago and that has killed tens of thousands. Francis made his comments in an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI, well before Friday's latest offer by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war. read more

'Dragon Ball' creator Akira Toriyama dies at 68 Japanese manga comic creator Akira Toriyama, known for such popular titles as "Dragon Ball" and "Dr. Slump", died of acute subdural hematoma on March 1, publisher Shueisha said on Friday. He was 68. "Dragon Ball", first published in Weekly Shonen Jump comic magazine in 1984, was later adopted into movies, video games and TV series, which were distributed in more than 80 countries. Toriyama was also known as a character and monster designer of the blockbuster role-playing game series "Dragon Quest". read more

Meta's Facebook, Instagram back up after global outage Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram were back up on Tuesday after a more than two-hour outage that was caused by a technical issue and impacted hundreds of thousands of users globally. The disruptions started at around 10 a.m. ET (1500 GMT), with many users saying on rival social media platform X they had been booted out of Facebook and Instagram and were unable to log in. The White House National Security Council was monitoring the incident and not aware of any specific malicious cyber activity at this time, a spokesperson said. read more

UN team says rape, gang rape likely occurred during Hamas attack on Israel A team of United Nations experts reported on Monday that there were "reasonable grounds to believe" sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred at several locations during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants. The team - led by U.N. special envoy for sexual violence in conflict Pramila Patten - visited Israel between Jan. 29 and Feb. 14 on a mission intended to gather, analyze and verify information on sexual violence linked to the Oct. 7 attacks. read more

Kamala Harris' blunt Gaza words reflect intense government frustration over war U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris bluntly called out Israel on Sunday for not doing enough to ease a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza as the Biden administration faces increasing pressure to rein in its close ally while it wages war with Hamas militants. Harris, speaking in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers beat U.S. civil rights marchers nearly six decades ago, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a 6-week cessation of hostilities. read more

Israel said to boycott Cairo ceasefire talks over hostage list Israel boycotted Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo on Sunday after Hamas rejected its demand for a complete list naming hostages that are still alive, an Israeli newspaper reported. A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for the talks, billed as a possible final hurdle before an agreement that would halt the fighting for six weeks. But by the evening there was no sign of the Israelis. "There is no Israeli delegation in Cairo," Ynet, the online version of Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, quoted unidentified Israeli officials as saying. "Hamas refuses to provide clear answers and therefore there is no reason to dispatch the Israeli delegation." read more

Rubymar cargo ship attacked by Houthis has sunk, Yemeni government says The Rubymar cargo ship, attacked last month, has sunk in the southern Red Sea, Yemen's internationally recognised government said in a statement on Saturday. If verified, it would be the first vessel lost since Houthi militants began targeting commercial shipping in November. The government statement said the ship sunk on Friday night and warned of an "environmental catastrophe". The ship was carrying more than 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it came under attack, the U.S. military's Central Command previously said. read more

South Korea publicly orders some doctors who walked off the job back to work South Korea's government late on Friday publicly ordered 13 doctors, at least some of whom have been vocal about a walkout by roughly 9,000 physicians over a health system reform plan, to return to work or face penalties. The public legal notice is the latest sign of the South Korean government's continued hardline stance toward trainee doctors participating in the walkout or criticising the reform plan, after local police raided officials of a doctor's association on Friday, a public holiday in South Korea. The health ministry posted on its website the license numbers and hospitals of 13 doctors, ordering them to return to work or potentially have their license suspended or face criminal charges. read more

Biden says US military to airdrop food and supplies into Gaza U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Friday plans to carry out a first military airdrop of food and supplies into Gaza, a day after the deaths of Palestinians queuing for aid threw a spotlight on an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the crowded coastal enclave. Biden said the U.S. airdrop would take place in the coming days but offered no further specifics. Other countries, including Jordan and France, have already carried out airdrops of aid into Gaza. read more

Iran election seen as legitimacy test for rulers as dissent grows Iran holds a parliamentary election on Friday seen as a test of the clerical establishment's popularity at a time of growing dissent over an array of political, social and economic crises. The vote will be the first formal gauge of public opinion after anti-government protests in 2022-23 spiralled into some of the worst political turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Critics from inside and outside the ruling elite, including politicians and former lawmakers, say the legitimacy of Iran's theocratic system could be at stake due to economic struggles and a lack of electoral options for a mostly young population chafing at political and social restrictions. read more