Reuters: World

King Charles and Queen Camilla crowned in historic ceremony King Charles III was anointed and crowned on Saturday in Britain's biggest ceremonial event for seven decades, a sumptuous display of pageantry dating back 1,000 years. In front of a congregation of about 100 world leaders and a television audience of millions, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, slowly placed the 360-year-old St Edward's Crown on Charles' head as he sat upon a 14th-century throne in Westminster Abbey. Gun salutes were fired at the Tower of London and across the capital, the nation, in Gibraltar, Bermuda and on ships at sea. "God save King Charles. Long live King Charles. May the king live forever," the congregation at the abbey said after a trumpet fanfare. read more

Biden says not yet ready to invoke 14th Amendment to avoid debt default President Joe Biden said on Friday he was not yet ready to invoke the 14th Amendment to avoid the United States defaulting on its debts as early as June 1, comments which for the first time suggested he has not ruled out the option. "I've not gotten there yet," Biden said in an interview with MSNBC when asked about the possibility of invoking the amendment. The divided U.S. Congress is running out of time to raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, with the Treasury Department warning it could be unable to pay its bills as soon as June 1. read more

WHO declares end to COVID global health emergency The World Health Organization ended the global emergency status for COVID-19 on Friday more than three years after its original declaration, and said countries should now manage the virus that killed more than 6.9 million people along with other infectious diseases. The global health agency's Emergency Committee met on Thursday and recommended the UN organization declare an end to the coronavirus crisis as a "public health emergency of international concern" - its highest level of alert - which has been in place since Jan. 30, 2020. "It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that the end of the emergency did not mean COVID was over as a global health threat. read more

Russian mercenary chief says fighters to leave Ukraine's Bakhmut to 'lick wounds' Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia's Wagner Group mercenary force, said in a dramatic announcement on Friday that his forces would pull out of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that they have been trying to capture since last summer. Prigozhin said they would withdraw on May 10 - ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war - because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He asked defence chiefs to insert regular army troops in their place. "I declare on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that on May 10, 2023, we are obliged to transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the defence ministry and withdraw the remains of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds," Prigozhin said in a statement. read more

China assures Russia, India of deepening 'cooperation' Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang assured his Russian and Indian counterparts of deepening bilateral ties, promising that "coordination and cooperation" will only grow stronger, in a show of solidarity with two of China's biggest neighbours. Qin met in India on Thursday with other foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a bloc of nations spanning most of Eurasia, with Beijing seeking to preserve stable relations with countries in the region as ties with the West, particularly Washington, remain tense. The United States has long urged China to help resolve the war in Ukraine even though Beijing has refused to denounce Russia's military moves as an invasion. In a landmark move last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke directly with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time since Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine. read more

Exclusive: Israel seized Binance crypto accounts to 'thwart' Islamic State, document shows Israel has seized around 190 crypto accounts at crypto exchange Binance since 2021, including two it said were linked to Islamic State and dozens of others it said were owned by Palestinian firms connected to the Islamist Hamas group, documents released by the country's counter-terror authorities show. Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) on Jan. 12 confiscated two Binance accounts and their contents, one of the documents on the NBCTF's website showed. The seizure was to "thwart the activity" of Islamic State and "impair its ability to further its goals," the NBCTF said on its website. The NBCTF document, which has not been previously reported, did not give any details on the value of the crypto seized, nor how the accounts were connected to Islamic State. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, did not respond to Reuters' calls and emails seeking comment. read more

Moscow says US behind Kremlin drone attack, Russian forces target Kyiv Russia said on Thursday that the United States was behind what it says was a drone attack on the Kremlin that aimed to kill President Vladimir Putin, while Moscow's forces fired more combat drones at Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in The Hague after visiting the International Court of Justice (ICC), said that Putin must be brought to justice over the war and said Kyiv would work to create a new tribunal for this purpose. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, without providing evidence, said Ukraine had acted on U.S. orders with the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin citadel in the early hours of Wednesday. read more

Mexico president asks Biden to stop USAID funding opposition groups Mexico's president asked his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to stop the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from funding groups hostile to his government, according to a letter presented to journalists on Wednesday, echoing previous Mexican criticism of U.S. interventionism. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador did not specify which Mexican groups the U.S. should stop funding, but he has in the past accused several media organizations of being part of a conservative movement against his government. "The U.S. government, specifically though USAID, has for some time been financing organizations openly against the legal and legitimate government I represent," he said in the letter. read more

Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week in Gulf -U.S. Navy Iran has seized a second oil tanker in a week on Wednesday in Gulf waters, the U.S. Navy said, the latest escalation in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels in Gulf waters since 2019. The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet of the U.S. Navy said the Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi was seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) at 6:20 a.m. (0220 GMT) while passing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz. In Iran's first response, Tehran's prosecutor announced the oil tanker was seized on a judicial order following a complaint by a plaintiff, the judiciary's Mizan news agency said. No further details were provided. read more

Gold hovers above $2,000 as Fed rate decision looms Gold prices held steady above the key $2,000 level on Wednesday, while investors turned their attention to the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due later in the day. Spot gold held its ground at $2,017.54 per ounce by 0335 GMT after rising more than 1% in the previous session, as yields dropped on renewed fears of contagion in the U.S. banking sector. U.S. gold futures were up 0.2% at $2,026.50. The Fed's rate decision will be announced at 1800 GMT. Investors mostly expect the U.S. central bank to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, but are looking for clues on its next steps. read more

US to temporarily send 1,500 troops to Mexico border President Joe Biden's administration will temporarily send 1,500 additional troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in preparation for a possible rise in illegal immigration when COVID-19 border restrictions lift later this month. The 90-day deployment of active-duty troops will supplement the work of the U.S. Border Patrol but not carry out law enforcement duties, Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement. They will conduct ground-based monitoring, data entry and warehouse support to free up border agents and "fill critical capability gaps," Ryder said. The force will be in addition to an ongoing deployment of about 2,500 National Guard troops. The so-called Title 42 restrictions, set to end on May 11, allow U.S. authorities to rapidly expel non-Mexican migrants to Mexico without the chance to seek asylum. read more

US may default on June 1 without debt ceiling hike; Biden, McCarthy to meet U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday summoned the four top congressional leaders to the White House next week after the Treasury warned the government could run short of cash to pay its bills by June. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter to Congress that the agency will be unlikely to meet all U.S. government payment obligations "potentially as early as June 1" without action by Congress. The estimate raised the risk that the United States is headed for an unprecedented default that would shake the global economy, adding new urgency to political calculations in Washington, where Democrats and Republicans were girding for a months-long standoff. read more