Reuters: World

North Korea launches missiles from submarine as U.S.-South Korean drills begin Nuclear-armed North Korea test-fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine on Sunday, state news agency KCNA said on Monday, just as U.S.-South Korea military drills were due to begin. "Strategic" is typically used to describe weapons that have a nuclear capability. KCNA said the launch confirmed the reliability of the system and tested the underwater offensive operations of the submarine units that form part of North Korea's nuclear deterrent. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military was on high alert and the country's intelligence agency was working with its U.S. counterpart to analyse the specifics of the launch. read more

UK races to minimise damage from Silicon Valley Bank collapse British finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Sunday he was working with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey to "avoid or minimise damage" resulting from the chaos engulfing the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank. Friday's dramatic failure of the U.S. bank SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O), which focuses on tech startups, was the biggest in the U.S. since the 2008 financial crisis. Given the importance of the bank to some customers, its collapse could have a significant impact on British technology companies, Hunt said. read more

Ukraine, Russia say hundreds of enemy troops killed in battle for Bakhmut Ukraine and Russia claimed on Saturday that hundreds of enemy troops were killed over the previous 24 hours in the fight for Bakhmut, with Kyiv fending off unabating attacks and a small river that bisects the town now marking the new front line. Serhiy Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, said that 221 pro-Moscow troops were killed and more than 300 wounded in Bakhmut. Russia's defence ministry said that up to 210 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the broader Donetsk part of the frontline. While Moscow did not specify Bakhmut casualties, the eastern Donetsk town, now nearly deserted, has been the site of one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the year-long war. read more

Bank of England seeks to wind up Silicon Valley Bank's UK arm The Bank of England said on Friday that it was seeking a court order to place Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited into an insolvency procedure, after U.S. regulators took over its parent company, SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O), earlier in the day. "SVB UK has a limited presence in the UK and no critical functions supporting the financial system. In the interim, the firm will stop making payments or accepting deposits," the BoE said. Under insolvency proceedings for banks in Britain, some depositors are eligible for up to 85,000 pounds ($102,000) of compensation for lost deposits, or 170,000 pounds for joint accounts. read more

Britain's King Charles hands Duke of Edinburgh title to Prince Edward Britain's King Charles named his younger brother Prince Edward as the new Duke of Edinburgh on Friday, handing him the title last held by their father Prince Philip, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. Edward, 59 on Friday, becomes the latest member of the royal family to be granted a new title since Charles became king in September after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth. William, Charles's eldest son and heir to the throne, was named Prince of Wales, while the children of his second son Harry, no longer a working royal, were officially named as prince and princess earlier this week. read more

German gunman kills 7 including unborn child at Jehovah's Witness hall - police A gunman in Germany shot dead seven people including an unborn child before killing himself at a Jehovah's Witness worship hall in the city of Hamburg, police and prosecutors said on Friday. The 35-year-old, a German citizen and former Jehovah's Witness, used a semi-automatic pistol he had legally owned since December in the shooting on Thursday evening, a Hamburg state prosecutor said at a joint news conference with police. The victims included four men and two women, and an unborn female child, the prosecutor said. Hamburg police said the mother survived. read more

Mexican cartel says sorry for attack on Americans, bodies return to US Suspected drug cartel members on Thursday handed over five purported henchmen as a would-be apology for the abduction of four Americans in the border city of Matamoros, according to media and a source familiar with the investigation. Two of the Americans and a Mexican woman died after gunmen opened fire on the U.S. citizens shortly after their arrival in Matamoros on Friday. The four Americans were found on Monday on the edge of the city, by which time two of them were dead. Mexican officials gave the bodies of the two dead men, identified as Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, to U.S. officials in Matamoros on Thursday afternoon, and they were taken across the border into the U.S., a Reuters witness said. read more

Malaysia's ex-PM Muhyiddin arrested, to face multiple graft charges Malaysia's anti-corruption agency on Thursday arrested former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and said it would charge him with multiple counts of corruption, a move his supporters said was vengeful and designed to weaken him politically. The arrest, just three months after Muhyiddin lost a closely fought general election to Anwar Ibrahim, is likely to increase political tensions in Malaysia, which has seen four prime ministers since 2018. Muhyuddin will be charged under laws related to abuse of power and money laundering in a Kuala Lumpur court on Friday over an economic recovery project launched by his government, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said. read more

Exclusive: Australia expected to buy up to 5 Virginia class submarines as part of AUKUS Australia is expected to buy up to five U.S. Virginia class nuclear powered submarines in the 2030's as part of a landmark defense agreement between Washington, Canberra and London, four U.S. officials said on Wednesday, in a deal that would present a new challenge to China. The agreement, known as the AUKUS pact, will have multiple stages with at least one U.S. submarine visiting Australian ports in the coming years and end in the late 2030's with a new class of submarines being built with British designs and American technology, one of the officials said. U.S. President Joe Biden will host leaders of Australia and Britain in San Diego on Monday to chart a way forward for provision of the nuclear-powered submarines and other high-tech weaponry to Australia. read more

Putin's cellist friend moved millions through Swiss bank accounts -prosecutors A concert cellist linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin moved millions of francs through Swiss bank accounts without any proper checks, Swiss prosecutors said on Wednesday at the start of a trial of four bankers accused of helping him. Prosecutors alleged that Sergey Roldugin, a close friend of the Russian president, deposited millions of francs in Swiss bank accounts between 2014 and 2016. The four bankers - three Russians who worked in Zurich and one Swiss - appeared at Zurich District Court on Wednesday and denied charges of lacking diligence in financial transactions. They cannot be identified under Swiss reporting restrictions. read more

U.S. judge rules Missouri state gun law is unconstitutional A Missouri state law that declared several federal gun laws "invalid" is unconstitutional, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Tuesday, handing the U.S. Justice Department a victory in its bid to get the law tossed out. At issue was a measure Republican Governor Mike Parson signed into law in 2021 that declared that certain federal gun laws infringed on the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes in Jefferson City, Missouri, said the state's Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) violates the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause, which holds that federal laws take priority over conflicting state laws. read more

Pentagon chief pledges continued U.S. troop presence in Iraq U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, making an unannounced trip to Iraq on Tuesday nearly 20 years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, said Washington was committed to keeping its military presence in the country The 2003 invasion led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and created instability that eventually paved the way for the rise of Islamic State militants after the U.S. withdrew its forces in 2011. Austin, the most senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration to visit Iraq, was the last commanding general of U.S. forces there after the invasion. read more