Reuters World News Summary

Under President Joe Biden, Washington has resisted calls by WTO members to approve appointments and has instead been leading negotiations on how to reboot the WTO's dispute system. Russia unleashes missiles, drones at Ukraine after Kyiv secures tanks, 11 dead Ukrainian civilians raced for cover on Thursday as Russia fired a barrage of missiles and drones across the country, killing at least 11 people, according to officials, a day after Kyiv won Western pledges of battlefield tanks to combat Moscow's invasion.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

U.S. toughens sanctions against Russia's Wagner mercenary group

The United States on Thursday stepped up sanctions against the Wagner Group, labeling the Russian mercenary company fighting in Ukraine as a transnational criminal organization responsible for widespread human rights abuses. Wagner has been locked in a battle to take the towns of Bakhmut and Soledar in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, where Western and Ukrainian officials have said it is using convicts as cannon fodder.

Race against the clock for Germany's top Nazi hunter

Germany's top Nazi hunter, Thomas Will, is hopeful of securing further convictions over the Holocaust even as the remaining suspects, many now in their late 90s, die. Will told Reuters that he has handed over five cases to local prosecutors in Germany that he believes still have a chance of going to trial.

Blasts near Ukraine nuclear plant, says UN watchdog; Russia calls it provocation

The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog on Thursday reported powerful explosions near Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and renewed calls for a security zone around the plant. A Russian official dismissed the comments by Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying they suggested Moscow could not uphold nuclear safety.

FDA advisers back the same COVID vaccine for initial shots, boosters

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday unanimously voted in favor of targeting the same coronavirus strain for initial COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters going forward, but some expressed skepticism about whether all Americans need to receive the shots annually. The agency is trying to simplify its COVID-19 vaccine policy as it considers whether to recommend Americans get an annual booster shot for the virus. But several members of the expert advisory group asked for more robust data on benefits of annual shots for younger, healthier people.

U.S. wants World Trade Organization dispute system fixed by 2024

The United States is entering a third phase of talks with countries to reform the World Trade Organization's (WTO) hobbled trade dispute arbitration system and aims for it to be "fully functioning" by the end of 2024, the U.S. ambassador to the WTO told Reuters on Thursday. The WTO's appeals bench, which rules on top disputes, has been mothballed for over two years due to Trump-era blockages of adjudicator appointments. Under President Joe Biden, Washington has resisted calls by WTO members to approve appointments and has instead been leading negotiations on how to reboot the WTO's dispute system.

Russia unleashes missiles, drones at Ukraine after Kyiv secures tanks, 11 dead

Ukrainian civilians raced for cover on Thursday as Russia fired a barrage of missiles and drones across the country, killing at least 11 people, according to officials, a day after Kyiv won Western pledges of battlefield tanks to combat Moscow's invasion. The German and American announcements they would send dozens of tanks infuriated Russia, which in the past has responded to apparent Ukrainian successes with massed air strikes that left millions without light, heat or water.

More than 160 Afghans die in bitterly cold weather

More than 160 people have died from the cold in Afghanistan this month in the worst winter in more than a decade, authorities said on Thursday, as residents described being unable to afford fuel to heat homes in temperatures well below freezing. "162 people have died due to cold weather since January 10 until now," said Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Minister of Disaster Management. About 84 of the deaths had taken place in the last week.

Haiti police block streets, break into airport to protest officer killings

Haitian police officers on Thursday blocked streets and forced their way into the country's main airport to protest the recent killing of officers by armed gangs expanding their grip on the Caribbean nation. Protesters in civilian clothes who identified themselves as police first attacked Prime Minister Ariel Henry's official residence, according to a Reuters witness, and then flooded the airport as Henry was arriving from a trip to Argentina.

Israeli troops kill 7 Palestinian gunmen, 2 civilians in Jenin clash, Palestinians say

Israeli commandos killed seven gunmen and two civilians in a raid on a flashpoint town in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian officials said, stirring fear of further flare-ups after the largest single death toll in years of fighting. The Palestinian Authority said it was ending its security coordination with Israel, which is widely credited with helping to keep order in the West Bank and preventing attacks against Israel. It has frozen the cooperation numerous times in a sign of protest.

Analysis-Lebanese elite bury blast probe, pushing fragile state closer to edge

In their move to bury an investigation into the Beirut port blast, Lebanon's ruling elite have driven another nail in the coffin of the collapsing state, stirring conflict in the judiciary as they try to avoid accountability at any cost. Long-simmering tensions over the investigation have boiled over since Judge Tarek Bitar brought charges against some of the most influential people in the land, defying political pressure as he resumed his inquiry.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)