Reuters World News Summary

During a visit to Bucha, where forensic investigators started to exhume bodies from a mass grave, von der Leyen looked visibly moved by what she saw in the town northwest of Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian forces. Honduran judge approves extradition of ex-police boss to U.S. A Honduran judge on Friday signed off on the extradition of former police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla to the United States, where he is wanted for drug trafficking and use or possession of firearms.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Wife of UK finance minister agrees to stop avoiding UK tax

Akshata Murthy, the wife of British finance minister Rishi Sunak, said on Friday that she would stop avoiding British tax on her foreign income -- bowing to pressure which her husband had earlier dismissed as a political smear. The public anger over Murthy's tax status has been heightened by her husband's decision to increase payroll taxes at a time when surging inflation leaves Britons facing the biggest cost-of-living squeeze since records began in 1956.

Ukraine demands tough global response to train station missile strike

Ukraine called for more weapons and harsher sanctions after it blamed Russia for a missile attack that killed at least 52 people at a train station packed with women, children and the elderly fleeing the threat of a Russian offensive in the east. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike in Kramatorsk in the eastern region of Donetsk a deliberate attack on civilians. The city's mayor estimated about 4,000 people were gathered there at the time.

France's Macron makes last-minute appeal to voters as Le Pen reaches all-time high in poll

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday appealed to younger, progressive-leaning voters in his last scheduled interview before Sunday's first-round presidential vote while his forecast lead over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen further evaporated. "When it comes to correcting social inequalities at their root, we have begun the work, but we are very far from having succeeded," he told online news outlet Brut in a long interview, pledging also to do more to fight climate change.

U.S. closely monitoring COVID lockdown in Shanghai, White House says

The Biden administration is closely monitoring a coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai that could cause delays to air cargo, White house press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. Shanghai on Friday announced a record 21,000 new COVID-19 cases and a third consecutive day of COVID testing as a lockdown of its 26 million people showed no sign of easing and other Chinese cities tightened curbs - even in places with no recent infections.

Russian crab craze in S.Korea stirs ethical debate over Ukraine crisis

Plunging prices for Russian crab have South Koreans flocking to seafood markets and restaurants but some consumers are questioning whether to boycott the imports on concerns the purchases indirectly support Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The dinner-plate sized king crabs from Russia, along with slightly smaller snow crabs and lobsters, were once a pricey delicacy in South Korea, though they have become more popular at supermarkets and online retailers in recent years.

Ukrainian forensic investigators start exhuming bodies from Bucha mass grave

Forensic investigators began exhuming a mass grave in Bucha on Friday, wrapping in black plastic and laying out the bodies of civilians who officials say were killed while Russian troops occupied the town just northwest of Kyiv. Ruslan Kravchenko, from the prosecutor's office in Bucha, said they had exhumed 20 bodies, 18 of whom had firearms and shrapnel wounds. He said two women had been identified, one of whom had worked at a supermarket in the town centre.

Ex-Goldman banker convicted of bribery, money laundering conspiracy charges in 1MDB case

Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng was convicted by a U.S. jury on Friday of corruption charges related to his role in helping loot hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB development fund. The charges stemmed from one of the biggest financial scandals in history. Prosecutors charged Ng, Goldman's former top investment banker for Malaysia, for conspiring to violate an anti-corruption law and launder money.

Condemning Bucha cruelty, EU offers speedy start for Ukraine membership

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the civilian deaths in the Ukrainian town of Bucha showed the "cruel face" of Russia's army and pledged to try to speed Ukraine's bid to become a member of the European Union. During a visit to Bucha, where forensic investigators started to exhume bodies from a mass grave, von der Leyen looked visibly moved by what she saw in the town northwest of Kyiv where Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian forces.

Honduran judge approves extradition of ex-police boss to U.S.

A Honduran judge on Friday signed off on the extradition of former police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla to the United States, where he is wanted for drug trafficking and use or possession of firearms. Bonilla, also known as "El Tigre" or "The Tiger," was captured in early March when he was driving through a toll booth north of the capital Tegucigalpa.

Guinea's ousted ex-president returns from medical trip

Guinea's former president, Alpha Conde, ousted in a military coup in September, returned to the country on Friday after a trip to the United Arab Emirates for a medical check up, the interim government said. Conde, 84, who is under house arrest in Guinea but is allowed to receive visitors, left the West African nation in January after the junta allowed him to travel on medical grounds.

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