Reuters World News Summary

To half emissions, the world's biggest producer of climate-warming greenhouse gas must shut, retrofit or put into reserve capacity as much as 364 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power by 2030 - around a third of its current total, according to London-based climate data provider TransitionZero. 'Time to end the forever war': Biden to begin U.S. Afghanistan exit on May 1 President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he will begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan on May 1 to end America's longest war, rejecting calls for U.S. forces to stay to ensure a peaceful resolution to that nation's grinding internal conflict.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Standing among U.S. graves, Biden explains Afghanistan decision in personal terms

As President Joe Biden stood in the rain on Wednesday among the tombstones of U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan, thoughts of his late son Beau were not far from his mind as he explained his decision to begin America's exit from its longest war. The president's elder son earned the Bronze Star while serving in Iraq from 2008-09. His death in 2015 from a brain tumor still haunts his father.

European powers warn Iran over 'dangerous' uranium enrichment move

The European countries party to the Iran nuclear deal told Tehran on Wednesday its decision to enrich uranium at 60% purity, bringing the fissile material closer to bomb-grade, was contrary to efforts to revive the 2015 accord. But in an apparent signal to Iran's arch-adversary Israel, which Tehran blamed for an explosion at its key nuclear site on Sunday, European powers Germany, France and Britain added that they rejected "all escalatory measures by any actor".

UK PM acted on plea from Saudi Crown Prince over axed Newcastle United deal - Daily Mail

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted on a personal plea from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the axed 300 million pounds ($413.34 million) deal to buy Premier League club Newcastle United, the Daily Mail newspaper reported on Wednesday. The proposed takeover of Newcastle United by a Saudi Arabian-backed consortium collapsed last year after the group declined to take up the Premier League's offer of independent arbitration to decide who would own the club.

U.S. lawmakers to 'review' UAE arms sale after Biden opts to go ahead

The Democratic chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said on Wednesday he and other lawmakers were concerned about the Biden administration's decision to go ahead with a weapons sale to the United Arab Emirates and would review the transactions. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Democratic president's administration had told Congress it was proceeding with more than $23 billion in weapons sales https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N2M6319 to the UAE, including advanced F-35 aircraft, armed drones and other equipment.

New Zealand mosque shooter's court hearing postponed due to no-show

The mass shooter who killed 51 people in New Zealand in 2019 did not appear in court on Thursday after seeking a judicial review of his prison conditions and his status as a "terrorist entity". White supremacist Brenton Tarrant was sentenced in August to jail for life without parole for the murders at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019, the worst mass shooting in the country's history.

Russia, Ukraine hold military drills, NATO criticises Russian troop build-up

Russia and Ukraine held simultaneous military drills on Wednesday as NATO foreign and defence ministers began emergency discussions on a massing of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border. Washington and NATO have been alarmed by the large build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine and in Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and two U.S. warships are due to arrive in the Black Sea this week.

Brazil investigates reports of vaccines being exchanged for illegal gold

Federal prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Roraima are investigating reports that illegally-mined gold is being exchanged for COVID-19 vaccines in the Yanomami indigenous reserve, the prosecutors office told Reuters on Wednesday. Tribal leaders in the Amazon region have complained of the deals and prosecutors say they will investigate the reports as part of an investigation already underway into the diversion of vaccine shots intended for indigenous people.

Ex-leaders, Nobel winners urge U.S. to back COVID vaccine waiver

More than 60 former heads of state, including former leaders of Britain and France, and over 100 Nobel Prize winners called on U.S. President Joe Biden to back a waiver of intellectual property rules for COVID-19 vaccines. A waiver would boost vaccine manufacturing and speed up the response to the pandemic in poorer countries which otherwise might have to wait years, they said in a joint letter to Biden sent to news organisations on Wednesday.

China must halve power sector emissions by 2030 to meet climate goals: study

China needs to halve carbon dioxide emissions from its coal-fired power plants by the end of the decade if it is to remain on course to become carbon neutral by 2060, according to research published on Thursday. To half emissions, the world's biggest producer of climate-warming greenhouse gas must shut, retrofit or put into reserve capacity as much as 364 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power by 2030 - around a third of its current total, according to London-based climate data provider TransitionZero.

'Time to end the forever war': Biden to begin U.S. Afghanistan exit on May 1

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he will begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan on May 1 to end America's longest war, rejecting calls for U.S. forces to stay to ensure a peaceful resolution to that nation's grinding internal conflict. In a White House speech, Biden acknowledged that U.S. objectives in Afghanistan had become "increasingly unclear" over the past decade. He set a deadline for withdrawing all 2,500 U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan by Sept. 11, exactly 20 years after al Qaeda's attacks on the United States that triggered the war.