Reuters World News Summary

In Washington, a $1.2 billion contract for six National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) for Ukraine was awarded to Raytheon, the Pentagon said. U.S. Inflation Reduction Act 'super aggressive,' Macron tells lawmakers French President Emmanuel Macron addressed U.S. lawmakers from both political parties on Wednesday and pushed back over new American subsidies that are riling European leaders, according to a participant in a closed-door meeting.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Biden nominee to be ambassador to Russia pledges to prioritize prisoner release

President Joe Biden's nominee to be ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, pledged on Wednesday to make the release of detained Americans a priority if she is confirmed to one of most important, and challenging, U.S. diplomatic posts. "The plight of U.S. citizens detained in Russia will be a top priority for me," Tracy said during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which took place as Washington supplies weapons and other support for Ukraine as it battles Russia's nine-month-long invasion.

Former U.S. President Clinton tests positive for COVID

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said in a tweet on Wednesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and experiencing mild symptoms. "I'm grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, which has kept my case mild," he said.

Zelenskiy praises German parliament for declaring Ukraine famine a genocide

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday praised the German Parliament for passing a resolution that declared the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33 to be a genocide. The three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition all voted in favour earlier in the day in the Bundestag, German media reported.

Heaviest Ukraine fighting rages in east, West seeks to sustain support against Russia

Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Kherson in the south, the Ukrainian military said, as Western allies sought to buttress Ukraine and its neighbours against Moscow. In Washington, a $1.2 billion contract for six National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) for Ukraine was awarded to Raytheon, the Pentagon said.

U.S. Inflation Reduction Act 'super aggressive,' Macron tells lawmakers

French President Emmanuel Macron addressed U.S. lawmakers from both political parties on Wednesday and pushed back over new American subsidies that are riling European leaders, according to a participant in a closed-door meeting. Macron arrived in Washington on Tuesday for his second state visit to the United States since taking office in 2017, ahead of which French officials said he would confront President Joe Biden over the subsidies contained in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

U.S. urges rejection of undersea cable connection to Cuba

A U.S. government committee on Thursday urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny an application to connect Cuba to the United States through a new undersea cable landing station to handle internet, voice and data traffic. The Justice Department-led panel known as "Team Telecom" said the proposal raised national security concerns because the cable-landing system in Cuba would be owned and controlled by Cuba's state-owned telecommunications monopoly, Empresa de Telecommunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA) and would be the only direct, commercial undersea cable connection between the United States and Cuba.

Two Chinese cities ease COVID curbs after protests spread

The giant Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing announced an easing of COVID curbs on Wednesday, a day after demonstrators in southern Guangzhou clashed with police amid a string of protests against the world's toughest coronavirus restrictions. The demonstrations, which spread over the weekend to Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere, have become a show of public defiance unprecedented since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.

China's Jiang Zemin dies at 96, prompting wave of nostalgia

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who led the country for a decade of rapid economic growth after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, died on Wednesday at the age of 96, prompting a wave of nostalgia for the more liberal times he oversaw. Jiang died in his home city of Shanghai just after noon on Wednesday of leukaemia and multiple organ failure, Xinhua news agency said, publishing a letter to the Chinese people by the ruling Communist Party, parliament, Cabinet and the military.

Ukraine says it recovers guns, cash from properties of pro-Kremlin politician

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officials found weapons and Russian cash on Wednesday after searching properties in around Kyiv linked to a pro-Russian former politician, the agency said. In a statement, the SBU said its searches of homes and offices belonging to Yevhen Murayev, who it said was "hiding from justice abroad", and his associates were part of a criminal investigation into treason.

Interpol confirms red notice for Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos

Global police agency Interpol confirmed on Wednesday it had issued a red notice for Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the country's former president, asking global law enforcement authorities to locate and provisionally arrest her. Dos Santos, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, has faced corruption accusations for years, including allegations by Angola in 2020 that she and her husband had steered $1 billion in state funds to companies in which they held stakes during her father's presidency, including from oil giant Sonangol.

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