Reuters World News Summary

The decades-old controversy has become especially sensitive as Israel's armed forces, made up mostly of teenaged conscripts and older civilians mobilised for reserve duty, wage a nearly six-month-old war in Gaza to try to eliminate the Islamist Hamas movement that rules the Palestinian enclave. Freighter pilot called for tugboat help before plowing into Baltimore bridge The pilot of the cargo freighter that knocked down a highway bridge into Baltimore Harbor had radioed for tugboat help and reported a power loss minutes earlier, federal safety officials said on Wednesday, citing audio from the ship's "black box" data recorder.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Caught up in concert shooting, a Russian woman said goodbye to the world

Russian artist Alyona Kazinskaya likes to fill her social media feed with cheerful messages and vivid floral paintings. For 30 minutes last Friday night, it turned into a timeline of terror. Kazinskaya and a friend had bought last-minute tickets to see Soviet-era rock group "Picnic" perform in front of 6,200 people at a concert hall near Moscow. They thought about taking their daughters but decided to go by themselves.

Zelenskiy tells US House speaker: Quick passage of military aid is vital

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday that it was vital for Congress to pass a new military aid package for Kyiv rapidly in order to maintain international unity on the conflict with Russia. Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has held up a bill for months that would supply $60 billion in military and financial aid for Ukraine.

Israeli soldiers play with Gaza women's underwear in online posts

Israeli soldiers have been posting photos and videos of themselves toying with lingerie found in Palestinian homes, creating a dissonant visual record of the war in Gaza as a looming famine intensifies world scrutiny of Israel's offensive.

In one video, an Israeli soldier sits in an armchair in a room in Gaza grinning, with a gun in one hand and dangling white satin underwear from the other over the open mouth of a comrade lying on a sofa.

World Court orders Israel to halt Gaza famine; Hamas says ceasefire needed

The World Court on Thursday unanimously ordered Israel, accused by South Africa of genocide in Gaza, to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies to the enclave's Palestinian population and halt spreading famine. But Gaza's Hamas rulers said a ceasefire was needed to halt the humanitarian crisis.

Netanyahu asks Israeli court to defer deadline on conscription controversy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday asked Israel's top court to defer a March 31 deadline for the government to come up with a new military conscription plan that would address mainstream anger at exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews. The decades-old controversy has become especially sensitive as Israel's armed forces, made up mostly of teenaged conscripts and older civilians mobilised for reserve duty, wage a nearly six-month-old war in Gaza to try to eliminate the Islamist Hamas movement that rules the Palestinian enclave.

Freighter pilot called for tugboat help before plowing into Baltimore bridge

The pilot of the cargo freighter that knocked down a highway bridge into Baltimore Harbor had radioed for tugboat help and reported a power loss minutes earlier, federal safety officials said on Wednesday, citing audio from the ship's "black box" data recorder. The head of the National Transportation Safety Board also said that Francis Scott Key Bridge, a traffic artery over the harbor built in 1976, lacked structural engineering redundancies common to newer spans, making it more vulnerable to a catastrophic collapse.

South Africa bus crash kills 45 Easter pilgrims, Transport Ministry says

A bus crash in South Africa's northern province of Limpopo resulted in 45 deaths and one serious injury, South Africa's Department of Transport said on Thursday. The driver lost control and collided with barriers on a bridge near Mamatlakala, causing the bus to go over the bridge and hit the ground, catching fire, according to a statement by the transport department.

Russia links concert shooting to 'Ukrainian nationalists'; US says 'nonsense'

Russian investigators said on Thursday they had found proof that gunmen who killed more than 140 people at a concert last week were linked to "Ukrainian nationalists", an assertion immediately dismissed by the United States as baseless propaganda. Russia has said from the outset that it believes Ukraine was linked to the attack, even though Kyiv has denied it and the militant group Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

US urges UN Security Council action to get aid into Sudan from Chad

The United States warned on Thursday that it would push the U.N. Security Council to take action to get aid to starving people in Sudan, possibly by authorizing cross-border deliveries from Chad, if the Sudanese armed forces do not restore full access. Ahead of the one year anniversary of the conflict in Sudan, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the warring parties had both undermined aid operations and ignored a Security Council call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Dozens of stalled Israeli visas seen hindering Gaza aid efforts

Difficulties getting Israeli permission for foreign staff to work in Israel and the Palestinian territories are hampering efforts to get aid into war-shattered Gaza where civilians are facing imminent famine, according to U.N. data and aid workers. Six aid workers from the U.N. and other groups interviewed by Reuters cited delays to visas as an example of red tape they say is thwarting aid to Gaza, nearly six months into Israel's offensive against Hamas militants.

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