Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Huge manhunt launched in France as gunmen kill two guards, free inmate from prison van

At least two French prison guards were shot dead and three others seriously injured on Tuesday after heavily armed men ambushed a prison van to free an inmate, French police said, triggering a major manhunt. The orchestrated attack, which comes amid rising drug-linked violence across Europe, took place around 0900 GMT at a toll booth in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France. The unnamed inmate and the attackers escaped, police said.

Kids descend to the bunker at Ukraine's first underground school

Two teachers met them with a smile at the steel door, and down the concrete staircase the mother and daughter clattered, hand in hand, through another blast door and into the bunker for the first day of school. Hundreds of children began lessons this week in Ukraine's first purpose-built bunker school, 6 metres (20 feet) below the ground to protect them from Russian drone and missile attacks.

India's Modi denies stoking divisions to win election, files nomination

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended himself against criticism that he is stoking divisions between Hindus and Muslims to win national elections as he filed his nomination on Tuesday for re-election from one of Hinduism's holiest cities. India began voting April 19 in the seven-phase election in which Modi, 73, is seeking to be the second prime minister to win a third straight term since independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.

Israeli tanks push into Gaza's Rafah, as displaced civilians flee again

Israeli tanks forged deeper into eastern Rafah on Tuesday, reaching some residential districts of the southern border city where more than a million people had been sheltering after being displaced in seven months of war. Israel's international allies and aid groups have repeatedly urged against a ground incursion into refugee-packed Rafah, warning of a potential humanitarian catastrophe.

Blinken, in Kyiv, says U.S aid arriving at 'challenging' time for Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told President Volodmyr Zelenskiy during a trip to Kyiv on Tuesday that part of a major U.S. aid package had arrived in Ukraine and that more was on its way that was going to "make a real difference". Blinken's trip is the first by a senior U.S. official since Congress passed a long-delayed $61 billion aid package last month. Kyiv's outmanned troops are battling a new Russian offensive in the northeast as well as assaults in the east.

Exclusive-U.S. and Taiwan navies quietly held Pacific drills in April, sources say

The U.S. and Taiwan navies conducted joint drills in the Pacific in April that, officially, did not take place, four people briefed on the matter said, as the two militaries boost cooperation amid rising Chinese military threats. Washington and Taipei have been expanding their military cooperation in recent years amid almost daily Chinese incursions into Taiwan's air defence identification zone and drills by Chinese forces near the island.

Analysis-West, Russia manage limited cooperation in Arctic despite chill in ties

When Arctic nations simulated a large oil spill for a virtual training exercise in March off northern Norway, Russia also took part - a rare sign of cooperation between Moscow and the West that highlighted the special status of the polar region. Relations between Russia and Western nations have been in the deep freeze since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Norway has been keen to keep some limited cooperation alive through the Arctic Council.

Israeli forces back in old Gaza battlegrounds as doubts over war aims grow

Seven months into the war, Israeli troops are back fighting in the north of the Gaza Strip, in areas that were supposed to have been cleared months ago, highlighting growing questions about the government's declared goal of eliminating Hamas. As tanks have started pushing into the southern city of Rafah, where the military says the last four intact battalions of Hamas are dug in, there has been fierce fighting in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City and around Jabalia, to the north, both of which the army took control of last year before moving on.

Britain and US sound alarm over growing Chinese cyber threat

U.S. and British officials warned on Tuesday of a growing cyber threat from China, with the White House cyber director saying Beijing was capable of causing havoc in cyberspace and a UK spy agency chief warning of an "epoch-defining" challenge. Anxiety has been increasing in the United States and Europe about alleged Chinese cyber and espionage activity, but Beijing has denied the accusations.

Putin demotes Cold War warrior Patrushev and raises two younger allies

Russian President Vladimir Putin demoted Nikolai Patrushev, a Cold War warrior who crafted the Kremlin's national security strategy, to a job overseeing the shipbuilding industry while raising two younger lieutenants to senior Kremlin jobs. Since the 71-year-old Kremlin chief was sworn in like a tsar for a new presidential term on May 7, Putin has changed his defence minister amid the war in Ukraine and given a new generation of officials broad sway over the economy.