Reuters World News Summary

Seven jurors have already been selected after two days of grilling by prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers, who are tasked with finding New Yorkers who can be fair to the Republican presidential candidate in heavily Democratic Manhattan, where the businessman-turned-politician made his name as a real estate tycoon decades ago. Flooded UAE counts cost of epic rainstorm, airport still facing disruptions Emergency workers tried to clear waterclogged roads and people assessed the damage to homes and businesses on Thursday after a rare and epic rainstorm swamped the United Arab Emirates.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Trump hush money jury selection resumes as lawyers probe for bias

Donald Trump is due in Manhattan court on Thursday as lawyers continue searching for jurors to decide the former U.S. president's fate in a historic criminal trial just months before his upcoming rematch with President Joe Biden. Seven jurors have already been selected after two days of grilling by prosecutors and Trump's lawyers, who are tasked with finding New Yorkers who can be fair to the Republican presidential candidate in heavily Democratic Manhattan, where the businessman-turned-politician made his name as a real estate tycoon decades ago.

Flooded UAE counts cost of epic rainstorm, airport still facing disruptions

Emergency workers tried to clear waterclogged roads and people assessed the damage to homes and businesses on Thursday after a rare and epic rainstorm swamped the United Arab Emirates. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, struggled to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of Tuesday's deluge.

G7 foreign ministers seek urgent defence support for Ukraine

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major powers warned on Thursday that Ukraine risked being defeated by Russia unless it received more air defences, as Kyiv urged a change in Western strategy towards the war. More than two years into Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine is facing a shortage of ammunition, with vital funding from the U.S. blocked by Republicans in Congress for months and the EU failing to deliver sufficient munitions on time.

In a rebel-held Myanmar town, fragile unity pushes junta to the brink

Myawaddy, a critical trading post in Myanmar that rebel forces seized from the ruling junta last week, offers a glimpse of dynamics playing out across the Southeast Asian country as its vaunted military reels from battlefield losses. At the border town's outskirts, the site of the most intense fighting, abandoned homes sat next to buildings pockmarked with bullet holes, gas stations damaged by blasts and structures flattened by airstrikes, Reuters reporters saw on a visit this week.

Reuters' Mohammed Salem wins 2024 World Press Photo of the Year award

Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem won the prestigious 2024 World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday for his image of a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her five-year-old niece in the Gaza Strip. The picture was taken on Oct. 17, 2023, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where families were searching for relatives killed during Israeli bombing of the Palestinian enclave.

Kremlin says any new 'colonial' U.S. aid to Ukraine won't change frontline situation

The Kremlin said on Thursday that any new U.S. military aid for Ukraine would not change the situation at the front where Kyiv's forces were in a poor position and cast such aid as part of a "colonial" policy which enriched the United States. Mike Johnson, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has said he will hold a long-awaited vote on a new aid package as early as Saturday. The proposed package includes $60.84 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine, of which $23.2 billion would be used to replenish U.S. weapons, stocks and facilities.

Croatian ruling party wins polls, prepares for talks on forming government

Croatia's long-dominant ruling HDZ party prepared on Thursday for difficult talks to form a coalition after winning Wednesday's parliamentary election without a majority, and with a far-right party as potential kingmakers. The conservative pro-EU HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) won 61 seats in the European Union member state's 151-seat parliament, the latest preliminary results showed, after 99.79% of polling stations had been counted.

In any air war, Israel's defences would trump Iran's, but at a high cost

Ageing air defences have left Iran vulnerable to an Israeli attack if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to ignore global pressure not to retaliate directly for the unprecedented drone and missile salvoes of Saturday night. Setting aside the wider diplomatic and strategic costs that are likely to be the strongest deterrent to any counter-strike, experts say Israel would have little trouble hitting targets inside Iran, which has an obsolete air force and indigenous air defence systems based on ageing Russian models.

Philippines says decision to strengthen ties with Japan, US a 'sovereign choice'

The Philippines' decision to ramp up ties with Japan and the United States at a recent summit was a "sovereign choice" for the country, its foreign ministry said on Thursday in response to China's comments opposing the trilateral meeting. U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington last week where the three leaders jointly expressed their "serious concerns" over China's actions in the South China Sea.

Israel will defend itself, Netanyahu says, as West calls for restraint

Israel will make its own decisions about how to defend itself, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, as Western countries pleaded for restraint in responding to a volley of attacks from Iran. The United States, European Union and G7 group of industrialised nations all announced plans to consider tighter sanctions on Iran, seen as aimed at mollifying Israel and persuading it to rein in its retaliation for the first ever direct Iranian strikes after decades of confrontation by proxy.

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