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Russia

RUSSIA’S defence ministry said yesterday that 1 730 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered this week at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol. “Over the past 24 hours,

771 militants of the Azov nationalist regiment surrendered,” the ministry said. “Since May 16, 1 730 militants have surrendered, including 80 wounded.” It released a video that appeared to show the surrendered soldiers walking out of the plant. Ukraine has indicated that it will seek a prisoner swap for fighters who surrendered at Azovstal, but Moscow has yet to give a definitive answer. |

Spain

AFTER nearly two years in exile following financial scandals, Spain’s former king made his first trip home yesterday, on a brief visit that has sparked widespread criticism. Although prosecutors closed their probes into Juan Carlos I’s affairs in March, revelations about the murky origins of his fortune have done damage to a figure once revered for his role in Spain’s transition to democracy following decades of dictatorship. The former monarch, 84, arrived in the north-western resort of Sanxenxo ahead of a three-day regatta. On Monday, he travels to Madrid to visit family members before leaving for Abu Dhabi, where he lives. |

China

SHANGHAI will steadily promote the restoration of the city’s public transport system step by step, and it will probably resume cross-district public transport starting from Sunday, said authorities at a press conference on epidemic prevention and control held yesterday. Transport services on some main subway lines and 273 bus routes will first resume covering the central urban areas and the city’s airports, railway stations, and hospitals. Shanghai will set up facilities at transport stations to help scan QR codes to prevent the spread of the epidemic through public transport. | Xinhua

Britain

BRITAIN said yesterday it planned legislative action to ensure abortion services were commissioned in Northern Ireland, following what it called “inaction” from the province’s health department and its currently devolved executive.

“It is absolutely unacceptable that the Executive and Department of Health have failed women and girls, meaning that they cannot currently access the same basic abortion health care that is available to women and girls in the rest of the

UK,” Britain’s Northern Ireland minister, Brandon Lewis, said. “That’s why I am acting to remove any further barriers to delivering services.” | Reuters

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