Hello, you're listening to the free edition of the world in brief from The Economist.

As a reminder, if you subscribe to The Economist, you'll get access to a deeper look at the day ahead, updated three times a day.

If you're already an Economist subscriber,

visit Economist.com slash espresso or visit our espresso app to start listening. Here's today's

free edition.

This is the world in brief from The Economist.

Our top stories.

Donald Trump condemned a Russian strike on Kiev, Ukraine's capital, which killed nine people as very bad timing.

In a rare criticism of his Russian counterpart, he wrote,

quote, Vladimir Stop on his true social account.

Earlier, he accused Vladimir Zelenskyy of undermining peace negotiations.

The Ukrainian president said that Ukraine would do everything proposed by its allies, except

recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea.

China said there was no progress on a trade deal with America and that any talk of negotiations

should be dismissed.

On Wednesday, Scott Besant, America's Treasury Secretary, said that there was an opportunity

for a big deal with China if it was serious about reducing its dependence on manufacturing exports.

Israel strikes killed at least 44 people in Gaza on Thursday, Palestinian officials said.

One, an airstrike on a police station in Jabalya, in northern Gaza, killed at least 10 people.

Israel's army said that the Jabalya attack targeted a command center of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another militant group.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas fell apart in March.

Germany revised its growth forecast for 2025 from 0.3% to 0.

...