LONDON (Reuters) - Ukrainian troops have been forced to withdraw from some parts of Bakhmut in the face of a renewed Russian assault on the ruined battlefield city, Britain said on Friday, with Moscow pressing to achieve a victory before Ukraine’s expected counteroffensive. Ukrainian officials say Russia has been drawing down troops from other areas on the front for a major push on Bakhmut, which Moscow has been trying to capture for nine months to reenergize the all-out invasion it launched more than a year ago. On Friday, Russia Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia will conduct missile launches and torpedo tests as part of a surprise inspection of its Pacific naval fleet. The drills come amid heightened tension in the Asia-Pacific region, as the United States and South Korea conduct joint air exercises following an intercontinental ballistic missile test by North Korea. “The main objective of this inspection is to increase the ability of the Armed Forces to repel the aggression of a probable enemy from the direction of ocean and sea,” Shoigu said on state television.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Brazil should deepen practical cooperation, and tap potential to work together in sectors including agriculture, energy, and infrastructure construction, Chinese President Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by state media on Friday. In a meeting with visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Beijing, Xi said China has made relations with Brazil a diplomatic priority, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s most powerful tropical cyclone in eight years lashed its northwest coast with winds gusting to an apparent record of 289 kilometers (180 miles) per hour Friday but skirted larger population centers and resulted in no immediate reports of injuries. Cyclone Ilsa crossed the Pilbara coast of Western Australia state as a Category 5 storm, the most severe, but weakened to Category 2 as it moved inland, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said. Damage was still being assessed in the path of Ilsa, which made landfall in the early hours 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of the iron ore export town of Port Hedland in the rural area of Pardoo.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake shook parts of Indonesia’s main island of Java and tourist island of Bali on Friday, causing panic but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.0 quake was centered 96.5 kilometers (59.8 miles) north of Tuban, a coastal city in East Java province, at a depth of 594 kilometers (369 miles). Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami but warned of possible aftershocks. The agency put a preliminary magnitude at 6.6. Variations in early measurements are common.

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TEXAS (Reuters) - More than 18,000 cows died after an explosion and fire at a family dairy farm in west Texas, marking the deadliest such barn blaze on record in the United States. Firefighters rescued one employee from the South Fork Dairy near Dimmitt on Monday as flames raced through a building and into holding pens, according to images and statements from the Castro County Sheriff’s Office. The cause of the fire was under investigation and it was not immediately possible to contact members of the family who own the farm in one of Texas’ biggest milk production counties. The blaze prompted calls from the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), among the oldest U.S. animal protection groups, for federal laws to prevent barn fires which kill hundreds of thousands of farm animals each year.