Reuters World News - Argentina's far-right surprise, Black Sea warning shots and the latest from Maui

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

A shock win to a far-right candidate in Argentina’s election as the country grapples with 116% inflation. The painful search for survivors continues in Maui - we hear from a mother who escaped the flames with her 9-year-old. Warning shots by Russia in the Black Sea cause consternation along a key international shipping route. Plus, Pakistan’s election timeline in doubt as political turmoil deepens.  Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt-out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, a shock win for a far-right outsider in Argentina's primary vote. Relatives hang on to tales of survival in Maui, the death toll making it the worst wildfire in the US since 1918. Ukraine calls for international action after Russia fires warning shots in the Black Sea. And the road to Pakistan's elections gets complicated. It's Monday, August 14th. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. Every weekday.

I'm Kim Vinal in London. We begin in Argentina, where the far-right challenger, Javier Mele, has sprung a major surprise by winning the primary election. In a huge shake-up in the race to October's presidential elections, he polled just over 30% with almost all the votes counted. Mellei celebrated with supporters in the street as his victory sets up a three-way battle for the election. He told supporters they are the true opposition and a different Argentina is impossible with the same old people. The same old people, he says, who have been failing for 100 years. It's a stinging rebuke to the mainstream parties at a time when inflation has risen, to 116%

and a cost of living crisis has left four in ten people in poverty. In Maui, stories of death and survival are still being revealed. Communications in the historic resort town of Lahaina have finally been restored as the death toll rose past 93,

the worst toll from a wildfire in the US since 1918. Aksani Var, her husband and three children had to flee when the flames got close to their home. Everything's coming so quick. We could feel the heat is sitting in our car. And out of nowhere, I don't know where I just hear banging on this window. And everything's dark, so I look to my left, and I'm literally right next to this car where this grandmother is yelling for help.

And she's just telling me, please help me, I have a baby. And I just, you know, at that time, I'm like, what do I do? So of course I jump out I tell my husband you tend to the grandma I'm grabbing the baby I grabbed her she had She was sitting on a blanket I wrapped her with the blanket

And I told my kids you guys run Don't turn around to look for me And my nine-year-old couldn't She just kept telling me mom I can't please mom The family managed to escape By jumping over a fence Taking the grandmother and child with them

VAR told us that All the devastation all the ashes are going to turn into beauty and believes Lahaina will come back 10 times stronger. Now, a quick look at the headlines making news around the world. The Russian rubble has slumped to a near 17-month low. Vladimir Putin's economic advisor blamed the drop on loose monetary policy and a rebuke to the central bank. The rubles lost a quarter of its value against the dollar since the invasion of Ukraine. North Korea's Kim Jong-un has called for an increase in missile production

to help secure what he called overwhelming military power. He says they need to be ready for war as the United States and South Korea begin their annual military drills in the region. The junta that have seized power in Niger say the ousted president could be prosecuted for high treason. Mohamed Bazum has been in prison since the coup in late July. China's property troubles are taking a toll on Asian markets. Property giant country gardens or its debt problems deepen after its onshore bonds were suspended.

That's a fresh blow to policymakers trying to shore up confidence in China's stuttering economy and has amplified the case for serious stimulus from the Beijing government. This week, analysts will be watching for retail sales and industrial output numbers due out of China on Tuesday. U.S. retail sales are also due this week, and so are fed minutes. Investors will be pouring over both of those for any hints on rates. Ukraine has called for the international community to take action against Russia after it fired warning shots at a cargo vessel in the Black Sea. Moscow said it happened after the ship's captain failed to respond to an inspection request.

Kyiv said it was a gross violation of international law. Jonathan Saul in London covers international shipping and commodities. Jonathan, first off, where did this occur? The vessel was travelling in the Black Sea area, what appeared to be in international waters, close to the Bulgarian coast on its way towards critical gateways in the Danube, most likely to be Ismail Port, which are under Ukrainian control. It appears that the vessel itself was in international waters.

So that gives a bigger indication of what's actually happening. It's not within Ukrainian territorial waters, which is a bigger concern. Is this the first time Russia has fired on a ship like this? This appears to be the first incident involving a merchant vessel that was fired upon since Russia exited the grain corridor deal. Previously, when this whole conflict kicked up after February 22, There were a number of incidents involving ships being targeted one way or the other with either missiles or some kind of munitions. But this appears very much to be the first time since Russia's exit from the grain deal.

How important is this shipping route? This shipping route has become increasingly vital, not just for Ukraine, but other countries as well, including Romania. It's a very narrow corridor within the Black Sea area that a number of countries use to export their grains and other. vital commodities. It's almost like a sort of gateway, a small sort of channel which then leads into a bigger pool of water. So it is very critical. And what's happened in previous weeks is that we've seen multiple ships being backed up as a consequence of Russian drone strikes on Danu ports, including Ismail and Reni. So there are really problems in this area. And this should send very worrying signals, not just to Ukraine and Romania, but international shipping and insurance.

as well. Pakistan's Prime Minister has handed leadership to a caretaker prime minister who is meant to oversee an election by the end of the year. But the arrest of former President Imran Khan has thrown a major wrench in the works. Pakistan and Afghanistan Bureau Chief Gibran Peshimam is in Islamabad. Gibran, what happens with the elections now? Well, we'll be lucky if we get elections any time before the next six months, because right now, Pakistan is in the middle of a constitutional crisis with a new census that has increased the

country's population significantly all the way up to 240 million people. So there's a new electoral exercise that has to be undertaken by the election commission. And it's all up in the air right now. So we're looking at elections maybe going as far as mid of 2024. But certainly the November deadline is under increasing pressure, under increasing uncertainty. And we'll be lucky to see elections the next six months. How does Imran Khan's arrest change things? Won't people protest? Aren't they angry? The last time Imran Khan was arrested back in May, there were unprecedented protests in Pakistan. Military installations were attacked, government installations were attacked, and there were days where public gatherings in many major cities of the country were not

allowed. But this time, there has been a marked difference. Not many people have come onto the streets, when people have come out to the streets, they've been met with a huge presence of security forces which has caused them to retreat. The reason behind this is that Imran Khan's major party leadership has either left his party due to pressure from different quarters, including the military. That's what Khan says. Or many of them are in jail. Who are the other candidates? Well, the frontrunner right now is the outgoing Prime Minister Shabashir. He is the frontrunner because he heads a coalition of nine parties that are against Khan

and are likely to contest together to make sure that Khan, even in jail, his party does not get any sort of leverage in parliament to push for his return. The other candidate, a bit of a dark horse, is Bilal Bhutto Zardari, who is the son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who is Pakistan's first and only female prime minister. He's a dark horse because of his age,

but he's turned a lot of heads not only in Pakistan, but in capitals abroad as he was foreign minister for the last 16 months. He made many high profile with Washington, was in other Western capitals, held a lot of important meetings with China. The capitals know him, the Pakistanis know him, so he's a bit of a dark horse. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back with our daily headline show tomorrow.

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