Reuters World News - Biden’s memory, Pakistan’s next government and human ashes on the moon

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

President Biden has hit back against a special counsel’s report which described him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”. As counting continues after Pakistan’s general election, we look at how the White House views its relationship with the country. Can you send human ashes to the moon? We look at the legal frontiers being tested by privately-funded missions to the moon. Plus, Ukraine replaces its popular army chief, Trump appears headed for victory at the Supreme Court and Super Bowl ticket mania. 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, Biden on the defensive after an inquiry puts his age and memory in the spotlight. What the Pakistan election means for the White House. Zelensky shakes up Ukraine's military leadership. Plus, can you send human ashes to the moon? How about a sports drink? Our space reporter weighs in on a new legal frontier. It's Friday, February 9th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes,

every weekday. I'm Jonah Green in New York. And I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. An investigation into President Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents has concluded he should not face criminal charges. Why? Special counsel Robert Hurr said Biden had cooperated and would be difficult to convict, describing him as a, quote, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. That description triggered an angry rebuttal from Biden at the White House. I'm well-meaning and I'm an elderly man. man, and I know what the hell I'm doing, I've been president, and I put this country back on his feet. I don't need his recommendation. Her's conclusion means Biden will not risk prison time for knowingly taking classified documents

when he left the vice presidency in 2017. Unlike Donald Trump, who faces a 40-count indictment for retaining highly sensitive national security documents after leaving office and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them. But the special counsel report is politically damaging for the 81-year-old as he seeks to convince voters that he should serve another four-year term. At a fundraiser this week, Biden mixed up Germany's Angela Merkel with the late Helmut Coe. A White House spokesperson said that many people can misspeak. But hers report has put Biden back on the defensive. How bad is your memory?

And can you continue as president? Do you know your memory has gotten worse? Mr. President? My memory is not going. My memory is fine. My memory, take a look at what I've done since I become president. Votes are being counted in Pakistan after a general election marred by violence and the suspension of mobile phone services. The party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is battling it out against candidates backed by another former Prime Minister, Imran Khan.

Khan is jailed and barred from running. Trevor Honeycutt covers the White House. Trevor, how does President Biden view Pakistan in his strategy in both the Middle East and Asia? So Biden really had, I would say, cool relations with the former Prime Minister. of Pakistan, Imran Khan. But now that he's out of the picture, there is a possibility that maybe there will be a re-engagement between the White House and the Pakistani leadership. So we've got Nawaz Sharif, who has some history with Biden when he was vice president. Since the relationship with Pakistan has been a little bit de-emphasized since the exit from Afghanistan, Pakistan is still

sitting in a really, really important place, right? They just had this exchange of fire, with Iran, which is, of course, the U.S.'s main kind of adversary in the Middle East. The U.S. is trying to deepen its relationship with India for its Indo-Pacific strategy, which is really crucial for Pakistan because they are arch-rivals with India. And then, of course, Pakistan has a border with China, and China's investing very deeply in that country. And China is the big strategic competitor of the United States globally. And so, you know, the U.S. may want to find a new way to engage with Pakistan to make sure that their interests are represented on a whole range of issues from the Middle East to Asia.

Donald Trump appears headed for a big legal victory at the Supreme Court. The justices on Thursday signal their readiness to reject a judicial decision that had removed the former president from the ballot in Colorado. Colorado's top court had ruled that Trump could be removed, given his activities before and during the January 6th, on the U.S. Capitol. Brazilian police on Thursday confiscated former president Jaya Bolsonaro's passport, accusing him of plotting a coup after he lost his election. A federal police source said seized passports

can indicate the possibility of future arrests. I do not rule out that the person you refer to, Mr. Gerskowitz, may return to his motherland. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking via translator to Tucker Carlson. He told the former Fox News host he believes the deal can be reached to free the Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gersovich, who's detained in Russia. Carlton interviewed Putin in the Kremlin, where he called on the United States to negotiate on Ukraine.

President Biden has sharply escalated his criticism of Israel's approach to the war in Gaza, calling military operations there over the top. The comments come as Israeli forces bombed the southern city of Rafa, where more than half of Gaza's population is sheltering. The hottest market this weekend is the one for Super Bowl tickets. Ticket resale platform stub hub is predicting it could end up as the most expensive Super Bowl ever. The average ticket price sold was around $8,600, slightly above the price for the Los Angeles Super Bowl two years ago. For those of you without that kind of cash, there's always a television screen.

And a special weekend episode of the Reuters World News podcast. My colleague Chris Waljasper will be diving into the world of the Super Bowl. So remember to check that one out. Senate advanced a bill that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, after Republicans blocked a compromise bill that also included border security measures. There's no immediate word on when the chamber would consider final passage, but that funding couldn't come soon enough for Kiev, especially at a time when Russian forces are gaining the upper hand.

On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced He removed Valerri Zaluzni as the head of the country's armed forces. Mike Collette White is in London. So Zelensky said that it was time for change in military leadership. Do we know why exactly? We don't fully know the answer, but there are some very likely reasons. And the first of those is probably the reality on the battlefield. Ukraine has struggled in the last six to nine months with a failed counter-offensive

and Russia's increasing assertiveness along the front line. So that obviously needs to change if Ukraine wants to win this war. There's also been signs that Zaluzhny did not see eye to eye with the Americans on how to pursue the counteroffensive. The Americans wanted him to focus on one point in particular on the front line to make rapid games against the Russians. Zaluzni took the view that they should try and attack Russians along several points. What will it mean for the war?

Well, I think that that's the biggest question of all, because if the main reason that Zoluzni is going is because the war is not unfolding as Ukraine would like, then will his replacement take a different tactic? Will they bring about change on the front lines and make it a more positive year for Ukraine in the battlefield? It's very hard to see how that's going to happen, given all of the factors against Ukraine in this war,

can one man change it? But I think that's the key question. Privately funded plans to land on the moon or exploit it are becoming the norm. In fact, NASA has encouraged this as it leans heavily on private companies to cut the cost of its trips to the moon. But this inevitable rush to the lunar surface

has given rise to a question of oversight. In other words, are there laws that govern behavior on the moon and who sets them? Space reporter Joey Roulette has looked into this. So I called him up while he was waiting in the airport on his day off. Just stand up and ask everybody in the airport to be quiet while we talk. So can you tell us about some of these recent moon missions or plans that are calling up this question of oversight? Yeah, so the most recent moon mission was by Astrobotic and it's Peregrine Lander.

and that lander had a bunch of NASA funded payloads on it, but the more ottered payloads were dozens of capsules of human ashes and a Paukari sweat bottle, which is a Japanese sports drink. It was mainly a marketing stunt for the company. And so payloads like that kind of raise a lot of legal questions and ethical questions on how the moon should be used because companies have never been in a position to send things to the moon like this, but now here we are. there are really no rules governing what can and can't go to the moon. And so what is happening now to sort of address this gap in the law?

Is there any legislative fix? So the Biden administration, lawmakers and industry groups have been kind of battling for about a year now over legislation on how to govern these commercial activities as the space industry speeds up and starts launching things to the moon. But there's really no domestic laws right now governing what goes on there. If a company had the technical ability to launch and land on the moon to mine it, could they do that now under these rules? They could. Yeah. And in fact, a few years ago, under the Trump administration, NASA released an opportunity inviting companies to pitch proposals on how they would do just that. Obviously, you know, the technology isn't there yet. But what that announcement, what that program was intent to do was to try to establish some kind of precedent or to begin the discussion of how this could be legally possible.

That's it for this episode of Reuters World News. Don't forget to check out our two weekend podcasts. The one on the Super Bowl is out on Saturday and another one on Sunday looks at Eagle Pass in Texas and how it's become a flashpoint over border security. And we'll be back on Monday with our regular daily news show. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday.

And don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.