Reuters World News - Biden’s Rafah warning, Brazil floods and German politician attacks

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

President Joe Biden vows to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces make a major invasion of Rafah. Severe flooding in Brazil kills at least 100 people and displaces tens of thousands. And alarm in Germany over a string of violent attacks on politicians.  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, the US leverages its weapons in its starkest warning yet to Israel. Floods and landslides in Brazil leave tens of thousands without shelter. And, a wave of violent attacks on politicians, triggers alarm in Germany. It's Thursday, May 9th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. President Biden, for the first time, has publicly warned Israel that the U.S. would stop supplying at weapons if it invades Rafa. He also acknowledged that U.S. bombs have killed gas and civilians

and said they're not to be used in Rafa. His remarks, in an interview with CNN, come after the U.S. halted one shipment of powerful bombs to Israel as it tries to head off an all-out incursion into the city. U.S. weapons for Israel's defense continue. Steve Holland covers the White has. Steve, this seems like a big deal, this threat and this pause in arms. President Biden did decide to freeze one shipment of weapons. He made the decision last week. Biden has been urging Netanyahu not to invade Rafa, and this is the first time that he's actually used the levers of U.S. weapons shipments as a pressure tactic against the Israelis. What is it they're holding back exactly?

They are holding back on a shipment of 18 to 2000. pound bombs that are used for precision bombing. The judgment from the White House was that these types of bombs can be used to attack dense urban areas, and they are trying to protect as many civilians as they can in Gaza. So they went specifically after this type of weapon. And we are waiting to see how the State Department decides on whether Israel is complying with international law with its use of American weaponry. what does the White House need to consider when weighing this kind of move? What are the variables?

President Biden has to walk a tight rope here because he doesn't want to anger the Israelis too much. He doesn't want them to be so upset that they would retaliate in some way by going ahead with a full-scale assault on Rafa and having many casualties. He also is under mounting political pressure at home to do something about what's going on in Gaza, where estimates are that 35,000 people have been killed. He's facing pressure from these pro-Palestinian demonstrators who show up at every single event that he has around the country. He's worried about the impact of these, if these people stay home,

if these voters stay home in Michigan, for instance, it could tip the Michigan election over to Donald Trump in the November election. But he also doesn't want to alienate Jewish voters who are very strongly pro-Israel. So it's a difficult path form. Vote, the Yeas are 359, the nays are 43 with seven answering present. The motion is adopted. Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

Aplaus as Democrats cross the aisle to join with Republicans and vote to protect Mike Johnson's speakership. The House defeated an effort by Republican Marjorie Taylor Green to oust the speaker and avoid a repeat of October's chaos when Republicans forced out his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy. South Korean President Yun Suk Yol apologizing for a scandal involving his wife

and a corruption probe into her acceptance of a $2,000-dollar Dior bag. Yune is trying to reboot his government after a heavy defeat in parliamentary elections. In his first news conference in nearly two years, He said his party had fallen short in efforts to improve people's lives and promised to create a government department to tackle the country's flagging birth rate. And Louise Rubiales will stand trial for his unsolicited kiss of Spanish soccer player Jenny Hermoso. The former Spanish soccer chief faces one count of sexual assault and one of coercion

for a kiss Hermosa said was unwanted after her team beat England in the 2023 Women's World Cup final. Rubiales was forced to step down, but has denied any wrongdoing. Some good news for customers of bankrupt crypto exchange FDX. They're getting 100% of their money back plus interest. That sort of result is rare in bankruptcy proceedings. Very few creditors get all their money back, and some only get pennies on the dollar. But FDX has benefited from a strong rally in cryptocurrencies since it blew up. There is one important bittersweet caveat, though.

The amount owed to customers is based on the value of their... holdings when FDX went bust in November 2022. That means a customer who lost one Bitcoin, say, when FDX blew up, will be entitled to less than $20,000, even though Bitcoin is now worth more than $60,000. A Brazilian Air Force helicopter airlifts people to safety in Rio Grande Dosul, where heavy rain has caused severe flooding. Scores are dead and tens of thousands have been left homeless. Small boats have been used to reach towns and villages cut off. ferrying people to dry land. Images taken by Reuters

show entire airport runways underwater, towns ripped apart by landslides, and babies being frantically rescued. Brazil bureau chief Brad Haynes is in Sao Paulo with the latest. Brad, what's causing these floods? This is a very extreme version of the El Nino phenomenon, right?

The tail of the El Nino, so a lot of hot water up in the Atlantic, and then a collision with a cold front farther south has created just devastating rains and flooding on a scale that this state has never seen before. How is this different to past El Nino downpours Brazil has experienced? Here, what's really astonishing is that it's just

the sheer breadth and the amount of time that that water has fallen on the state. It's meant that over a week later, we're still seeing the situation in some places getting worse by the day, and it's made it incredibly difficult for rescuers to respond. Typically, a week later, we're just picking up the parts and moving on. In this case, rescuers have still not arrived in some of the hardest hit areas.

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Schultz has condemned as cowardly an attack on a Berlin senator. Francisco Giffey is a former mayor of the city and suffered minor injuries after being hit on the head from behind. It happened in a library and is the latest in a string of attacks on politicians in Germany. Madeline Chambers is in Berlin. Tell us about Francisco Giffey, first of all. She is a senior member of the Social Democrats, and so this is a high-profile attack, even though she was okay.

She was taken to hospital for a check-up, and she stood in front of the cameras today, and she was obviously shocked, but she's physically okay. But this has underlying concerns about the safety of politicians in Germany, right? There have been a number, of attacks in the recent days, actually. The most brutal was probably last Friday in the eastern

city of Dresden, where another member of the Social Democrats, a member of the European Parliament, was putting up a campaign poster when he was attacked and he actually got badly hurt and needed to be taken to hospital for emergency surgery. There was another attack on a Greens politician in Dresden, she was pushed and spat at by a young man and woman, and it comes at a polarising time in German politics, due mainly to the surge in support for the far-right AFD alternative for Germany. But the AFD leadership has been quick to condemn any attacks on politicians. Is there talk of needing to do more to protect politicians?

There was actually an urgent meeting called on Tuesday, evening. In fact, pretty much the same time as some of these attacks were taking place, the Federal Interior Minister had a meeting with the state interior ministers, and they are talking about possibly drawing up some legislation to stop this violence. This would include more police protection for politicians and also possibly bringing in a specific offence of threatening politicians. That's almost all for your Thursday. time, though, to take you to Marseille and spectacular scenes as the Olympic flame arrives on French soil. It's been transported from Greece on the Boulm, a 128-year-old tall ship, a crowd of 150,000

were treated to fireworks, and a display by the French Air Force. From Marseilles, the torch will continue on an 11-week journey before reaching Paris on July 26th for the opening ceremony. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. To make sure you never miss an episode, subscribe on your favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.