Reuters World News - Big Oil and green energy, TV dating in Korea and the battle for Bakhmut

Episode Date: March 7, 2023

‘Houston, we have a problem’- Bumper oil profits and the green revolution. Ukraine vows to defend Bakhmut in hellish battle with Russia. China’s warning to Washington about “conflict and confrontation”. South Korean singles’ big love for reality dating shows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The oil industry is gathering in Houston a wash with cash. Have record fossil fuel profits taken the shine off the Green Revolution? I think they're maybe a little more comfortable saying, yeah, we also produce oil and gas, and that's our core piece of our business, and this is what we're going to keep doing. And join us in South Korea to find out why dating reality shows are all the rage,

but real-life romance, not so much. It's Tuesday, March 7th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vinal in London. We start in the city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian troops are holding out in a hellish fight with Russian troops and mercenaries. Moscow is on the cusp of claiming the city after months of bloody battle. But Ukraine is digging in to defy them. President Vladimir Zelensky telling the nation that Kiev would double down in its defenses.

Mike Collette White, our editor-at-Lage in Kiev, explains why each side is holding out and what it's costing them. We are possibly seeing the end game of the Battle for Bahmoud in the East, which is the fiercest and most deadly theatre of the war so far, got the sense over the weekend that this could be the end game, that the Ukrainians would be forced to withdraw and Russia would finally have their victory in a very attritional and horrible battlefield.

But as they have done many times before, the Ukrainians have defied expectations. They have fought back. They have dug in. They have reinforced. And they have clung on to much of the city preventing the Russians from declaring what would be a huge symbolic victory. The battle in Bachmoud has been led by fighters in the Varder mercenary group, which is not officially part of the Russian Defence Ministry. its boss Yvgeny Prigurzhin is a close friend of Vladimir Putin, but there have been tensions between him, his forces and Russia's regular forces. This has undermined the Russian effort. I don't think there's any doubt about that and also raised questions about the cohesiveness of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. I think it's important to remember that even if Russia does take Bachmwood military experts do not really think it's going to change the course of the war, frankly. such has been the intensity of the fighting in Bahmoud

that it has sucked up a lot of Ukrainian resources. They are desperately trying to cling on and it is costing them dear. I think it's also fair to say it may well have distracted them from launching a counter-offensive which many military experts in the West had expected to happen already by now.

This is Mike Collett-White editor-at-large of the Ukraine War. And on that Ukrainian counter-offensive, Reuters is reporting that Kiev is seeking U.S. cluster bombs to adapt for drone use in the fight against Russia. You can read more on that at Reuters.com. China's foreign minister, Chin Gang, speaking in Beijing, with a stark warning for the United States. Washington's policies towards China could lead to conflict and confrontation.

Chinang warned that Taiwan was a first red line that must not be crossed in sign-up. US relations. Taiwan's defense minister hit back, saying that they would not allow what he called repeated provocations from China. The exchange underlines growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific. North Korea also issuing its own warning to the United States. Pyongyang's warning is a response to U.S. and South Korean military drills, with this footage showing a B-52 bomber flying in formation with South Korean jets.

North Korea says any move to shoot down one of its' time. test missiles would be considered a declaration of war. To the Mexico, Texas border now, and the kidnapping of four Americans. We will continue to coordinate with Mexico and push them to bring those responsible to justice. And again, our hearts are with the families. White House spokesperson, Corrine Jean-Pierre, speaking after the four were taken in Matamoros in Mexico. Armed men fired on a white minivan with North Carolina license plates shortly after

across the border. Mexican president, Andre Manuel Lopez Obrador, says intelligence officials believe the three men and a woman entered the country to shop for medicine. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the four and the arrest of those involved. Weak trade data from China is weighing on Asian shares. Outside of China, investors can't see past the U.S. interest rate outlook

in what Jay Powell may say in Congress today. The Fed Chair is giving two days of testimony. Markets are looking for a decisive message about the future pace of interest rate hikes. Let's see what he delivers. To Houston, and the biggest event in the oil and gas industry's calendar. Sarah Week, where the CEOs of big oil mingle with government officials and major producing nations.

This year, the fossil fuel producers are riding high on big profits. But what does it all mean for the shift to renew? Newables. Energy correspondence, Liz Hampton and Mariana Paraga, break it down for us. Liz, can you start by just setting the scene for us? How big, how important is this conference? It has been likened to the Davos, a world economic form of the energy industry. You have the CEOs and the biggest oil and gas companies. You have all these oil ministers. You have the OPEC Secretary General here. And then there's also a bunch of nations that consume a lot of energy. So it's very diverse. You have people from Africa, from Asia. Mariana, developed countries are ahead in the

race to go green with their energy. The developing world is struggling because it's expensive, but people are now looking again at fossil fuels as a place to invest, right? Can you explain that to me? Yes, definitely. So there's a race for energy transition and the developed countries are winning that race so far because they have the resources and the money for putting together clean energy policies. The countries that are trying to get to the development phase are still struggling. So we can use India as an example. They are trying to find any type of energy they can find to cover their basic needs. So they are still far away from getting the energy decision as a flag for the years to come. What will the message be from the US government

to the oil industry at the conference? So the Biden administration was pushing, you know, there's a lot of ambitious clean energy goals. And I think the officials here will talk a lot about that. At the same time, The Biden administration and the oil industry were at odds in the past year over high, high gas prices. The Biden administration blamed oil and gas companies from withholding production and they said they were price gouging. So it's been a contentious relationship. Even though we've been talking for a long time about the transition to clean energy, big oil companies are sort of coming out and re-evaluating that, right? Yes. I think the past year energy prices got really, really high in places like Europe. and there was kind of a recognition that moving too quickly to renewables is maybe not feasible.

And so you've seen some companies like VP and Shell say they're kind of re-evaluating how quickly they want to follow through on commitments to cut oil and gas production. Thank you so much, Liz Hampton and Mariana Paraga. Thank you. Thank you very much. What if you don't want to put a ring on it? Do you watch Talley instead? That's what's happening in South Korea.

Reality dating shows are booming, even as marriage rates and birth rates plummet. So why the interest in on-screen love? Reuters Jihun Li explains. So many people were saying, oh, they were watching these shows to get, like, the curious experiences. Like, they wanted to feel the emotional empathy by watching these shows, they wanted to have like a second and experiences. They don't want to take the responsibilities or burden that come from having relationships, but then they wanted to have

the good part of it. They wanted to enjoy the feeling and these shows provided them with those benefits. When you actually watch these shows, most of their content, most of their episodes are based on the participants' conversations and they just sit around the table, they just talk to each other. And when I talk to, like, some Fans of these shows, they said they like to follow the participants' emotional feelings rather than their looks. So let me put it this way. I think these dating shoes in South Korea are not entertaining people's eyes.

It's rather entertaining their hearts. I'm Ji-1 from Seoul, South Korea. That's it for this edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back on Wednesday. In the meantime, you can find more trusted news at Reuters.com. Thank you.