Reuters World News - Chicago, Ukraine, redistricting, Pakistan and Africa’s luxury tourism

Episode Date: August 24, 2025

The Pentagon is working on plans to deploy the U.S. military to Chicago, the Washington Post has reported. President Donald Trump's push to redraw U.S. House of Representatives districts could set the stage for decades of Republican domination. Ukraine marks its independence from the Soviet Union, as children in Russia take part in military-style training. A lake in Pakistan formed by a mountain mudslide threatens 'catastrophic' floods. And why a new luxury resort in Kenya’s Maasai Mara has faced objections.  Listen to On Assignment podcast ⁠here⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. 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, Chicago could be the next city to see the U.S. military on its streets. Texas redraws its election map and California hits back. Ukraine marks 34 years of independence from the Soviet Union as Russian children train in military-style camps. Floods and mudslides devastate northern Pakistan. And a new report warns that luxury tourism in Africa may be deepening in equality. It's Sunday, August 24th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week.

I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. The Pentagon is working on plans to deploy the U.S. military to Chicago as soon as September. That's according to the Washington Post. US President Donald Trump has already this year deployed troops to Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. Trump says he's cracking down on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration. Asked for comment, the White House referred to Trump's statement on Friday when he described Chicago as a mess. The Pentagon says they do not speculate on further operations.

J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic Governor of Illinois, says there's no emergency warranting a military deployment. And to hear how the troops deployed in Washington, D.C. are spending their time, Listen to yesterday's episode of Reuters World News and our correspondence reporting from the streets of the nation's capital. Republican lawmakers in Texas have approved a new congressional map that would give him an edge in upcoming elections. In response, California Democrats are trying to redraw maps of their own

to add five Democratic seats. But will it be enough to give him a shot at retaking the House? Politics editor Scott Malone is in Washington, D.C. The truth is that Republicans have more options ahead of them to try to pick up additional seats than Democrats, too. The Trump administration has been pushing Indiana to redistrict. There are lawmakers in Florida talking about redistricting. Ohio has to redistrict due to a kind of a quirk in state law. And they're also looking at possible changes in Missouri.

That is far more than the options available to Democrats. Scott says the effects could be long term. There's two things going on. One is that if Republicans do manage to break with recent historical precedent and hold control of the House of Representatives in 2026, they'd probably also keep the Senate, right? Both are up for grabs. That means two more years in which Trump has full control of both chambers of Congress and will be able to kind of continue to pass legislation and essentially do what he wants to do. Longer term, we're also looking at some kind of changes in popular. trends, including people moving into Texas, that forecasters say could actually give Republicans a real structural, long-term advantage in holding the House. Today, Ukraine marks 34 years of independence from the Soviet Union. To mark the occasion, President Volodymy Zelenskyy has released a video of himself standing in Kiev's Maidan Square, saying that in 100 years, Ukraine's Independence Day would still be celebrated

from there. On the eve of Independence Day, Zelensky led a Flag Day ceremony, saying, we will not give our land to the occupier. Hours later, Ukrainian drone struck Russian energy infrastructure, damaging a nuclear plant in Korsk, according to Russian officials. Zelensky has repeatedly called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him, saying it's the only way to negotiate an end to the war.

President Trump has threatened Russia with new sanctions of no peace progress is made within two weeks. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using U.S.-made long-range army tactical missile systems to strike targets inside Russia. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. While Ukraine marks its Independence Day, in Russia, children as young as eight are participating in military-style training camps supervised by soldiers who have fought in Ukraine. In the Rostov region, dozens of children took part in a route march exercised this week, crawling through water and sand while carrying replica weapons.

And in some cases, real ones. The training is part of a wider trend in Russia to prepare even young children for eventual military service. Eight-year-old Ivan Glashchenko says his most memorable part was how he threw hand grenades and fired dummy shots. The instructors include war veterans like Alexander Schopen, who was wounded in Ukraine and brought his own daughter to participate. He says he likes passing his experience on to his children, and that she found it hard but didn't want to let her friends down in a team. Now to Pakistan, where floods triggered by monsoon rains and cloudbursts have killed nearly 400 people since mid-August.

Now a mountain mudslide has blocked a river in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan province, forming a lake that officials say could burst and unleash even more catastrophic flooding downstream. Correspondent Saeed Shah has been reporting on the destruction caused by these mountain floods. When this happens on a mountain, there are limited places for the water to escape. There tend to be these fairly narrow mountain streams, which soon become inundated, and then comes rushing down the slope. If it happens on flat land, there is more space typically for the rain to disperse.

And also on the mountains, because it picks up. up all this street, particularly rocks and trees. So that is what makes it particularly deadly in a mountain setting. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority has warned of two more rain spells by early September. Luxury tourism is expanding across parts of Africa, but not everyone is benefiting. That's according to a new report from the University of Manchester that says high-end resorts often do more harm than good. Cutting off local communities, and deepening inequality. The research comes as a new Ritz-Carlton Safari Lodge

in Kenya's Masaymara Reserve is drawing backlash. It promises tented suites with private decks overlooking a river at over $3,000 a night. It's opened, despite a legal challenge from a local conservation group who says it threatens wildlife migration and local livelihoods. Aaron Ross has more. Ritz-Carlton represents a peak of luxury, and I think that's why these objections are getting a lot of attention.

Tourism is a major economic driver in the area, and the government of Nara County, which actually manages the Muslim-Mara Reserve. They talk about trying to strike this balance, and they've put out reports that talked about ways to continue to promote tourism while protecting the environment. And they actually say that, you know, high-end establishments like Ritz-Carlton are very much in keeping with their strategy. because these are places that can bring in a lot of money and perhaps have less of a footprint, less of an impact. You can make more money for fewer people. But on the other hand, the head of the Conservation Institute, he says that these kinds of resorts do have a significant impact on the environment and also that they're not really benefiting local people, that the investors tend to come from other places, the money ends up leaving the community, and that in many years of

tourist development in Masaymara. It hasn't brought the development that the communities have hoped it will. And for today's recommended read, more people are turning to AI for therapy. But experts warn it may miss warning signs and put privacy at risk. You can read more about the promise and the limitations of AI-powered mental health tools by following the link in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. And if you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters, seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.