Reuters World News - Europe's Ukraine rally, Haiti's force, Nobels and Speaker latest

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

European leaders rally around Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy at a summit in Spain. Plans for a UN security force to purge criminal gangs is met with caution in Hait. How does winning a Nobel Prize change your life? Plus, the latest on the race to elect a new House Speaker, what happened to an Iranian teenager and a World Cup on three continents. 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 race for a new house speaker takes shape, but Ukraine funding still hangs in the balance, as European leaders meet in Granada to rally around Zelensky. Haitians react to news a UN security mission will fight gang violence in the country. And hear how winning a Nobel Prize changes your life. Spoiler alert, expect adulation and lots of lectures. It's Thursday, October 5th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday. I'm Kim Vinal in London.

We start in the Spanish city of Granada, where Ukrainian leader Velodemezilensky has appealed for unity at a summit of European leaders. The main challenge is what we have, that is to save unity in Europe. The appeal comes at a dangerous juncture in the war, with support for funding Ukraine, faltering in parts of Europe and crucially in the United States. With the U.S. House currently leaderless, the race now begins for the next speaker. Steve Scalise, the Chamber's number two Republican and Jim Jordan, said they would seek the post. With the House paralyzed, funding over Ukraine hangs in the balance. But Jordan made it clear it's not a priority.

The most pressing issue on Americans' mind is not Ukraine. A Reuters Ipsos poll out today shows support for arming Ukraine is slipping. And President Joe Biden says he's concerned that politics could disrupt U.S. aid. It doesn't worry me. But I know there are a majority of members of the House and Senate in both parties who have said that they support funding Ukraine. A senior figure from Uganda's main opposition party said its leader, Bobby Wine, had been arrested on third. Thursday at the Entebbe International Airport as he arrived from abroad. Wine has emerged as the strongest challenger to the 79-year-old President Yoeri Museveni,

who's been in power since 1986. Activists have accused Iranian agents of leaving a teenage girl in a coma after a confrontation for not wearing a headscarf. Security camera footage broadcast on state television shows 16-year-old Armitter Geravant walking towards a train in the Tehran subway. Minutes later, she's dragged out unconscious. Authorities have not released footage from inside the train. They deny she was assaulted.

The case has triggered comparisons with Masa Armani, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in police custody last year. At least 14 people have been killed and dozens are missing after a Himalayan glacial lake burst its banks. Heavy rains caused the Lonak Lake in northeast India to overflow. Morocco, Spain and Portugal have been named hosts of the 2030 Soccer World Cup, while Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will host the opening matches to mark the tournament's centenary. Markets now with Carmel Crimmons, so Carmel soft US labour data has provided some relief to stocks and to the yen today,

but that currency is not out of the woods yet, is it? No, so we had plenty of excitement earlier this week when there was speculation that Japan had actually intervened to prop up the yen. It's down about 13% so far this year. But data released on Wednesday suggests that didn't happen. What we did see was the yen dropping to a one year low against the dollar in about 10 minutes and then very quickly rebounding. But for as long as we have surging US bond yields and ultra-low Japanese interest rates, then the yen is going to remain under pressure. and the authorities are going to be under pressure to intervene to help it. A UN vote to send a foreign security force to Haiti to fend off criminal gangs

is being welcomed by foreign minister Jean-Victor Genus. He describes the decision as a glimmer of hope. Back in Porto-Prince, locals are waiting to see. Harold Isaac has been covering the ongoing violence in Haiti. Harold, when we spoke earlier this year, Haitians were taking matters into their own hands, fighting back against the gangs. How have things changed? Well, they haven't, actually.

We've been in a kind of holding pattern of violence and of kidnappings over the last year. In April, alleged members of the Timakak gang got lynched and set on fire by the population. And that brought some sort of a reprieve in the security situation for about three months. And in the middle of the summer, there was a new spike in kidnappings and in gruesome massacres throughout town. And as such, people were caught in a very vicious and very cynical cycle of violence in the country. Are Haitians confident this UN force will be able to bring peace?

With Kenya being eager to do it and with their experience, in Somalia, in South Sudan, and also in other neighbor countries, I think you can notice a sort of cautious optimism, but the cultural barrier cannot be dismissed. I mean, Kenya, they speak English and Swahili, whereas in Haiti, it's francophone and creole culture. How they're going to communicate? It's anybody's guess. And this is kind of what the issue is. We feel we're headed for a social experiment. And we also know what came about from past missions, such as with the introduction of cholera or the sex abuse scandals.

Nobel Prize season is in full swing, with the most prestigious the Peace Prize awarded tomorrow. Nicholas Pollard has been covering the announcements in Stockholm. So first off, Nicholas, how have this year's Nobel Prizes differed from previous years? One thing that we had this year is that we started with a bang, and that's the MRNA discoveries got a Nobel Prize, and that was a lot sooner than, you know, is typically the case with a discovery like this. I often get the question why it takes decades for a discovery to win a Nobel Prize. And it's a lot of different reasons. One is that it takes time to make sure the science is good. The Nobel Prize has not always been great. Like prefrontal lobotomy is probably not one they are proud of today. Wow.

That was one which got a previous prize, huh? Yeah. So I think they do want to take time with that. I also think they want to take time in seeing that there's an impact of the discovery. And I mean, you don't really get much bigger impact than this discovery did in 2020. What does winning a Nobel Prize mean to a winner? A lot of winners that I've talked to over the years, they have been quite nervous about how it's going to change their lives

because when you get the award, all of a sudden, a big part of your planning for at least the coming year, maybe two, is thrown out the window because you will be giving lectures at a significant rate that you were never intended to do and so on, really does take over your life in a way, right? That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back on Friday with our 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 favorite podcast player

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