Reuters World News - French police's controversial powers and the Hollywood strike's impact

Episode Date: June 29, 2023

Over 100 have been arrested in France after riots sparked by the police killing of a teenager of North African descent. We look at the police’s controversial use-of-force powers and why allegations of systemic racism can’t be investigated. Russia’s top generals disappear from public view after failed mercenary mutiny. The small businesses impacted by the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike. Plus, the universe’s constant cosmic hum. 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, a second night of unrest in France after police shoot dead a teenage boy during a traffic stop. We look at the controversial powers given to French police and why allegations of systemic racism can't be investigated, at least not officially. Russia's most senior generals drop out of public view following a failed weekend rebellion. And the Hollywood writers strike. We visit a famed prop house to see how they're weathering the work stoppage. It's Thursday, June 29th. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. Every weekday.

I'm Kim Vinal in London. Protesters shoot fireworks at police officers and set cars ablaze in the Paris suburb of Nantere. Police charge back. It's the second night of clashes. since the facial shooting of a 17-year-old bear on Tuesday. 150 people have been arrested and dozens of police officers injured in protests across the country. The use of lethal force against the teenager,

who was of North African origin, has ignited anger over police tactics in ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Prosecutors say the boy failed to comply with an order to stop his car. A video on social media shows an officer shooting as the driver pulls away. That officer is being investigated for voluntary homicide. Juliet Jipkiro and Lely Farudy have been covering the story from Paris.

So Juliet, can you give us some context? How common is this in France? France doesn't have the same gun violence that we can see in the US, but there is a history of police killings against. a certain type of the population, especially Arab people. Compared to other European countries, France currently has one of the highest rates of legal police shootings. There has been an increase in recent years, in particular in the type of shooting that we saw on Tuesday. And so what caused this sudden increase, do we know?

Yeah, so there has been a new law passed in 2017 that critics say has broadened the cases in which a police officer is allowed to use their weapon, their firearm. They could shoot if they thought that someone was likely to cause harm to someone in the future, which opens a sort of gray area. And you have to understand that in 2016, there was a terrorist attack where a man ran over people in Nice, killing lots of people. And that law was introduced the following year. Right groups say this is an example. of systemic racism. How is this being investigated?

What you have to understand is that France is colorblind, so they refuse to collect ethnic data for this type of things. There's this Republican ideal that we don't categorize based on ethnicity, and so they do not have this data to be able to investigate systemic racism. Is there any sense that protests will lead to reform here? Even French President Emmanuel Macron described the fatal shooting as inexcusable. I think it would be premature to say that this is going to lead to any legal change like law reform. Yeah, and I think in official comments, they have condemned the action

itself, but I don't think there's be any, there hasn't been any criticism of like a systemic problem. Now let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world. Two top Russian generals have disappeared from public view, following a failed mutiny by mercenary chief Yevgeny Progogian. Valerie Gryzimov, Russia's top general, has not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted revolt on Saturday when Progosion demanded that Grysimov be handed over. Absent from View 2 is General Sergei Sorovican, nicknamed General Armageddon by the Russian press, who is the deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

Presumed human remains from the tourist's... submersible crushed to pieces en route to the Titanic have been recovered and brought ashore to Canada. The submersible titan imploded, killing all five people on board. Outrage as a man tears up and burns a Quran outside Stockholm's central mosque on the Muslim holiday of Eid. The anti-Islam protest sparked anger in Turkey and could further delay Ankara's approval of Sweden's bid to join NATO. One of the most common artificial sweeteners is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month, sources have told Reuters. Aspartame used in many things, from Diet Coke to extra chewing gum,

will be listed as possibly carcinogenic to humans by the World Health Organization's Cancer Research Agency. Madonna has postponed the start of her world tour after being hospitalized in intensive care for a serious bacterial, infection. The Vogue singer is expected to make a full recovery. Millions of Americans have been urged to limit outdoor activities in the Midwest and East, as hazy smoke-filled skies from raging Canadian wildfires hover over. Much of the Midwest is under an air quality alert, expected to last into Thursday or even longer. It's time now for the markets with Carmel Kremens. Carmel, what's happening?

It's all rates, rates, rates. We've had top central bank governors, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, warning that more interest rate hikes are on the way to tame inflation. That took the shine off US stocks, but there was one notable exception. Apple hit a fresh record high on Wednesday, and it's on the cusp of a $3 trillion valuation. Writers picketing in L.A. with the Hollywood strike now in its eighth week,

with no sign of being resolved anytime soon. The work stoppage is having a huge impact on the many small businesses that feed show business. Lisa Rich Wyn spoke to some in the industry being seriously affected. There are companies like prop suppliers, costume designers, florists, caterers, all those people that relied on business from productions. And that has really dried up. Technicolor blimp back there. That was originally used in Spartacus. I spoke with a woman named Pam Elie. She and her husband run a property. house here in Hollywood. It's called History for Hire. It's been around forever. Spilberg liked him so much.

We may have one and he'd had us make 18 of them for him because he's Spielberg and he can do that. The first movie they worked on was Platoon. They've worked on Titanic, Forrest Gump. And they say they're running about $100,000 short on their expenses because they don't have people ordering props right now. Businesses like that do what I do, there's hundreds of thousands of us in this town that, you know, if I'm not renting to shows, that means I'm not using the dry cleaner. I'm not using the guy who does the plating. I'm not using the welders. So everybody gets affected straight across the board. You also have businesses that just weathered the pandemic. And a lot of them are not as financially strong as they might have been in years past. They had to use a lot of their

cash reserves during the pandemic to stay afloat. So they were in an even more precarious situation when the strike started, which is going to make it harder for them to get through this one. Lisa, it's possible that the actors could soon get involved. Is that right? Yes. A pivotal moment is this Friday, the SAG After Actors Union has been negotiating their own contract. Their contract expires on Friday. If they can't reach a deal and decide to go on strike, then this labor tension in Hollywood is going to last even longer than anybody expected. If the actors do get a deal, that could make the writers think about going back to the table. They have not even talked with the studio since May 2nd when their strike started. And if they see the other Hollywood unions

making deals, they might think, okay, now we've got to go back and try to get our settled. Now, in space, no one could hear you scream, right? But that might be because the universe is busy making its own constant sound. Scientists have unveiled evidence that gravitational waves are permeating the universe at low frequencies, creating a cosmic background hum. Researchers say it's like hearing the hum of a large group of people talking at a party without being able to distinguish any individual voice. That's it for today's edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily weekday news show, bringing you everything you need to know about your world in 10 minutes. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, don't forget to subscribe

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