Reuters World News - Gaza war warning, toxic cough syrup and Ireland's immigration issues

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

Israel's war on Hamas will last months, Israel's military chief has said. How hundreds of children were poisoned by toxic cough syrup . Immigration becomes a key issue in Irish politics, as residents of one small coastal town fight against the arrival of refugees. Colorado authorities investigate possible threats to justices. Plus, Lee Sun-kyun, the South Korean actor who starred in the Oscar-winning film Parasite, is found dead.  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, warnings that the war in Gaza were last months, how hundreds of children ended up poisoned by toxic cough syrup, anti-immigrant fervor reaches the shores of Ireland, and the Mexicans spreading the gospel of marijuana dressed as nuns. It's Wednesday, December 27th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every day. weekday. I'm David Spencer in London. First to Gaza, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged no respite in the fight against Hamas. The campaign has intensified, particularly in central Gaza, where the Israeli army has told civilians to evacuate, though many say there is nowhere safe left. The United Nations has voiced alarm over the escalation of attacks they say have killed more than 100 Palestinians since Christmas Eve. Israel's military chief, Herzli, Hellevi, says the war will likely go on for many months.

The White House says talks continue between Washington and Qatar to secure the release of more hostages and to increase the supply of aid. Authorities in Colorado are investigating possible threats against state Supreme Court justices a week after the court bar Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary ballot. The Denver Police Department is providing extra patrols around the homes of the judges. The FBI says it's assisting local law enforcement. South Korean actor Li Sung-Kyung-Kyun, best known for his starring role in the Oscar-winning film Parasite, has been found dead. The 48-year-old had been questioned by police over accusations of illegal drug use.

He was found in a car at a park in Seoul, an official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Parasite, a dark comedy thriller, won four Oscars in 2020, including for Best Picture, the first non-English language film ever to win the award. Across Europe, immigrationers dominated elections in recent years. Not so in Ireland, but that looks set to change. Connor Humphreys visited one small town on the coast of Ireland, where the arrival of refugees from Ukraine has become the focus of the town's frustration. Rusler Harbour is a small town on the southeast corner of the country. It's the main ferry port

to continental Europe. It has some of the country's most beautiful beaches. It's a small touristy town with three or four hotels. All of the hotels now, however, are close to the public. They're now housing Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers, which has upset the locals because they say they have taken in more than their fair share, and they're worried about the local economy. Enough is enough is a phrase that I've heard people saying, but how do I feel you ask me how I felt? I'm not answering yet. The way that all these refugees come in, all of a sudden, the country is just, you know, all of a sudden they come in so quick. Locals in early November heard that the government wanted to turn a disused hotel into a huge new asylum center. There are currently asylum seekers and refugees representing around a quarter of the town's population. If this opens, it would increase to about half.

The protests have captured the attention of the political class in the last few months, I would say. But none of the mainstream parties are taking up the cause. The nationalist left-wing Sinn Féin Party is hoping to enter government for the first time, but it has steered clear of this issue, opening space for independent members of Parliament to speak up about it, but it's also created space for high-profile personalities, most notably Connor McGregor, the former MMA world champion, who has said he may run for the Ireland's presidency. It's a symbolic role, but it shows. the volatility of the situation.

Devouring books from a young age, Shana Almira Mariam had been excited about her first day of kindergarten near Jakarta. But when she developed a fever in September 2022, the syrup she was prescribed turned out to be toxic. Now, the six-year-old spends her days lying in a room lined with Hello Kitty wallpaper, staring blankly up at a baby mobile,

her mother told Reuters. Sheena is one of more than 300 children from Gambia to Uzbekistan, found to have been poisoned by contaminated medicinal syrups in the past two years. It's one of the largest episodes of such contamination on record. Stanley Widianto has been reporting on the story of survivors. Stanley, tell me about Shana Almira Mariam. So, Shana is a six-year-old girl who in 2022, drank. medicinal syrups that contain excessive levels of toxins, called the ethylene glycol, ravaging her internal organs and causing the acute kidney injury.

She remains uncommunicative, has a feeding tube up her nose, and her mother, Desi, is struggling to pay for her hospital visits. We know contaminated medicinal syrups have been a problem in a number of different countries, but just focusing on Indonesia, how did this happen? So it is unclear exactly how many syrups were ultimately resists. responsible for the entire illness in Indonesia, but syrups made by the company, Afi Pharma, were the most high profile. So in the case of AfiFarma, there was a soap seller who sold industrial grade ethylene glycol, which is commonly used as antifreeze or break fluids as

pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol, which is a legitimate ingredient. And that ethylene glycol eventually made its way to the AfiFarma syrups, you know, after changing, changing hands from one distributor to the other. Four AFI-Farma executives and two officials from each of the suppliers were convicted of violating pharmaceutical production laws. The AFI-Farma executives deny intentionally supplying drugs containing deadly ingredients and have appealed. Officials from the other suppliers could not be reached for comment.

Indonesia's food and drug regulator told Reuters in May it had tightened its rules and inspections, but it is not responded to subsequent requests for comment. Stanley, have the families of the children affected sought compensation? Yes, they have. About 30 families launched a class action suit last year, which is still ongoing to this day, asking for millions of rupee. And the government also said that it would disperse a compensation for either the parents whose children died or are still sick and in treatment. Yeah, but family said that that government compensation has not come through yet. The families want an apology from the government which they have not yet received. Indonesia's social affairs ministry, which disperses such funds and the office of the Indonesian

president, didn't respond to questions. The Christmas weekend has been marred by severe thunderstorms in eastern Australia, killing at least 10 people and knocking out power for thousands. Meanwhile, in the west of the country, several regions are battling bushfires, with a volunteer firefighter killed tackling the flames. The extreme weather is being blamed on both climate change and the El Nino phenomenon. Novak Djokovic says he's taking inspiration from NFL legend Tom Brady and plans to extend his tennis career well beyond his 40th birthday. The 36-year-old Serbian says Brady, who finally quit. The poet aged 45 this year is a great example of a champion who looked after his body and mind.

I learned a lot from him, from his example, and hopefully I can have a career that goes up to 40 or maybe even beyond. I've been playing some really high-quality tennis. The outskirts of a village in central Mexico, and a group of women in nun habits circling around a roaring fire, giving thanks to the movement of a movement of a movement of animals and plants, all while smoking joints. Despite the outfits, they're not religious. They're part of an international group called Sisters of the Valley, which is pledged to spread the gospel of the healing powers of cannabis. To get this stigma, and what I always have

and to what I'm going to put down to take the narco. One of the nuns, who goes by Sister Bernadette, says the group is looking to break the stigma of the plant and take it back from the narcos. Because cannabis sits in a legal

gray area in Mexico, and much of its production is still tied to criminal organizations, they worry police or local gangsters could arrive to threaten or extort them. But they promise to keep spreading the word, one joint, at a time.

That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline 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 favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.