Reuters World News - Georgia father's arrest, Nippon block, Kenya violence and Starlink's climbdown

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

Georgia officials have arrested the father of the 14-year-old suspect in a school shooting that killed four, saying he knowingly allowed his son to have a gun. US President Joe Biden is close to blocking the $14.9 billion Nippon Steel deal to buy U.S. Steel, citing national security concerns. The death of Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei in Kenya has highlighted the country’s epidemic of violence against women and particularly female athletes. Elon Musk’s broadband satellite company Starlink has backtracked and agreed to comply with Brazil’s law banning his social media site X in the country. 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, new panic buttons used during a Georgia high school shooting may have helped save lives. The epidemic of violence against women, including female athletes in Kenya. Why the U.S. is likely to block a $14 billion steel deal. And Elon Musk's Starlink backtracks and complies with Brazil's ban on X. It's Friday, September 6th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. And I'm Christopher Wal Jasper in Chicago. The father of a 14-year-old suspected of killing four people in a Georgia school shooting on Wednesday

has been arrested. Four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children. Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. Jose says the charges come from the father knowingly allowing the son to possess a weapon. More than a year before the deadly shooting, local sheriffs interviewed the now 54-year-old Colin Gray and his son Colt related to online threats of a school shooting. At that time, the father told the local sheriff's department that his hunting guns were locked away from his son Colt's reach. Authorities are now trying to piece together exactly how 14-year-old Colt's

Colt Gray was able to get his hands on the AR-15-style gun used to kill two classmates and two teachers. The son, Colt Gray, is set to be arraigned later today before a Georgia Superior Court Judge in Barrow County. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations says Gray will be charged and tried as an adult. Now, it's possible that newly implemented panic buttons were used by teachers in Appalachie High School to allow. alert police of the shooting. This alert system may have helped authorities more quickly respond and hone in on the shooter.

The wearable system was introduced just a week before the shooting occurred. Strong gales and heavy rain from the super deadly typhoon Yagi hit southern China on Friday. Schools are shut for the second day. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange shuttered and flights cancelled as Asia's strongest storm of the year heads for landfall on the Chinese island of Hainan later today. French President Emmanuel Macron has named the EU's former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, as Prime Minister, two months after snap elections.

The left, which placed first in the election but without an absolute majority, made clear it would fight Barnier in office and call for protests on Saturday. President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, has pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges. It's a surprise move that dodges what could have been an embarrassing trial during US election crunch time. And if Elon Musk is looking for another boost to his resume, Donald Trump might have a job offer.

The former president said he would establish a government efficiency commission headed by his billionaire supporter if he wins a November election. The Tesla boss posted his response on X. I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed. It's a huge day on markets. Carmel Crimmons is here to talk us through what we're looking out for. So Tara, today we're going to get US employment data for August, and investors are on tenter hooks,

because really these numbers could determine the speed and the size of rate cuts in the world's biggest economy, not to sound too dramatic about it. So why is this data so important? So the Fed is more concerned about risks to the labour market than inflation, and this job's report is always one of the more important monthly indicators. Now, last month, this same report says, markets into a tailspin when it showed a jump in the unemployment rate. It fanned fears of recession. And what are we expecting today? So better news. Forecasters expected to show a rise in hiring

and a downtick in the unemployment rate. So they're expecting new jobs to rise by around 160,000 and the unemployment rate to dip to 4.2%. Those levels would probably cement expectations for a 25 basis point rate cut. Anything worse than that? So an unemployment rate that's going up or a a worse than expected job creation could put a 50 basis point rate cut on the table. High state stuff then, Carmel. Yes, and it's all coming in September, which is historically a tough month for US stocks, as I explain on this week's episode of my podcast, Reuters Econ World. You can catch that on roiders.com, the Reuters app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

US President Joe Biden is likely to block Nippon Steel's acquisition of US Steel over national security concerns. In a letter seen by Reuters, the U.S. warned Nippon last week that the $14.9 billion deal could harm the American steel industry. Alexandra Alper is covering the story. One of the concerns is that Nippon Steel has a growing presence in India where production costs are lower than in the U.S. So could there arise a scenario where Nippon Steel moved capacity to India? Some of that you can infer from the letter. Another issue is that the U.S. and in particular U.S. steel has been very aggressive in seeking trade remedies against countries that dump steel on international markets. Nippon Steel has not and has, in fact, countered the U.S. and U.S. companies in some cases.

So one of the considerations is would U.S. steel under Nippon Steel's ownership be as aggressive in pursuing those trade issues? How is U.S. Steel responding to the possibility of the deal being blocked? U.S. Steel has said it would consider legal options if this is blocked. We've seen in another letter that they basically say, please let us pull this and refile. Here's a whole mitigation agreement that we're proposing to assuage some of the concerns that you raise. In terms of how likely a suit would be to be successful, in general, courts are very, very deferential. on national security matters,

but there's some question about the overturning of the Chevron deference, the TikTok precedent, and how that could mean that there's potentially more room for an effective lawsuit in this case. The death of Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptagay in Kenya,

after being doused in petrol and set alight by someone she was romantically involved with, has shocked many. But it's just a latest in a spate of violence against women in the country. particularly female athletes. Aaron Ross covers East Africa for us. Aaron, she's the third prominent sportswoman

to be killed in Kenya since 2021. What's going on? Yeah, there's been a lot of discussion about why this keeps happening, and it seems there are two layers to it, really. At its core, it's a problem of widespread gender-based violence in Kenya. There are lots of reports in the media about femicides, about violence against women.

And then you have some exacerbating factors that exist in the world of elite running in Kenya. Runners can make a lot of money, and you end up having predatory men who seek to benefit from that and leverage positions of influence, whether as their coach or romantic partner, to make money off of them. Elon Musk's ongoing fight with a judge in Brazil

has created an internal conflict between two of the companies in the billionaire's empire, his social media platform X and Starlink, the satellite internet company, Last month, Judge Alessandre de Moraisch ordered all internet providers to shut down access to X in Brazil. Moraishe says the platforms undermined democracy by spreading hate speech and fake news about the legitimacy of Brazil's elections. Luciana Magalias has been following the conflict out of Sao Paulo. Luciana, how is Musk responding to Brazil's actions against X and Starlink?

So, Musk first tried to defy the order. He said he was not going to comply with the order of shutting down X in Brazil. He said, whoever had Starlink would still be able to access X. And then he backtracked. He said he didn't agree with the decision, but that he was trying to find a way to offer its services in Brazil. So Starlink's users no longer can access X in Brazil. I think it is important to say that Starlink is extremely important in Brazil. It has more than 200,000 users.

And it's especially important in remote areas in the north of Brazil, for instance. Also in the agricultural sector, the Army is also a big client of Starlink in Brazil. As you head into your weekend, don't forget to tune in to our special episode for everything you need to know ahead of next week's first debate, between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. That special episode will drop tomorrow. And for more on any of the stories you heard today, check out reuters.com or the Reuters app. To never miss an episode, subscribe on your favorite podcast player.

And we'll be back on Monday with our daily headline show.