Reuters World News - Golf geopolitics and exclusive sit-down with Kosovo’s president

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

Saudi Arabia emerges as the big winner as golf’s bitter divide ends with unexpected PGA-LIV merger. An exclusive interview with Kosovo’s president as tensions bubble with Serbia. Plus, cleaning up the Seine for the Paris Olympics. 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, golf and geopolitics are rocked by a shock merger between the rival Saudi-backed live and PGA and European tours. Ukrainians ravaged by war battle floodwaters after the Novakakova dam burst. And I'm in Kosovo for a sit-down with the president as tensions with Serbia boil over. It's Wednesday, June 7th. 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 Pristina. Golf's Civil War is over. Tuesday's announcement of an agreement between the Saudi-backed

Live Golf and the PGA and European tours has ended the sports bitter divide. But what does it all mean? Oshian Shine is our global editor for sport. Ashean, how shocking is this deal given this schism? It seems like nobody knew this was coming. Nobody did know it's coming. Seemingly, even Tiger Woods, who knows pretty much everything there is to know about golf. These two parties have been tearing chunks out of each other for two years with legal battles, increasingly vicious recriminations. But of course, on the other hand, anyone who follows sport and the history of sport will know that these schisms always heal.

But the speed of this with no warning as what really comes a shock to everybody. Who are the big winners here? The biggest winners is Saudi Arabia. It seems they've now bought a massive chunk of world golf. And with that, the credibility that comes. And of course, any player who joined the live golf for life-changing generational sums of money, they are now back in the fold. Everything it would appear would look to be an awful lot smoother for them going forward

in terms of selection for things like the Ryder Cup. And I guess you could say Donald Trump. He's always talked it up as the next great big thing. In fact, he predicted this merger a year ago. Now to the other headlines making news around the world. Flood water is sweeping across large swathes of Ukraine after a major dam was destroyed. Thousands of people are being evacuated from towns and villages as water surges down the Denebro River. Ukraine accused Russia of committing a war crime by destroying the dam.

Moscow blames Ukraine for its collapse. Prince Harry leaving court in central London after launching a fierce attack on what he called the vile press. During five hours of evidence, he blamed tabloids for destroying his adolescence and later relationships. He's the first senior British royal to appear in a witness box in more than a century and is expected back on court on Wednesday

in the lawsuit against the publishers of The Daily Mirror. Authorities in New York, Toronto and Ottawa have issued air quality warnings as smoke from early summer wildfires in Canada spreads across the region. New York State even recommended residents limit outdoor exercise to reduce the health risks. The Securities and Exchange Commission is suing crypto platform Coinbase, a day after it went after Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. The pair of cases mark a dramatic escalation by regulators to rein in the sector. It's time for markets now with Carmel Crimmons. Carmel, what's happening with interest rates? It seems interest rate increases are back on the agenda.

So we had the Aussie Central Bank yesterday. It hiked rates. And its governor was out today warning that there could be more in store. Then later on today, we've got the Bank of Canada. And there are expectations that it's also going to resume its tightening a schedule, which is interesting because the... Bank of Canada was, you know, one of the first major central banks to pause its rate tightening program way back in January. So there's a feeling that perhaps the developed central banks

aren't quite done yet with the inflation fight. Of course, we've got the Fed next week and markets are betting that it will hold firm. But there are expectations that there could be another rate hike later in the year. Kosovo's capital Pristina is vibrant. Big, open, communist-style town squares are filled with people, eating and shopping and socialising. But 15 years after Kosovo declared independence, near the northern border, 50,000 minority Serbs living in the territory still refuse to recognise it. Last week, the region turned violent.

Tehras, batons and beatings. As Serbs protest against ethnic Albanian mayors taking office after an election they boycotted. Western allies have criticized Kosovo for its handling of the violence, which injured 30 NATO peacekeepers known as K4 and more than 50 Serb protesters. I sat down with Kosovo's president, Vyosso Osmani. Madam President, are there any concrete measures you can commit to pushing forward to de-escalate tensions from the Kosovo side? We already have.

First of all, we're discussing about new elections, early elections, which I think it's a major step towards the escalation, and it provides for a long-term solution because it gives the Serbs who live in the North an instrument to elect mayors of their own choosing, and then they can be represented through a democratic vote, a democratic process. How long will K4 troops be on the ground?

I would say at least until Kosovo joins NATO, which is every single day is proving to be more and more necessary. Of course, K4 troops have... have proven to be indispensable, including in the past couple of days. I want to show the appreciation of the people of Kosovo for their role, for their support of peace and security. And at the same time, of course, condemn violence that has been carried out against them. You recently traveled to Moldova for a meeting of the European political community, including Francis President McCona and Germany's Chancellor Schultz.

You also met with Serbian president Alexander Vucic. How was it? The meeting with Vuchich, it was, I would say, expected in the sense that Vuchich in most of his meetings is quite a drama king. So he, of course, tried to create quite a lot of drama again, but provided no ideas that would contribute to peace and stability in the region. In turn, of course, I did present what I had also presented previously to President Macroni, Chancellor Schultz, as possible ideas that would contribute our joint efforts to de-escalation, and at the same time would be more than just short-term solutions, because we've been having a lot of short-term solutions in the past decade,

and what we're facing is just crisis after crisis. So we need to deal with the root cause of a problem. You can hear more of my interview with President Osmani in a special weekend episode about Kosovo. The Olympics in Paris. What could be more scenic? Well, the City of Lights thinks it can do even better and make the Sen River safe to swim in for some events.

Manuel Oslos took a trip with a kayak club to see just how big a challenge they face. We're on a motorboat with Bastien who supervises the group as they train and the water's overall pretty clear, you can see algae in the bottom. Every once in a while there's a plastic bottle that floats by and you can see patches of garbage just floating

on the side of the river. So everything that gets thrown in water in Paris really flows downstream to here. Bastien told me he's in contact with the Sandswater every week, and he has seen that the quality of the water has gotten better over the years. It's now clearer and cleaner than it used to be when he first started to kayak here seven years ago.

Bastien told me he felt very fortunate to have this level of access to the river while also living in the city, but he also said that the efforts to clean the sand for the Olympics are really what he and his fellow characters have been waiting for for years. I'm Manuel Osloz in Paris, France. That's it for this edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily news show.

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