Reuters World News - Harris' DNC finale, Trump death threats, Japan's 7-Eleven and the Premier League

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris seals the Democratic presidential nomination with a promise to be a “practical” leader for all Americans. An Arizona man allegedly threatens to kill former president Donald Trump. The cult of the “conbini” as 7-Eleven’s Japanese owner weighs a takeover.  Plus, allegations of breaches of financial rules hang over soccer’s Premier League. 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, Kamala Harris wraps up the DNC, trying to appeal to both sides on Gaza. Israeli troop demands are blocking a ceasefire deal and how the UK's soccer Premier League might be decided in the courts, not on the pitch. It's Friday, August 23rd. 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 London. The Democratic National Convention has ended for this year, and our very own Christopher Wal Jasper was there. The convention center was packed with the fire marshal turning away spectators as much as an hour ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris's speech.

As Harris stepped on stage, cheers turned to chance of the vice president's name or USA. It went on for several minutes until Harris had to quiet down the crowd, saying it was, quote, time to get down to business. Now, over the past few weeks, Harris' campaign aides have said that the public hasn't really gotten to know Kamala Harris personally, despite her time on the national political stage. This speech really sought to share more of her personal story. She talked about growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in a modest, middle-class neighborhood. My mother kept a strict budget. We lived within our means. Yet, we wanted for little, and she expected us to make the most of the opportunities that were available to us.

Throughout, she balanced a message of unity with some more pointed attacks on Trump than what we've heard much of the week. Said Trump would enact a nationwide ban on abortion without congressional approval and forced states to report miscarriages. They are out of their minds. Harris promised that she would work with Congress to pass legislation protecting abortion access. She repeated a lot of promises we've heard throughout the week. And she also touched on a few topics that have been largely avoided by other speakers this week. I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law. Throughout the week, protesters have been demanding that the Democratic Party,

party take a stronger stance on protecting Palestinians in the conflict in Gaza. Last night, Harris addressed that too, but tried to appeal to both sides. President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done. Be clear. And let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself. At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. During that portion of the speech, you could actually hear various people calling out free Palestine, but they were quickly hushed by other Harris supporters in the crowd. The night ended on a hopeful note that evoked the joy that evoked the

joy and optimism that the Democratic Party has been trying to convey all week. After the speech, I spoke with some of our political reporters, and what they told me was that while Harris focused more on what voters are concerned about, they all agreed that the campaign needs to offer more policy substance in the coming weeks. An Arizona man allegedly threatened to kill former President Donald Trump on social media. Trump learned about the threat while visiting the Arizona-Mexico border on Thursday. — — who made death threats to you? Did you hear about that before coming?

No, I haven't heard that, but I'm not that surprised. And the reason is because I want to do things that are very bad for the bad guys. This is the latest in a series of threats against candidates ahead of a November 5th general election. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has filed paperwork to withdraw from the presidential race in Arizona. The withdrawal comes as he prepares to give an address in the state later today. It's expected that he will endorse his Republican rival in exchange for a job in a potential Trump administration. Israeli demands for troops in Gaza are blocking a true deal. That's according to sources familiar with the latest round of US-mediated talks.

The sources told Reuters Hamas was especially concerned about a demand to keep troops deployed along the Netsarim corridor, an east-west strip is real clear during the current war, as well as in a narrow border strip between Gaza and Egypt, known as the Philadelphia Corridor. The Canadian government has forced an end to a brief rail work stoppage that threatened its economy. Workers at Canadian National Railway will begin returning to work after the government asked the country's Industrial Relations Board

to issue a back-to-work order. Remember that market crash earlier this month? It was partly triggered by a Bank of Japan rate hike. Well, the central bank governor says they still plan to raise interest rates in the economy and inflation turn out as forecast. Carmel Crimmons is here to explain. Carmel, should we be worried? While the markets are taking Governor Casillo Ueda's comments in their stride, he signaled that he doesn't plan to rush ahead with the next rate hike, and he repeated the need to carefully watch developments in financial markets. He did say, though, that worries over the state of the US economy

were the key catalyst for this month's ruckians. And if you're interested in all things economic and maybe also pop culture, do check out this week's episode of Reuters Econ World. We're diving into the Taylor Swift economy in Europe. You can listen to it on the Reuters app or wherever you get your podcasts. And sticking with Japan, the Japanese operator of 7-Eleven has turned the store into something of a cultural force back home. Unlike some US convenience stores, Japanese Combeini are closer to small supermarkets, stocking everything from fresh food to toiletries and clothing. An enthusiast don't want to see that endangered by a takeover bid from Canadian retailer Alimentation Couchterre.

Tim Kelly in Tokyo went to his local 7-Eleven to explain the cult of the Combeini. Like most residents of the city, I live only a couple of minutes away from a combini. We're in the convenience store now. People come here for daily necessities. It's also the more traditional Japanese fair. The onigiri rice bowls, which are often filled with fish or meat. There are also a variety of snacks, some which are familiar to Western consumers. Others maybe not, such as seaweed, fish sticks, dried squid.

Also my favourite, which are khakipi, which small rice crackers, lip buttered, salted peanuts. There's places where you can send packages, 10 faxes, which are still a thing here. There's a cash machine where you can take up money and do financial transactions. Few foreign retailers have succeeded in Japan. Some, like Walmart, have not achieved the results they've looked for. The convenience stores themselves face challenges.

The rise of online services means that perhaps their importance for communities has lessened a little bit. You know, and as inflation takes hold in Japan, cost-conscious consumers may be looking elsewhere, where they can buy their food in daily necessities. The first weekend of Soccer's Premier League had a familiar feel, with wins for last year's champions Manchester City and for Arsenal. But as the second weekend of games approaches, uncertainty hangs over the season. Some of the clubs could find accountants and lawyers as important as their players or head coach. Manchester City is one of several clubs with possible penalties hanging over them for alleged breaches of financial rules. The club denies the charges and is fighting the case in the courts.

Martin Herman covers soccer for us. The big elephant in the room is these 115 charges that are hanging over their head. There's things like failing to sort of accurately describe player and management payments. There's breaches of the Premier League's profitability. and sustainability rules. But yeah, the whole season has started with this cloud. I think last year people kind of knew about it, but now it's become a bit more real.

It looks like there's something might well happen this season. The big question is, what will they do? Will they have titles taken away? Don't think that's going to happen. I don't think there's any stomach for that. So potentially they could have an enormous points penalty, which could effectively relegate them. That's one scenario.

Everybody loves a good title race, and it's been epic the last two or three years. but we could go into the back end of the season with city top of the league and the following week they could fund us in the relegation zones. Convierce your passion in a business with Shopify

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