Reuters World News - Hurricane Helene, Israel’s ceasefire refusal, NYC mayor’s charges and comedy doldrums

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

Hurricane Helene slams into Florida as one of the largest storms ever to hit the U.S. Israel defies U.S. calls for a ceasefire along its border with Lebanon. New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment is unsealed. Shigeru Ishiba is set to become Japan’s next prime minister after winning the race for leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party. Plus, why Hollywood is ditching comedy. 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, Hurricane Helene hits Florida as a category four storm. Israel defies U.S. calls for a ceasefire along its border with Lebanon. New York's mayor heads to court over charges of fraud and bribery. And why Hollywood is souring on comedies. It's Friday, September 27th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Jonah Green in New York and I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool

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will be a super-exit with Shopify. It's one of perioreau a month in Shopify.es bar records. It's one of the most powerful storms to ever strike the US. Hurricane Helene has roared through Florida and into Georgia with fears of deaths and widespread destruction in its wake. At least one fatality in Florida was blamed on the hurricane so far, according to authorities.

The category four storm made landfall around 1110 p.m. Eastern Time. Even before its arrival, the storm had caused power outages for over a million people and severe flooding in several areas. Officials feared more fatalities would be discovered on Friday as the storm gusted in with 140 mile per hour winds. His Florida governor, Ronda Santis. Do not try to do any work in the dark. You don't know what hazards are out there. There's going be debris. Authorities said it would likely be several hours before any rescue personnel could head out to help those in need. Helene has weakened into a tropical storm as it moves farther inland over Georgia. The Lebanese foreign minister at the UN General Assembly warning that the crisis along their border

with Israel may spiral out of control. Israel's continuing to reject calls for a ceasefire with Hezbollah, even as its top ally, the United States, keeps up to. the pressure for a 21-day truce. James McKenzie is in Jerusalem with the latest. The logic, the reason why there's so many people coming out against the idea of a seeds fire in Israel is basically that, you know, they feel that they've been hitting Hetsbulla very, very hard over the past week of clicking really serious damage on its infrastructure, killing a lot of its senior commanders.

Tens of thousands, sort of 60, 65,000 people have been evacuated from that area. And one of the war-hands is to get them back to allow them. to return safely to their homes. So, James, there was already the conflict in Gaza, and then this seemed to erupt. How did we get to this point? What happened was that in July, a missile hit a kind of open area in the Golan Heights and killed 12 Israeli truce youngsters who were playing football,

and Israel blamed that strike on heads below, who actually denied it. As a result in retaliation, Israel killed very senior Hezbollah commander. An airstrike in Beirut at the same time or a day later, they also killed the leader of Hamas in Tehran. It's this situation where there was this extended conflict and it reached where it has almost by accident, in one sense by accident, but in another sense, you know, it's kind of inevitable that, you know, once this thing goes on for long enough, something will happen to. push it up further. Today we are announcing campaign finance, bribery, and conspiracy charges against Eric Adams. That's U.S. Attorney Damian Williams from the Southern District of New York, laying out the details of the indictment against the mayor of New York. New York courts reporter

Lou Cohen was at the federal courthouse in Manhattan. So the indictment alleged essentially a decade-long scheme stemming back to Adams' time as Brooklyn Borough president in which he received illegal campaign contributions from Turkish foreign nationals, as well as personal benefits like luxury travel upgrades to business class on flights and heavily discounted luxury hotel stays. It also accuses him of soliciting and accepting donations from Turkish nationals, which is illegal and funneling them through straw donors to hide the origin. The indictment also alleges that Adams took steps to cover up his trips and the gifts that he received. When one staffer asked him to delete their messages in which they discussed the gifts, Adams allegedly

said, I always do. Adams has denied any wrongdoing and says he'll fight the charges. He says he won't step down. From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city. My day-to-day will not change. Ukrainian sources have said that Russian forces stationed in the southern border region of Rostov fired the missile that kills Reuters' safety adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two of our journalists when it struck a hotel in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine's intelligence services told Reuters the missile was launched from a site close to Tagunrug,

a Russian city on the coast of the Sea of Azov near the Ukrainian border. In a written response to Reuters' questions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said they were for the armed forces to answer. Russia's defense ministry did not reply to Reuters' written questions. Speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris pledged her support for Ukraine. And an availed reference to her political rival, Harris criticized those who would have Ukraine swap land for peace with Russia.

There are some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory. They are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender. Shortly afterwards, Trump, at a press conference in New York, said he would be meeting with Zelensky after all on Friday. I believe I will be able to make a deal between President Putin and President Zelenskyy quite quickly.

And it's fifth time lucky for veteran Japanese lawmaker, Shigeru Ishiba. The 67-year-old is set to become Japan's next prime minister after winning a closely four race. His successful bid comes after four failed tries to lead Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Aishiba's win has sent the yen rising. His rival, Sanaai Takayichi, had been a vocal opponent of further interest rate hikes. Now she's been defeated, investors are betting the Bank of Japan will be able to continue with its campaign to raise interest rates from historic lows. And if economics and markets are your thing, and even if they're not, check out this week's

episode of Reuters Econ World. It's all about peak oil and what it means for the economy and the planet. You can catch it on Reuters.com, the Reuters app, or wherever you get your podcasts. This next story is about comedy, but much like the TV show The Bear, it's not like ha-ha funny. Hollywood is greenlighting fewer and fewer comedies as it reduces the number of TV series overall, according to industry data. Our entertainment reporter, Lisa Rich Wine, is here to explain. Lisa, what's the deal? Why so few comedies?

The number of shows in general is down, but comedy is being hit more, according to industry data that we have. There's a lot more interest in drama, but comedy, not so much. What are some of the theories as to why comedies are getting the brunt of this? Well, Jerry Seinfeld came out last year and said that it was because people had gotten to PC and, where, you know, we're not allowed to make jokes anymore. People I talk to in Hollywood right now who are writers and producers point to other factors.

One is the rise of TikTok. If you want something funny, you can watch it for free on your phone. Drama is also more marketable around the world. Comedy is seen as very specific to a region. It doesn't always travel. That's what the streaming services are going for now. They can't just have an audience in the U.S. They really need global audiences for their shows.

Is part of this like people can still watch Friends and Seinfeld? You know, I feel like you don't even need a new show because they still exist. If you do want to turn around on a comedy, there's always friends, the office. The classic comedies are still there for people who want to see them. The question is, what about new comedies and new voices? You know, where are we going to get those? We've got a recommended listen for you this weekend. Tune into our special episode for everything you need to know about Mexico's

new incoming president, Claudia Scheimbaum, and what she faces when she gets into office. That pod drops on Saturday. And for more of any of these stories from today, check out roiders.com or the Reuters app. To never miss an episode, subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back on Monday with our daily headline show.