Reuters World News - Indonesia quake, Jason Arday dies, gas prices and Mount Etna

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, I'm Peter Devon in London. It's Saturday, August 15th. Today, Thousands evacuate after a major quake off Eastern Indonesia. Trump defends higher gas prices, as Iran keeps route blocked. Former Cambridge professor Jason Ardei dies at 41 as plagiarism probe continues. And Mount Etna eruption snarls flights across Sicily. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, killing dozens.

Starting point is 00:00:49 The tsunami warning was lifted hours later, but thousands of residents have been evacuated, and rescue teams are still trying to reach some of the hardest hit areas. For more on this story, heteroiders.com. Jason Arde, the former University of Cambridge professor who recently resigned amid plagiarous amalgations, has died at the age of 41. Police say he was found unresponsive at a property in South London and was pronounced dead at the scene. His death is being treated as unexpected but not suspicious. Ardei who became Cambridge's youngest black professor denied allegations that parts of his PhD thesis had been plagiarised.

Starting point is 00:01:25 The university had announced an investigation into his appointments earlier this week. Iran is refusing to back down. In a post on ex-Iran's deputy foreign minister said Iran would continue to enforce the blockade of the street of Fremuz. US President Donald Trump is urging Americans to accept higher gasoline prices, saying the cost is worth preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran says it is not decided whether to resume talks with Washington, while oil tanker traffic through the street of Fremuz remains severely disrupted after months of conflict. Two years ago, then candidate Donald Trump stood in front of piles of groceries at his New Jersey Golf Club

Starting point is 00:02:04 and promised to bring down food prices. Bread is up 24%, butter is up 37%. Baby formula is up 30%, flour is up 38%, and eggs are up 46%, and many items are up at much higher rates than that. Fast forward to today and prices are still rising. Many of the items Trump highlighted are actually more expensive now than under former President Joe Biden. Reporter Nathan Lane, who was at that press conference,

Starting point is 00:02:34 says that's turning into a big problem for a problem. Republicans head of November. Because this event happened exactly two years ago in Bedminster, New Jersey, we decided to focus on the congressional district that includes Bend Minster, which is the seventh congressional district. And it's an important district because it's a battleground district. It's very much in play. It's considered a toss-up in November.

Starting point is 00:03:01 And so we thought it would be interesting to interview people. mostly coming out of the grocery store and to see how they were assessing grocery prices so far in Trump's second term. Of the 17 of Republicans and Independent we spoke to, I want to say somewhat surprisingly, but most were hesitant to say, I'm ready to back the Republican. Now, Tom Kane has some specific issues in his race, right? He was famously lots of reporting about this. Of course, he was absent for several months. We now know later that it was because he was dealing with depression. But, you know, coming out of the grocery store, most people said, look, you know,

Starting point is 00:03:45 that Trump promised to bring down prices. President Trump said he would bring down prices, and it hasn't happened, right? No one said, yes, it has happened. President Trump is defending the USS Abraham Lincoln's deployments after concerns were raised by families and lawmakers about conditions aboard the aircraft carrier. That ship is moving right now, well, very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship. The Lincoln has spent more than 200 consecutive days at sea without a port call, while lawmakers seek answers over reports of worsening mental health, living conditions and supply issues aboard the ship.

Starting point is 00:04:22 Luigi Mangione admitted on court on Friday to fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. With today's guilty plea, Mr. Mangione has accepted full responsibility. for the death of Brian Thompson. This was not a spontaneous act of violence. It was deliberate, calculated, and premeditated. Manjone pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the executive with the intent to kill him. The plea could allow Manjoni to seek dismissal of separate state murder charges

Starting point is 00:04:52 under double jeopardy laws, setting up a potential court fight with Manhattan prosecutors. Reporter Jack Queen was in the courtroom. We were in a very large courtroom and the gallery is packed, including with Mr. Thompson's widow and family who were sitting in the front row of the gallery. Mr. Manjong, he was walked in, he had his hands behind his back, but he wasn't cuffed. So when it was time to admit to his crimes, he remained seated and he read from a prepared statement. It was sort of laced with these oblique criticisms of the healthcare industry. And then when the moment came to admit to his crimes, he said that he traveled to New York with the

Starting point is 00:05:31 intent to shoot Mr. Thompson, and on the morning of December 4th, 2024, he shot him and he died. And that was kind of the most dramatic moment there. I was sitting, I was sitting very, very close to Mr. Thompson's widow, and she sort of choked up, kind of suppressed a sob, and there were two women sitting next to her who comforted her, kind of held her in their arms. And it was, it was an intense moment. Jack says the plea is a legal maneuver to avoid state charges. And so his argument now is that since he has admitted to basically the same crime in federal court, he cannot be prosecuted for the same conduct in state court. And therefore, the murder charge and the weapons charges against him in state court must be dismissed.

Starting point is 00:06:18 And so he filed immediately after he pleaded guilty today, his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss in the state case, basically making those arguments. Sentencing for the federal case is in December, and prosecutors have said they're going to seek life in prison. The White House is pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly condemn militant settlers who've besieged Palestinian families in the West Bank for nearly a week. The unusual public pressure from Washington comes after the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called the settlers Israeli terrorists,

Starting point is 00:06:56 a striking condemnation from a long-time supporter of Jewish settlements. So far Netanyahu has stayed silent and with elections two months away, condemning settlers could cost him politically. Meanwhile, near the West Bank village of Kuzra, settlers continue to besiege a group of Palestinian homes, refusing to allow anyone to enter or leave. Footage filmed inside one of the houses by a local resident shows settlers wandering in groups around the area.

Starting point is 00:07:24 Israeli troops say they've tried to break the settler siege, which has become the subject of international attention. Kuzra resident Ibrahim Hassan says the... settlers and army raided his home and assaulted him. In a statement, the military said it deployed troops to protect residents and maintain security. Reuters correspondent Peshah McGid visited Khusra on Friday. The families inside they can't leave, they're trapped, they say they're running out of food, they're running out of water. And even though there's been a heavy Israeli military presence, the settlers have still come close to their house as of today.

Starting point is 00:08:03 The Palestinians here say that this is part of a broader effort from settlers to try to push Palestinians out of their home so they can take over more and more land in the West Bank. And activists say that in the past months, settlers have become closer and closer to Palestinian villages, as we can see here. Behind us in this valley, residents say that the settlers have taken over most of the buildings. They've cut the electricity, and they've also cut the pipe that was bringing water to the families here from a freshwater well. It's not just the families there that are under siege. Nearby residents say that they have faced settler attacks from January,

Starting point is 00:08:42 and at least one of them was beaten by settlers and forced to flee his home because of the ongoing settler attacks. Wildfires are erupting across Europe, as another heat wave rolls across the continent, forcing thousands of people from their homes, with extreme heats and dry conditions fueling the fast-moving blazes. More than 500 people have been evacuated, southwestern France as a wildfire burns through pine forests. Around 2,000 residents have fled

Starting point is 00:09:11 their homes in Western Germany as flames moved towards a village near the Belgian border. On Croatia's Adriatic coast, about 1,000 people were evacuated after a wind-driven fire swept through the tourist town of Omish, injuring dozens. And in England, a major grass fire has damaged several homes, as temperatures push close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Weeks of dry weather have left nearly three-quarters of the country affected by drought, with millions under water use restrictions. Lava, molten rocks tumble down Mount Etna in Italy. Etna, Europe's highest and most active volcano, has been spewing ash into the sky in eastern Sicily all week, disrupting air travel at nearby Catania airports.

Starting point is 00:09:57 We don't have any information. Information? No. No information. Tourist Mateo Paul. Netto from Brazil, struggling for days to board his flight to Sardinia. Catania, which is Italy's fifth busiest

Starting point is 00:10:11 airport by traffic, has resumed some service. For more of any of the stories from today, check outroiders.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back

Starting point is 00:10:27 tomorrow with our daily headline show.

Reuters World News - Indonesia quake, Jason Arday dies, gas prices and Mount Etna

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