Reuters World News - Israel in Syria, Biden’s Austin problem and the price hit from Red Sea attacks

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

Israel is unleashing deadlier, more frequent, air raids against Iran-linked targets in Syria. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to disclose his hospitalizations is creating a political headache for Joe Biden. Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea is likely to push up prices for consumers. Plus, with less than a week to go before the first primary of the 2024 presidential race, the top three Republican contenders are intensifying attacks on one another.  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, Israel's escalating campaign against Iran-linked targets in Syria. Who the attacks on shipping containers take a toll on the industry and could impact consumers. The White House backs Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin as controversy mounts over his undisclosed hospitalisations. And Trump targets Haley as the Iowa caucuses approach. It's Tuesday, January 9th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the first. front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Kim Vennel in Wanganui, New Zealand. And I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is meeting Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv today.

His mission, to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas spreading, comes as Israel is carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria. Those strikes are targeting Iran-backed group Hezbollah and Iranian arms transfers and air defense systems. Maya Jabali is in Beirut. We were able to gather some interviews from some people that have very intimate knowledge of Hezbollah's operations in Syria and the way that Israel has or has not targeted them in the past. And one of these sources told us that in the past, when there were weapons transfers that were coming, let's say, across from Iraq into Syria and planning on coming into Lebanon, there would be Israeli strikes that would hit right next to the truck that was transferring these weapons. The Hezbollah fighters would then get out of the truck. and there would be a subsequent a strike that would hit the truck destroying the weapons, but avoiding Hasbela casualties.

Now, what this source is saying, Israel is unleashing deadlier and more frequent air raids against these systems. What that means is that we're actually seeing way more Hezbollah fighters being killed in Syria than have been over the past years in which Israel has been carrying out this air campaign on Syrian territory. So according to a Reuters count of numbers provided by Hezbollah, there were a war. Almost three times more has Balafiders killed in the last three months of 2023 than in the rest of the year combined.

The Israeli military did not respond to questions about its campaign in Syria. The conflict between Hamas and Israel has spurred Houthi militants in Yemen to attack ships in the Red Sea. Hundreds of container ships and other vessels have been rerouted around Africa's southern Cape of Good Hope to avoid the attacks. Shipping correspondent Lisa Bartline says, consumers can expect to pay for the delays. The attacks in the Red Sea are forcing shippers of all kinds,

including companies that supply big retailers like Walmart and grocers like Tesco, even people who sell on Amazon. They're all having to take longer to move their goods around Africa. That adds about $2 million to a shipowner's price for each route. So that takes their costs higher. And then that is getting passed on to the shippers themselves who have seen rates for containers doubled from the average of 2023. So we're nowhere close to where we were during the pandemic when people were paying

$20,000, even $40,000 to ship one of those containers. But what this is doing is basically adding cost, major headaches. and we're looking at things being possibly delayed, and the net effect is probably the prices will go up. And of course, this is not the only headache facing shipping companies, right? Yeah, the Panama Canal is suffering from a record drought, so they're allowing fewer ships to go through in order to preserve water. And the Suez and the Panama Canal are kind of,

they sort of move traffic between each other. So when you have a crimp at both, it really screws up ocean shipping and puts us in a situation where we're dealing with supply chain weirdness again. Federal investigators are looking at whether a panel on an Alaska Airlines plane was properly bolted after a mid-air blowout. Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have said they found loose parts on multiple grounded 737 Max 9 jets. The discovery deepens the crisis facing JetMaker Boeing. Protesters interrupt President Biden's remarks at the historic Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. I understand their passion, and I've been quietly working with the Israeli government

to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza. Biden's visit to South Carolina, where black voters helped propel him to the presidency, comes as their support is waning ahead of the 2024 race. French Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne has resigned ahead of a cabinet reshuffle by President Emmanuel Macron. Macron is seeking to re-energise his presidency ahead of European parliamentary elections and the Paris Olympics this summer. Pope Francis has called for a global ban on parenting via surrogacy, calling the practice deplorable. His remarks come weeks after he allowed blessings for same-sex couples, many of whom support surrogacy. On markets, there's positive news out of China.

exports grew for the first time in seven months in November. That suggests discount pricing by Chinese factories is attracting overseas buyers. Exports grew 0.5% from a year earlier in November. That might not sound like much, but it compares with a 6.4% fall in October. Overall, there's a more buoyant mood on stock markets. Traders are reaffirming their bets

for a run of Fed rate cuts this year in the belief that US inflation is slowing sufficiently. President Biden has no plans to fire Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, after his failure to disclose his hospitalization last week. That's according to U.S. officials, but the fact that Biden did not know his defense secretary was in the hospital for several days has created a political firestorm that the administration is struggling to contain. The Pentagon has revealed a second hospital stay in late December that was kept from the White House.

And a lot of questions still remain unanswered. Phil Stewart covers the Pentagon. Phil, let's start with what we do know right now. Well, we know a few things. We know that Austin went to the Walter Reed Hospital on January 1st after a feeling acute pain, severe pain. He was taken by ambulance and he was put into the intensive care unit. Now, he stayed in the ICU for a number of days and during this time, the public was completely unaware. What are the questions we don't have answers to? Well, for example, we don't know whether Austin ever lost consciousness, which would be a really

big deal, given the fact that he would be in charge of being available were there to be a nuclear attack in the United States and helping craft response options. It would be really crucial for us to know, for example, right now, if he's on medication, if he's on any kind of pain relief medication that could affect his judgment. We don't know what medical condition he was being treated for. We know that he had elective surgery on December 22nd, and that this appears to be a result of that elective surgery. We don't know what that electric surgery even was. How much pressure is President Biden facing over this? I think this is problematic for Biden in two ways.

One is he doesn't want people thinking about his medical situation and the situation regarding his cabinet secretaries. But it also reminds people about a Republican narrative that Joe Biden is asleep at the wheel, right? And the idea that he didn't know where his defense secretary was throughout the entire week almost doesn't help him, doesn't do him any favors. The first primary nominating contest of the 2024 U.S. presidential race is less than a week away. Republican candidates are criss-crossing Iowa to shore up support ahead of the caucuses.

And while former President Donald Trump still enjoys a huge lead, the fight for number two is red-hot. Ahead of the vote, Trump has aimed his fire not just at Joe Biden, but at his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, who's gaining on Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis. Graham's lottery is there. So Graham, what's the dynamic of the race as the caucuses approach? There's a general belief that if Haley can come from behind and grab that second place slot from DeSantis, then she's really the odds on favor of amongst the alternatives to Trump. Now, Trump is still leading by a lot. He's leading by at least 30 points in most polls, but the Iowa caucuses are known for their surprises. So you can't really draw any conclusions until the big day on January 15th. Now, DeSantis, he needs to seriously overperform in order to really

maintain his viability in this race because this is the state where he's just spent so much time, so many resources, and in polling, this is where he pulls the best. So he's got to overperforming in Iowa. And if he doesn't, that's probably it. What are you hearing from Iowans? Is there interest in an alternative to Trump, given his outsized lead? Well, you know, there is interest in in an alternative broadly. When you look at these polls, Trump does have close to 50%, sometimes a little bit less, sometimes a little bit more. But of course, that means that half of Iowa and Republicans are interested in an alternative. So it's a bit more interesting on the ground than I think the polls would suggest. Of course, there's a lot of Trump's borders and they're very

enthusiastic. But there is definitely a very large pool of hundreds of thousands of voters that are curious about the alternatives. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. For a more or in-depth on-the-ground look at the Iowa caucuses, we'll have a special episode this weekend. And we'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast player

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