Reuters World News - Israeli protests, Russia’s advances, Gaza’s polio vaccine drive and Musk’s Starlink problem

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

Thousands protests on the streets of Israel against the government and its failure to bring home the hostages in Gaza. Russian forces are advancing in the east of Ukraine at a faster rate than before, towards the strategic hub of Pokrovsk. US researchers say they’ve identified the likely launch site of Russia’s new nuclear missile. A mother secures polio vaccinations for her daughters in Gaza. And Brazil’s telecoms regulator threatens to sanction Starlink after it defied court orders to block X.   Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Weekend 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, thousands of Israelis hold fresh protests over hostage deaths while Netanyahu doubles down on ceasefire demands. Putin claims Russian advances in eastern Ukraine. And Brazil targets Starlink as the Musk feud ramps up. It's Tuesday, September 3rd. This is Royce's World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool.

Two US researchers say they've identified the likely launch site of Russia's new nuclear-powered missile. Using images taken on July 26 by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, they've identified a construction project next to a nuclear warhead storage facility as a likely spot using satellite imagery. It's about 300 miles north of Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has touted the new nuclear-armed cruise missile as, quote, saying it has an almost unlimited range and the ability to evade US missile defences. But some Western experts dispute's claims and the Borovetsnik's capabilities,

saying it risks a radiation spewing mishap. Thousands of protesters on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for a second night, demonstrating against the Israeli government and its failure to bring home hostages held in Gaza. Retired army veteran Ita Isla said he, he had two sons fighting in Gaza and felt that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was a threat to world peace. So that's why I'm coming here.

First, to save the hostages, and second, to save the state of Israel. U.S. President Joe Biden also said on Monday that Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages. While the UK has said it'll suspend some of its arms exports to Israel because of a risk they might be used commit violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.

James McKenzie is our Bureau Chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories. So James, will any of this put pressure on Netanyahu to change tactics or even step down? There was a tremendous sort of wave of anger and grief and so on with the recovery of these six bodies in Gaza on Sunday, and that's what prompted this, you know, really unusually large number of people, half a million people, apparently onto the streets. But, you know, Netanyahu's faced big protests before, and that hasn't forced him to change his mind. War certainly or stepped down. And indeed, you could see that on Monday night. He came out with a very defiant message sticking to his positions on the ceasefire and on the conditions for Israel's continued presence on the

southern Gaza border. Yeah, this insistence on keeping troops in the southern Gaza area. as part of any ceasefire deal. Why is this so-called Philadelphia corridor such as sticking point? Well, Netanyahu says it's a major lifeline for Hamas. And so Netanyahu says that without control of this, Israel will seize the initiative to Hamas. To Netanyahu's argument was that once they leave the Philadelphia Corridor, just for diplomatic reasons, it'll be very difficult for them ever to go back

because the international pressure against that will be so great. And so for that reason, they need to stay. You know, it's really a sticking point both for Hamas who insists that, you know, they won't accept any Israeli troops there. And also for Egypt, which doesn't want Israeli troops there either. Venezuela's Attorney General says a court is issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader at Mondo Gonzalez. That's President Nicolas Maduro accusing Gonzalez of being a coward on state television.

The warrant accuses him of conspiracy and other crimes, a dispute over whether he or Maduro won July's election. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways is inspecting all of its Airbus A350 jets after an in-flight failure of an engine part. The carrier said it had cancelled 24 return flights operating until the end of Tuesday and that some planes would be out of service for several days while the process, which the airline described as precautionary, is completed. Pope Francis has arrived in Indonesia. It's his first stop on his Asia-Pacific tour throughout which he's expected to urge action on climate change.

Elon Musk's satellite broadband company, Starlink, is emerging as a new battleground in his fight with Brazil. Carmel Krimmins has more. Brazil's telecoms regulator is threatening to sanction Starlink after it defied court orders to block X, the social network owned by Musk. The sanctions could mean Starlink having its license to operate in Brazil revoked. Now that would mark a major escalation in the feud between Musk and Brazil. The country has already shut down X after its top judge said that the platform had allowed hate messages and misinformation. Musk says the court is trying to censor users.

And speaking of social media, it's at the center of the latest episode of my podcast, Reuters Econ World. We're looking at how Chinese graduates are going online to vent about their lack of job opportunities and what that all means for China. You can catch it on the Reuters app, Reuters.com, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Now to the war in Ukraine, where Russian President Vladimir Putin

says his forces are advancing faster than they have done in a long time. Ukrainian president Volodymy Zelenskyy says they are confronting the most combat-focused Russian brigades on the eastern front. Mike Collett White is in Kiev. Well, Vladimir Putin is right in the sense

that we can tell from open source information and from reporting on the ground that Russia's advances in the east towards this strategic hub called Pachrosk have accelerated in recent days and weeks. It's a particularly important town because where it to be captured, Ukraine would see a lot of its supply lines cut and it would also open up new routes for Russia to push further into Danyetsk and the east more generally. Where does this leave Ukraine's incursion into Russia? Well, one of the objectives stated objectives was that they'd hoped that by crossing into Korsk region in Russia, they would force the Russians to divert soldiers to the north to defend that area and therefore relieved pressure on the east. That particular objective, I think we can probably agree, has not worked out. That said, that's not the only objective. It's also been carried out in part to prevent Russia from making its own incursion across the border and the other direction, which obviously, it now can't. There is also the diplomatic political aspect. Was it Ukraine flexing its muscles

and showing the West that dies, all of these weapons you give us, it's not a waste of time, it's not just a waste of your money. And you're in Kiev. Have you seen evidence of an escalation in the fighting? Yes, it is surreal to have woken up at 5.30 to the rumble of air defences and incoming missiles. And then just hours later seeing Ukrainian children walking hand in hand, and with their parents in their very smart outfits for the first day back at school, which is a kind of tradition here where people dress up and they have celebrations and clowns and dancing and music. Some of these schools, of course, are now being constructed underground

because of the very threats we're talking about. We saw a school in Kharkiv that's actually been made in a metro station. Taking you back to the Middle East now. And as one of a few brief pauses in fighting, Israel and Hamas have agreed to in nearly 11, 11 months of war, at least eight hours daily from Sunday to today to allow for polio vaccinations for 640,000 children in the enclave. Displaced Palestinian mother of two, Wafa Abd al-Hadi, was one of those taking advantage

of the break in fighting. She said she was happy to have vaccinated her two daughters against polio and hoped for further vaccinations. Her youngest, Lynn, is only five months old and was born during the war. Palestinian and UN officials said more than 80,000 children have been vaccinated in central areas of Gaza on Sunday, the first day of the campaign. Palestinians say a key reason for the return of polio is a collapse of the health system and the destruction of most Gaza hospitals. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes. which the Islamist group denies.

For Abdel Haddi, the vaccinations were a start, but she said that what she really wanted was a stop to the war. And before we leave you, today's recommended read is about how German Chancellor Olaf Schultz's coalition is likely to hold, despite regional losses to the far right in elections. And if you didn't catch our weekend episode, be sure to tune in for analysis on what's behind the rise of the vote. far right in Germany. Links to the story and to the weekend special are in today's pod description.

And for more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. To never miss an episode, subscribe on your favourite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.