Reuters World News - Israel’s Gaza plan, Fed, Intel and Australia’s mushroom murderer
Episode Date: August 8, 2025Israel's political-security cabinet approves a plan to take control of Gaza City despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad. U.S. President Donald Trump picks Stephen Miran to fill an open spot... on the Fed Board – after demanding the immediate resignation of Intel’s CEO. Plus, the woman convicted of murdering her in-laws with toxic mushrooms also allegedly tried to poison her husband with pasta. Listen to On Assignment podcast here. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read 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
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Today, Israel's security cabinet approves a plan to take control of Gaza City.
Trump demands the Intel CEO resign and fills a spot on the Fed board.
Plus, new poisoning allegations for Australia's mushroom murderer.
It's Friday, August 8th.
This is Royce's World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week.
I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool.
Will Israel take control of all of Gaza?
We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there,
enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling Fox News channels Bill Hemmer
that Israel intends to take control of the entire Gaza Strip,
the decision triggering protests in Israel,
And condemnation in Gaza itself, where displaced resident Mahmoud al-Kirashli says there is nothing left to occupy.
Hamas calls Netanyahu's comments a blatant coup against the negotiation process.
Alex Cornwell is in Jerusalem.
Alex, Israel's political security cabinet has approved a plan to take control of Gaza's city.
What does this mean exactly?
The Prime Minister's Office has not articulated what the rest of the plan is beyond saying that it will, Israel will have security control in Gaza.
Ahead of the meeting, sources did tell Reuters that one of the scenarios that was being considered was that so-called evacuation warning notices would be issued to Palestinians,
giving them possibly several weeks to move out before the military moves into areas that it does not already control.
What's the reaction being in Israel to this?
Largely speaking, the public is not in favour of this plan. If you look at the opinion polls,
if you look at the large demonstrations that we've seen in the country. However, some, of course,
do favour this. The Israeli government is a coalition government made up of right-wing and religiously
conservative parties. And amongst that coalition, elected politicians who have pushed throughout
the war for a full Israeli military occupation of Gaza and for the reestablishment of
Israeli Jewish settlements in Gaza, which Israel withdrew some two decades ago.
And what about the army?
Now ahead of the security cabinet meeting, the military chief met with the prime minister.
What Reuters heard, what sources were saying was that the military chief warned that
expanding the campaign could trap the military in Gaza and it could also lead to harm
being caused to hostages that are still being held.
What's the US said so far?
We haven't seen any immediate reaction from the United States.
We have seen some countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom
urging Israel not to expand the military operation.
Now, the decision to give the interview to Fox News,
a conservative US news station that is watched by many Republicans is interesting.
In recent weeks, we have seen a certain prominent Republican and conservative voices
come out being critical of Israel, questioning the US-Israel relationship,
and being critical of the war in Gaza.
So it was an interesting decision as to why the Prime Minister spoke to,
first of all, a US station and not an Israeli station in terms of this announcement,
but also speaking to a television channel that is watched by many Republicans.
President Trump has nominated Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Stephen Miran
to fill the open spot on the Fed board.
If confirmed by the Senate, Miran will serve out the remaining term of Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler until January of next year after her surprise resignation.
Fed reporter Howard Schneider has more.
The fact that he is a PhD economist, a Harvard grad, and a lot of people have come from the CEA over to the Fed in the past,
so that's not an out-of-bounds appointment that people would say, this doesn't work.
On the other hand, he did write a report for the Manhattan Institute last year that sort of said,
we need to rip up the entire Fed structure and make it subject to the president and firing it will
and change the structure of the reserve banks, etc, et cetera, et cetera.
I don't know how that's going to play with the Senate.
You've seen during the whole drama over Jay Powell's chairmanship and whether Trump might try to fire him,
several key senators like Tom Tillis, Mike Rounds, say, we really appreciate
the Fed's independence, and we want to maintain that.
So what difference could he really make before the end of his term?
I think that his statement that this is just a short-term appointment,
you've got to take that with a grain of salt,
because this is a guy who wants to do a lot of upending
of how central banking is done in the U.S.
His ideas to the central banking community
and to the central banking sort of consensus is pretty radical.
So the question is whether or not he's really,
just going to serve three months there and then go back to something else. I will point out that
one of his criticisms of the current operation is the revolving door between administrations and the
Fed. So to not be hypocritical, presumably he's not going to go through the revolving door one way
and then go back through it to his job at the CEA, which suggests, if that's true, is he going to be
appointed to the 14-year job or to the chair's job? We'll have to see.
A different kind of door now, and in this case, the exit.
President Trump is calling on the CEO of Intel to resign over his ties to Chinese companies.
In a post on treats social, Trump says Lip Bhutan is highly conflicted.
The intervention comes after Reuters reported back in April
that Tan had invested at least $200 million in hundreds of Chinese firms,
some of which were linked to the Chinese military.
Intel shares closed down 3% on Thursday.
Max Churny is one of the reporters who broke the news of Tans' investments.
So, Max, why is this such a big deal?
Intel is a vital American company.
It's the only U.S. manufacturer that's capable of producing cutting-edge chips in the U.S.
So there are implications to Intel struggles well beyond the fate of one publicly traded company
and its shareholders.
I mean, there's the U.S. national security because
chips are like oil in the modern economy. They're just necessary for it to function. And especially
these days, with this race towards developing the most advanced AI in the world, cutting-edge
chips are crucial. And the ability to manufacture them and ensure that there's a safe,
secure supply chain to do so is in any country's national interest. What does this mean for US efforts
to boost domestic chip making? It's not clear at the moment whether Trump's statement
indicates a new policy position at the White House or whether it's going to impact Intel's
Chips Act grant money. The company was awarded roughly $8 billion worth of federal funding to
help build advanced manufacturing in the United States. So what have Tan and Intel said about all this?
Tan has not responded to our request for comment. And Intel issued a statement and said that
The company, the board, and the CEO are deeply committed to advancing U.S. national and economic security interests
and are making significant investments aligned with President Trump's first America First agenda.
The company said that it will continue to look forward to its engagement with the administration.
And while President Trump is piling the pressure on Intel's CEO, he's also upping the ante on big lenders.
He's issued an executive order directing regulators to review and fine banks for any current or past practices
that would bar customers based on political or religious beliefs.
And in another order, he's also allowing more alternative assets to be options in 401k retirement accounts.
That includes private equity and cryptocurrency.
The White House says this will potentially give workers higher return.
earns. Critics are warning, however, that the investments are riskier and lack the same transparency
as traditional options. And finally, to Australia. And new revelations from the poisoning case
that rocked the country. Erin Patterson, the woman convicted of murdering three in-laws with
Beef Wellington laced with toxic mushrooms, allegedly tried to kill her estranged husband
multiple times using poisoned pasta, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap.
The details of the allegations are being made public for the first time.
Court documents show Simon Patterson became so suspicious of his wife's cooking
that he kept a spreadsheet tracking his illnesses after eating her food.
Evidence from a computer seized from Patterson's home,
showing searches for other kinds of poisons was also excluded from the trial.
50-year-old Patterson maintained her innocence throughout the case,
with her defense calling the mushroom deaths a terrible accident.
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