Reuters World News - Jimmy Kimmel, Trump’s royal welcome, Fed and smart glasses

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel off air after comments by the late-night show host about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. President Donald Trump’s new Fed appointee calls, in vain, for a half-point rate cut. U.S. President Donald Trump pays tribute to King Charles during his historic second state visit to the UK. And Mark Zuckerberg unveils Meta’s latest AI-powered smart glasses.   Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠here⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠here⁠. Listen to On Assignment 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, Jimmy Kimmel has taken off air indefinitely over remarks about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Trump's new appointee is the sole dissenting voice at the Fed with calls for a half-point rate cut. The CDC's former director testifies she was fired for sticking to the science. And Meta unveils its latest attempt to catch up in the AI race with smart glasses. It's Thursday, September 18th. This is Reuters' World News. bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. I'm Kim Vennel in Wanganui, New Zealand.

A small group of protesters in Hollywood gather outside the building where Jimmy Kimmel Live usually records after ABC pulled the late night show indefinitely. They did so in response to remarks Kimmel made about the killing of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk. ABC's come under pressure from President Trump and FCC chair Brendan Carr. It's raising fresh questions about satire, censorship, and political influence on American television. I spoke to Reuters' entertainment reporter Lisa Rich Wine. I started by asking her what Kimmel actually said. On his show on Monday night, what he said was that we hit some new lows over the weekend

with the MAGA gang being Trump supporters, desperately trying to characterize the killer of Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. He also compared President Trump's mourning of Kirk to a four-year-old morning, a goldfish. The people who were fans of Charlie Kirk really felt offended by this, the suggestion that they were using his death to try to score any political points from it to them. The announcement about the show being pulled came a few hours after the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, who is a Trump ally, went on a podcast suggesting the FCC could review ABC's

broadcast license if they allowed this kind of thing to continue. Lisa says networks are paying attention. President Trump has made no secret about how he feels about the news media in general. He feels like a lot of the media in the United States is biased against him. And the FCC has echoed that as well. And a lot of these networks have business before the government. There is definitely a concern that there is a crackdown or at least some self-censorship. going on where networks might be afraid to criticize the president or the administration in any way

so they don't get into making headlines with him. President Trump responded to the news on social media, calling it great news for America. And in another development in the wake of Charlie Kirk's death, President Trump says he's designating the anti-fascist Antifa movement, a terrorist group. It's not clear what legal weight the proclamation made on social media carries. Antifa is a loosely organized ideological movement without clear leadership. Trump and senior officials have repeatedly blamed left-wing groups for creating an atmosphere of hostility toward conservatives before Kirk's assassination. The Trump administration says the White House is preparing an executive order on political violence and hate speech. Trump posted that announcement from the UK, where he's on day two of an

historic second state visit. Britain's royals rolled out the red carpet for Trump with a day of unquestioning unprecedented pomp and pageantry, including a lavish state banquet and a toast from King Charles. The ocean may still divide us, but in so many other ways, we are now the closest of kin. President Trump returning the sentiment and making his affection for the UK clear. This is truly one of the highest honors of my life. Such respect for you and such respect for your country. Prime Minister Kiyosthama is hoping Trump's goodwill translates into investment. Their meeting at Stama's Chekker's country residence today. Tech giants have already pledged more than $40 billion in UK projects, but tensions remain.

Donald Trump, Yukon. Thousands protested Trump's visit and questions over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein resurfaced after images were projected onto Windsor Castle. Today, the Federal Open Market Committee decided to lower our policy interest rate by a quarter percentage point. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, announcing a long-awaited rate cut at the central bank. Almost all the voting Fed governors agreed with the quarter-point cut, the one stand-out dissenter,

President Trump's newly appointed pick, Stephen Myron, whose dissent was also apparent in new projections on the outlook for rates. Fed reporter Howard Schneider has more. We know that his role was to come in Tuesday before the thing started and pencil in a very, very, very low projection. It's a full three quarters of a percentage point below the next lowest and would have implied half-point cuts, basically, for the rest of the year.

That's not as steep as Trump ones, but it's way, way steeper than anybody else that the Fed envisioned. And while Powell did not cite that by name, he was asked about support for a half-point cut. Powell said there was virtually no support for a half-point cut. So welcome to the Fed. Jerome Powell also said the Fed is strongly committed to independence and is cutting 10% of its workforce in a bid to keep its own budget healthy. In terms of future rate cuts, Howard says that Powell indicated more would come as it shifts its focus to the labor market.

And really the press conference was dominated by Powell talking about the possible erosion in the unemployment rate and the need to stay ahead of that. This is what they're trying to prevent right now, Even as they don't take their eye off inflation completely, they think that some of the tariff effects will fade over time. Israel has opened a new route out of Gaza City as it continues its fierce bombardment of the city. Children on the streets scramble to catch flyers, notifying residents that they have 48 hours to use the emergency route. More than 60 people were killed on Wednesday, a dozen of those as they were complying with the order to leave, according to medics. Three police officers have been killed and two others wounded in a shooting in the Codorus

Township in Pennsylvania. State police say the officers had returned to the scene of an earlier investigation, described only as domestic-related. The suspect was shot dead by police. On the morning of August 25th, Secretary Kennedy demanded two things of me. They were inconsistent with my oath of office and the ethics required of a public official. Former CDC director, Susan Monash, Susan Menares testifying before a Senate panel about her recent firing by health secretary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She says she was fired for, quote, holding the line on scientific integrity and that she's also worried about upcoming changes to childhood vaccination schedules, which she says RFK Jr. will announce later this month. I had refused to commit to approving vaccine recommendations without evidence, fire career officials without cause or resign, and I had shared my concerns with this committee. For firing has frustrated both Democrats and Republicans, many of whom confirmed her appointment. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has denied allegations that he pressured Menares.

If you want to hear more about RFK's shake-up of U.S. public health agencies, check out our last weekend's episode of On Assignment. We'll drop a link to that in the show notes. The wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says lab results found that he was poisoned. Alexei was killed. More specifically, he was poisoned. In a video posted online,

Yulia Nivalnia says two foreign laboratories, although she didn't specify where, carried out tests on samples obtained from her husband. She's demanding they publish their results. Navalny died suddenly at the age of 47 last year in a Russian prison

in the Arctic Circle. The Kremlin says it knows nothing about her claims. Facebook's meta launching its first consumer-ready smart glasses. The glasses build on the old Rayban models, which could record video. But these ones work with AI. And if I want to adjust the volume, I act like there's a volume control in front of me, and I can just turn it.

And have a display in the right lens. It appears in one eye. It's slightly off-centre so it doesn't block your view. CEO Mark Zuckerberg says it's about making AI useful in the every day. The launch is met as a latest attempt. to play catch-up in the high-stakes AI race. And for today's recommended read, a deep dive into how China's auto sector

has become a victim of its own success, with too many cars and not enough profit. We'll drop a link to that in the description of today's show. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.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 tomorrow with our daily headline show.