Reuters World News - Kirk backlash, UK anti-migrant protest, EVs, Emmys and Life on Mars?

Episode Date: September 14, 2025

Republicans have launched online campaigns against people mocking Charlie Kirk’s death. Over 100,000 people joined a right-wing anti-migrant protest in London. European and Chinese automakers explore electric vehicle partnerships at the Munich car show. Oracle founder Larry Ellison re-emerges with major AI infrastructure deals and a $400 billion fortune, while his son bids for Warner Bros Discovery. What to expect from the Emmys, and NASA’s rover has found minerals on Mars that may be signs of ancient life.  Listen to our longform podcast ⁠⁠⁠On Assignment⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World 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, Republicans warn against mocking Charlie Kirk's death. Over 100,000 join an anti-migrant protest in London. European and Chinese automakers turn to each other at Munich Car Show. Behind billionaire Larry Ellison's latest comeback, what to watch for at the Emmys, and is their life on Mars. It's Sunday, September 14th. 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 Tara Oaks in Liverpool. As the suspect accused of shooting right-wing activist Charlie Kirk faces formal charges, mourners like Isaiah Garcia gathered in Phoenix, Arizona, where Kirk's Turning Point USA organization is headquartered. It's sad how someone who can express how they feel and how they believe in certain things and lose their life for it. Following Kirk's fatal shooting, Republicans are launching organized campaigns targeting

anyone who mocks or criticizes his death online. At least 15 people have been fired or suspended from their jobs while discussing the killing on social media. More than 100,000 protesters have marched to central London in a Unite the Kingdom demonstration, organized by anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson. Sandra Mitchell is one of his supporters. They need to stop illegal migration into this country.

It's tearing us apart. The march was one of the UK's biggest right-wing rallies in modern times. Many demonstrators carried British and English flags, and some brought American and Israeli flags and wore the Make America Great Again hats of US President Donald Trump. In a video message to the rally, Elon Musk called for a change of government. His message echoed by demonstrators like Christopher Trendley. I think the current government is a disgrace.

He's taking away our liberties. Police say several officers were injured after scuffles with protesters. At least 25 arrests have been made. Around 5,000 counter-protesters gathered nearby under the banner stand up to racism. The march comes after a highly charged summer that included protests staged outside hotels housing migrants. Britain's biggest anti-immigrant political party, Reform UK, has topped opinion polls in recent months. Senator Marco Rubio has headed to Israel amid tensions with US allies over Israel's strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and settlement expansion in the West Bank. Rubio says the US wasn't happy about the strike, but the relations.

relationship with Israel remained unchanged. After Israel, Rubio is due to join President Trump's planned visit to Britain in the coming days. U.S. and Chinese officials are meeting in Madrid for high-stakes trade talks, their fourth in four months. On the table, TikTok's looming U.S. shutdown deadline and Washington's push for G7 allies to impose tariffs on China over Russian oil. A deal on TikTok TikTok isn't expected, but the deadline may be extended again. Now to Munich, where major automakers have been showcasing their latest models. Several hundred activists also took to the streets to voice their anger at the car show, Europe's biggest.

Akeem Heyer of the Anti-Globalization Group attack says he wants fewer, smaller cars on the roads. And those that remain should be electric. Our senior auto correspondent Nick Carey was at the car show and says to launch new EVs quickly, global automakers need Chinese technology. What we've seen is acknowledgement by Western brands that when it comes to EVs, that the Chinese make the best technology around, and that rather than try to develop the same technology themselves, we're going to see traditional car makers in the West leaning more on the Chinese for that technology.

The Chinese have certainly seemed to be determined to make it here because being shut out of the US, at least for now, Europe is the world's third largest car maker, and so if they want to grow and survive, then they need to be here. They also have a very crowded market at home, where you've got about 170 different Chinese brands all trying to survive, and not all of them will over the next decade. and so they are desperately trying to expand as rapidly as possible to get market share in places like Europe, while they're also banned essentially from doing business in the US. Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle, is back in the spotlight again. 25 years ago, headlines called him Silicon Valley's bad boy and speculated he might become the richest man in the world. Now, fast forward to 2025, and a clutch of cloud computing deals has put Ellison's fortune close to $400 billion, second globally only to Elon Musk.

Rotis tech correspondent Stephen Nellis has been tracking Ellison's latest comeback. So this latest Larry Ellison comeback, and there have been many over the decades, is just confirming something that a lot of people in Silicon Valley have known for years, which is that you never dismiss Oracle or Larry Ellison when it comes to solving a difficult technological problem. And more recently, a challenge in AI, which is how do you string together the thousands of computers to act like one really big computer to solve complicated problems like training an artificial intelligence system?

And it turns out that Oracle actually has several decades of experience building technologies that are pretty darn good at it. And Allison's influence isn't, limited to Silicon Valley. Back in 2016, he was one of the first and virtually the only major technology executive who came out in support of Donald Trump. And he has a long history of working with the U.S. government. But what makes it different now is that he has an influential position in U.S. policy

in terms of whether the U.S. should try to lead in building out these data centers, which require huge amounts of electricity and land, or whether it should delegate that to other countries that maybe have fewer road bumps in building things like electrical power generation. And keeping it in the family, his son, Skydance head, David Ellison, has been in the headlines this week too,

with an audacious bid for Warner Brothers Discovery just weeks after Skydance bought Paramount Global, potentially bringing together two-storied Hollywood studios and reshaping the entertainment industry. And while we're talking entertainment, the Emmys are tonight. Lisa Richwine in L.A. breaks down what we need to know about TV's biggest night in Hollywood. The most nominated show is Severance on Apple TV Plus, which is kind of a wacky show. It's about a group of workers who agree to undergo a surgery where they forget their work life when they're at home and vice versa and has a lot of surreal elements to it.

That is the most nominated show and the favorite for best drama. It is up against the White Lotus and The Last of Us, the Star Wars show, and or in the pit, the medical drama set in an emergency room. Stephen Colbert is in the Emmy race for his late night show. His show was canceled this year. And I think there may be a desire to recognize him. A lot of comedians have complained about his cancellation, which CBS says, was for financial reasons. Jimmy Kimmel is in the same race,

and he took out a billboard in L.A. that said, I'm voting for Stephen. And while a lot has happened in the news this week, there have also been some interesting scientific breakthroughs. Our editor Will Dunham writes about all things science, including a potentially big discovery on Mars. NASA's Perseverer's Rover has obtained some of the best evidence to date that Mars may have harbored life in the distant past.

Three billion years ago, there was liquid water on the surface of Mars. Its instruments detected the presence of two minerals inside sedimentary rock found in a Martian crater. The minerals on Earth are often associated with microbial activity. The researchers, however, are cautioning that the minerals spotted in the sample may form through non-biological processes as well. And for today's recommended read, I look back at the life of Brazilian musician, Hermeto Pascoal, who has died aged 89. Known as The Sorcerer for coaxing tunes from everything from a live piglet to water-filled kettles, he played and even boxed with Miles Davis.

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