Reuters World News - Kyiv life, birthright citizenship and a Congo mission

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

Ukraine’s capital buzzes by day even after nights of terror – hear how its residents navigate the contrast. A judge has blocked Trump’s attempt to deny citizenship rights to babies born in the U.S. Plus, how a  U.S. mission to push a Trump deal in Congo unravelled.   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

Today, Trump strikes a deal with NATO to send weapons to Ukraine. We hear what life is really like in the country's capital, three years into its war with Russia. A judge blocks the administration's birthright citizenship order. More tariff turmoil. This time, Trump has Canada in his sights. And how a US mission to push a Trump deal in Congo unraveled. It's Friday, July the 11th. This is Reuters World News.

bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. US President Donald Trump is shifting gears on Ukraine, with an announcement that the US will supply weapons to Kiev via NATO, and he's hinted that he will have a major statement about Russia on Monday. It comes as his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin builds over a lack of progress in ending the three-year war. In the Ukrainian capital, residents have grown used to the sound of explosions from Russian missiles at night.

But in the morning, as firefighters pack up after extinguishing blazes and street sweepers clear glass and shrapnel, the city buzzes like any European capital. Reporter Dan Pellishuk shares what it's like living in the city. The best way to describe it all is to kind of highlight the extreme contrast. of the situation for anyone who lives in Kiev. And indeed, in a lot of other Ukrainian cities, most people go about their day as normal. You know, they go to work, they go to school,

they go shopping, they hang out, they get coffee and beers. There's quite a strong semblance of nightlife, particularly in Kiev, though it's worth mentioning that curfew does begin at midnight. And so while even the night, time can seem very, It's not until a little bit after that when things start turning terrifying, basically. The city becomes an entirely different landscape. Streets are empty, but the skies are booming.

The skies lit up by flames from either burning buildings or the tracer rounds of machine guns firing at drones or other anti-air defenses going off. And the city that is, during the day, kind of lively and bustling almost like any other European city, kind of turns into this carnival of terror at night, frankly. And it's just gotten worse over the past several weeks as diplomatic efforts and this war have kind of broken down and stalled out. Back in the U.S., Trump is expected to visit Flood Hit Texas today. They could have somebody safe still. You know, there's a lot of areas. It's a big area and, you know, probably unlikely at this point.

But there could be... And meet with families of flood victims and first responders. The search for missing people after the flash flood in Kerr County, Texas, is stretching into a second week, with more than 160 people still unaccounted for. In New Hampshire, a federal judge has again barred the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order limiting birth. right citizenship. That's after the Supreme Court restricted the ability of judges to block his

policies using nationwide injunctions. Nate Raymond is in Concord, New Hampshire, following the case. So, Nate, what does this ruling do and how does it work, given these restrictions from the Supreme Court? The Supreme Court's ruling was targeted at a particular type of nationwide injunction. This case in New Hampshire was filed a couple hours after the Supreme Court ruled, and it actually seized on a carve out in the Supreme Court's decision because what Justice Amy Coney-Barrant made explicit in the ruling was that you could obtain the equivalent of a nationwide injunction if you instead pursued a nationwide class action on behalf of everyone that's similarly situated and that could be similarly affected by Apollo. So what does this mean for birthright citizenship? Well, I will say despite the judge's ruling, while he is blocked Trump's order from taking effect on July 27th, he put his order on hold technically for seven days, and that's because an appeal is absolute. And lawyers on both sides are predicting that there will be further litigation in other courts

and that this is eventually going to wind right back up to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court's going to have to eventually decide the whole issue. An Israeli airstrike near a medical center in Gaza has killed 16 people. Local health authorities said 10 were children. Reuters has seen verified footage of the incident, showing the bodies of women and children lying in pools of blood and dust. Israel's military said it had struck a militant, who took part in the Hamas-led October 7th attack.

It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review. President Trump is ramping up the trade rhetoric. This time, he's threatening a 35% tariff on some Canadian goods and he's raising the prospect of imposing blanket tariffs of 15 or 20% on most other trading partners. The move comes as he broadens his trade war, planning a 50% tariff on goods from Brazil and on copper.

This latest salvo is rattling investors with US and European stock futures both down. President Trump is shifting the US's approach to Africa and says he's focusing on trade rather than aid. After hosting leaders of five African nations at the White House, Trump has indicated that those countries could avoid US tariffs. White House reporter Jeff Mason is in D.C. Jeff, what's President Trump's aim with this summit?

I think broadly he was trying to make connections with African leaders who he thinks will be helpful to the United States in terms of potential business opportunities. The president is very eager to make deals and particularly deals that he views as beneficial to U.S. businesses, beneficial to the U.S. economy, beneficial to U.S. coffers. Now, the Trump administration's outreach to African countries. countries comes in many forms. In March, an Israeli-American businessman, a former State Department official and a decorated green beret pitched up in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The three envoys had come with an offer from Washington. Release three American prisoners on death row,

and in return, President Trump will accept your minerals for security proposal. Our West and Central Africa chief correspondent, Jessica Donati, has a How's the story? While the trip got off to a good start with an official escort, things quickly went wrong when they had a meeting with President's security advisor who did not trust them. And then they went to a nearby military base and engaged in some ill-advised late-night target practice with some Israeli contractors, which put them on the radar of the intelligence services.

Those intelligence services then turned up at their hotel the next morning and tried to arrest them. and they had to call the embassy and get bailed out of the country. The embassy sent a security advisor there to talk them out of the situation and then help them get to the airport and escape the country. So the American prisoners were eventually transferred to the United States. But what does this tell us about America's interest in Congo's mineral wealth? The US is very interested in Congo's minerals because they have many critical supplies of minerals

which are generally controlled by China and which are really critical for use in things like batteries and mobile phones. And so Trump has entertained this idea that the US can help Congo secure its country, which has endured decades of conflict in return for access to these minerals. At the moment, the US is helping Congo negotiate a peace agreement with Rwanda, which backs the rebels that are involved in the conflict in the East, but it's still very much work in progress. neither the President of Congo, Felix Chisikidi,

or the security services in the country responded to requests for comment. And for today's recommended read, how the original Birkenbag has sold for a record $10 million. We'll drop a link to the story and the photos in our pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. And don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back on Monday with our daily headline show.

Thank you.