Reuters World News - Mitch McConnell, Navalny’s funeral and the Ambani mega deal and party

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

A Hamas call for Palestinians to march to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque at the start of Ramadan raises the stakes in truce talks. Mitch McConnell steps down as Senate Republican leader, paving the way for a more Trump-friendly generation. The widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is worried about arrests ahead of his funeral in Moscow. And a double celebration for Asia’s richest family after they seal a mega merger with Disney in India. Plus, Trump’s immunity claim, the Illinois primary and Texas wildfires. 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, Hamas ups the ante as the Gaza truce talks continue. Mitch McConnell paves the way for a more Trump-friendly generation to take over. Moscow braces for the funeral of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. And deal done, now party. Asia's richest family prepares for the mother of all pre-wedding bashes after sealing a mega merger with Disney. It's Thursday, February 29th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday.

I'm Kim Vinal in London. Hamas has raised the stakes in Gaza truce talks. The militant group has called on Palestinians to defy Israeli restrictions and march to Jerusalem's Alaksa Mosque at the start of Ramadan. Israeli defense minister Joav Galant accused Hamas of wanting to cause a flare-up at Al-Aqsa. The mosque is a long-time flashpoint, particularly during religious holidays. President Biden has said he hoped a ceasefire would be in place

during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israel and Hamas both have delegations at truce talks in Qatar, but mediators say there is no breakthrough yet. President Vladimir Putin has warned Western countries that there was a genuine risk of nuclear war if they sent their troops to Ukraine. Addressing Parliament, Putin also said Moscow had the weapons to strike targets in the West.

Some good and some bad news for Donald Trump. The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the former president is immune from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020. anti-election loss. That move further delays his criminal trial. But Trump has suffered another ballot blow. An Illinois judge has barred him from the state's Republican presidential primary ballot because of his role in the January 6th Capitol attack. The final outcome of the Illinois case and similar challenges will likely be decided by the Supreme Court. Congressional

leaders have reached a tentative deal to avoid a government shutdown. The House is expected to vote on the stopgap measure as early as today. Thailand is to ban recreational marijuana by the end of the year. Thai health minister Cholnaz Choukwe told Reuters it would still be allowed for medical purposes. The second largest fire in Texas history is forcing residents to flee after engulfing an area bigger than Rhode Island. The fire briefly paused. operations at a nuclear weapons facility. For on markets, it's been a wild 24 hours for Bitcoin.

Carmel Crimmons has more. Yes, the cryptocurrency is within sight of a record high as cash piles into listed Bitcoin funds. The currency pushed past the $60,000 mark for the first time in more than two years on Wednesday, and some analysts are predicting it could reach the 69,000 level. What's going on here is basic supply and demand. The huge demand for Bitcoin for those new exchange-traded funds

is outstripping the supply of new tokens. Mitch McConnell is stepping down this year as Senate Republican leader. The Kentucky lawmaker is the longest-serving Senate Party leader, one whose ruthless governing style earned him the nickname the Grim Reaper. I'm no longer the young man sitting in the back, hoping colleagues would remember my name. It's time for the next generation of leadership. But what does that next generation look like?

Richard Cowan covers Congress. Richard, what will be McConnell's legacy? I think what he'll most be remembered for is the way he molded and reshaped the U.S. Supreme Court. He did not allow President Obama to get his pick of a replacement for Justice Scalia, who died unexpectedly, and instead he waited until the 2016 elections. And as we all know now, Trump won it, and Trump got his pick. And just before the 2020 election, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died unexpectedly. And instead of saying that he would wait until the result of the 2020 election, he ran through Trump's third appointee to the Supreme Court.

And in the end, it ended up being a six-three, very conservative Supreme Court, thanks to Donald Trump with a heavy assistance from the Supreme Court. Mitch McConnell. Why was he called the Grim Reaper? So McConnell's nickname, not created by him, but he reveled in it. It really underscored his approach to politics, that you play it all out and you play it bare-knuckled and you do whatever you can to win. And while he has been Democrats' most effective foil, he's not a mager guy, but the next person might be. So what comes next? More and more McConnell was finding himself a bit out of step with his own party and especially the Trump-led MAGA Republicans, especially in foreign policy, and we're seeing that on over Ukraine. And so it could be that the next Senate Republican leader could be much more aligned with Trump and the MAGA Republicans.

And so that in turn can result in a lot of clashes with Democrats, especially if they still control the Senate, but narrowly control it where bipartisanship is needed. The funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny will be held on Friday in Moscow. His wife has accused President Vladimir Putin of thwarting attempts for a bigger send-off and has said she fears there will be arrests. The Kremlin has said it has nothing to do with the funeral arrangements. Andrew Osborne is covering the ceremony. So first off, Andrew, what is the plan for this funeral?

It's in a part of Moscow, southeast Moscow, far from the centre, when the family himself used to live. And there will be a service in a church there. We expect a priest will preside over that, and there's usually choral music. And traditionally, people file past an open coffin and open casket to say goodbye to the deceased. And then his body will be taken to a cemetery, which is on the other side of the Moscow River to the south. How is the Kremlin likely to handle this? The Kremlin will be hoping to avoid any publicity around this event. I mean, clearly, state television spent years, not mentioning Alexina Valmi,

so I wouldn't expect them to start that now. And Vladimir Putin, the president, goes to some lengths to avoid mentioning Navalny by name. So they will not be wanting trouble. They will not be wanting violence or arrests that might see them accuse of trouble. trying to break up a funeral. So it's a tricky one for the Kremlin to manage. Mukesh Ambani has plenty of reasons to celebrate this week. Asia's richest man is joining forces with Disney to create a media giant in India.

The mega merger between his reliance industries and the Mouse House sealed just days ahead of a pre-wedding bash for his son. That's the talk of the subcontinent. Aditya Kalra is covering the deal and the party plan. in New Delhi. Aditya, Reliance is owned by Mukesh Ambani. How does this deal put him ahead of Netflix in India and indeed everyone else for that matter? Netflix caters to a very niche audience in India because it's an expensive product as compared to the other streaming service providers. So Netflix, for example, has just about 6 to 7 million subscribers in India, which is a pretty

low number as compared to the Disney streaming service, for example, which still has 40, million. And one major reason that is seen there is the price point of their subscription is pretty high when it comes to Netflix. Now you have a scenario where Disney and the Reliance entity are merging, which would be worrying for the likes of Netflix because they now face a much bigger challenge. Reliance is a family affair. Mukesh Ambani's wife, Nita Ambani, is going to chair the board of the combined entity. What can you tell us about Nita? So the appointment of Nita Ambani was indeed a surprise here. She just quit from the board of the parent entity reliance industries just a few months back to focus on the group's charity work. Sources told us that her appointment basically signals how close this media business is to the family's heart.

This is a business that really interests someone like Nita Ambani. And that's because she has experience in fields such as arts, sports and close ties to the Bollywood industry. It's a super busy time for the family. The Ambani's are hosting a three-day pre-wedding party. this week for their youngest son, Anant. Tell us about that, about that event. It's not even the wedding. It's the pre-wedding.

Yeah, so the Disney deal focus has very quickly shifted, you know, to the pre-wedding celebrations of the Ambani family. You're right, it's going to be a spectacle. You have Rehanna coming in to perform. You have top Bollywood stars. You have global executives, including names like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. And also on the list is Bob Eiger, the CEO of Disney. In all, you expect about 1,200 guests to be there.

And in short, it's going to be big, grand and luxurious as most Ambani functions are. That is your Thursday update. We'll be back tomorrow. We are here every weekday with all the news you need to know in 10 minutes. If you've been with us for a while, make sure you don't miss anything and hit the subscribe button on whatever platform you're listening on. Or you can always download the Reuters app.