Reuters World News - Moscow attack, Israel’s military politics and the Fed’s election year challenge

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

Suspects appear in court after a gun attack on a concert hall outside Moscow leaves Russia reeling from the deadliest attack in more than two decades. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington DC as a rift grows with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews. And the Federal Reserve must navigate a tricky path as it prepares to cut interest rates during an election year.     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, suspects appear in a Russian court after the deadly concert hall attack, as Islamic State's claim of responsibility raises security questions for Vladimir Putin. Cracks appear in Israel's war cabinet and the Fed's potentially outsized election year role. It's Monday, March 25th. 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. Four suspects have been charged in the deadliest attack inside Russia in two decades.

They're accused of gunning down people at a concert outside Moscow on Friday night. More than 130 people were killed, including three children, and nearly 200 were injured. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack. U.S. officials said they warned Russia of intelligence about an imminent attack earlier this month. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has not mentioned the group by name. In a televised statement, he said the attackers were trying to flee to Ukraine. Kiev has denied any involvement. Andrew Osborne is Reuters Russia chief political correspondent.

Andrew, what do we know about these four suspects? So we know that these people are accused of being the gunmen in the attack and three of them, the Russian authorities say have actually confessed to the participation. They've all been charged with terrorism. They're all citizens, it would seem, of Tajikistan, that's Central Asian country, an ex-Soviet Republic. All of them appear to have been working inside Russia in recent years. One of them, for example, was a hairdresser.

We don't really know, because they haven't said so or been publicly. shown saying so exactly what motivated them to do this, although there is one report concerning one of them saying that he was recruited over social media and was asked to carry out this attack for money. And it was interesting when they were actually taken, when they appeared in court to be reminded in custody, it was clear that none of them were physically in a good condition and that followed a series of unconfirmed videos and social media, which showed some of them being interrogated. So, for example, one of them appeared in court, appearing to not have his right ear, another was wheeled in a wheelchair, although, as I should stress, that is, those

videos of those interrogations are unfairified at the moment. What's the likely fallout for President Putin? I think what this means is that Putin will now be under press. Russia to show more strengths, more decisiveness when it comes to stopping anything like this happening again. How big of a threat is Islamic State in Russia and across Europe? It's unclear, I think, what the precise strength is inside Russia. But what we do know is certainly in the West, people have been talking about this particular

affiliate of IS, which was based in Afghanistan. And certainly Russian interests have been hit outside Russia, portically by Islamic State, notably its embassy in Kabul, in Afghanistan. France has raised its terror alert warning to the highest level following Islamic State's claim of responsibility. And in Iraq, the US ambassador told Reuters, Islamic State is still a threat, despite calls from the Prime Minister to end the US-led military coalition there.

ISIS is still a threat here, much, much diminished. But nevertheless, our work is essentially not done. Former President Donald Trump is expected to appear in a Manhattan court today to seek another delay in his criminal hush money trial. His appearance comes as he faces a Monday deadline to post a bond in a civil fraud case or risk New York State seizing his assets. To hear more about Trump and how he has transformed, the Republican Party, take a listen to our weekend podcast.

We'll put a link in the description of today's pot. The Nigerian army has rescued students and staff who were kidnapped by gunmen from a school earlier this month. The military said 137 hostages were freed. Earlier figures put the number abducted at over 200, and it remains unclear if some are still being held captive. Early results in Senegal's election has opposition candidate Basero de Ome Faye ahead, sending his supporters into the streets to celebrate.

His rival from the ruling coalition, former Prime Minister Ahmadouba, said a run-off election will be needed to determine the winner. Another flare-up in the South China Sea. The Philippines has summoned Beijing's envoy after accusing China's coast guard of using water cannon on a civilian boat. Tensions between the two countries over the disputed waters have escalated in recent months. Messages of support are continuing to pour in for Britain's Princess of Wales. Kate announced on Friday she'd been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.

Israel's Defence Minister arrives in Washington today, with a rift brewing with his boss back home. Yoav Galant is opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to continue exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service. Benny Gantz, a leading member of Netanyahu's war cabinet, says he'll quit if the proposal becomes law. Dan Williams is in Jerusalem. Dan, why is this all coming to a head now? The Supreme Court gave the government until the end of this month's March

to present a equitable solution for drafting the ultra-orthodox, for amending, scaling back, or ending this exemption system. So Netanyahu, apparently, with days to go until the deadline, is planning on Tuesday to submit a draft that he hopes would both mollify the Supreme Court and keep his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners from bolting in protest at what they would see as a threat to the exemption. systems and potentially even state funding for their seminaries.

How serious is this for Netanyahu? It's significant. I think it could be described as the first major crack in the war cabinet. The optics of a legislation submitted, even by the Prime Minister himself, about something of this core concern to the military as conscription personnel, which lacks the support of the defense minister, the most senior civilian official in charge of the military, the optics on that aren't good. As for when it comes for the guns threat, it's worth looking at the phrasing. He spoke about quitting the coalition if this passes in the Knesset in Parliament. That would appear to be not imminent. In fact, it probably won't happen and won't begin to happen before June, at which

point the parliament will be on the verge of a summer recess. So this is not an imminent threat, but certainly for Netanyahu, the optics aren't great about having two senior members of his coalition, one of them his own defence minister from his own party, openly threatening mutiny over a matter as central to Israel's national security as the people making up its military. The Federal Reserve could potentially boost President Biden's re-election chances if it cuts rates as expected this year. That prospect has already triggered an outcry from Donald Trump and puts the central bank at the center of the political fray. Fed correspondent Howard Schneider explains the tricky path the Fed has to weave this election year. President, Biden may face

the situation where the Fed pulls off a soft landing, keeps the economy on track, keeps the unemployment rate low, wages growing, prices, pressures easing, inflation falling, price is not coming down, but the rate of growth easing a lot. And then rate cuts at all. And come September, if you have that set of conditions, which the Fed said it expects, you could see credit easing, you could see lower mortgage rates, lower car loan rates, lower credit card rates. That could really be a plus for Biden in the heat of the campaign. Will that actually translate into votes for Biden? It was one of Bill Clinton's advisors who once coined the phrase, it's the economy, stupid. Well, maybe it still is, and maybe it isn't. There's certainly a lot of cultural and other issues out there

that could frame how people vote. On the other side of this, you've got a Republican contender, former President Donald Trump, who's got his own history with Powell. Remember, he made Powell Fed share. And then they quickly kind of clashed. Pell was raising interest rates at the time, and Trump hated that. He felt that Powell was trying to wreck his economy and wreck growth and almost declared him pretty much an enemy of the people at one point. It was a very kind of singular. moment in Fed history when the president was openly declared sort of open warfare on the Fed chair. So that's no doubt going to be noticed. And you've already seen Trump and some of his advisors argue that if the Fed does cut rates, it's only to put the phone on the scale for Biden.

That's it for Monday. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. If you want to stay ahead of what's happening in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app. Thank you.