Reuters World News - NATO rebuffs Zelenskiy, Thai electoral drama and EVs pile up

Episode Date: July 12, 2023

What’s next for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after NATO declines to offer him a timeline for membership? Thailand on edge as its election winner battles to secure the role of prime minister. Plus, China steps up in the space race, a fake BMW ad believed to be at center of a hack and unsold electric vehicles piling up at US dealerships. 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, it's back to the future for Ukraine. NATO kicks its membership into the long grass. Political limbo in Thailand two months after a surprise election victory. Syrians denied aid over Russian politicking at the UN Security Council. Electric vehicles begin to pile up as sales stall in the US. All as the clock ticks down to avoid another strike in Tinseltown. This is Reuters World News, everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday.

I'm Kim Vinal in London. A rock star welcome for Ukrainian President Volodemezilensky. Only to be met with disappointment at NATO's annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The military alliance refused to say when or how Ukraine could join its ranks. Reuters Andrew Gray is covering the summit in Vilnius. So Andrew, why was Ukraine? denied membership. On one side you had Eastern European countries very strongly in favour of a clear pathway of getting Ukraine into NATO as soon as possible after the war. And on the other side,

you had countries such as the United States and Germany who were much more hesitant, much more cautious to go beyond saying that NATO would welcome Ukraine as a member at some point in the future. Why were they hesitant? What people will tell you more openly is that it's important that Ukraine meets a whole bunch of criteria. But obviously in the background is also the question that if Ukraine is inside NATO and there were to be another conflict, then NATO would be obliged in some way to come to Ukraine's aid. And so that opens up obviously a whole set of other issues which I think some countries just really don't want to contemplate right now. Where does Zelensky go from here? The summit wraps up today. Are there any other highlights we should

expect? Yeah, well, Zelensky will meet the leaders in person today and there will be the first meeting of something called the NATO-Ukraine Council. It's a new body that they have set up to try and upgrade relations between Ukraine and NATO. And Zelensky will also meet with President Joe Biden. So he'll have an opportunity today to do more lobbying, more asking for weapons and ammunition and other assistance for the war. You can keep on top of all of the news out of day two of the summit by going to Reuters.com or on the Reuters app. In the meantime, here's the top news from around the world. A Chinese startup has beaten Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the race to launch a methane-fueled rocket. Land-space technology's successful launch of what many believe could be the next generation of

space vehicles boosts China's chances of becoming the dominant power in space. The clock is ticking down for the major Hollywood studio. and streamers as they race to meet a midnight deadline to avoid a second labor strike. The 160,000 members of Actors Union SAGAFTA have authorized a strike if a new labor deal cannot be reached. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since early May. Hackers suspected of working for Russian intelligence used a fake ad for a cheap BMW to target dozens of diplomats in Ukraine, says a new report. The espionage campaign targeted diplomats working

in at least 22 foreign missions in Kiev, that's according to analysts at the Palo Alto Network's Unit 42 Research Division. Russia has been accused of an act of cruelty after vetoing the renewal of a long-running UN aid operation that helped four million Syrians. Political jockeying at the UN Security Council puts a key route for delivering food, medicine and supplies between Syria and Turkey in jeopardy. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says the U.S. will continue to push for the program's UN authorization. It's a moral and humanitarian imperative, and the Syrian people are counting on us to get this done, so we will stay at it to try to accomplish that. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal had some harsh words for the Saudi-backed Live-Golf merger with the PGA. at a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Today's hearing is about much more than the game of golf. It's about how a brutal, repressive regime can buy influence, indeed even take over a cherished American institution to cleanse its public image. But after the three-hour Senate panel hearing, it remains to be seen if the U.S. will do anything to block it. The Justice Department could opt to sue, and the Committee on Foreign Investment could review the deal to determine if it harms national security. It's time now for markets with Carmel, Crimmons, Carmel, what's on investors' minds today?

US inflation data out later today, Kim. It's really important for expectations around interest rate hikes. Now, most people expect the Fed to raise rates by 25 basis points this month, but that inflation data will signal how many hikes may be left in the tank. Core inflation is expected to fall for a third straight month. month to 5%, but that's still double the Fed's target of 2%. It's been nearly two months since Thailand's election and the progressive move forward's stunning victory over pro-military parties.

But the country remains in limbo, with the party's leader, Peter Limjornrat, yet to take up the top job as prime minister. A key obstacle to his ascendancy is a once unthinkable proposal to amend a law that punishes insulting the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison. A parliamentary vote tomorrow is set to decide his fate, but on the eve of it, Thailand's Electoral Commission has recommended he be disqualified by the constitutional court. South East Asia Bureau Chief Kay Johnson is watching the drama unfold. So Kay, what's the case against Peter? Well, this is a long-standing case that was brought against Peter. It relates to his holding share.

in a media company that he says has not been an active media company for many years. The fact of the timing of this is being held up as this party is very suspicious that it can one day before a vote for prime minister is seen as a way to discredit him. And in fact, student groups are threatening protests over this referral coming one day before the vote for prime minister. So what happens if Peter's candidacy is struck down or if he simply doesn't win the in Parliament having won the majority of votes in the country? First of all, there could be several votes, even just on Pitas candidacy alone.

Also, Pitas coalition has eight parties in it. There's a second very large party, which has 100 or more seats and only 10 fewer seats than Pitas move forward party. That party could put its own prime minister candidate up and still have a ruling coalition. So it may not be over for what. They call the pro-democracy forces, they could still have a coalition government, but it could take some time and it could be very messy. We could see weeks and weeks of deadlock, and if there's no progress,

we could also see this go into the streets. The electric vehicle market in the U.S. is growing, but apparently not fast enough. According to analysts and industry data, a lag in sales in the last quarter has EVs piling up at some dealerships. And that could have a big impact on where the auto industry goes next. Joe White has been covering this from Detroit. For automakers in the United States, the issue with electric vehicles is not that they're not selling at all. They are selling and sales are growing. But there's still only about 7% of the market and production by both Tesla and all the other companies, including Ford, John Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota. They're all ramping up production.

and it looks like, at least for now, production and supply of EBs has started as rather significantly outpaced demand, at least for some models. And exactly why and exactly whether this is a long-term problem or a short-term problem, that's what we need to find out over the next several quarters. And there is a lot at stake in the answer to that question. What is at stake? What if automakers were wrong about the demand for EVs? If they're wrong about that and they're building EVs that don't. find buyers, or at least don't find buyers in a timely way. They've got a couple, you know, two or three sort of unsavory choices, one cut prices, which Tesla has already done. And to some

extent, some of the other automakers have already done. The other option is, of course, to cut production. But that leaves new factories and workers idle investment, not earning a return, which is obviously a bad thing. I guess the third option would be to go and frankly one that the Detroit automakers have done, which is go to the U.S. government, go to Washington, the Biden administration, and say, look, we need more subsidies. We need more incentives and inducements for people to change technology and buy an EV and get over their concerns about driving range and all of that. You're probably going to see all three of those things happen, barring a big uptick in demand over the next several quarters. That's all we have for today's

edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.