Reuters World News - North Korean troops in Russia, McDonald’s and poll watchers

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

The U.S. has said for the first time that it’s seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia. McDonald’s is scrambling to contain the damage from an E. coli outbreak linked to its Quarter Pounders that has killed one person. Boeing factory workers have rejected a new pay offer and will continue their strike. And North Carolina election officials express concerns about potential voter and poll worker intimidation in the face of Republican poll watchers. 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, the U.S. says it's got evidence of North Korean troops in Russia. Election officials raise concerns about how polling observers are being trained. And what's behind the E. coli outbreak at McDonald's? It's Thursday, October 24th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaksin, Liverpool. And I'm Jonah Green in New York. mid-October, North Korea moved at least 3,000 soldiers into eastern Russia.

White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby saying for the first time that the U.S. has evidence Pyongyang has sent troops to Russia for a possible deployment in Ukraine. The announcement follows similar reports out of Kiev and Seoul. Josh Smith is in Seoul with the latest. This does signal kind of increasing confidence among allies that North Korean troops are on the move. What they will do eventually in the end still remains unclear. South Korea has said that the troops that they've tracked being moved there are from a special forces unit, but there's some debate over exactly how experienced those troops may be.

What do your sources say about how they might be used? That does remain unclear. Some analysts have said they could be held back in Russia as kind of a reserve against further Ukrainian incursions around Kursk and other areas. Others have speculated that they could well become a quote unquote cannon fodder on the particularly deadly battlefields there in Ukraine. At least some of these troops, including those identified by South Korean intelligence so far, are accompanying the North Korean weapons that Pyongyang has provided to Russia, and that has included short-range ballistic missiles, some artillery, shells, anti-tank rockets, things like that.

And what of Moscow, Pyongyang said about these reports? So far, both Russia and North Korea have denied these reports, calling them fake news. That being said, they've also denied the use of missiles there in Ukraine, which has now been quite well documented, including by independent experts. A deadly attack on the headquarters of Turkish aerospace industries kills five people and wounds 22 others. CCTV video from the scene shows two people armed with guns approaching the building. Turkey's interior minister says both assailants were killed in what he calls a terrorist attack.

Ankara accuses the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, of being behind the attack, and later said that conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq and northern Syria aimed at PKK targets. No group has claimed responsibility. The G7 has finalized a plan to give Ukraine a $50 billion loan using Russia's frozen central bank assets. As part of the package, the U.S. is providing $20 billion. Members voted to reject the company's latest offer by 64%. Boeing workers in Seattle rejecting the latest wage offer from management

and pledging to push ahead with their strike. It's a major blow to the plane maker and, as new CEO, CEO Kelly Ortberg. Common Crimmons is here with more. So the opposition to this deal is less than the 95% rejection rate from a previous offer, but it does show how worker resentment is still strong. Their wages have lagged inflation for a decade at a time when critics say Boeing spent tens of billions of dollars on share buybacks and record bonuses for executives. So what happens now? So the strike continues. It's been nearly six weeks already, and Boeing and the Union will have to go back to the negotiating table. The proposal that was rejected offered workers a 35% pay increase

over four years. The union is seeking a 40% pay hike and the return of a defined benefit pension plan. So, Ortberg is under major pressure to end the strike, right? Huge. This strike has derailed Boeing's recovery from a safety crisis. It's had to suspend work on producing its top models and it's burning through cash. And while you're here, Carmel, you may as well plug the latest episode of your Econ World podcast, right? You know me so well, Tara. It's all about Russia's war economy, and you can catch it on the Reuters app, roiders.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. The CDC is investigating nearly 50 cases of E. coli linked to McDonald's quarter-pounders.

The chain's shares sank after reports that one person has died and ten have been hospitalized. Investigators believe a batch of fresh slivered onions may be the source of the outbreak. Most of the illnesses are in Colorado and Nebraska, but the burger, won't be on the menu in some other states. Lisa Bartline has more on the story. I think the thing that's different about this is this particular strain of E. coli is quite dangerous because it releases a toxin to the body and it hits your kidneys pretty hard and it can be a little difficult to manage. It's difficult to treat with antibiotics.

It's the one that everybody's afraid of. And I spoke with a food safety expert yesterday who said we're probably going to see more. This seems like a very fast-moving situation. Will this impact how McDonald's thinks about incorporating fresh ingredients in its menu? Look, almost every chain deals with fresh produce and it's kind of the luck of the draw. This stuff comes from contaminated water, fecal-contaminated water usually, but you can have a bird that can fly over your field and poop on a field. How much could this hurt McDonald's? It will definitely have a hit. I was speaking with a food

safety lawyer. And he said something, and I think this is going to be very key to McDonald's recovery. He said they are known for having a very tight food safety program. So if any company can recover and mitigate the impacts, I would say McDonald's is going to be among one of the best to do so. With less than two weeks until Election Day, a warning from Donald Trump's former White House Chief of Staff. In a series of interviews with the New York Times, retired general John Kelly says the former president meets the definition of a fascist. Kelly also quoted Trump as having told him Adolf Hitler, quote, did some good things. Trump's team has denied the accounts. He does not want a military that is loyal to the United States Constitution. He wants a military that is loyal to him.

Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was quick to highlight Kelly's comments, saying they were further proof that Trump was unfit for office. Harris' campaign has confirmed she will make her closing argument at the ellipse in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, a week before election day. Meanwhile, Reuters Ipsos polling shows Trump has nearly wiped out Democrats' advantage among Hispanic men. But Trump's gains have been offset by a boost in support for Harris among white women. You're the eyes and ears.

You're the people that can make sure that all the rules are being followed. That's Jim Womack. He's a local Republican party chair in North Carolina. And he's speaking on a Zoom training call for volunteers to monitor voting on November 5th. 18 U.S. Code 245. Federal law. Womack is the head of the North Carolina election integrity team. He founded the group to monitor for election fraud,

even though it is exceedingly rare in the U.S. Election officials in Lee County, where he's based, say they're concerned such training could lead to disruption at the polls. Reporter Helen Koster met with Womack in North Carolina. So Helen, poll watchers are nothing new in American politics. Each party sends them out to monitor polling locations. So what is happening now that's different? So after Donald Trump lost the presidential election in 2020,

he and his allies made a lot of claims that the election had been stolen and so did a lot of distrust about the integrity of the election system in the U.S. broadly. The training of those poll observers is giving election experts, voter rights advocates, and local officials concern because they see a potential in those poll watchers to intimidate poll workers and voters. A lot of Americans don't trust the elections, and they want more inspection, more observation, more transparency. He told the volunteers to be aggressive and that the more assertive and aggressive they are in watching and reporting, the better the quality of the election. He also told them to be polite to election officials and to be neutral and balanced. The influx of non-citizens into the country over the last three years is substantial. He did say that the group's antenna are up about the influx of Hispanics and made claims that non-citizens are being added inappropriately to North Carolina voting roles. And that's something that the State Board of Elections has denied.

So they're going into these polling locations, primed to look for problems. Womack says that he, under no circumstances, condoned suppression. or intimidation of voters of any kind. Today's recommended read is a Reuters exclusive on how a plane downed in Sudan's North Darfurst state had Russian crew members and was being used by the army to resupply a besieged city. Check out the link in our description for our story

on how the incident offers a glimpse into the murky supply networks in a war which is uprooted more than 11 million people. For more on all the stories we cover today, check out reuters.com or the Reuters app. And to never miss an episode, subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.