Reuters World News - Palestinian statehood, Skydance-Paramount and Trump at the Fed

Episode Date: July 27, 2025

Israel and the United States recall their delegations from Gaza ceasefire talks as France announces its plan to recognize a Palestinian state. The FCC approves the merger between entertainment giants Paramount Global and Skydance Media. President Trump spars with Jerome Powell in a rare visit to the Federal Reserve. And Thailand and Cambodia exchange heavy fire as fighting on their joint border continues for a second day. 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, France plans to recognise a Palestinian state as ceasefire talks collapse. The US clears the way for an $8 billion paramount Skydance merger. Trump visits the Fed and bickers with Powell over renovation costs. And Thailand rejects international mediation as fighting with Cambodia continues. It's Friday, July 25th. 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. Negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza have collapsed. Israel and the United States walking away from the discussions. U.S. envoy Steve Whitkoff accuses

Hamas says it's surprised by Whitkoff's remarks, saying the group's position had been welcomed by mediators. It's the latest setback in securing a truce and the release of Israeli hostages, plus respite for Palestinians facing a worsening humanitarian crisis. And while international pressure mounts for a breakthrough, an announcement from President Emmanuel Macron. France will officially recognise a Palestinian state in September at the UN General Assembly, drawing angry rebukes from Israel and the United States.

John Irish has more for us from Paris. For months, this has been in the works, and Macron has wanted to gain some momentum and get others to join him in doing this. It's been a rocky path to making this decision because, you know, obviously France has close relations with Israel, but I think it's significant in the sense that this is the first major Western power to announce its intention

to recognize the Palestinian state. And it will have an impact on relations with Israel. And you can already see immediately that Israel reacted very strongly to it with both Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister launching all sorts of accusations about this decision. France has traditionally wanted to play a role in trying to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to getting a two-state solution. And I think over the last months, the concern has been that, well, the two-state solution

is disappearing. And so you have to put it back on the agenda. And they feel that this will help in that process. The FCC has approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, clearing the way for an $8.4 billion sale of some of the most prominent names in entertainment, including CBS, Paramount Pictures, and the Nickelodeon channel. They all now fall under the ownership of David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Entertainment business correspondent Dawn Chumalesky has been following the twists and turns of this sale.

What did both sides have to do to make this deal happen? Skydance offered a number of assurances to the FCC to win this approval. Chief among them was this commitment to unbiased journalism. As you know, President Trump has had a long-running feud with certain members, certain segments of the news media. And CBS was the focus of one of its lawsuits. That suit was just settled for $16 million, seemingly clearing the way for regular. approval for the deal, although the SEC chairman and Paramount say that the two are not tied. Now, in order to win further approval, Skydance committed to what it called unbiased journalism.

It said it would air all points of view. And this speaks to Trump's concern that the media is treating him unfairly or not, not allowing conservative voices to be heard. So that was one assurance. Another was that Skydance would not institute diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at Paramount when the two companies are combined. Trump and his administration view affirmative action as discriminatory. So Skydance promised that it would not institute these policies when it takes over the new company. Skydance also said it would make an investment at Paramount, that it would invest $1.5 billion, improving Paramount, and significantly investing in local news. Why are some Democrats criticizing the deal?

There's some Democrats who feel that both this settlement and then the more recent cancellation of the most popular show in late night, Stephen Colco Airshow, were concessions that were made to the Trump administration to win this for Paramount to be able to close this deal. What has Paramount said about that? Paramount offers a couple of explanations with, you know,

it agreed to, the settlement, which brings to an end what could have been a lengthy and costly legal battle with the president. Similarly, Paramount argued that its decision to cancel the late show was a financial one. Audiences have shrunk. Ad revenue has shrunk. And CBS says, look, we're losing $40 million a year on this thing. This is no longer sustainable. An awkward conversation about money. One up a little bit or a lot. So the 2.7 is now 3.1. I'm not aware of that. Yeah, it just came out.

Yeah, I haven't heard that from anybody for Fed. Yeah, it just came out. Between two of the most important people in financial markets, President Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell, both wearing hard hats, sparring over the Fed's renovation bill during a walk-through of the construction project. And while he was there,

Trump didn't miss the opportunity for a dig. Well, I'd love him to lower interest rates. Trump's visit to the Federal Reserve, less than a week before the central bank's next rate-setting meeting was unusual. In fact, he's only the third president to ever visit. Anne Safir covers the Fed. Although this visit itself is not specifically about interest rates, it's visiting a building that is under renovation

and that White House critics say is costing too much and is ostentatious to boot. It's an escalation of pressure that he has been putting, on the Fed since the beginning of this term and really dating back to his first term as well, demanding lower interest rates. Now, Trump has said that if fraud were involved in the cost overruns, that would be grounds for firing Powell. So what does the Fed say about these renovations? The Fed says that the main reason that it costs more than originally estimated is actually all that inflation and materials costs went up and labor costs went up. And the federal costs went up. the Fed had to pay those as well. So the visit does nothing, I believe, to move the Fed towards

lowering interest rates. It's still expected to keep policy on hold when it meets next week to decide interest rates. And while Trump keeps the pressure on Powell, the president's supporters are keeping the pressure on him to release additional information about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Justice Department officials will meet on Friday with Epstein's former girlfriend Galane Maxwell for a second day. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida on sex trafficking charges. Officials say they contacted her to see if she has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims. Thailand's military fire artillery towards Cambodia from a border town. The two countries exchanging heavy fire for a second day. In an escalating border

dispute that has killed at least 16 people. Both sides blamed the other for firing first. And Thailand is rejecting mediation efforts from third countries. It wants the situation solved through bilateral talks. Martin Petty is Reuters' breaking news editor for Southeast Asia. What are the two sides fighting over? The two countries have been in dispute for a very, very long time about certain parts of the border, in particular some ancient temples. For a couple of months now, the situation has been tense between them. Cambodia has sought resolution at the International Court of Justice. Thailand isn't taking part. And this week, there was an intensification when two Thai soldiers lost limbs in the space of a week due to landmines in the disputed border

area. Thailand maintains that these landmines were not left over from decades of civil war in Cambodia, but that they were freshly laid in the past two months, which Cambodia strenuous denies, but this led to a diplomatic standoff. Thailand recalled its ambassador from Cambodia and said it was going to expel Cambodia's ambassador and Cambodia is going to withdraw all of its diplomatic personnel from Thailand. And that's what led to the clashes that erupted. And finally, tributes are being paid after the death of wrestling icon Hulk Hogan. He died on Thursday at the age of 71. Police in Clearwater, Florida responded to a call for a cardiac arrest at his home. Hogan became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform

it into a family-friendly entertainment worth billions. He was also a supporter of President Trump. Let Trump-Mania make America great again. And for today's recommended read, demand in China is surging for a business that, in theory, shouldn't even exist. The repair of advanced Nvidia-AI chipsets that the U.S. has banned as an export to China. We'll drop a link to that story in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out roiders.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player.

We'll be back on Sunday with our headline show.