Reuters World News - Pelosi and Clooney’s pressure on Biden, Gaza ceasefire talks, France’s far-left dilemma and trash talk

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and key donor George Clooney raise fresh doubts about President Joe Biden’s fitness for office. As Israel steps up its offensive across the Gaza Strip, Hamas says the intensifying campaign puts resumed ceasefire talks in jeopardy. The firebrand of France’s leftist coalition, Jean-Luc Melenchon, poses a problem for future governing plans. And New York City finally discovers the wheelie bin.   Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast 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, Israel's attack on Gaza continue as Hamas say ceasefire talks are at risk. The star of France's hard left poses a problem for his party, and New York finally tackles its sidewalk mounds of garbage bags. It's Thursday, July 11th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. And I'm Jonah.

Green in New York. U.S. President Joe Biden welcoming NATO leaders to a dinner at the White House. But away from the smiles and the pomp and ceremony, the heat is being turned up on Biden over his insistence that he won't pull out of the election race. Fresh doubts have been raised by Nancy Pelosi and key donor George Clooney. Clooney withdrew his support with a damning opinion piece in the New York Times, saying Biden was not the same man he was in 20. Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, declined to say definitively in an interview that she wanted Biden to run,

instead saying he needs to make a decision soon because time is running short. Biden's campaign repeated their statement that he is firmly committed to staying in the race and beating Donald Trump, sifting through the rubble after an Israeli missile hit a tent encampment in southern Gaza, just as displaced people had gathered to watch a school football match. This boy who witnessed a strike saying God had destroyed them and there was no life left. Israel says it happened when it targeted a Hamas fighter who took part in the October 7th raid with a, quote, precise munition. Israeli forces have continued to step up their offensive across parts of the Gaza Strip,

a move that Hamas says threatens efforts to secure a ceasefire. Michael Georgie joins us now with the latest on negotiations. Michael, what do we know from the talks in Qatar? We need to stress that last week Hamas made a major concession, which is they're no longer calling for permanent ceasefire. And that, of course, means that after they do this three-phase deal, if it's accepted by all sides, that the Israelis can attack them again. And then they have these high-level talks starting yesterday

in Doha with the major spy chiefs, the Egyptians, CIA, Mossad. And we haven't heard anything yet from those talks, but we're hearing from negotiators that they're generally pessimistic that Israel will accept. Time is running out because at the end of the July, the Americans are going to be preoccupied with election season and the last thing they want us to be stuck in these talks. And what has Hamas said? There's one major bottom line, which is Hamas, they still want to be part of the game, even if they lose the war. Netanyahu is under pressure to crush them completely.

Now the Israeli defense minister yesterday said that 60% of Hamas fighters were killed or wounded. That's not a very encouraging statistic for the Israelis. Because by now, with all this destruction, bombing, shelling, you would think that, you would think that they would have done better than that, although they say they dismantled many battalions. Most Arab states despise Hamas, and they want to see them six feet under. But I don't think a country like the UAE, which has plenty of resources of money, has signed a normalization deal with Israel, wanted to do great trade and commerce, they're not going to lift a finger if they think that the whole cycle is going to start again.

United States is to deploy longer-range missiles in Germany in 2006 in a move to counter what NATO sees as a growing threat to Europe from Russia. There will be the most potent U.S. weapons to be based in Europe since the Cold War. There was also a strengthening of language on China at the NATO summit, calling it a decisive enabler of Russia's war effort in Ukraine. A U.S. judge says he will likely end Rudy Jummit. Giuliani's bankruptcy, a move that would enable lawsuits for defamation, sexual harassment, and other claims to proceed in other courts against Donald Trump's former lawyer.

The former New York mayor filed for bankruptcy protection in December after he was ordered to pay $148 million to two Georgia election workers that he falsely accused of rigging votes in the 2020 election. Liberal Democratic U.S. representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment against conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The effort stands no chance of advancing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. All eyes are on U.S. inflation figures out later today. Kamel Crimmons has more.

Investors are expecting the underlying inflation rate in June to stay steady at 0.2.2. And if that's the case, it'll bolster hopes for a September rate cut. But if inflation comes in higher than expected, that could be a nasty surprise for markets. They've marched to record highs this summer in anticipation of rate cuts. And rate cuts are the focus of this week's episode of Reuters Econ World. I talked to Augustine Carstens. He's head of the Bank for International Settlements, the central bank for central bankers, about the risks ahead. You can catch it on the Reuters app or Reuters.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts. France's left has a problem, and his name is Jean-Luc Melanchon.

The towering firebrand of France's hard left, Melanchon's France Unbowed Party won the most seats of the leftist alliance that scored a shock victory over the far right. His party's top position gives him a credible claim to be France's next prime minister. But his hopes of dragging France sharply leftward appear dead. After mainstream party chiefs quickly ruled out forming a coalition with the tax and spend pro-gaza figure who many in France view as an anti-Semitic radical. Elizabeth Pino is in Paris.

Elizabeth, why is he such a divisive figure in French politics? Well, France and Boat is really a radical left party. They really underwent a pro-gaza campaign during the European elections. For instance, they didn't want to tell that Hamas was a terrorist organization. Apart from that, on the economical side, they really want to raise the minimum wage very much. They really want to tax the rich more in a very radical way. So a 90% tax on some of the highest earners and lowering the retirement age down to 60. How likely are some of those policies to get through?

Well, it cannot go through because they have 70%. seats in an assembly that's got 577 seats. They want to raise the wages, but of course it can threaten the economy and France is a country that has a huge debt. What happens if he isn't the figurehead of the left? Are there more palatable options? Well, Jean-Luc Melancho is not going to be prime minister. They need to have a much more smooth figure. Some names coming out these days, like Marine Tondolier, who is the head of the Green Party, and two names in the Socialist Party, Olivier Ford, who is the head of the Socialist Party,

and Boris Valou, who used to be a close advisor of President Hollande. And time now to lift the lid and do a deep dive into some international trash news. New York seems to think it's reinvented the wheel, Eben. I'm turning to you on this one, Jonah. What's been happening? in New York. Wow.

First of all, the puns are just amazing. They deserve the Ben. Yes, I am legitimately excited that New York has discovered this newfound technology of putting trash bags into plastic bins with lids on them.

It is a game changer for our city. That was the big announcement from Mayor Eric Adams this week. And we're going to catch up with everyone else and make sure we get these plastic bags off our streets. The city is rolling out this initiative

to put 70% of trash bags into these bins by the fall and then they'll deal with the 30% you know, next year. And think about it, that's nearly 10 billion pounds of trash each year that we won't see or smell. Just to clarify, Britain has been using these wheelie bins for decades. So what would people do with trash in New York before?

Oh, do you not have gigantic, oozing mountains of black garbage bags on the street? That's not what you do? No, no weirdly, no. Sorry. Well, that's been our solution for a few hundred years, and it's worked out great. But recently, if you've been to the city, you'll have noticed that the rats have become pretty brazen. They just kind of look you in the eye and just gallop across the street like they own the place. So this is welcome news.

For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. And to never miss an episode, subscribe on your favourite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.