Reuters World News - Racism costs Spain’s La Liga and Russian scientist accused of China leaks

Episode Date: May 24, 2023

Black Real Madrid player Vinicius Jr has spoken out against racist incidents in Spain. We take a deep dive into how the Brazilian’s stand is shaking up Spanish soccer – and making diplomatic waves. Plus, Reuters exclusives showing a Russian scientist has been accused of leaking secrets to China, and the U.S. doctors keeping their track records secret. 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, new details emerge in the top secret treasonic treasonic missile scientists in Russia. Police arrest fans in Spain as the multi-billion dollar La Liga is rocked by a black player standing up to racism. And in the US, a Reuters investigation reveals hundreds of doctors are settling claims of fraud without a way for patients to know about their pasts. It's Wednesday, May 24th.

This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vinald in London. And I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. We start in Portugal, where police are searching an area near a reservoir in the hopes of finding the body of Madeline McCann, 16 years after she vanished.

She was three when she disappeared from her bedroom while on a family holiday from the UK. Reuters has been told the search is being carried out after a request from German authorities. Last year, Christian Bruchner was named in Germany as an official suspect in the case and has links to the area now being searched. Target is removing some of its LGBT range

after a number of threatening incidents in stores. It says the removal of items from the Pride collection is to protect staff from volatile situations. Hundreds of Catholic priests and church officials in Illinois have been named in a new report into child sexual abuse. Nearly 2,000 children were abused over a 70-year period, starting in the 1950s. Rhonda Santas will formally enter the 24

presidential race on Wednesday. The Florida governor will announce he's seeking the Republican presidential nomination in a Twitter chat with Elon Musk. So, Carmel, we're talking about the debt ceiling. We are. We've been talking about it for a while and we're going to continue to talk about it until Joe Biden and Republicans in Congress come to a deal. There are some interesting things happening, though, in the market, you know, despite the headlines, the dollar is up and that's because it's seen as a safe haven by investors, even though there's this risk of a U.S. default. Also, interesting interesting in a part of the market that we don't talk about a lot, money market funds, it's a type of product that's used by companies around the world for short-term funding.

They've actually seen big inflows, which is interesting because while they're seen as a safe haven, these assets are subject to runs during times of crisis. And in the 2011, debt ceiling standoff, there were big outflows. So that's interesting. It sort of suggests that the market really isn't in panic mode yet. New details have emerged from the science laboratory where three Russian rocket scientists are accused of treason. Sources tell Reuters that the director of the Siberian lab was accused of betraying secrets to the Chinese at a conference in 2017. Alexander Shipleuk maintains his innocence and says the information is available in open sources. The top secret treason cases have provoked uproar in the scientific community.

inside Russia. Mark Trevelyan has been reporting out the story. So Mark, how bad are things looking for Alexander Shipliuk? We know that in cases like this in Russia, this is a very, very serious crime about as serious as you can get, especially in time of war. And the chances of getting an acquittal from a Russian judge in a case that will be tried behind closed doors are pretty slim. This is all taking place against the background of a climate of suspicion, even paranoia inside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. Putin has told Russians that they need to beware of traitors in their midst. He's ordered the FSB to be on its guard. Less than three weeks into the war last year, Putin said any people, and especially the Russian people, will always be able to distinguish the true

patriots from the scum and the traitors. The security forces have been told to route out these people. And I think this is also partly why we're seeing these kinds of cases surfacing right now. Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. has dealt with racist chants from fans in the stands at Leliga games for two seasons. They even hung a racist effigy of him from a bridge in January. On Sunday, it all boiled over for the Brazilian Ford when Valencia fans chanted the word Mono or Monkey. Venetius later tweeted, it's not just the soccer fans who are racist. It's the entire country. Police have arrested several people as the Liga officials scramble to contain the problem. Sports reporter Fernando Calas in Madrid

is covering the growing scandal, a league worth billions of dollars. So Fernando, the latest incident was a few days ago now. Why is this still snowballing? Well, because of the feeling of, I don't know, because the fear of impunity that is in Spain right now. It's already 10 complaints file. Only this season, only with Vinicio Jr., with racist abuse. Nine of them inside the stadiums. And the other one is the case from the mannequin that was hanged by the neck in a bridge right in front of Real Madrid training facilities on January.

And it's a 22-year-old kid that is fighting against racism in a way that it's remarkable, but we have to understand that not every 22 black kids that come to play in Europe soccer has the strength and has the mental strength and resiliency that Vincius has. But what have the sponsors said? They are saying publicly, they are supporting Vinicius publicly, but we still have no clue on private meetings what they're discussing with La Liga, but it should not be something positive because the image of La Liga right now, the image of Spain right now all over the world is now related to racism. So how come a sponsor is going to be happy with the situation

like that? Has there been any action from the players themselves? Well, have a lot of players from even rival teams and former players. The support for Vinissus has been overwhelming and he's overwhelmed with by that. I think that now the Spanish authorities and the Spanish sports authorities too, they will need to take actions. They can't start, you know, like blaming one in another and washing their hands. They have to do something, you know, because Vinicius has no punishment or no sanction authority and he is changing the way that racism is being portrayed and being seen in Spain. So that's the situation right now. Could this impact Spain's chances to host the World Cup with their bid in for 2030?

They're really worried about it because for the image of a country all over the world, it's the worst possible. So now, and we have to understand, this has become a diplomatic crisis, a diplomatic event. So they need to do something about it. Imagine not knowing if your doctor had a history of performing unnecessary surgeries or harming their patients. A Reuters' investigation out today reveals hundreds of doctors kept their track record secret

by agreeing to settle government claims of fraud or harm to patients in civil suits. The US government collected more than $26 billion in civil suits like these between 2013 and 2022. Reporter Michael Behrens in Chicago dug through thousands of court documents. Michael, tell us what you found. What we found across the country is that hundreds of doctors have been accused of filing false claims with the federal government and basically getting money from public programs like Medicare or Medicaid that they shouldn't have gotten.

But it's the ways that they were trying to get this money through unnecessary surgeries, through accepting bribes or kickbacks, through falsification of patient records. So we found a vast array that included at least 500. 140 doctors and more than 200 hospitals and thousands of other healthcare companies that were accused of this kind of fraud. The vast majority of medical professionals and businesses work to help patients, but it's this kind of underbelly of the health care system that is just shocking. What sort of unnecessary procedures are we talking about here? There are so many. One of the most stunning is a doctor in Michigan who was accused of doing

unnecessary radical hysterectomies. These were women who were going in for what they thought were routine minor surgical issues, such as a cyst on an ovarian tube, something that's benign, but some of these women would wake up and find out that all their reproductive organs had been removed according to their narratives. And the doctor was accused of doing these unnecessary hysterectomies to boost the cost and to boost the profits to himself. Even after being caught doing these things, these doctors were able to avoid jail time. How? When you agree to settle with the government in a civil settlement, you don't have to acknowledge wrongdoing.

You don't have to acknowledge liability. The only thing you literally have to do is pay a bunch of money to the government. And then they will close the case and you are free to stay in business in most cases. And among the states that don't police this, they will. remain actively practicing. What about the patients who are harmed in the first place? Where does all this leave them? Unlike criminal cases where victims are eligible for restitution, all monies collected in

a civil settlement is kept by the government, every penny. Victims don't get a penny of a civil settlement. So this way, victims are sort of ignored. They're sort of the invisible toll of a civil settlement. That's it for today's edition of Royce's World News. We'll be back tomorrow. To get all our shows in your podcast feed, make sure to follow us on your favorite platform

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