Reuters World News - Rafah, high treason in Germany and Italy’s tourism squeeze

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Israel wrestles with a possible invasion of Rafah as international pressure for a ceasefire mounts. Nine men go on trial over an alleged coup plot in Germany. And Italy tries to control tourist crowds at its popular destinations. We are looking for your feedback to improve the podcast. Please take two minutes to answer this survey. 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, as international anger grows over Gaza, Israel wrestles with a possible Rafa invasion. Russian pressure forces Ukraine into a tactical retreat in the east. Germany's coup suspects go on trial. And why Italy wants to charge you more for La Dolce Vite this summer. It's Monday, April 29th. 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.

International pressure is growing on Israel to stop the fighting in Gaza. Scirmishes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli students at UCLA, part of a wider protest movement, roiling US campuses. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is back in the Middle East,

pressing for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But Israeli airstrikes on Rafah continued overnight, killing at least 13 people. James McKenzie is Bureau Chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories. So James, what is it to be a ceasefire or a ground invasion of Rafa?

At the moment, it really seems quite, I mean, it seems quite finely poised. I would think the default sort of choice has to be that the assault on Rafa will go ahead. Obviously, if they do get a ceasefire, they will change. So far we don't have that. And until we don't have that, I think the Rafa operation is going to go ahead. How united is the Israeli government on an assault on Rafa. Raffa. Benny Gans, a member of the War Cabinet, said over the weekend that the return of the hostages was more important than entering Rafa. I think there's a lot of discussion and

disagreement in all directions on this within the war cabinet, no doubt, within the wider cabinet as well, most definitely. The sort of religious nationalist parties, the Smotwich's and Ben-Gavirs have come out very strongly against any idea of compromise. And they're very important, because although they're not part of the war cabinet, the little, the small group that decides these things, they can potentially decide the future of the Netanyahu's government. You know, if they leave the coalition and the whole thing's completely up for grabs. Are the Israelis worried about the impact the campus protests in the US might be having? Well, they're certainly very aware of these student protests.

It tends to be framed here in a sort of, there's a lot of highlight on the sort of feeling that it's driven by anti-Semitism and that the Jewish students on campus aren't safe and so on. But I think there is also a recognition that for a democratic president, it represents really a big challenge, because these are people who would normally be his support. He's got the presidential elections coming up, and it's very finely poised, so it can't not be a consideration for the administration.

And I think the Israelis are aware of that. Ukraine is pulling back from three villages in the east, as its top military commander says its troops are outnumbered by Russian forces. The retreat comes as Ukraine's president, Vladimir Zelensky, made a fresh plea for international partners to speed arms deliveries to Keev. Pedro Sanchez is staying on as Prime Minister of Spain. He's made the announcement after taking a few days off to consider his position. That period of reflection came after a court opened a corruption probe against his wife.

Sanchez says his wife is innocent. Classrooms are quiet in the Philippine capital, Manila. In-person public school classes have been cancelled as the country grapples with a sweltering heatwave. And China is set to launch a high-stakes mission to the moon. A robotic aircraft will head off on a round trip to the moon's far side, as Beijing eyes its first manned landing, plus a base on the lunar South Pole.

Sticking with Asia, because that's where it's all happening on markets today. The yen is having a wild ride, jumping suddenly after a sharp drop. Traders say the Bank of Japan is intervening to stem the fall. And Tesla has won Beijing's blessing to roll out its advanced driver assistance service in China. That's a big win for Elon Musk,

who made a surprise trip to China to push for the change. Tesla will partner with Chinese tech giant Baidu to use its mapping license for data collection on China's public roads. Nine men accused of planning a coup to overthrow the German state and install an aristocrat as king are set to go on trial today.

They're members of the Reichsberger movement that denies the existence of the modern German state. Thomas Eskrit is following the trial in Stuttgart. Thomas, what are the details of this alleged plot? 27 people are accused of plotting a coup attempt against the German government and they wanted to depose that government and replace it with their own.

and the nine people who are going on trial today in Stuttgart, people who were to be in charge of imposing martial law around the country, prosecutors are clear that they were prepared to kill people as part of their coup attempt. We don't know exactly what kind of a state they wanted to put in place afterwards. The whole thing was headed by a man called Heinrich the 13th, Prince Royce, who is the sion of an old aristocratic family, which once had a throne in one of the many, many, kingdoms that made up historical Germany. The nine suspects are members of the Reichberger movement. Now, Germany's intelligence service says that has about 21,000 members. What is this movement exactly? The Reichsburger is an umbrella term for people in Germany who say that they are citizens of an earlier form of the German state. Typically, they're thinking back to the pre-World War I state headed by Kaiser Wilhelm

the second. and they say that the current state which now exists is not legitimate and that they themselves are citizens of that earlier state. What have the accused men said about the charges? Today, the first time they appear in court and they may or may not be asked at this stage to plead. It's expected, however, that they will contest the charges against them. And today's trial is the first of three, right? Next month, the political leadership of the group centered on Heinzfer 13th, Prince Roy. the throneless aristocrat will also go on trial.

There are 10 people in that circle. And then in June, in Munich, another group of people who perhaps could be described more as accessories to the whole project will go on trial. Is the thought of your summer vacations sustaining you this Monday? Well, residents of some of Europe's top holiday destinations are less excited. Thousands of people protesting in Spain's Canary Islands this month

over mass tourism. And in Italy, some tourist destinations are introducing charges to try and keep numbers down. Crispian Balmer has recently returned from the island of Capri, which has doubled its visitor's fee

to five euros. Crispian doesn't Italy need tourists. Tourism is a huge economic boon for Italy. 10% of its GDP comes from tourism and it badly needs visitors. The trouble is that where people want to go to, the little old quaint villages, the art cities, weren't necessarily built for mass tourism. And so

some places get absolutely swamped with visitors. And so what local authorities are trying to do is just thin the crowds or spread the crowds out by charging on particularly busy days and hoping that that will convince people to perhaps come later in the year at other times. So what exactly are they doing? So Venice has introduced the charge, the one-day charge. There's another very famous place called Cinque Terre, which is charging now 15 euros on peak time to walk down the coastal paths. This isn't a problem just for Italy. This is a problem that a number of European tourist hotspots are now having to deal with in Spain, in Paris, Amsterdam.

These cities were not built to take in millions of people. And so they are delighted to see the cash come in, but they're also worried that they'll get a bad reputation by people saying it's just impossible. It's like going to Disneyland and spending two hours in a queue to get on a ride. Bad word starts to spread, and then people say, well, we're not going to go there anymore. So it's just an attempt by a number of European countries to control the crowds.

That's it for Monday. Before you go, we've a favour to ask. Can you take a moment to answer our short survey? There's a link in today's pod description. We want to make our pods better for you. And we'll be back on Tuesday with our daily headline show. To make sure you never miss any of our updates, subscribe on your favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.