Reuters World News - Rising U.S. political violence, a Kremlin aide's neo-Nazism association, Wegovy's push and China’s woes

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

Reuters identifies more than 200 cases of political violence since the Capitol attack. Wegovy’s latest drug trial changes the conversation. A Kremlin aide who brings Ukrainian children to Russia associated online with neo-Nazism. Plus, China’s economy and Ohio abortion rule.  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, China falls into deflation as the world's second largest economy struggles to revive demand. More than 200 cases of political violence in the US identified since the capital attack. And results of a new trial boost hopes that Wagovi will be more than just a lifestyle drug. It's Wednesday, August 9th. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, Every weekday. I'm Kim Vennel in London. Convierre your passion in a

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your business will be a super-exit with Shopify. We start your period of per day per day per cent off month in Shopify.es bar records. We start with the major headlines

breaking around the world. Ohio voters have rejected a Republican-backed bid to block an upcoming referendum on abortion rights. November's referendum in Ohio bids to enshrine abortion rights into the Constitution.

Russia says it's shot down another two Ukrainian drones near Moscow, this time one close. to one of the city's major international airports. Canadian rapper Tori Linnaz has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the shooting of fellow musician Megan the Stallion. Linnez was found guilty on three gun-related charges last December

and has been in jail ever since. It's time now for markets and the latest data out of China shows it slipped into deflation. Marius Saharia is in Hong Kong. Marius, what do we learn from these? latest numbers. China has posted its first decline in consumer prices since 2021 and is the only G20 country in this position at the moment. That is significant because China is the world's biggest importer of energy and other raw materials. So it means it may be exporting disinflation

to the rest of the world. It also shows the weakness of its economy. What can China do to boost its recovery. Investors will be looking for big figures on the fiscal stimulus side. But one problem China has is the high level of indebtedness at a local government level. So economists expect policymakers to tread very carefully with new investment projects. Just a warning, this next segment may be disturbing for some listeners. What is your name, ma'am? My name is Kristen King. As Kristen King's husband lay dying in his yard after taking three gunshots to his head, the 911 operator asked her if she knew who killed him, or why.

She said it was their neighbor, Austin Combs. He's come over like four times confronting my husband because he thought he was a Democrat. Why? Why? He's the love of my life. Combs was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty. In March, the prosecution and defence agreed he would undergo up to a year of mental health treatment before standing trial. The Ohio killing of Anthony King, a father of two, is one of 213 cases of political violence identified by Reuters since the January 6th Capitol attack. Three academics who reviewed the cases say they add to growing

evidence that America is grappling with the biggest and most sustained increase in political violence since the 1970s. Investigative reporter Ned Parker is in New York. Ned, that's a heartbreaking 911 call we listened to. What did your reporting find? What we found based upon our account and our review of different databases that examine this question, along with interviews with various researchers, analysts, and experts is that starting in 2016, around the time of the election, where Donald Trump became president, there has been a protracted, sustained increase in political violence. The violence runs the gamut from individual political disputes reflecting a polarized

America to people who've absorbed far right and far left doctrines that they then go out and act upon. The worst of those cases are lethal and come from the right. And in these cases, we see people who have absorbed white nationalism, neo-Nazi ideas, and have acted upon those beliefs seeking notoriety for their actions. But as to the question of why we're seeing the spike now, it's simply a reflection, if you will, of the broader divisions in our society. And that extend from politics to cultural issues. The increasingly popular drug Wigovi has transformed the weight loss drug market

since its launch in 2021. Now, its maker, Novo Nordisk, says Wigovi also has a clear cardiovascular benefit. Global Health and Pharmaceutical editor, Michelle Gershberg, is leading the coverage of Wiggovi. Michelle, what do we learn about Wigovie's health benefits? from the trial. What this results that Novo Nordus shared show a much more direct line between a patient who had heart disease, took the drug, we don't know how much weight they lost on average,

but then there was a marked benefit for the heart compared to patients who only took placebo. These results are what you would call headline or top line results. They just give you the big picture, but we need a lot more information. And Novo is expected to release much more. detailed data from the trial sometime this year. Novo Nordisk's shares jumped. Why is the scene as such a big deal? So these results for Wagovi are conversation changing, right? We understand that Wagovi and similar weight loss drugs have helped people lose significant amounts

of weight, much more and are more effective than other drugs that have come before them. But what this tells us is that it's not just about changing the size of, of the body that you're in, it could help somebody have a better health outcome and live longer potentially. And will that affect how many people might be able to access these drugs? This is really expected to increase interest in the drug. Doctors who are working with patients who are already experiencing heart risks and are living with obesity will have more urgency around getting them onto a drug like this.

But we're still facing production challenges. Novo Nordists can't make enough of the drug to meet demand in the U.S. And we also know that health insurance plans are trying to put restrictions on the drug because it costs a lot of money. It costs more than $1,300 a month. And they've already seen a spike in costs within months this year from Govey. Reuters reporting has found that a Kremlin official involved in what international prosecutors call the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia was,

associated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements when he was a teenager. Alexei Petrov is a 27-year-old advisor in the office of Maria Lavova-Belova, Russia's Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights. In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Lavova Belova, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on charges of committing a war crime by forcibly deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, and taking them to Russia. Christian Lowe worked with the team who reported the story. Christian, how important is Alexei Petrov's role?

We know that he was important enough within that whole system that when Russia made a presentation to the United Nations Security Council to defend its whole program of moving Ukrainian kids, Alexei Petrov was one of the people who was allowed to speak. We know he's been to camps where these Ukrainian kids are taken initially after being taken out of Ukraine. And also we know that he is subject to European Union sanctions, and the sanctions citation says it's because he is involved in this program

of illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. What did Petrov actually post? Between 2011 and 2014, Petrov posted on social media content linked to neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements. He also posted material that was linked to neo-Nazi movements in the sense that There were symbols that are commonly used by people on the far right and neo-Nazis, and combinations of the numbers 8-8, which for people on the far right and neo-Nazis, a sort of coded way of saying Heil Hitler, because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.

This is one man. Why is this so important? Ever since this conflict began, one of the like motifs of this, if you listen to what the Kremlin is saying and Vladimir Putin, is that the objective here is to denazify Ukraine. So according to that narrative, the leadership of Ukraine are neo-Nazis, who support a resurgence of Nazism and fascism and the far right. The fact that someone who's deeply embedded in the Kremlin's system

and what it's doing in Ukraine has had these associations in the past, it jars with that narrative that Kremlin is putting out there. In a statement responding to Reuters questions, Petrov said he never had any links to neo-Nazi organizations. Lvovo Belova has denied committing any war crime, and the Kremlin has said they're moving Ukrainian children to Russia to remove them from a war zone. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back with our daily headline show tomorrow. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.