Reuters World News - Russia and Ukraine up the ante, Niger’s deadline passes and an interview with the U.S. czar fighting long COVID

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

Russia and Ukraine step up their attacks on each other as oil prices hit four-month highs. The deadline for Niger’s junta to reinstate the ousted president passes – will West African leaders follow through on threats of intervention? Soccer legend Megan Rapinoe tearfully bows out of the World Cup as gymnastics superstar Simone Biles double flips her way back into the spotlight. Plus, we speak to Admiral Rachel Levine about the fight against long COVID. 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, Russia and Ukraine step up attacks on each other as oil prices soar. The deadline for Niger's junta passes. We speak to the news are in charge of the US response to long COVID. And as US soccer legend, Megan Rapino ends her World Cup career in tears, Simone Biles reappears on the vault. It's Monday, August 7th. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know. from the front lines in 10 minutes.

Every weekday. I'm Kim Vinal in London. Ukraine and Russia have ratcheted up attacks over the weekend, stepping up strikes on each other's troops, weaponry and infrastructure. Ukraine's counter-offensive seeks to dislodge Russian forces who have dug in across southern and eastern Ukraine. President Vladimir Zelensky

praised U.S. and German air defenses, as waves of Russian airstrikes rained down on Ukraine. Russia reported it had shot down a drone heading for Moscow in the third such attack in a week, while officials on both sides said Ukraine had struck two bridges linking Crimea to the mainland. Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed that talks with global officials in Saudi Arabia over the weekend were productive. More than 40 countries, including China, participated in the talks, which were billed as making headway towards peace,

although the meeting ended with no concrete action beyond a commitment to further consultations. Russia did not attend and condemned the meeting as a doomed attempt to swing the global south behind Kiev. Now to the top headlines from around the world. A deadline given to Niger's military junta to reinstate the ousted president has run out, but no sign yet of the military intervention threatened by other West African nations. As the deadline expired Sunday, Nigeria's capital Niyame was calm. In fact, women, children and the elderly rallied in support of the military junta along the route to the presidential palace.

They said the economic community of West African states or ECOWAS forces would have to drive over their bodies. to get to the palace. Former Vice President Mike Pence says he will not rule out being a prosecution witness against his old boss, Donald Trump. Trump stands accused on charges of orchestrating a criminal conspiracy to try to reverse his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing. Lawyers for former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will be allowed,

to meet him in jail today. Khan's supporters took to the streets briefly after he was sentenced to three years in prison over corruption charges. His prison sentence likely puts an end to his political ambitions of running in a national election expected later this year.

Scouts are trained to be hardy, but this year's jamboree in South Korea has pushed them to the limit. Organizers of the world scout jamboree are racing to evacuate thousands of mainly teenage participants before a typhoon is expected to hit the area. That's after a debilitating heat wave which saw hundreds hospitalized and the UK and U.S. contingents pull out of the campsite.

Washington has condemned the killing of a Palestinian by suspected Jewish settlers as, quote, terrorism. The sharp language appears to reflect U.S. frustration with surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israel's hard right government. In a separate incident, Israeli security forces shot dead three Palestinian militants in the West Bank on Sunday, drawing threats of revenge by Palestinian militant factions. Box office ticket sales of the movie Barbie have topped $1 billion in the United States. Writer and director Greta Gerwig, becoming the first female filmmaker to

surpass the billion dollar benchmark as a solo director. A spokesman for Warner Brothers said the studio was rendered speechless by the film's performance. Oil prices remain at their highest levels for nearly four months as investor fears grow that the war is intensifying. Saudi Arabia and Russia both pledged to keep supplies down and Brent crude futures slipped 10 cents in early trading. Global investors will be keeping a keen eye on inflation data due out of Beijing and Washington this week. any sign that China has an appetite for more stimulus measures will be a boon to markets. US inflation data is due on Thursday. After a mixed jobs report on Friday, July's CPI is shaping up as a major test of the Fed's resolve on interest rate rises.

A tearful end to Megan Rapino's international career after a penalty sailed over the crossbar and the U.S. suffered its earliest ever elimination from the World Cup. Rappano, who is renowned for her sure footing in the box, said missing one in the final moment of her career felt like a sick joke. She was one of three American players to miss her spot kick. Sweden won the penalty shootout 5'4. US fan Misa Rooks reflected Rappano's mood after the match in Melbourne. It was devastating but stressful.

We're so, we've tried so hard. We just couldn't finish. But while Rapido bows out of the spotlight, gymnastics legend Simone Biles stormed back into it with her comeback show. The 26-year-old gymnast put on a stunning performance in her first competition since she bowed out at the Tokyo Olympics with the Twisties. She dazzled fans in Chicago with a double flipping vault so difficult that it has never been performed by another female gymnast.

But she kept Stom on any ambitions for the Paris Olympics saying she was living in the moment. Watch this space. Long COVID affects as many as 23 million Americans. The complex medical condition involves more than 200 symptoms ranging from exhaustion to pain and heart palpitations. The symptoms can last months and even years after a COVID infection. Now, the United States has appointed a special czar to run its response. Admiral Rachel Levine is heading up the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice. Admiral Levine, what do you think of the biggest challenges you'll be facing in trying to confront Long COVID longer term?

Well, so we need to find out more about exactly how many people have long COVID. The current analysis suggests that anywhere from 7.7 million to 23 million Americans. have developed long COVID, that has enormous impact also in terms of the economy. I think that that is one challenge. I think the complexity of this new illness, because COVID-19, of course, was a novel coronavirus, and so long COVID is a new illness, and we need to understand what is called the path of physiology. What is happening in terms of the impact of the COVID-19 virus long-term on people's bodies and how that is leading to those symptoms. And then the complexity of developing different treatments for the different signs and symptoms

that we're seeing. And then finally, developing those supports and services for those patients and families. So you can see how complex this initiative is. Is it made more difficult by the fact that long COVID seems to look different on almost everyone? So it does. It's very complex. We are seeing how we are seeing how we different types of quote syndromes, which are informing our different platform protocols for those clinical trials. So example, the recover vital one is going to be studying this idea of viral persistence, that there's still virus there, and how would we treat that? The recover neuro is going to be looking at interventions for people who have what is called cognitive

dysfunction, including brain fog, memory problems, problems with attention, thinking clearly. The other platforms that will be coming in the next number of months, including a sleep platform, because there are occasions of having changes in sleep patterns. And then an autonomic nervous system platform. And think of the autonomic nervous system as kind of the automatic nervous system that controls a range of bodily functions that doesn't include our awareness. So heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, the digestive system, those are all controlled by the nervous system, but it is this autonomic or automatic nervous system that does that, that can be out of balance with long COVID.

And we're looking at that. And then finally, we're going to be looking at exercise intolerance and fatigue. And that's another platform that will be coming over time. 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

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