Reuters World News - SCOTUS shields Lisa Cook, South Africa’s migrants and Germany out

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court hands President Donald Trump the power to fire independent regulators but draws a line at the Federal Reserve. In South Africa, fears mount that planned anti-immigrant marches could turn violent. Police say an Australian man has made a partial confession to causing the death of a 17-year-old Thai girl. NATO warships drill off the U.S. East Coast as Trump threatens to pull back from Europe. And Paraguay knocks four-time champions Germany out of the World Cup on penalties.   Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. 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

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Tuesday, June 30th. Today, the Supreme Court expands President Trump's powers to fire some government regulators, but draws the line at the Federal Reserve. African migrants in South Africa brace as anti-immigrant groups demand they leave. Thailand grapples with a brutal murder in a notorious seaside town. And Germany is out of the World Cup, the first powerhouse to fail to make the final 16.

This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. The Supreme Court has ruled President Donald Trump can fire independent government regulators, expanding his presidential powers. But it stepped in to protect the independence of the Federal Reserve. In one narrow 5-4 ruling, the court blocked President Trump from firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook, at least for now. The justices found Trump failed to give Cook the procedural protections she was entitled to, meaning she didn't have a proper chance to dispute the charges against her. In a separate case, though, the court sided with Trump on his firing of Democratic Federal Trade Commissioner,

Rebecca Slaughter, over policy differences. It's a ruling that upends and almost. 100-year precedent shielding independent agencies from presidential control. Our Fed reporter Howard Schneider has more. The court's basically saying there's presidential power and there's congressional delegation and in this instance, Congress can't seize away from the president the power to appoint and fire, hire and fire these people as the president wishes. The one exception now is the Federal Reserve.

Its independence has now been given a separate sort of leg to stand on. Howard says the Cook ruling helps ensure the new Fed chair is able to maintain independence in rate setting. I think if you're Kevin Warsh, the new chair who was just sworn in about a month ago, you've got to be saying, okay, thank goodness for this. I think it's a big win for independence at the Federal Reserve. I think there's now a new justification, a new sort of, a new sort of constitutional pedestal that it is resting on. And there will be no doubt attempts to come along and shake that pedestal and see how sturdy it is. For more Markets News, check out MorningBid, Broiter's Daily Markets podcast.

The Supreme Court also weighed in on two other crucial cases. It's backing state laws that allow mail-in ballots. to be counted after Election Day, as long as they're postmarked by Election Day. Justice Amy Coney-Barritt writing in the opinion that federal law sets Election Day as the deadline to vote and not the deadline for ballots to arrive. The court also declined to take up President Trump's appeal in the E. Gene Carroll defamation case, leaving in place a $5 million jury verdict against him. Jurors found Trump liable in 2023 for sexually abusing Carol, and then defaming her when he denied her claims.

Trump expressed disappointment in the decision not to hear the appeal and called the lawsuit a fake case. Iranian and American delegations are expected to arrive in Doha this week, but it's unclear if the two sides will meet with each other or just with Qatari mediators. President Donald Trump says on social media that Iran has requested a meeting, but in the Oval Office played it down. So we'll see how that goes, but we're doing the,

very well on that front. But the meeting in Doha is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not. We're going to find out. But we're winning militarily. It's almost won militarily, I would say. Iran's foreign ministry says Tehran is sending a delegation, but has no plans to meet with the U.S. team. In South Africa, anti-immigrant groups have set today as a deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave. A xenophobic movement has already driven thousands of people out of their homes and onto the streets, like 33-year-old Princess Adjee, who came to South Africa from Ghana when she was a toddler. In May, her hair salon in downtown Durban was looted. This is where I grew up, This is where my whole life is, and I am documented.

If I was not documented, I would understand, but I am documented. She's one of many victims of attacks on mostly African foreign nationals. As those impacted try to flee South Africa, they're seeking shelter in makeshift camps. Correspondent Nellie Payton visited one of those camps in Durban, where at one point, thousands were waiting to leave. Now, with this deadline to leave and protests planned, they're anxious to get out. This empty lot has been hosting thousands of people. this week, mostly from Malawi, who fled their homes and are hoping to catch a bus out of South Africa before these protests happened.

But many of these people were living and working in South Africa for years. Some of them are leaving families behind. South Africa is home to a lot of immigrants from neighboring countries who often come here seeking work. And there has been a kind of surge in anti-immigrant sentiment recently with people. blaming immigrants for all kinds of problems saying that they're taking the jobs of South Africans. Unemployment here is really high and public services are poor and a lot of people are frustrated about that and are taking it out on immigrants. Police in Thailand say the man

suspected of murdering a 17-year-old girl, then dumping her body in a suitcase near a railway track has given a partial confession. The family of the Thai girl are now calling for the accused Australian man Simon Peter Carmen to be executed. Reuters Thailand bureau chief, Dev Jiotikoshaal, has more. So on Wednesday night, the 17-year-old girl goes to Jomtean Beach in Pataya. According to a friend, she meets a foreign man. In the early hours, about 3.3.35am, T-CTV footage shows,

this girl holding hands and walking into a condominium building with a taller foreign man. But subsequently there is no footage of her walking out of this building. Instead, according to police, this man is later seen walking out of the building with a large black suitcase. Which, according to police, he then puts on to a motorcycle and rides away towards an area with tall grass near a railway line. Carmen was arrested at Bangkok airport as he prepared to board a flight to Australia. The case has gained international attention partly because of where it unfolded.

Pataya has a reputation for having a very vibrant and colourful nightlife scene, but that is also a facade that covers the city's more shadowy sex industry. Thousands of women from Thailand's rural provinces are often drawn to cities like Pataya. because of economic necessities. There are very few safeguards available to them because this industry operates in this legal grey area and makes many of these women highly vulnerable to exploitation and violence. Motor vessel Valadero.

This is Coalition Warship, Hosto 310. As NATO leaders prepare to meet in Turkey next week, warships from across the alliance are training off the US East Coast. And it's happening at a complicated moment. Our national security reporter, Phil Stewart, got rare access to the drills near North Carolina. This group actually crossed the Atlantic as a group. And it has a bunch of warships from countries like Germany and the Netherlands. And we were on a ship from Norway.

The British Commodore commands this. She was actually on a German ship. And so you have this real confluence of international partners drilling off the U.S. And what it showed was that their ability to operate not just with themselves, but with the U.S. in kind of a seamless coordinated way at the working level. And again, this isn't about politics. This is about getting the job done of defense and being ready and showing adversaries that they are ready to jump into action regardless of whatever the political headwinds might be.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to criticize its NATO allies. So I flew with Secretary Higst at the NATO headquarters and inherited him to live. deliver pretty stark remarks about NATO allies and how many of them were free riding and how he's going to do a review of U.S. force posture in Europe. And probably that's going to lead to a drawdown in U.S. forces. And just, you know, a week later, I'm off the U.S. coast with NATO allies who don't know anything about any of those conversations. 32 teams are being whittled down to the final 16 at the World Cup. In a stunning turn of events, Paraguay is through after holding Germany to a 1-1 draw and then eliminating the four-time

world champions on penalties. High-flying Brazil is through after defeating a defense-minded Japan side. And then in a clash of titans, Morocco advances after a penalty shootout win over the Netherlands. For more World Cup news, be sure to check out Reuters pitch side. I'll drop a link in the show notes. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week.

We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.