Reuters World News - Texas flooding, Trump-Musk, Netanyahu in Washington and Ukraine landmines

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

Rescue teams are searching flood-stricken central Texas for a fourth day, looking for dozens of people still missing after catastrophic flooding. President Donald Trump calls Elon Musk's plans to form a new political party "ridiculous". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he believes his discussions with Trump will help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal. Plus, Kyiv is quitting a treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read 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

Today, search and rescue teams work around the clock after the devastating Texas floods. Netanyahu heads to Washington saying he's confident Trump can help seal a ceasefire deal. And Ukraine has withdrawn from a treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. It's Monday, July 7th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm David Spencer in London. The search goes on for survivors, but hopes start to falter after devastating flash floods in Texas. U.S. President Donald Trump says he will probably visit the area on Friday.

And it's a horrible thing that took place. Absolutely horrible. Dozens have died in the flooding. Among them, at least 28 children. Campers and a counselor are still missing from Camp Mystic, a near century of. old Christian girls camp. 78-year-old Mekon-Ware lives nearby. I had five granddaughters in Camp Mystic,

and they finished their first session in their home now. But some of their friends were there for the second session, and my heart goes out to all those little girls. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been activated and deployed resources to Texas after President Trump issued a major design. Declaration. Trump has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government's role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves. Officials say that the circumstances of the flooding and the adequacy of warning systems

will be scrutinized once the immediate situation has been brought under control. A surprise by the video, what did you know, Aaron Pedison have to say? A verdict in the case that is gripped Australia. 50-year-old Erin Patterson convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with a meal laced with poisonous mushrooms and attempting to murder a fourth. She denied all the charges saying the deaths were accidental. Patterson will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum life sentence. We've got a special episode on this case and we'll put a link to that in today's pod description.

Elon Musk has announced he's going to start a third party, the America Party, and Trump has an opinion. Third parties have never worked, so he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous. Musk says his move is in response to Trump's tax cut and spending bill, which he says will bankrupt the U.S. The world's richest man says his new party will be a disruptor in the 26 midter by looking to unseat Republicans who backed the big. beautiful bill. The BRICS group of developing nations is meeting in Brazil, and the summit hasn't escaped Trump's ire. He's threatening any country aligning itself with what he calls its anti-American policies with an additional 10% tariff. The group, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa has warned that increased tariffs threaten global trade. The Trump

administration is trying to finalize dozens of trade deals ahead of his July 9th deadline. The group's newest members include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the UAE. Israel has attacked Houthi targets in three Yemeni ports and a power plant. That's according to the Israeli military, and it marks its first attack on Yemen in almost a month. Hours after those strikes, Israel said two missiles were launched from Yemen. Attempts were made to intercept them and those results are still under review. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he believes talks with President Donald Trump today will help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal.

As we record this podcast, Netanyahu is en route to Washington, D.C. Trump has predicted an agreement could be reached this week. And Palestinian group Hamas says it's responded to the proposal. in a positive spirit. But challenges remain. The first session of indirect talks in Qatar ended inconclusively, according to two Palestinian sources familiar with the matter. Emily Rose is in Jerusalem. Emily, what's Netanyahu hoping for from this visit? So going into this visit, it's important to understand that Netanyahu from the escalation with Iran really sort of received exactly what he wanted. He had American and

involvement in striking nuclear facilities in Iran. And going into this visit, there is anticipation here, both from his colleagues on the left and on the right in Israel, that there might be some expansion of the Abraham Accords. And that would be to include Israeli normalization with countries that it doesn't currently enjoy diplomatic relations with. That's something that's being discussed widely here because members of the business community and members of the political community across the board are excited. They're anticipating what could be the expansion of these accords that would open up business to all of these other countries and enjoy diplomatic relations with them. What are the domestic pressures that Netanyahu faces to get this ceasefire done?

So the domestic pressure in Israel cuts both ways for Nanyahu. If you look at the public support for a ceasefire deal, it's around 70 percent, sometimes more in certain surveys. That means, that he's under massive pressure to try to secure a deal that would release the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. But on the other side, he has hard right-wing members of his coalition who are pressing him to complete what they see as the full goals of this war. They don't want to see a deal that won't see the complete end of Hamas rule in Gaza the day after the war, and all of the hostages brought home at once. So Netanyahu is really between this rock and this hard. hard placed.

Ukraine has been struggling, struggling to secure fresh US supplies of artillery and munitions, struggling to recruit new soldiers, and last week, Keev announced it was withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention. That's the treaty that bans anti-personnel landmines. It's a move military analysts and a unit commander say could slow Russia's advance into Ukraine. Max Hunter joins us from Keeve. Max, What does this actually change? There's pretty clear indication. Ukraine's already been using landmines.

The US provided anti-personnel mines to Ukraine already. And Lloyd Austin, who was then the Defense Secretary, said, well, this would be safer than what they're fabricating. Ukraine just shies away from talking about this, but this withdrawal from the convention, which follows that of several other countries bordering Russia, should make it easier for Ukraine. to both purchase them and also to manufacture them itself.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry hasn't responded to a request for comment on this, on whether it already deploys these, Max. You've spoken to a Ukrainian servicemen about this. Tell us about Alexei. Alexi is a Ukrainian serviceman who's currently in long-term rehabilitation because he lost most of his leg when he stepped. He's actually not sure if he stepped on or near a. landmine about six months ago. But despite having lost his leg to a landmine, he feels that it's the

right decision to withdraw from this convention because he feels that, well, the Russians aren't following any kind of rules of conventions about landmines. And I think he has the sense that why should Ukraine fight for its own land with one hand tied behind his back in a sense? Similarly, Max, Russia's defence ministry has not responded to a request for comment, nor has Moscow confirmed it uses anti-personnel mines in Ukraine. So what do we know about Russia's position on this? It's worth noting Russia is not a signatory to the convention, and there's lots of evidence that they've been using them all throughout the war in very large quantities.

What is the international community saying about this development? We spoke to the international campaign to ban landmines, and they were very critical of this move, because these things, they stay in the ground for years or decades. And for today's recommended read, a rare trial which kicks off today. Groups representing US university professors who protect international students and faculty who engage in pro-Palestinian advocacy from being deported are challenging the Trump administration's immigration agenda in court. We'll drop a link to that story in the pod description.

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