Reuters World News - Texas warnings, Brazil tariffs, OpenAI and TikTok

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

Texas officials have come under fire over whether they could have done more to warn people about the deadly flash flooding. U.S. President Donald Trump slaps a hefty 50 percent tariff on Brazil. And in tech, OpenAI ventures into browsing, while TikTok unveils plans for a new U.S. app. 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, Texas officials dodge questions on whether they could have done more to warn people ahead of the fatal flash floods. A spat between Trump and Brazil's leader turns into a huge new tariff and potentially a huge new front in the trade war. TikTok counts down to a new standalone for US users, separating it from the global app. And OpenAI looks to change the way we browse the internet. It's Thursday, July 10th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Kim Vinal in Wonganui, New Zealand. With helicopters overhead, volunteers on horseback continue to search along the banks of the Guadalupe River

for the more than 170 people still missing after the Texas 4th of July floods. No one has been found alive since 4th. Friday. Almost 120 people are dead, many of whom are children. With the death toll still expected to rise significantly, there are growing questions around whether officials could have given them and everyone else warning sooner about the flash flooding. Kerr County Sheriff, Larry Leather, dodged questions about how long it took for officials to respond to Code Red alerts. And I know that's going to be asked over and over. Please understand that. You know, we don't have We're not running. We're not going to hide for anything. That's going to be checked into at a later time.

Our Reuters graphics team has been piecing together how the conditions came together to create such a catastrophic and quick event. Julia Wolf is in New York. The area we're talking about Texas Hill Country, it's also known as Flash Flood Alley, just because of the nature of the topography. It has very steep terrain leading into the valleys with a big widening river. And on top of that, it's a region of with thin topsoil over a impermeable limestone bed, that means that when you've got water coming down these steep hills, it's not soaking into the ground like it would normally. So you're just sort of picking up momentum. That's going to be coming down these hills and just sort of flooding into those big plains and valleys. So that's a natural context for this disaster, but there's also the man-made

element at work here. Right, right, exactly. Kirk Howing is. right in that zone on the slope path in the flood path of the river. And Curville and Camp Mystic are unfortunately right in that path. So then you have this massive rainfall. The river height skyrocketed from around 1 to 34 feet in five hours in a rural area without much cell service. That's a disaster. This is being described as a one in 100 year storm. We hear that phrase a lot. But is that really the case? How frequent are extreme storms in the region? You know, a team of European climate scientists

released a report on these floods specifically, but how these kinds of floods in general are increasingly common due to climate change. The air's getting warmer. Warmer air holds more moisture, and more moisture in the air is going to lead to more extreme, more common rainfall. The US is on the cusp of a trade war

with the biggest country in Latin America. President Trump is threatening Brazil with a 50% tariff on exports to the US, up from 10%. He notified Brazilian president Luis Anasio Lula de Silva in a letter, where he also fumed over what he called the witch hunt against former president Jaya Bolsonaro, who was on trial in Brazil on charges of plotting a coup. It follows an increasingly public spat with Lula, who at the Bricks Summit earlier this week, said the world does not need.

need an emperor referring to Trump. Lula says any unilateral measure to increase tariffs will be met with a response in accordance with Brazilian law. Russian drones continue to rain down on Ukraine's capital for a second night. On Tuesday, more than 700 drones flew across the country. Footage released by Ukraine's emergency services shows firefighters battling ablaze in the wake of that attack in the city of Lutsk. culminating in Russia's largest drone attack in the now almost three and a half years of war.

The US is sending more defensive weapons to Ukraine, and President Trump is also considering sending Patriot missiles, which had previously said the US needed for its own defences. Hamas says it's agreed to release 10 hostages under ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and US President Trump say a deal is within reach. There's a very good chance that we'll have a settlement and agreement of some kind this week and maybe next week if known.

Hamas's sticking points are the flow of aid, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and guarantees for a permanent ceasefire. Israel, meanwhile, wants Hamas entirely dismantled. In Gaza, hospitals are reaching breaking point because there's no fuel for electricity. Al-Sheifa Hospital says around 100 premature babies may die as a result. Officials there say they only have enough fuel for the next 24 hours. At NASA Medical Complex and Khan Yunus, doctors are performing surgeries without electricity or air conditioning

and say sweat drips into patients' wounds. The Israeli military aid coordination agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If you want to browse the web, you open. a web browser, like, say, Google Chrome. Well, AI is about to change that. Open AI is launching an artificial intelligence browser in the coming weeks, and as other startups attempt the same thing, it's gearing up to be the biggest change and challenge since the Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer competition more than a decade ago.

Kenrick Chai is one of the reporters on this exclusive Reuters story. According to the sources that my colleagues and I spoke to, OpenAI's new browser is going to include a chat interface. So it's going to be similar to the experience that you have with something like chat chbt. The chatbot will be able to deliver information to the end user directly rather than the end user having to click into an external web page to find that information like. you have to do in a traditional web browser. Why is OpenAI making this play into browsers? The goal with all these new products, sources tell us, is to have a more direct line into collecting user data. As OpenAI matures as a company, it's putting its tentacles into all kinds of new product areas.

They want to build an entirely new device that will be a third device after your smartphone and your laptop that they hope that a user will carry around with them to interact with their technology. So it's going to be very interesting. It's a whole new chapter to how people browse the web. Reuters is also exclusively reporting a new development for TikTok. TikTok is preparing to launch a standalone app for its U.S. users. The app is expected to operate on a separate algorithm from its global app.

Users outside the US won't be able to access it. The move lays the groundwork for a potential sale orchestrated by US President Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. TikTok and its owner BiteDance have declined to comment. A few other stories we're keeping an eye on today. Measles cases in the US have reached the highest level since the disease was declared eliminated 25 years ago. There are almost 1,300 confirmed cases right now, according to the CDC. Outbreaks are being driven by a drop in vaccination rates,

particularly among children in states like Texas and New Mexico, where vaccine coverage has fallen well below the 95% threshold required for herd immunity. If you're off on a European vacation, best to check before you go as wildfire season has started early. Fires which reach the outskirts of France's second city, Marseille, are under control, but not over. In Greece, people flee the town of Oropos in the south, but fires have also broken out in Athens, Crete and other parts of the country over the past few weeks. Parts of Spain have also been affected. Weather across the globe has become extreme due to climate change, and 2024 was the hottest

year on record. And for today's recommended read, running with the bulls and Pamplona, as revelers take to the streets during one of Spain's best-known festivals. We'll drop a link to the story and the incredible photographs in our pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. And don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.