Reuters World News - Thailand-Cambodia, Zelenskiy, Mangione and pistachios

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

Thailand launches airstrikes into Cambodia and throws into question the Trump-brokered ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says U.S. talks have not been easy. Luigi Mangione heads to court as prosecutors battle to keep key evidence in play. And Argentina bets on a global pistachio craze. Plus, a water leak puts another dampener on the Louvre’s year. Listen to Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. 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

Hi, I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. It's Monday, December 8th. Today, Thailand launches airstrikes along its disputed border with Cambodia. Trump says he's disappointed in Zelensky as US talks drag. The Supreme Court weighs a Trump firing in a test of presidential power. Luigi Mangione is in court today ahead of one of America's most awaited criminal trials. And, 2025 has not been the Louvre's year. water leak has now damaged hundreds of works. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week.

Thailand says it's launched airstrikes into Cambodia as fighting erupts in multiple areas along their disputed border. A Thai army spokesman accusing Cambodia of increasing the number of troops and weapons. Both countries accuse the other of breaching a sea. police fire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump. Civilians have been evacuated along both sides of the border. Constructive, but not easy. That's how Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is characterizing Keeves' peace talks with

the U.S. His comments during his nightly video address, coming ahead of planned meetings with European leaders this week. On Saturday, Zelenskyy had a call with Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner, and on Sunday night, President Trump had this to say. And I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn't yet read the proposal. That was as of a few hours ago.

His people love it, but he has it. Russia's fine with it. Over the weekend, the Kremlin said there had to be radical changes to some of the U.S. proposals without specifying what those changes would be. So now opportunities for peace are there. We tend to exploit them. I'm going to discuss them with the

President Trump when I meet him later on this month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he'll be meeting with President Trump later this month to start work on the second phase of the Gaza plan. Key issues remain unresolved, including whether a multinational force will be deployed. Israel has repeatedly carried out airstrikes since the ceasefire came into effect, saying it's fending off attacks or destroying militant infrastructure. And now to one of President Trump's challenges at home. The Supreme Court today hears arguments in a major test of presidential power,

whether Trump has the right to fire a Democratic Federal Trade Commission member before her term expires. The case could overturn a 90-year precedent that has shielded independent agency heads from removal. Any ruling would affect more than two dozen federal agencies. Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is back in court as prosecutors fight to keep key evidence in place. Pre-trial hearings began last week. At issue, our statements Mangione allegedly made about a 3D printed gun, and items found in his backpack, which his defense attorney says were obtained illegally.

Legal reporter Jack Queen says the hearing could shape the high-profile trial that sparked a wave of public support for Mangione. Mr. Mangoni's lawyers are trying to suppress certain evidence and prevent prosecutors from using it at trial. And specifically, they're trying to block them from using any of the stuff that was found in his backpack, which allegedly includes a 3D printed gun, some electronic devices, and some journal writings that appear to implicate him in this shooting, including things about how he wants to whack a health care executive, allegedly. That's what's in these papers. The other thing is when he was being arrested, Mr. Mangione, he was occasionally talking to police, and he was also, you know, talking to a police. a prison guard at one point, multiple prison guards. And his lawyers are saying that these statements that he made to police should be suppressed

from trial because he was not read his Miranda rights before he spoke to them, which those in the U.S. are legally required to be given to defendants before they're interrogated by police. So if this evidence is kept out of the trial, it could make things a lot harder for prosecutors. I mean, this is allegedly the murder weapon that we're talking about. and it's these writings which are sort of like a manifesto of sorts of journal entries. So it's really powerful evidence and also his statements to police, including one conversation that he allegedly had with a prison guard where he talks about how he had a 3D printed gun in his backpack and things like that.

So these are potentially very important hearings for the case, although it's unclear how likely the defense is to prevail here. It's ultimately going to be up to the judge. He's going to decide, Well, after these hearings are over, he's going to take it all under advisement and issue a written ruling somewhere probably towards the end of January. Over to markets now, and we've got morning bids Mike Dolan to line us up for the week. Mike, what do we need to know? Hey, Carmel.

Today we're going to be talking about the Fed meeting. Inevitably, we'll be talking about it all week. The Fed meets on Wednesday and is likely to deliver the third and straight cut of the year. We're also talking about Chinese trade. Chinese exports bounce back sharply in November. and we'll look at some of the implications for that around the world. We'll also take a quick look at Netflix Warner Brothers deal, which was announced on Friday. There's a huge deal in the sector, obviously, is bringing a lot of implications

politically and for corporate credit markets. So for any of those stories, join us on the podcast later. Thanks, Mike. As always, you can get your smart speaker for the Reuters Morning Bid pod. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or watch it on Spotify. A local broadcaster in Nigeria has said the government has secured the release of 100 school children who were abducted last month. The Christian Association of Nigeria says over 300 children and school staff were kidnapped in November in one of the country's worst mass kidnappings to date. 50 pupils managed to escape in the following hours, but since then there's been no update on those left behind. The broadcaster who announced it, channels television, did not immediately provide details about the release.

The Nigerian government didn't respond to a request for comment. And in neighboring Benin, President Patrice Talon, saying that the government in armed forces had thwarted a coup attempt by a group of soldiers. Talon's announcement came about 12 hours after gunfire rang out in several neighborhoods of Benin's biggest city, and soldiers went on state television to claim they had removed him from power. forces loyal to the government allowed us to tort those adventurers, Talon said,

vowing to punish those responsible. Remember when Dubai chocolate, the pistachio-filled delicacy went viral on TikTok? Well, it's reshaping agriculture thousands of miles away in Argentina. In just five years, Argentina's pistachio acreage has quintupled to 25,000 acres, and farmers in San Juan province are ripping out vineyards to plant pistachio trees, betting big on a global craze for the nut. Correspondent Leila Miller has been on the ground

in Argentina's new pistachio heartland, speaking with farmers who see big money in these little shells. I traveled to San Juan, which is Argentina's pistachio heartlands, you can say, to see for myself

what it's looking like now. And, And, and, it does more force to demonstrate that we're

I spoke to Argentina's first pistachio grower. His name is Marcelo

Igani, and he's an Iranian immigrant. Iran was one of the major world's

pistachio producers. He started growing pistachio trees in the 1980s. His company

has more than doubled the amount of plants that it sells to producers across the

region who want to grow pistachio trees. So they're very hopeful about this trend. Other producers I spoke to, you know, while they're excited, they're also wary about how long this pistachio boom will last because these pistachio trees take many years to bear fruit. So they're hoping the investment will be worth it. Now to Paris, and it's not been a great year for the world's most visited museum. After a highly publicised jewel heist earlier this year, the Louvre has now said a water leak last month damaged hundreds of books in the Egyptian Antiquities Department. Specialist website La Tribune de Larre reports that around 400 rare books were affected,

blaming poor pipe conditions. A report published in October by France's public audit body says the museum's inability to update its infrastructure was exacerbated by excessive spending on artwork. And for today's recommended read, it's been a year since the fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, but for the families of the 150,000 people who vanished in his notorious prisons, there are still no answers. There's a link to that story 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 favorite 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.