Reuters World News - The US line in Niger, UNGA wraps and when we get our TV back

Episode Date: September 26, 2023

A senior navy commander has been shown on Russian state TV, a day after Ukraine said he had been killed in a strike on Crimea. The UN General Assembly wraps up with plenty of diplomacy on the sidelines. The United States’ delicate balancing act as France withdraws its troops from Niger. Plus, Joe Biden heads to Detroit, why resolving the actors dispute seems some way off and Sikh protests in Canada. You can find out more about the diplomatic dispute between Canada and India on our weekend special. *This podcast was updated after Russia’s defence ministry released video showing Viktor Sololov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, attending a conference after Ukraine said he had been killed. 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's Black Sea commander appears on video after Ukraine says it killed him. France's withdrawal from Niger is met with cheers in Africa and fears in the West. The UN General Assembly finishes with some big moments for Ukraine and the Middle East. The Riders strike is over, but it could be a while before we all get back our favorite TV. It's Tuesday, September 26th. This is Reuters World News with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. Every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. And I'm Christopher Waljasper in Chicago.

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in Shopify. coms. We start with news from around the world. Russia's Defense Ministry

has released footage of a senior Navy commander attending a video conference a day after Ukraine said

he'd been killed. Victor Sokoloff is the chief of Russia's Black Sea fleet and

one of its most senior Navy officers. Ukrainian Special Forces said they had killed him

in an attack last week in Crimea. Joe Biden said to join auto workers on the picket line in Detroit. Biden is making the trip a day before Donald Trump,

with both keen to appeal to blue-collar workers in a battleground state. Trump will skip the next Republican debate on Wednesday to speak at an auto workers rally. New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez says he won't resign, despite a bribery probe that uncovered gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in his home. U.S. prosecutors say three New Jersey business leaders paid off the Senator and his wife. But he says the money and gold were there for emergencies. For 30 years, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing

confiscation in Cuba. The conservative lawyer who worked for years to have affirmative action overturned is now going after diversity in the workplace. Edward Blum filed a lawsuit against a venture capital fund that supports black women. He's using a law meant to protect freed slaves as a part of his legal argument. Canadian Sikhs in Toronto protesting outside India's diplomatic mission. Similar protests were held in Ottawa, a week after Justin Trudeau said there may be a link between India and the murder of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia.

For more on the background to that story, listen to our weekend special, available in this podcast feed and in the description of today's episode. Time now for markets and all the heat is in bonds. The higher for longer message on interest rates from the Fed has pushed yields on 10-year treasuries to 16-year highs above 4.5%. The 10-year yield is seen as a key benchmark for borrowing costs on everything from mortgages to corporate loans and its relentless climb is spilling over into other markets. It's pushing the dollar higher, the oil price lower and it's punishing stocks, particularly

tech stocks. That's because yields make treasuries a more attractive investment bet, and higher yields also increase borrowing costs for companies. The UN General Assembly wraps today in New York. Foreign policy editor Don Durfey has been following all the action this past week. Don, what were some of the highlights? What thing that was really notable was you had President Zelensky appearing on the UN Security Council at the same time as Russia's ambassador was, and so the two of them are sitting at the

same table, which was quite a remarkable thing to see. And Zelensky made this pitch to the UN for reforms that would effectively weaken the Russian veto power on the Security Council, honestly something that is unlikely to happen. But it was a remarkable thing to see. What was the big takeaway on climate change? You really heard some impassioned speeches by the leaders of especially some of the small island nations, such as St. Lucia, Barbados, Marshall Islands. and these leaders feel like the developed world has really let them down. And they were really pointed in their criticism of both the UN and of developing nations for not taking faster action on climate change and curbing emissions.

The next chance for discussion around climate is going to be at the COP in Dubai, which kicks off at the end of November. So we'll see what happens there. What did we learn from the sidelines? Yeah, one of the interesting things about these meetings is you have all of these world leaders, is together, and there's a lot of things that happen on the sidelines. So one of them, Qatar, acting as a mediator between the United States and Iran, having separate bilateral discussions with each country around the topic of Iran's nuclear program and its supply of drones to Russia

in its war with Ukraine. Another thing that was happening in the background were discussions about a potential U.S.-S.-S.-Saudi deal for the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which would really reshape the Middle East. So at the cocktail parties and discussions in the hallway, there was a lot of chatter about what an pending deal might look like. After 146 days, Hollywood writers have reached a tentative deal with film studios to end a strike. But it may still be some time until our TV and film return to normal. Business of Entertainment reporter, Don Chimelousky, has the latest.

So, Don, what do we know about this deal? The details have yet to be disclosed. The union's leadership needs to first ratify the deal and then send it to its members before they make a decision on whether to approve. And both sides are keeping mum, although there has been some early reporting that the writers made some significant gains and some of the issues they cared about. What does that mean for what we see on TV and in theaters? Well, there are some shows that can definitely return to production once the Writers Guild leadership makes a decision that its writers can return. to work while the broader membership of 11,500 screenwriters have their say and vote on on the actual contract language. So what that means is late night shows, talk shows which have been halted, will return to production. Similarly, daytime talk shows, which have a handful of writers to write introductions, for example, or questions, those will likely return to production.

But major productions that require actors will not be back because the actors are still on strike. The actors walked out in July, and the major studios have been focused on resolving issues with the Writers Guild before they began to tackle some of the issues with the Screen Actors Guild. Don't forget SAG AfterA, that is an enormous guild with 100,000 members that include actors and stunt performers and dancers and choreographers. It's a really complex group of people who are represented by this guild, and they have their many other facets to the negotiation. So it's possible the studio wanted to resolve the more narrow issues involved with the writers before they began embarking on the Screen Actors Guild's asks. President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will remove its troops from Niger by the end of the year. The decision by the former colonial power to exit comes after weeks of pressure from the Junta

and popular demonstrations on the street. But as Edward McAllister reports from Dakar, it also caused deep concerns for the West. So, Ed, what does France's withdrawal mean for the future of counter-insurgency operations in the Sahel? I don't think you can underestimate how big this is, actually, in some ways. It leaves a gaping hole in Western efforts to counter a decade-long Islamist insurgency in West Africa. France had about 1,500 troops there, and it's pulling out gradually towards December. and what this means is that France has no oversight over a massive country that is home to a fast-growing Islamist insurgency. And it comes on the back of France being kicked out of neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali

after coups in those countries. This is a chain of countries that is not much smaller than Western Europe, a huge area where groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State Rome and where now France has has exactly zero oversight. And what does it mean for the United States? They have a military base in the country, right? That's right. America have a thin line to walk here because they have a base, they have hundreds of personnel in the north of Niger.

They are policing not just northern Niger, but also southern Libya, overlooking migration routes, trafficking routes up there. but if America call this a coup in Niger, they then have to essentially cut ties and leave. So they haven't done that yet. There's a sense that there's a little bit of wait and see. Potentially the Americans can, through diplomacy, urge the military hunter to create a transition timeline back to civilian rule and thereby somehow work with them.

But it's very much wait and see, and the diplomacy is quite. cagey at this time. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back on Wednesday with our daily news show. 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 player or download the Reuters app.