Reuters World News - Trump and Wall Street, Putin unfazed and Chikungunya virus in China

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to target banks he says discriminate against him and his supporters for political reasons. Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum from Trump. And health authorities in southern China step up efforts to tackle a major outbreak of chikungunya disease as monsoon season peaks. *This podcast was corrected. An incorrect reference to Microsoft's valuation was removed. 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, Trump takes aim at banks, he says, are discriminating against the right. Russia's president appears unfazed by Trump's ceasefire deadline, and China tries to stamp out an outbreak of the Chikungunya virus. It's Wednesday, August 6th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every day. I'm Kim Vennel in Wanganui, New Zealand. President Donald Trump is taking aim at the banking industry, targeting banks he says are discriminating against him and his supporters. A draft executive order seen by Reuters instructs regulators

to review banks for closing accounts or denying services based on politics. Trump, in a CNBC interview, said several banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, refused to take his money. White House reporter Andrea Shalal is here. This is something that is very important to President Trump. He insists that the banks were discriminating against him and supporters of him and that they have chosen to close accounts or debank people who are on the conservative or MAGA side of the spectrum. What is happening now is an executive order that will basically ask regulators to look at banks for any kind of action like that. Now, the Bank of America declined to comment when we contacted

them, and J.P. Morton Chase said, listen, we don't close accounts for political reasons. That's not correct. But we do have sources telling us that banks are under scrutiny to comply with various banking regulations, and that includes sort of legal barriers and entanglements. What is the White House saying? I've asked the White House, to comment on that and have not received any reply. This executive order could be signed as early as this week, and it will authorize monetary penalties, consent decrees, or other disciplinary measures against violators.

Staying with the banking theme, President Trump says he'll name a nominee to fill an upcoming vacancy on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors by the end of the week. Separately, Trump also says he has a shortlist. of four people to replace Fed chair Jerome Powell when his term expires next year. His shortlist for that does not include Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. The people Trump chooses for the roles, which could even be the same person, will be able to significantly impact policy debate.

The president's been blisteringly critical of Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates. Fed policymakers have stayed out of it, but are trying to balance evidence of a slowing economy, a weakening job market, and inflation which remains well above its 2% target. The US is winding down the development of MRNA vaccines, shutting down projects worth almost $500 million. The unit being shut down was dedicated to combating public health threats like COVID. US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says data shows the vaccines the unit works on are not effective. The long-time vaccine skeptic did not provide scientific evidence.

President Trump is suggesting Vice President J.D. Vance is his heir apparent as the Republican nominee in 2008. He says Vance is, quote, most likely to take up the mantle, while also proposing Secretary of State Marco Rubio join him on the Republican ticket. U.S. envoy Steve Wiccoff is in Moscow on a last-minute mission to find a breakthrough in the war. It's just two days before the expiry of a deadline set by President Donald Trump for Russia to agree to peace or face new sanctions. But it appears Trump's threats aren't really making a difference. Reuters has spoken to sources close to the Kremlin who say Putin isn't backing down, and that Russia has no plans to stop until it fully captures the Ukrainian

regions of Dornetsk, Lujansk, Zapparisia and Kherson. on. Reporter Mark Trevelyan has more. We're hearing from these sources that Putin wants a good relationship with Trump. He doesn't want to upset Trump. However, the war goals that Putin is pursuing in Ukraine are more important to him. So we're told that Putin's generals believe that Ukraine's forces at some point on the battlefront will collapse, although that is not confirmed by,

independent military analysts. Trump had given Putin this Friday deadline to reach a ceasefire. Mark, what are you hearing about what Putin is likely to do? Judging from what our sources are telling us, Russia is prepared for the likelihood that there could be more sanctions, but it thinks that it can weather them, just as it's weathered many previous sanctions before. So it's not overly concerned about it.

It may be that they have some hope that maybe Trump will back down, Or maybe they can come up with something in these talks with Witkoff to persuade Trump that actually they really are serious, they're making progress, and that he should stay his hand and not go ahead with it. The Kremlin has not responded to requests for comment on this story. OpenAI is in early stage discussions about a stock sale allowing employees to cash out and which could value the company behind ChatGPT at about $500 billion. That's according to a source familiar.

with the matter. And in traditional media, Walt Disney's ESPN has reached a landmark deal with the NFL to acquire the NFL network and other media assets from the league. In exchange, the NFL will take a 10% equity stake in ESPN. An outbreak of the Chikung Gunya virus in southern China is being supercharged by historic rainfall, perfect for the mosquitoes which transmit the disease. The virus is found in Southeast Asia and parts of Africa. But the outbreak in China is the worst the country has ever seen. Joe Cash is in Beijing. Joe, what is the Chikungunya virus?

So the virus causes severe joint pain, rashes, headaches. And while most patients begin to feel better within a week, some people can continue to suffer for months or even years. It's not fatal, but there's also no known cure. Officials in Fulshan, which is the city that's been hit hardest, although at least 12 other cities have also reported infections, have resorted to releasing bigger mosquitoes to try and eat the specific mosquito that is spreading the virus. They've released mosquito eating fish into the water. They've also tried quarantining people, similar to how authorities across the

country dealt with the COVID pandemic, but that has caused some concern on social media because the virus isn't spread by people-to-people transmission. It's spread by mosquitoes biting you. A crowd gathers at the special prosecutor's office in Seoul for the arrival of South Korea's former First Lady Kim Kyeong-hee. The wife of former Prime Minister Yun Suk Yol is being questioned over several allegations, including stock manipulation, influence peasant, headling and bribery for accepting a Kristen Dior handbag, among other things. Galane Maxwell is opposing the US government's request to release grand jury transcripts from her case. The lawyers filed the motion on Tuesday, arguing that the release of documents could

hurt her chances for a fair retrial. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. President Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the transcripts last month. And for today's recommended read, the makers of Wigovee and OZempic are on a mission to stab out competition, filing lawsuits against the sale of unapproved versions of the active ingredient in their weight loss and diabetes drugs. We'll put a link to that story in the podcast 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.