Reuters World News - Trump-Putin, Germany's Israel curb, $5 meals and Musk vs Modi

Starting point is 00:00:01 Today, Trump and Putin are set for ceasefire talks on Ukraine, without Zelensky. Germany reluctantly suspends some arms exports to Israel. Elon Musk takes the Indian government to court over internet censorship. Farmer earnings fall as sales slow for weight loss drugs. Fast food giants try to woo low-income Americans with $5 meals as tariffs bite. And South Korea investigates a former first-lays. AD over corruption. It's Saturday, August 9th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool.

Starting point is 00:00:55 Ukraine, Russia would have ended up being a world war. And I stopped that. That stopped. Now, the only question is when is it going to be settled? And it could be very soon. U.S. President Donald Trump says he'll meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin on August 15th in Alaska. Trump says all parties, including Ukraine's president, Vladimir Zelensky, are close to a ceasefire deal, one that could require Ukraine to surrender significant territory. Zelensky says a ceasefire is possible, but that Ukrainians will not give their land to occupiers. While Trump and Putin get ready to talk to. peace in Ukraine, pressure is mounting on Israel over Gaza.

Starting point is 00:01:44 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to expand military operations in the strip has been met with fierce backlash around the world, including from Germany. Chancellor Friedrich Mertz has announced that they'll suspend exports of weaponry that could be used in the Gaza Strip. We caught up with our correspondent in Berlin, Riham Al-Kuzer, shortly after the announcement. So how big a deal is this to Israel? Is it more symbolic than logistical or is this a real problem for Netanyahu? Well, Germany is the second exporter of weapons to Israel after the US, so it does play a big role. At the same time, we spoke with experts who said militarily it might not have a dramatic effect right away,

Starting point is 00:02:30 but symbolically it is a big decision. Germany has sensory unification has not taken such decisions before, and this is what some called a historic shift in the German stance on policy on Israel. Germany sees itself as specially responsible and has a special relationship with Israel, and before making this one line that we will stop delivering, he had to make it clear that this does not mean that we are not still on the side of Israel, but we have to take this decision as a reaction to the latest escalation. While we're talking arms sales, India's put on hold a plan to buy new weapons from the US

Starting point is 00:03:18 in a sign of discontent with President Trump's tariffs. Sources say they're pausing talks to buy American combat vehicles, missiles and some Boeing planes. The Indian government says reports of the pores are false and fabricated. And Reuters is reporting another battle emerging in India. this time between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Elon Musk. The government and Musk have been clashing in court over content regulation. The Indian government has been ramping up efforts to police the internet.

Starting point is 00:03:52 But Musk says India is trying to curb free speech. Monseth Van Gatel in Bangalore explains why. So Monsif, what exactly is X alleging here? So X is saying India's new content takedown regime lacks the checks and balance. the system had before. And it is in violation of India's own constitution. They have pointed to instances where news of public interest was ordered to be taken out. Government is saying, of course, it's all legal and fair.

Starting point is 00:04:25 India has almost a billion people online. And what that means is you need a faster way to remove harmful staff. Now from the courts to the markets and a health check for pharmaceutical companies this week. Two big players in the weight-loss drug space, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, were in the spotlight as they reported earnings. Our reporter Patrick Wingrove in New York has been digging into some of the big market movers in pharma this week. Novo was Europe's stock darling last year due to these gangbuster sales of its weight loss drug

Starting point is 00:05:08 Wagovi and corresponding diabetes drug OZMPIC. Now it's warning of far slower growth, in part due to compounders who have been allowed to make copies of the medicines based on the same ingredients as with Govi. It's facing steep competition from the US drug maker Eli Lilly, as the two companies race to put out a pill form of their weight loss drugs. In general, the pharmaceutical industry is facing a lot of pressure from Trump to lower prices that Americans pay for prescription medicines while preparing for 15% tariffs on imports from the European Union. Away from earnings, higher prices and tariffs are reshaping everyday spending.

Starting point is 00:05:56 Lower-income Americans are cutting back on dining out, travel, and basics like diapers, soda and beer. To attract consumers with tight budgets, fast food chains are bundling select menu items at around $5. But lower-income households want even better deals. Reporter Jessica DiNapoli is in New York. Tariffs are increasing prices across the consumer landscape. People in the lower income bracket have less money to begin with. They have less savings. They don't have access to the same types of credit that people with higher incomes do.

Starting point is 00:06:37 So impacts they feel already are on items spanning from chocolate to laundry detergent to diapers. So they're looking for cheaper. options. They're going to a dollar store to buy a smaller package that's just less money. They're already doing things like this and it's affecting companies and these people. So what sort of items have you been surprised to see consumers pulling back on? What really stood out to me is that across fast food, quick service restaurants, low-income consumers are visiting less by double-digit percentages. So they're not going out to dinner anymore, at least not at fast food. Like major chains like McDonald's, they're either cooking at home or doing something else. And in South Korea,

Starting point is 00:07:36 that's former First Lady Kim Kiyonji. Investigators have issued a warrant for her arrest in a wide-ranging corruption probe. Her husband is in detention on a charge of insurrection after he briefly declared martial law. Josh Smith is our bureau chief for Korea. These allegations do seem to have played a big role in President Yuni Sequeul's ill-fated decision to impose martial law in December last year. Questions over her alleged decision to accept a Dior handbag

Starting point is 00:08:10 from a priest or a pastor dominated press conferences, basically him becoming really frustrated with the state of politics and feeling like he had no other choice but to call in the military and overruled the parliament. Today, our recommendation for you is our new On Assignment podcast. This week's episode dives into the heat inside America's prison system. Follow our reporter's journey to uncover the extent of the problem in prisons across the US. You can listen to On Assignment wherever you get your podcasts. For more on any of today's stories, visit Reuters.com or the Reuters,

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Reuters World News - Trump-Putin, Germany's Israel curb, $5 meals and Musk vs Modi

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