Reuters World News -  Trump-Putin, Haiti, PPI and Israeli settlements

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set for face-to-face talks on Ukraine and arms control at an Alaska summit. Erik Prince, an ally of President Donald Trump, says he has a 10-year deal with Haiti to fight the country's criminal gangs. U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in July. And an Israeli far-right minister announces a construction plan in the West Bank which his office says will "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state. 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 and Putin are set for face-to-face talks in Alaska. Eric Prince plans to keep personnel in Haiti for 10 years to fight gangs and collect taxes. Hotter than expected wholesale prices hit markets. And an Israeli far-right minister announces a plan to bury the idea of a Palestinian state. It's Friday, August 15th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front line, in 10 minutes, seven days a week. I'm Tara Oaks in London.

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska later today. The meeting at a Cold War era Air Force base will be their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House. And if it's a bad meeting, it'll end very quickly. And if it's a good meeting, we'll end up getting peace in the pretty near future.

White House correspondent Steve Holland is traveling to encourage for the historic meeting. up? The world is waiting to see which Trump will show up at this meeting. Will it be the Trump who was very ingratiating toward Putin during his first term and early in this second term took some pro-Russian stances, drew a hard line against President Zelensky of Ukraine, or will it be the Trump we've seen in the last couple of months, who seems fed up with the war, wants to stop it, believes that Putin has been tapping him along, as he has said a number of times. Trump has been frustrated that Putin will say very nice things to him on the phone, but then continue these drone

strikes on Ukraine cities with deadly effect. Trump would like to end all that. One of the things that we're hearing is that Putin requested this meeting. If he comes to the meeting empty-handed, this could annoy Trump and make things even worse. And Steve, we know the main topic is ending the war in Ukraine. But are there other items these leaders might want to get out of a talks? One of the things, it's possible to have a positive outcome is talks about the New START Treaty, which imposes limits on strategic nuclear missiles. This New START treaty is to expire in February. There is a belief on both sides that they could extend this treaty for a further period and avoid the tensions that would result from it collapsing. That is one outcome that could be announced at this summit beyond the usual Ukraine topics. And they could also just talk about economic sanctions, the global economy.

President Trump has for a long time wanted to drive a wedge between Russia and China. So there's a lot to talk about beyond just Ukraine. Reuters are, of course, on the ground for the summit and will bring you the latest throughout the day, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arriving at the venue in a sweater bearing the Russian acronym for the USSR, and live video outside the venue, which has so far seen moose and bears roaming around. Follow along for the latest on routers.com or the Reuters app. As the security of Ukraine hangs in the balance,

security in Haiti now rests in the hands of an American private security executive. Eric Prince, the founder of Blackwater and a prominent Trump supporter, says he has a 10-year deal with Haiti to fight the country's criminal gangs. In an interview with Reuters, Prince said his company, Vectus Global, would also take a role in restoring the country's tax collection system once the security situation is stabilized. Senior correspondent Anna Hurtstein sat down with him. So they're doing two kinds of work. The first is fighting against the gangs. So they've actually started this already. It started in March. They've been doing a drone program and a source close to Eric Prince tells me that they plan to ramp up this fight in the coming weeks. Prince expects to have gained control of major roads and territories from the gangs in about

a year. So what's his plan? These gangs have terrorized Haiti for years. They're bringing in several hundred trained fighters that are their employees from the U.S., Europe, El Salvador. And these are people who are trained in multiple disciplines. It's like a person who can do sniping, intelligence, communications, vehicle operation. They can do like five things at once. And they're going to coordinate this with the Haitian police. And then once the security situation is more stable, their plan is to help build out a tax collection program or they would tax companies and collect tariffs on imported goods coming across the border with the Dominican Republic. And the government used to get about half of its tax revenue from these border tariffs, but has this gang issue.

has like accelerated, they haven't been able to do that anymore. So it would be a question of trying to reestablish this revenue stream to fund the government and essential services in Haiti. And in a slice of this would also go to pay vectors. California's governor, Gavin Newsom, says he will ask voters to approve a temporary strategy in November, redrawing the state's congressional map. The move is likely to create five more democratic seats. It's an escalation in the redistricting war to counter

what they see as a Republican power grab in Texas. US producer prices increased more than expected in July amid a surge in the costs of services and goods. The producer price index for final demand jumped 0.9%. It's likely to bolster concerns among Federal Reserve policymakers that rising inflation remains at risk and could intensify debate over the rationale for an interest rate cut next month.

Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announcing that work will start on the long-delayed E1 settlement plan. It would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem. Smotrich says the settlement plan definitively buries the idea of a Palestinian state simply because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize. Alexander Cornwell is a Reuters senior correspondent based in Jerusalem. So, Alexander, let's take a step back here. What's the current state of settlers in the West Bank? So today there's about 700,000 settlers living in the West Bank among around 2.7 million Palestinians. The settlers are not monolithic, many of them born in Israel, some of them have immigrated to Israel. Some move there for ideological reasons or religious reasons, while others move there for economic reasons.

There can be government incentives to live in settlements. So how would these settlement plans change the West Bank's links to East Jerusalem? So the finance minister's announcement for the E1 project sits between an existing settlement in the West Bank close to Jerusalem and towards the Jerusalem or East Jerusalem area. And what Palestinians and Israeli rights groups say is that will divide the West Bank and will also cut off the Palestinians from East Jerusalem. Now, it's worth mentioning that for a long time now, the Israelis have had what they call a security wall or a security barrier, the wall that many people know that

separates much of the West Bank from Jerusalem and from areas of Israel. So Palestinians are already cut off from East Jerusalem. So although this will cut Palestinians, I guess, geographically from East Jerusalem, if the project does indeed go ahead, today there are many barriers and restrictions on them anyway, moving between the West Bank and Jerusalem. Smotrich says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Trump, have agreed to the revival of the E1 development, though there was no immediate confirmation from either. The Trump administration is discussing

capping refugee admissions at around 40,000 for the coming year, with the majority allocated to white South Africans. That's according to two US officials briefed on the matter and an internal refugee program email. It would reflect a major shift in the US approach to refugees. When Trump took office, he immediately froze refugee admissions, but weeks later launched a program for Afrikaners, a largely Dutch-descended minority in South Africa.

Ted Heson has the story. Ted, why is the administration prioritizing these applicants? The reason he said this group should be prioritized is because he said they face race-based persecution in South Africa. Now, I should say that's a claim that the South African government has pushed back very hard against and says that it's not true, but the Trump administration says that there is some evidence of it, and they've undertaken this effort to bring people into the U.S. as refugees who are Afrikaners. It would really be an unprecedented twist and turn in the refugee program to have such a outsized focus on one group, and truthfully, what refugees who are white coming from, you know, a country

that's majority black in the world. And it really would turn the dynamics of the program on its head from what it's been so far. Costco wholesale says it's decided to not sell abortion pill if a pristone across all its U.S. pharmacy stores, citing low demand. The decision comes amid campaigns against a pill by religious activist groups. And for today's recommended read, an Olympics with a difference. A three-day-long world humanoid robot games has opened in China,

aimed at highlighting progress in artificial intelligence, and robotics. You can find out more and see pictures of the robotic contenders by following the link in the pod description. And tomorrow, check out our latest episode of our new on-assignment long-form podcast. It's also all about AI. 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. And 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.