Reuters World News - Trump’s Gaza plan, Epstein vote, Comey and Bangladesh

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Tuesday, November 18th. Today, the UN Security Council endorses Trump's Gaza plan. The House votes on the release of the rest of the Epstein files after Trump's U-turn. A judge finds evidence of government missteps in the case against Comey, and the ex-Bangladeshi leader is sentenced to death for her role in deadly student protests. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. The draft resolution has been adopted as resolution 2803. The UN Security Council endorsing US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza. They voted on a US drafted resolution based on Trump's 20-point peace plan. part of that, they have authorized a transitional authority to rebuild the enclave and an

Starting point is 00:01:11 international force to stabilize it. And as Simon Lewis explains, a lot of this is about reassuring countries which are considering providing troops as part of that force. So far, countries have expressed an interest, they've expressed willingness, but there has been this difficulty and it's hoped that the UN resolution will ease that. Israel is also concerned that the resolution references the possibility of a future statehood for Palestinians. Russia and China both abstained from voting, saying the plan gives too much control to Washington and not enough clarity on the role of the United Nations. But Simon says the biggest issue is Hamas.

Starting point is 00:01:52 I think the real difficulty with this is going to be that Hamas has not actually said they're going to disarm. diplomats at the UN are forcefully saying that this puts pressure on Hamas, and they're hoping that Hamas will respond to that pressure. The difficulty with that is those Hamas fighters on the ground are there, they're still holding guns, and it's pretty hard to see how that works out. Hamas has rejected the resolution, saying it fails to meet Palestinians' rights and demands, and saying that UN involvement in disarming the resistance would turn it into a party in favor of the Israeli occupation.

Starting point is 00:02:34 While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to demilitarize Gaza, quote, the easy way or the hard way, he's also vowing to crack down on violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In the village of Jaba, footage captured homes and cars being torched after an attack allegedly by Israeli settlers. Resident Ali Abu Loha explains how he heard banging outside. his home, only to find masked men outside, at which point he and his family fled. The UN says Israeli settlers staged more than 200 attacks on Palestinians in October alone,

Starting point is 00:03:16 the most since it began keeping track almost 20 years ago. That's Alicia Arden, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein, calling for U.S. House lawmakers to force the Justice Department to release the Epstein files and a vote that's expected today. It comes after an about-face from President Donald Trump, who, until the weekend, had been lobbying hard to prevent their release. What I just don't want Epstein to do is detract from the great success of the Republican Party. Last week, Trump instructed the DOJ to investigate prominent Democrats ties to Epstein, a highly unusual public order for a department that has generally held itself independent of the president.

Starting point is 00:04:12 This apparent politicisation of the Justice Department is also front and centre in the criminal case against former FBI director James Comey. A federal judge has found evidence of government misconduct and ordered the DOJ to turn over all grand jury materials to Comey's defence team, which even the judge admits is a quote, extraordinary remedy. Both of these cases, Comey and Epstein, have thrown the Department of Justice, which has been in turmoil for most of this year, into further chaos. Legal reporter Andrew Goodswad is in Washington, D.C. Trump has made no secret of his interest in using the Justice Department to go after, perceived political enemies, people who have resisted his agenda. And the real difference we're seeing this time around as opposed to the first term is that the leadership of the

Starting point is 00:05:02 Justice Department is willing to indulge him. In the case of Comey, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzgerald highlighted profound missteps in the probe. One thing in particular was that Lindsay Halligan, who was the U.S. attorney that Trump appointed to take over the investigation. We found flaws in the way that she instructed the grand jury that was deciding whether or not to indict Comey. And then the judge found that there were issues in the process and how the FBI handled evidence

Starting point is 00:05:29 in the investigation. So this ruling is the judge acknowledged is extraordinary. It's scathing in its language of how prosecutors went about this investigation and handling the grand jury in this case. Grand jury materials are typically protected by strict secrecy rules, and prosecutors fight very hard to keep that information under wraps. Federal immigration raids in Charlotte, North Carolina are expanding. More than 130 people have been detained as President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign ramps up in the south. Videos on social media show

Starting point is 00:06:05 masked agents smashing the window of a pickup truck and dragging a man out. Tactics, state governor, Josh Stein, has criticized as the targeting of Americans based on skin color. The crackdown has sparked protests, shuttered Latino-run businesses, and drawn sharp criticism from local leaders

Starting point is 00:06:25 who say constitutional rights must be upheld. There are fears of deepening polarisation and political violence in Bangladesh after the former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, was sentenced to death. And as Krishna Das in New Delhi explains, while Sheikh Hasina is safe for now in exile in India, the sentence may have far-reaching consequences. Sheikh Hasina was the longest-serving Prime Minister. There were lots of acquisitions about her being an autocratic. leader but someone who got the job done, the economy was doing well under her. But then various

Starting point is 00:07:04 elections happened and the opposition leaders were jailed or they couldn't contest elections. And the frustration started growing and people started opposing her rule. That led to protests in 2024 in which some 1,400 people were killed and which led to her conviction and death sentence. But she still has supporters who want to vote her party back in. next year. Hasina's Awami League party, as the party claims, the biggest party in Bangladesh, but they had been banned from the election due in the first half of February next year. So Hasina's son told us that they have been,

Starting point is 00:07:44 Hasina and the son himself, Sajid, was it. Both of them are abroad. But they're in touch with their activist in Bangladesh, and they said they will be violence ahead of the elections. The ban on the party is not lifted. They say that nearly half of Bangladesh-Intyreliang. voters support Hasidah's party, the Awami League, and if they cannot participate in the election, you are simply robbing the chance of a lot of people to vote in the election because they

Starting point is 00:08:10 do not have their own first-choice party contesting. Japan is urging its citizens in China to avoid crowds and take extra safety precautions as tensions rise between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. The warning comes after Japanese prime. Minister, Sanai Takiichi, said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response. Chinese authorities have suspended screenings of Japanese films and urged citizens to halt travel to Japan, while both governments have stepped up their patrols around disputed East China Sea islands.

Starting point is 00:08:52 And finally, today, I don't mean to retramatize any parents out there with that song, but the makers of hit song Baby Shark, that's Pinkfong, have proven investors still believe in the company's money-making power. The South Korean company has just gone public, with its shares trading more than 60% above its initial IPO price. Baby Shark remains the most watched video on YouTube. And for today's recommended read, Georgia, the country, not the state, and its slide into autocracy.

Starting point is 00:09:38 In the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, this country was a blossoming democracy. But now it's further from the West than at almost any other time in its post-Soviet history. There's a link to that story in the pod 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 favourite 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.

Reuters World News - Trump’s Gaza plan, Epstein vote, Comey and Bangladesh

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