Reuters World News - Trump's new charges, Russia's rouble moves and China's gloom - plus the waltzing Matildas

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

Donald Trump and 18 advisers face racketeering charges in Georgia over his attempts to reverse the election. Russia's central bank steps in to shore up the rouble - but will it be enough to stop the bite of Western sanctions? Plus, we find out how the once fringe, far-right candidate in Argentina changes the presidential race. And Australia goes mad for a new sport ahead of its historic semifinal in the Women's World Cup. 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 18 aides charged with a criminal conspiracy in Georgia. Russia's central bank steps in to buttress the ruble. Argentina devalues the peso and raises rates as the country grapples with its new election contender. And a sportsman nation falls in love with women's soccer. It's Tuesday, August 18th. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know from the front of lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Kim Vennel in London. Donald Trump has been hit with a fourth set of criminal charges, this time in Georgia. A grand jury there issued a sweeping indictment,

accusing him and his associates of a criminal conspiracy while trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. Here's Fulton County District Attorney Farnie Willis, outlining the details of a 98-page indictment. The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia's legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election result. White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, and lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman are among the 18 advisors also charged. Hacketeering is used to target members of organised crime groups and carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Trump denies any wrongdoing and accuses Willis of being politically motivated.

Now let's take a look at headlines around the world. Only a quarter of the disaster zone from Maui's wildfires has been searched. Hundreds of people in Lahaina may still be unaccounted for, as remains of a 99th victim have been found. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi says peace is returning to the northeastern state of Manipur. At least 180 people have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes in sectarian clashes there since May. A federal force has been deployed and Modi said that he'd been getting reports of extended peace

for some days now. The Taliban marks two years. since it returned to power with its takeover of Kabul. Security was tight and today was declared a holiday with several parades expected throughout the day. Listen to a special episode this weekend on the people left behind after US forces withdrew

after the 20-year inconclusive war. It's time now for markets and more bad data out of China has prompted Beijing to cut key policy rates. Marius Zaharai. is in Hong Kong. Marius, is this enough? Economists see these cuts as having more of a signaling effect. They say the cuts are aimed to show that authorities are ready to stimulate the economy,

but they also warn that they are too small to make a difference and that fiscal stimulus and more importantly, structural reforms to boost household demand will be needed to bring growth on a healthier path. The ruble has lost more than a fifth of its value against the dollar since the war in Ukraine began. Today, an emergency policy meeting by the central bank tried to shore up the currency by raising the key interest rate by 350 basis points to 12%. But is it enough to weatherproof Russia's economy as the war rages on? Russia reporter Alex Marrow has followed the ruble's tribulations.

Alex, first off, are we seeing signs that the Western sanctions are starting to bite? Yeah, I think we've certainly been seeing those signs for some time, particularly the oil price cap and price ceiling imposed by Western countries on Russia back in December. Since then, the ruble has been on a steadily weakening trend, and it's really come to a head in the last few weeks. What can Putin do? Well, Putin's economic advisor, Maxima Reschkin, yesterday, effectively put pressure on the central bank to act, which is why they've now made this step. More pressure could be imposed, but it doesn't seem as though the policy rate will be hiked any further.

It seems like there's a bit of a blame game going on with the head of the central bank. Tell us about her. Well, Elvira Nabulina has won Plaudits for many years for her handling of Russia's economy, particularly in 2014 when Russia first annexed Crimea and Russia had a serious crisis then. In the last year, she raised interest rate to 20% and effectively kept the Russian economy going. It only declined around 2.1% last year. But certainly with the next presidential election coming in March 24, there is pressure on all sides. And if the central bank can be blamed for rising prices, for inflation, for a weaker ruble, that perhaps plays into the government's hands, or particularly

Vladimir Putin's hands as he wants to be in the population's good books to secure another election win next year. The surprise win of far-right candidate Javier Millet in Argentina's primary election has upended the upcoming presidential election. Adam Jordan is in Buenos Aires for the aftermath. Adam, what's it like there? There's definitely a bit of disbelief here in Buenos Aires that he's done so well. he really was seen as this very radical.

He's a libertarian economist. He's proposing very unorthodox, very outlandish policies and ideas. And no one thought that he was going to do as well as he finally did. And with people here so angry at high inflation and the cost of living crisis, who knows what might happen in the second round? He could potentially, from relative obscurity just two years ago, rise to the presidency. What's behind his appeal? The reason Malay is really hill.

nerve here is with his incredibly brash, unapologetic shows and campaign rallies. He'll come into these events like a rock star singing, you'll have club music and club lighting, he'll get up on stage and start trying to rouse his supporters very much in the same mood as Donald Trump in the US. what he's been proposing rather outlandish, rather radical policies, ranging from getting rid of the

central bank to dollarizing the economy. That's taken off a little bit with voters here because the peso currency is so weak and inflation at 116% is so high. And others of his proposals include supporting more gun laws, allowing people to carry more guns more easily.

He's very anti-abortion. I think it's a vote or castigo. On the ground here in Buenos Aires, a lot of people we spoke to talked about a punishment vote. Now, in the primaries, we've seen a lot of people, people go out, they've either decided to vote what's called voting in blank, you know, leaving your vote blank, or they've gone for fringe parties, or in the case of Malay, they've really gone for a far-right radical instead of the traditional parties. Sports Mad Australia has a new favourite pastime

as women's World Cup fever officially hits boiling point. The Prime Minister has even agreed to give Aussies the day off if the home team wins the whole tournament. First though, the Matildas will have to beat England in the semi on Wednesday, and that has stoked a traditional sporting rival. Christian Radnich is outside the stadium in Sydney. Christian, Australia has really gone wild for women's football, but England is a more advanced

team, no? And there's no college sports structure like in the US. So this is all new? Yeah, and I think that's part of the magic of it. Even the most diehard sports fans in Australia have been really sort of surprised how everyone's really brought into it. Australia's love their sport. But any kind of cause for national pride, they will latch onto it. And as the Matildas have gone on to every new stage. More and more people have got into it and there's been this huge wave of optimism now and especially now coming up against England, it's just another excuse to get really excited and get behind their team and on paper you would say that England are the favourites,

but momentum can do a lot for you. Yeah, New Zealanders and Australians traditionally have a somewhat competitive relationship but I'm just going to go out on a limb and say, I'm back in the Matildas for this one. How are both teams looking ahead of this semifinal match? Well, yeah, as I say, you would say that England have the better squad on paper. They're more developed. They're the European champions, obviously. But Australia have Sam Kerr, who will likely start in the game.

She hasn't started a game all tournament. She had a calf injury just before the tournament. And she is one of the best strikers in the world. So it's going to be tough to call in terms of how they manage her and how England can play their game. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back with our daily headline show on Wednesday. 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 favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.