Reuters World News - UN and Palestinian statehood, autism, Jimmy Kimmel and Trump’s prosecutor

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Dozens of world leaders gather at the United Nations to embrace a Palestinian state despite fierce resistance from Israel and the United States. President Trump links autism to Tylenol and vaccines, claims not backed by science. Trump picks his former personal lawyer to lead investigations of New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey. And Disney says Jimmy Kimmel will be back on air on Tuesday.  Listen to On Assignment here: Vaccines, RFK Jr. and America’s health Today's recommended read is from Venezuela. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠here⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠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, Donald Trump prepares to address the UN General Assembly as more nations formally recognise a Palestinian state. Not before the US President contradicted decades of scientific research in telling pregnant women not to take Tylenol because of autism. Jimmy Kimmel is back on air. And the Justice Department faces questions over political meddling. It's Tuesday, September 23rd. 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 Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. US President Donald Trump will address the United Nations General Assembly in New York later today, as more and more nations break with the US and Israel in recognizing a Palestinian state. Emmanuel Macron announcing France is joining the UK, Canada, Australia and, several others in formally recognizing Palestinian statehood. More than three quarters of the UN's 193 members are now united in that stance. But as UN reporter Michelle Nichols explains, the US has been moving in the other direction. So one step that the administration took a couple of weeks

ago was to announce that they would be denying and revoking visas for Palestinian officials. And that's meant that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been unable to travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly in person or to speak at the two-state solution summit. The General Assembly last week did pass a resolution that allows him to address both meetings via video. The Palestinians won't become a full member of the United Nations anytime soon. That can only happen on recommendation by the UN Security Council, and the United States is a veto power. Last year, they vetoed an attempt by the Palestinians to gain full membership in the United Nations.

Now almost two years into its war in Gaza, Israel says there will be no Palestinian state and is accelerating plans for settlements in the occupied West Bank. And while formal recognition of a Palestinian state by other nations doesn't change much on the ground. Michelle says it's an important symbolic step, which Israel's Prime Minister may address later this week. We'll be watching to see whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces anything during his speech to the UN General Assembly on Friday as to how they might react to these latest announcements of recognition of a Palestinian state. Will they seek to target each country individually? Or perhaps will, will

they make an example of France, for instance, who has definitely taken the lead. Something else to watch for at the UN, pushback from diplomats angry that the US is considering placing sweeping sanctions on the whole international criminal court. Washington is weighing moves that could cripple the court's daily operations and retaliation for its investigations into alleged Israeli war crimes. You can read more about their potential move in a Reuters exclusive on Reuters.com and the Reuters app. Before departing for the UN, President Trump held a White House press conference

to make some extraordinary pronouncements on health policy. Don't take Tylenol. Don't take it. If you just can't, I mean, it's a fight like hell not to take it. There, Trump contradicted decades of scientific evidence by linking Tylenol in pregnancy to autism. Standing alongside vaccine-sceptic health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump also called for a re-examination of the link between vaccines and autism. That's despite repeated studies showing no causal connection.

The president also cited a small study of 40 people to endorse the use of lecovorin, a form of folic acid as a treatment for autism symptoms, which most autism researchers do not recommend. Here's Reuters U.S. Health and Farmer editor, Carolyn Humor, on what the science actually says. So Trump's claims about Tylenol and autism are largely based on a 2025 review of 46 studies. Suggests a link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure or Tylenol exposure and increased risks of some neurodevelopmental bloodsorters. However, the study that they did, which was a study of studies, did not prove that the drug caused this outcome of autism. Scientists have pointed to a very strong study in 2024 of nearly 2.5 million children in Sweden that found no causal link between exposure to acetaminopin and neurodevelopmental

disorders. So scientists were alarmed saying that these kinds of claims without evidence stoke fear and falsely suggest hope. To hear more on how RFK Jr. is shaking up the health sector and how health policy is being changed by politics, take a listen to our recent on-assignment episode about just that. We'll put a link in the show notes. Bill Gates is also worried about the spread of vaccine skepticism. The billionaire philanthropist sat down for an interview with Reuters editor-in-chief, Alessandra Goloni, on the sidelines of that UN conference in New York. This is what he had to say. It is tragic that we see this vaccine skepticism because even though the number of additional deaths

in the rich world is likely to be modest, you know, every life should count. And when the poor countries hear that skepticism, it spreads there as well. Gates says he met with Health Secretary Kennedy and the two agreed to disagree. about vaccines. Hear what Gates had to say about cuts to health funding around the world on Reuters.com or on the Reuters app. Jimmy Kimmel will return to television tonight with Disney announcing it's reinstating him

after a six-day suspension for comments he made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. Disney says it paused the show to ease tensions, calling Kimmel's comments ill-timed, but stopped short of an apology. The reversal follows a consumer backlash, with Disney Plus cancellations surging. The Trump administration is zeroing in on left-leaning groups after Charlie Kirk's killing. President Trump has signed an executive order labeling anti-fascist group Antifa, a terrorist organization.

Critics say this could open the door to more surveillance and crackdowns on free speech. At the same time, the Justice Department is also being reshaped. Trump's named Lindsay Halligan, his former personal attorney, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The announcement came ours after he publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to speed up investigations into his political enemies, rivals like former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Leticia James. Our Justice Department reporter Sarah Lynch says, Halligan's appointment raises questions about political pressure inside the Justice Department. People who work at the Justice Department and who have previously worked at the Justice Department have all expressed alarm at the situation.

The lead U.S. attorney, of course, is appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate, but they're supposed to carefully evaluate the evidence in every case before deciding whether to proceed with charging. and they're not supposed to be facing political pressure to bring a case against somebody just because the president doesn't like him or her. And that's what's going on here. According to sources who spoke with Reuters the other day, both the case against James

and the case against Comey apparently have what they see as weak evidence and it might not withstand the scrutiny if presented to a grand jury forward indictment. InVIA will invest up to $100 billion in Open AI supplying it with advanced data center chips and a landmark AI partnership. Nvidia shares jumped almost 4% on the news. The deal gives Nvidia a financial stake in OpenAI,

while Open AI gains the compute power it needs to stay ahead. The company's plan to deploy 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems, enough to power over 8 million US homes. Analysts say the move could reshape the AI landscape, but also raises antitrust concerns. And for today's recommended read, we have a gallery of pictures from Venezuela, where the military has been conducting weapons training with the public.

The sessions take place on street corners and outside shops and are seen as a response to growing tensions with the United States. We'll put a link to that piece 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 first. favorite 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.