Reuters World News - UN deal, Sinn Fein’s loss, Apple’s ChatGPT deal and Mosul’s comeback

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Ireland’s Sinn Fein suffers a bruising loss in local elections as voters move immigration to the top of their issues list. Apple makes a new AI push in a deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. And a slice of life from the Iraqi city of Mosul, a decade after it fell to Islamic State. Plus, Hamas signals support for a U.N.-backed resolution on a Gaza ceasefire. 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, voters hammer island Sinn Féin in local elections. Apple's AI overhaul brings chat GPT to iPhones. And a decade since its fall to Islamic State, Mosul is returning to life. It's Tuesday, June 11th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in London. The results of the voting is as follows. 14 votes in favor, zero votes against one abstention.

The UN Security Council backing a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. Today we voted for peace. U.S. ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield, who said the vote sent a clear message to Hamas. The resolution states that Israel has agreed to the terms and urges Hamas to do the same. The group says it accepts the UN move and is raised. ready to negotiate. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is continuing his tour of the region, as he looks to make progress on ceasefire talks, which have recently stalled. The return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas is key to any ceasefire deal, and in Jerusalem there have been

angry exchanges over their return in Parliament. This was finance minister Bezalas-Motrish being confronted by hostage families, as politicians moved ahead with a law. on conscripting ultra-orthodox religious students into the military. The issue has been a divisive one for decades in Israel, and families used the moment to demand the government do more to bring the captives home. Four Americans working for an Iowa university have been injured in a stabbing in northeast China. It happened in a park in Gillim province, according to US government officials. Iowa representative Adam Zabner has told us his brother David,

it is one of the victims, who all work for Cornell College. A search is taking place for an aircraft carrying Malawi's vice president. Sao Los Klaus Chilima is aboard the military plane with nine others when it had to turn back because of poor visibility at Musuzu Airport. It then vanished from radar. Jewelers have begun deliberations in the Hunter Biden case. The president's son is accused of lying about his use of illegal drugs when he bought a handgun, in 2018. He's pleaded not guilty. To Ireland now, where Sinn Féin is reeling after a poor showing in local elections. As recently as late last year, the former political wing of the Irish Republican

army had a strong lead in polls. But that lead has vanished as more voters view immigration as their top concern. The left wing party was hoping for a first victory in Ireland's national elections, which are due in the next eight months. Porrick Halpin is our chief-corrish. for Ireland. So, Porek, why is immigration such a challenging topic for Chimphain? Because they're stuck between their traditional, more working class

voters who pose to Jess would like a harder line on the issue and the kind of newer, younger, more middle-class voters who they've attracted in recent years who'd been more concerned about migrant rights and the party admitted that it hasn't spelled out an interview clear enough for voters when it came up

on the doors. What is the immigration debate right now in Ireland. Immigration is now consistently kind of the second biggest issue among voters behind housing. And they both quite links. The housing issue in Ireland, there just isn't not enough housing, particularly affordable housing, for a kind of a growing population, a growing economy like Ireland. And on top of that now, you do have record numbers of migrants coming into the country

and the government are really struggling to find accommodation for those migrants. So you see actually a lot of tents popping up on the street in Ireland of people who arrive in the country. What's the political impact for Sinn Féin? And what does this mean for its goal of a United Ireland? I mean, the political impact for Chimphine is they've got to figure out why voters shied away from them in their jobs at the weekend and they've got to find that out pretty fast because national elections are coming up. Sinn Féin's main goal is a United Ireland.

That's a debate that's not really happening in the Republic. And the presumed Sinn Féin-led government that polls were pointed to just a few months ago, that would have turbocharged that debate. it would have led to planning, it would have led to an Irish government pushing for a referendum on the issue. Apple has unveiled a range of new AI features for its devices, as well as a deal with ChatGPTMaker OpenAI. This latest AI push marks a shift for the tech giant and could boost declining iPhone sales. That's because the latest phones will be needed for those new AI features. Jeffrey Dustin covered Apple's worldwide developer conference where the announcements were made.

What we saw Apple announce is similar to what its competitor companies in the technology sector have announced in the past year. So these include helping consumers rewrite their emails that they want to send with a particular tone, maybe make it more professional. This also includes sending AI generated images and text messages. And then it also includes something that seems to be new for Apple, which is this AI-generated. emoji feature. What's the nature of a deal with Open AI? What's interesting about this integration is that if there is some question you ask of Siri, Apple's assistant or Apple intelligence, and there isn't a great response or the

perfect response that Apple's AI would serve up to you, it will actually tell you, hey, we think this is a good question for ChatUpiti. Would you like to ask Chatchabit this question and they'll do this seamlessly on your device, and that way the consumer will know that their information is going to this external provider, in this case, OpenAI, and you will get the chat GPT answer. So Apple's trying to give consumers, all the features we've been seeing out in the wild for the past year or so, plus a little bit of its own flavor, plus easier access to external AI models. What's the financial nature of this deal? What reaction are we expecting? Apple typically is not the first to demo new software. We

Sometimes we see this coming on Google products first, but it often brings it to the masses with a certain flare. And so analysts and Wall Street were very eager to see what is Apple's AI strategy now that we're more than a year into the era of chat CBT. And there is a degree to which Wall Street seemed a little disappointed. Chairs were falling a little bit during the announcement of these features. But at the same time, the significance of this moment is putting Apple. Apple's AI and also this integration with Chatchabit into the hands of, say, a billion iPhone users.

So what exactly was Wall Street's response to the Apple event? Kamal Crimmons has the deeds. Apple shares closed down nearly 2% in New York. It seemed Wall Street was looking for more dazzling AI features. They don't seem to think what Apple unveiled will necessarily propel at past rivals like Microsoft in the AI race. But if you are looking for something dazzling this week, Here she goes. The latest edition of my podcast, Reuters Econ World, is out tomorrow, and we're focusing on neoliberalism and what Javier Malay is up to in Argentina. You can find it on Reuters.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

I look forward to it. It's been a decade since jihadist group Islamic State declared its caliphate at the Grand Al-Nuhrie Mosque in Mosul. Much of the Iraqi city was pulverized, and thousands of civilians were killed in the battle to free it in 2017. But, despite political infighting, allegations of corruption and delayed reconstruction, life is returning. Our Iraq Bureau Chief Timorazahi centers this dispatch.

Mosul is an ancient city. It dates back at least thousands of years to when it was ancient Minoah in antiquity, and it's changed hands many times. It was occupied by the Ottomans, then later by the Brits, and after 2003 by the Americans. People in Mosul, known as Moslowis in Iraq, are very proud. of their city's history and its ethnic and religious diversity. A lot of that was destroyed during the time of ISIS. Looking forward, they hope that they can regain some of that.

The mosque from which ISIS announced their short-lived caliphate is being rebuilt, and so are the churches in the city. And restaurants are reopening where you can enjoy some of the famed Mouslawi cuisine, I must say, for me, the best in Iraq. I spoke to one local resident, Saker Zakarra, who left the city in 2005 when al-Qaeda was on the rise and returned in 2018 to set up a cultural center, Beitna Foundation. He did this at a time when thousands of bodies were still being cleared from the ruins and most people came there to identify the dead or to pick up what possessions they had left

and lock up their homes. And what he essentially told me is security was the most important thing and they felt that they now had that. He gave me this anecdote about how he caught himself standing outside his home a few nights before, kind of romantically just watching. watering his plants after coming back from a cafe. And he said he had this moment where he was sort of like, where am I? You know, how did we get to this point where I can do this simple act of watering my plants at 3 in the morning, something which was previously impossible because people would lock themselves in their homes out of fear for what was outside?

That's it for Tuesday. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. And to never miss an episode, subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Royt's. to Zapp.