Reuters World News - US-Iran talks and Australia divided over Indigenous vote

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

Australia is divided on a historic referendum which would recognize the country's Indigenous people in the constitution. The United States and Iran hold talks to try and defuse tensions. Plus, Manchester United’s hopes for $6 billion dollar deal and how a payphone collect call became a reporter’s best friend. 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, the United States holds talks with Iran to try and diffuse tensions. An historic vote on indigenous rights divides Australia. We look into why a potential $6 billion deal for Manchester United is so important to the club's future. Plus, dialing it in, how an old-fashioned pay phone put Reuters first on Trump's not guilty plea. It's Friday, June 16th. This is Reuters World News with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. And I'm Christopher Walgesper in Chicago.

The United States is holding talks with Iran to try and limit Tehran's nuclear program. The indirect discussions are the first since last August when attempts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal broke off. John Irish in Paris is one of the reporters who broke the story. John, how significant are these talks? Well, listen, these sort of indirect talks are significant in the sense that Iran feels a bit more emboldened now and more able to come back to a form of negotiation. And so these are proximity talks, not direct talks between the US and Iran. And I think the Americans just want to see some progress to avoid a nuclear crisis and to avoid general escalation in the region.

What could this lead to? It's a good question. It's the million dollar question. There's going to be pressure from the US Congress, pressure from the Israelis on the administration to not carry on with these talks. The Iranians do have the upper hand. They've seen over the last two years that the West is reluctant to confront and to really impose some consequences on Iran. I think the key issue is that we're getting closer to a US election or an electoral campaign, and so that will make it much harder for the administration to get the green light from both sides. Now the rest of the headlines making news around the world.

A federal grand jury has indicted Jack Tajera, the Air National Guardsman, who posted dozens of secret intelligence reports online with six counts of retaining and transmitting classified information. If convicted, he could face up to 60 years in prison. At least 15 people have been killed in Canada after a semi-trailer truck hit a small bus that was carrying a group of elderly people. It's one of the most lethal road accidents in recent Canadian history.

African leaders are due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin after he threatened to quit the Black Sea Grain deal. Putin has complained that under the deal almost nothing goes to African countries and said Moscow is ready to supply grain for free to the world's poorest countries. I just don't like him at all. I never liked him to begin with. And now I just feel like he just shows time and time again how much of a buffoon he is. Londoner Tenneka Bevenny, not holding back her feelings for former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A damning

reports found Johnson not only lied to Parliament about COVID lockdown parties, but also was complicit in a campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation. Johnson resigned, signed from Parliament last week and calls the report a lie. A New York red carpet, where history has been made at the songwriters' hall of fame. Gloria Estefan has become the first Latina to be inducted. It's an honor to be the first at anything, and I've had quite a few first in my life more than any person deserves. So I'm very thrilled to push that door open a little more for more Latinas to come up and get this. A glimmer of hope, perhaps, for the hard-pressed British consumer.

Tesco, the country's biggest retailer, says the UK has past peak inflation. Along with Italy, Britain has the highest rate of inflation among G7 advanced economies. Regardless of those soothing noises from Tesco, that's not going to stop the Bank of England. It's expected to hike rates again next week. And in fact, investors expect rates to rise by a total of 100 basis points over the next 12 months. Staying with big money, the multi-billion dollar takeover of Manchester United is moving closer. sources are telling Reuters the football club is negotiating, giving exclusivity to a consortium led by Qatar's Sheikh Hasim bin Hamad Altani. The takeover is set to be worth more than $6 billion,

one of the biggest sports deals ever. But United has a lot of catching up to do with its neighbors, Manchester City, who clinched the trouble last weekend, winning their first Champions League on top of the league title and F.A. Cup. Mitch Phillips is here to walk us through it all. Mitch, there are a lot of dynamics at play here. Manchester cities rise to power. Perry Sanjuman's in danger of losing its star Mbapé. Both of them are Middle East-owned clubs. How does that impact all the factors at play?

Well, they are becoming the big players, as also Saudi taking over Newcastle. So, yeah, it is a dynamic that three, four, five are the biggest clubs in the world, or hoping to be the biggest clubs in the world are owned by Arab Petru dollars. So there is a dynamic whether those comes. countries see that as their way to promote themselves around the world, as is how many people see it. The clubs themselves won't see themselves competing with the other petro dollar clubs, but the owners might have a different view. So for Manchester United, whomever the new owners are, they've got a lot of catching up to do with their neighbors just up the road, right?

Yeah, sure. And not just their neighbors up the road. You know, they're way behind. Newcastle kind of kind of one-year jump on them, but their Saudi money. City, as you said, just clinched the treble matching United's treble. They're way behind in playing terms. They also need to spend a lot of money on their stadium. They've got a huge amount of debt. So it's not as if they're suddenly going to hit the ground with this big war chest of money by the world's best players

and be up there competing with City next season. You know, as we've seen with PSG, still not managed to win the Champions League. So there's no guarantee. It's not an instant fix. Newcastle have taken a slower, steadier approach. There's also financial regulations that stop clubs now or limit how much they can jump and buy in.

So they can't automatically just go and buy four or five great players. So they've got some catching up to do and they might take a bit of time. Now to Australia, where the government wants to recognise the country's indigenous people in its constitution and give them a voice on policy. Voters will decide the issue later this year and it's proving divisive. Byron K and Sydney. Byron, what do voters make of this proposal? We had a poll this week that came out that showed that vote.

No was actually ahead, 51 to 49. This comes at a time when the yes campaign is being criticized for failing to really clearly articulate what it is that it plans to do. That's left a big yawning gap, which has left a lot of room for speculation. When people don't know what's going to happen, they get scared. There seems to be less fear about this in the corporate world, right? A Reuters poll out today shows that some of Australia's biggest companies endorse the move. Companies first and foremost listen to their shareholders, and the shareholders overwhelmingly want this. It's also an easy win for companies. There's an increasing pressure on companies to look like they are socially responsible kind of

citizens. Of course, corporate Australia hasn't always had the best relationship with Indigenous people. Well, I think the industry that's always had the most checkered relationship with the indigenous community has been the mining resources and energy sector. They necessarily use a lot of the industry. indigenous land to dig up the products that they are selling, whether it's coal or iron ore. And this is a very good opportunity for them to show that they want to keep things constructive. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has staked his political capital backing the referendum.

But there are some speaking out against it. What's the opposition? The opposition is mostly political leaders at this stage, saying that the referendum, because it enshrines an Indigenous body in the Constitution. They say that this would make the Australian Constitution racially divided, so there would be two different classes of Australians. Now, in our business, the news business, it's all about being first, particularly on the big stories. And they don't get much bigger than a former president's arraignment

on federal criminal charges. But reporting on Donald Trump's appearance in Miami federal court was a bit of a challenge. No electronic device is allowed. in the courthouse. And yet somehow, our reporter, Jack Queen, was first out the door with the plea. Jack, how did you break the news? We stashed our phones at a Reuters tent in front of the courthouse. And the plan was, as soon as Trump pleaded not guilty, which is the main news of the day, I would sprint out, go to the elevators, go down from the fifth floor, run across the courtyard

and grab my phone and report in the news. So obviously not ideal. But as it happened, And in this corridor by the bathrooms, there was a bank of four pay phones, only two of which actually worked. And luckily, they were free. But the trouble was that they made only local Miami calls or 1-800 calls. Luckily, I knew my editor's phone number. And so I called her collect, 1-800-collect. And luckily, she picked up the suspicious collect call from Miami. And we just kept the line open. And then my colleague, as soon as he pleaded not guilty, she came sprinting over and gave the signal and I yelled into the phone, but not guilty. And that's how we did it. It was a pretty pricey. Collect calls are not cheap, but it was obviously worth the expense to get that news out really

quickly. That's it for this edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back on Monday, and so will Kim. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, remember to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.