Reuters World News - US strikes Iran-backed groups, Dem kingmaker and China targets Australian writer

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

The United States intends to launch further strikes at Iran-backed groups in the Middle East after hitting Tehran-aligned factions in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. We sit down with Democrat kingmaker Jim Clyburn to find out what Biden needs to win. A Beijing court has handed Australian writer Yang Hengjun a suspended death sentence. Plus, Taylor Swift makes Grammy history. 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 US says it will launch more strikes on Iran-backed groups after a weekend barrage. Beijing hands down a suspended death sentence for an Australian pro-democracy blogger. We sit down with the Democrat kingmaker to find out what Biden needs to win. And the drama and deluge of a rainy Grammys. It's Monday February 5th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you every day. everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken begins another Middle East tour today,

as officials warn the U.S. has not finished attacking Iran-linked groups across the region. The U.S. and Britain have launched a barrage of strikes on targets in Yemen, Iraq and Syria in recent days. It's in retaliation for an attack on US troops on the Jordan-Syria border and ongoing attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Yemenis in the capital Sana, like Mohammed Qadish, have condemned the attacks. He says the US is expanding the conflict in the Arab world while claiming the opposite. Phil Stewart is in Washington, D.C. Phil, how far will the US go?

I think right now what we're seeing is really large-scale military operations in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, but the kinds of operations that stop short of raising concerns about a direct war between the United States and Iran. But National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said there will be more attacks. So what might that look like? So what we've been hearing is there's going to be a multi-tiered approach. And the question we have is, will it all be military? Will it all be overt? Will it all be strikes? Could some of it be sanctions? We don't know. Perhaps some of it could be unseen actions like cyber or things that are covert.

How has Iran responded? Is there any kind of back-channel communication going on between Washington and Tehran to stop this from escalating? Well, the United States has said it is not engaged in direct communication with Iran. But what we don't know is what kind of back-channel messaging must be going on. At the same time, there have been a lot of public messaging from the White House, from the State Department, from the Pentagon, saying that nobody in the United States is interested in a war with Iran. I think so far Iran's response really fits the pattern of what we've seen in recent years. They're coming out, they're condemning U.S. actions in the region, they're branding U.S. military responses as interference and violations of sovereignty of countries like Iraq, where the U.S. carry down strikes. and you've seen condemnation in Iraq as well. But what the United States hasn't seen so far

is any kind of large-scale Iranian response. And if the strikes continue or if US action continues along the lines that we've seen so far, it's not clear there will be one. The U.S. Senate has unveiled a $118 billion by-partisan border security bill that would also provide aid to Ukraine and Israel.

President Joe Biden praised the migration measures in the bill, which took months to negotiate. But House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has declared it dead on arrival if it reaches his chamber. Crowds chair in El Salvador as President Naib Buckele declares himself winner of national elections

in a landslide, even though electoral officials have not released any results. Buckele was the heavy favourite to win as voters largely cast aside concerns about erosion of democracy to reward him for a fear, gang crackdown. Fires in central Chile have raised entire neighbourhoods and killed more than 100 people.

Hundreds more are still missing, stoking fears the death toll will keep climbing as more bodies are found on hillsides and in houses devastated by the blazers. A Chinese court has handed down a suspended death sentence to an Australian writer accused of espionage. Yanghingjun has been accused of spying for a country China has not publicly identified and details of the case also have not been made public. Kirstie Needham is in Sydney. Yang Hangjun is a 57-year-old Australian. He was born in China.

He's best known as being a pro-democracy blogger before he was arrested in 2019, arriving in China around Chinese New Year. But he had really built up a reputation amongst Chinese liberals as a charismatic online commentator on US and China politics. What has the Australian government said and done? The Australian government has been very quick to respond today. Foreign Minister Penny Wong came out and said this was a harrowing verdict.

The government was appalled by the verdict and they would make strong representations to China that Yang Jun has been in detention. Three years ago, he had his trial in a closed court in Beijing. that Australian embassy officials were not able to access. They tried to get into that court and were turned back. What does this mean for Australia-China relations? So Australia-China relations had been getting back on a steady keel after four years of a diplomatic freeze, essentially, and blockades by China of a lot of Australian exports. Albanese visited Beijing last October, the first Australian leader to visit this major trading partner in many years.

And Australians have been talking about stabilising ties. But analysts have been really quick to point out today that this verdict will make it really difficult on that path of stabilisation. Does this mean he will actually be put to death or what happens next? So this, under the Chinese legal system, a verdict of death suspended by two years means that rather than immediate execution, that over the next, next two years if he doesn't get into further trouble or there's not more allegations or crimes that he's accused of, that that sentence in two years time will be commuted to a life sentence.

Representative Jim Clyburn is a kingmaker. The endorsement from the South Carolina Democrat in 2020 gave Joe Biden's then-flagging campaign the jolt it desperately needed. And with the primary in South Carolina in the Rare View mirror, Clyburn is looking to do it again as the president endures low approval ratings. Jared Renshaw recently sat down with Clyburn in Columbia, South Carolina. When people tell me for the poor communicator Joe Biden has been, I say to them, don't confuse goodness with weakness. Jared, what did Representative Clyburn say Biden needs to do, to reconnect with voters? His view, largely, is that the campaign needs to really increase their,

what he called, an army of boots on the ground. People that look like the community they're talking to, that can vouch for Biden, that can talk about the accomplishments, and cut through a lot of the news and the noise and the social media punchlines. Because people seem to feel, if it's beyond 27 words, I'm not going to read it. and really get to the street level. And so what we've got to do is make sure that we get validators and voices out here.

He believes one of the reasons why Biden's message is not coming through is he's not the best messenger. He's not showy. You don't like Joe Biden's style. Try looking at his substance. But in his words, if you're looking for somebody that can save democracy, that deliver on his promises,

well, then Joe Biden's your guide. Polls show that the constituency that elected Biden in 2020 is fraying. Did Clyburn give you a sense of how Biden can re-energize his base, particularly among black voters? He's concerned about that narrative taking hold, this narrative that blacks are not enthusiastic, and that being kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. So it just takes engagement, engagement, engagement in their living rooms, in their churches, to get them more motivated. He believes that there's been, since the 1960s, the kind of U.S. society has made considerable gains, Voting Rights Act, Fair Housing Act, and a number of these things that he feels that if Trump is elected will go away.

And so I tell her young people, especially all the time, anything that's happened before can happen again. Taylor Swift has made history by winning the Grammy for Album of the Year for the Fourth Time in her career. She's the first artist in history to have done so. Boyfriend Travis Kelsey wasn't on her arm. He's off preparing for the Super Bowl. Swift did, however, announce a new album out later this year. The drama wasn't just the awards. Rapper Killer Mike was taken away from the ceremony in handcuffs by police,

but only after sweeping up three of the music industry's biggest prizes for rap music. Those inside weren't just lucky to catch the performance, but also to miss the rain. A heavy storm arrived just as Los Angeles welcomed celebrities, knocking out power for 900,000 customers. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. To make sure you know what's going on the world,

listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.