Reuters World News - War and Wagner pose dilemma for Belarus exiles. Plus the Amazon summit and Haiti violence

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

Belarus’ opposition cautiously hope that Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine could give them a chance against President Lukashenko. But Wagner’s presence further complicates any uprising. As leaders meet for a summit on the future of the Amazon rainforest – we hear from an indigenous chief calling for action. Plus, thousands protest out-of-control gang violence in Haiti. 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, protests in Haiti as Kenya prepares to send in an international security force. Members of the Belarus' opposition in exile see a chance of regime change as the Ukraine war grinds on. A meeting in Brazil tries to find common ground to save the Amazon as the city of Phoenix tries to turn down the heat one road at a time. It's Tuesday, August 8th. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. Every weekday. I'm Kim Vinal in London. Tensions have exploded in Haiti as thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest gang violence. They're demanding protection from crime and aid to live from authorities. That's one protester, James, saying they can't go on like this.

The rise of gangs has devastated healthcare and security in the country, with growing numbers of kidnappings, homicides and rapes. Haiti's government requested international security assistance last year, and the UN has repeatedly voiced its support for a security force. But wary of getting involved in a country with an unelected caretaker government and a checkered history of foreign intervention, no country had been willing to lead such an effort, until now. Kenyan officials have said they will assess the conditions on the ground to send in a force

after committing 1,000 police officers last week. The US says it's looking for ways to support them. Let's take a look at the top headlines now from around the world. In China, grim trade numbers show imports and exports fell much faster than expected in July. That's only added to pressure for the world's second largest economy to release fresh stimulus to help it recover. West African countries have scheduled a summit for Thursday that could agree on a military intervention in Niger if the ousted president is not reinstated. The meeting was scheduled as a senior U.S. diplomat flew into the capital in the army to meet with the junta. Acting Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Newland,

described her talks with senior junta officials as frank and difficult, but they did not take up U.S. suggestions for restoring democratic order. The state of Western Australia is walking back laws it introduced to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage after the destruction of the Dukin Gorge. Rio Tinto legally blew up the 46,000-year-old rock shire. shelters in 2021 for an iron ore mine, causing deep distress to Indigenous groups. The global outcry eventually cost Rio Tinto's chief executive, chair and senior executives, their jobs. Western Australian Premier Roger Cook defended overturning the laws.

Put simply, the laws went too far. We're too prescriptive, too complicated, and placed unnecessary burdens on everyday Western Australian property owners. Now to markets, and Moody's is making headlines after it cut the credit ratings of several small to mid-sized banks. It's also put six banking giants on warning that they too might be downgraded. It said in a note that second quarter earnings showed growing pressure on profitability inside many banks. Moody's also cited the possibility of a mild US recession on the market. horizon and increased risks in the commercial real estate portfolios of banks. Accusations of vote rigging and a bloody crackdown by strongman president Alexander Lukashenko

forced tens of thousands of Belarusians to live in exile after the 2020 election. Now, as Russia's campaign in Ukraine falters, some of the Belarusian opposition see their chance. Agneshka Piculiska Velcheska has spoken to members of the opposition biding their time. Why are they seeing the war in Ukraine as a possible opportunity? Because President Lukashenko is a close ally of Russia. And of course, it's Belarus's a country which borders NATO countries. So once they understand that once Putin starts losing, if he starts losing in Ukraine, it will be a chance for Belarus to begin democratic changes. Does the opposition actually have a plan?

The opposition is divided when it comes to how to remove Lukashenka from power. On the one hand, we've got Skitlana Chihanovska and her cabinet, who still believe in negotiations with some parts of the regime. On the other hand, we've got military units who have been fighting in Ukraine since February 22. And most of those units believe that there should be a more coordinated military resource. response and a sort of military structure that could bring together all those units fighting in Ukraine. How does Wagner going into Belarus change the game? Well, in the beginning, when Wagner was launching its coup against Vladimir Putin,

there were high hopes among the Belarusian opposition that something can finally change, that the regime in Russia can change, and that would give the opposition an opportunity to change something in Belarus too. But now with Wagner fighters transferred to Belarus, the situation is getting more and more complicated because right now, in case something happens and in case an upheaval starts in Belarus, the Belarusian opposition will face not only the regular Belarusian army, which is not very well trained, but also people who are very well trained in combat and mercenaries who have fought on different fronts around the world. This makes the situation much more complex.

complex than it was before. For Indigenous Chief, Rione Mitoctair, protecting the Amazon is a matter of life and death. Rioni has a simple message for the leaders gathering in Brazil today at a summit to protect the Amazon. Do something. Brazil Bureau Chief Brad Haynes is watching the summit. Brad, what can these countries achieve during their two-day mission? meeting? Well, broadly we're expecting to see a united front, a show of unity around protection of the Amazon rainforest, especially head of the UN General Assembly. These countries want to present a

unified front and show that they're determined to work together, especially at a moment of broad ideological alignment on the left and center left. But of course, there are diplomatic divisions. We saw at a pre-Summit meeting in Bogota last month, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro was pushing Luisinaculula da Silva, the Brazilian president, to block all new oil development in the Amazon. Of course, that's a very sensitive issue for Brazil and frankly for Peru, which still has a fair amount of production and exploration in the region. So I think it'll be easy to present a United Front on preserving the Amazon. Now, whether there's any role for oil and gas development in the region, that could be a much touchier issue. What's at stake here, other than, of course, the fate of the planet?

There is a real sense that the Amazon could be approaching a tipping point, that a certain point, the deforestation and degradation of the rainforest gets so bad that it can't produce enough rain to sustain the whole biome. We've seen in some places there's scientific evidence of Dybeck accelerating, a sort of death spiral. So there's a narrow window in which these countries cannot just eliminate deforestation, but also start to try to reforest and pull that whole biome back from the brink. As Amazon countries try to find an agreement on how to cool the planet, in Phoenix, Arizona, they're trying something new to cool down their city. They're painting the streets. The city has installed cool pavement, an initiative described as sunscreen for roads.

The gray coating is designed to. reflect heat and sunlight away from the surface. Dr. David Hondula, the director of the Phoenix Office of Heat and Response Mitigation, explains it pretty simply. One of the things we need to do is look at where there's hot ground and make it less hot. The atmosphere is heated from the bottom up and when we look at satellite imagery of where hot surfaces are in our city, it's very clear two features stand out, roofs and roads. As the world registered the hottest month of all time in the

July, the Southwestern City saw temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43 degrees Celsius, for 31 straight days. Convierte your passion in a business with Shopify and bathe records of ventas with the form of pay with a better conversion of the world. Has heard of well? The best conversion of the world. The incredible system of Pago of Shopify facilitates the purchases in your site web, in the networks, and in whatever place. That's music for your ears.

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