Reuters World News - What Israel fears in Jenin and China wants from Yellen

Episode Date: July 4, 2023

Israel continues its raid involving hundreds of commandos and air strikes in the West Bank, saying its cracking down on terrorist groups. China steps up its war with the U.S. over microchips ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen. Reuters photographer Alkis Konstantinidis takes us behind the scenes of shooting a Supermoon. Plus the map that’s led to Vietnam banning the new "Barbie" movie. 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, deadly gunfights on the streets of Janine continue after the first Israeli drone strikes on the West Bank in nearly two decades. China fires back as the chip war escalates ahead of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's visit. Vietnam bans the Barbie movie over a South China Sea map. And our photographer breaks down how he captured those amazing images of a supermoon rising of a persistent. Syedon's Temple in Greece. It's Tuesday, July 4th. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. Every weekday.

I'm Kim Vennel in London. Israel's continued a large-scale military operation against Palestinian militants in the Janine refugee camp for a second day. They say they're targeting terrorist infrastructure in the occupied West Bank. Here, mourners chant outside a hospital as they carry the body of one of the ten Palestinians killed. The worst fighting there in more than two decades has sparked panic on the streets. Thousands of people are fleeing the area. Israel says it's close to completing the operation. Mayan Lubell is in Jerusalem.

Mayan, what's led to this new wave of violence? Janine is a stronghold of militant activity. hundreds of fighters there. They come from Islamic Jihad, from Hamas, from Fatah, which is associated with Palestinian President Abbas. It's sort of in the DNA of the city of the refugee camp. 14,000 people packed into very small space, lots of poverty. It saw some of the worst fighting 20 years ago in the second uprising, the second Intifada. As far as Israel sees it, it's the Palestinian authority has lost control. It's the Palestinian Authority's job to reign in these militants. Palestinian Authority is not popular among its people, and they say that Israel is basically

weakening them by doing its own raids in that area. So there's been a lot of build-up over the past. I would say almost a year and a half since March last year, a crescendo of violence, which has led to this latest operation. Has the Palestinian Authority given up trying to police the West Bank? Who is actually in control there? Formerly, the Palestinian Authority is in control. I say that there are areas where they're stronger and areas where they're weaker.

I don't think they've given up, but I can tell you that there is quite a lot of concern in the West, what will happen if the Palestinian Authority collapses. Israel has actually come out and said it's not in its interest, but there are some in that government who would be very happy to see the Palestinian Authority collapse. That's not the position as far as I understand of the Prime Minister Netanyahu. But if the Palestinian Authority collapses, you will see, I imagine, increased fighting chaos. Now let's take a look at the news headlines around the world. Some breaking news in Moscow this morning.

Russia says Ukraine has attacked its capital with at least five drones. Flights at one Moscow airport had to be diverted for several hours. Russia says all the drones were either shot down or jammed. There's no immediate comment from Kyiv. President Vladimir Putin spoken at an international forum for the first time since a short-lived mutiny last month. He told Asian leaders the Russian people were more united than ever. A UN watchdog has approved Japan's controversial plan to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the ocean. The move has had fierce resistance from Beijing

and sparked safety concerns from fishing groups. But the International Atomic Energy Agency says the release will have a negligible impact on the environment. Four people have been killed and four others injured in a shooting in Philadelphia. The shooting comes a day after two people were killed and 28 others injured, many of them children, in a hail of gunfire at a block party in Baltimore. These latest incidents highlighting a sustained surge in mass shootings in the US

since the beginning of the pandemic. Senegal President Makisal says he won't run for re-election next year, ending speculation he would seek a third term. His supporters outside the ruling party headquarters were disappointed, but say they back his decision. Critics argued that another term would have been illegal, and that had raised fears of violent protests. The plastic fashionista we all loved or loved to hate

is being blacklisted in Vietnam. The Barbie film starring Margot Robbie is being banned because of a scene showing a map of the area's China claims as its own in the South China Sea. That includes parts Vietnam considers its continental shelf. China has hit back in the Chip War by restricting exports of two metals critical to the tech sector. The curbs on gallium and germanium follow US moves to restrict sales of semiconductors

and comes ahead of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yallin's visit to China this week. Political writer John Getty is following the escalating tit-for-tat between Beijing and Washington. John, what do these new restrictions mean? Taking a step back, this is sort of the latest salvo in this war over microchips between the US and its allies and China. And this is sort of China fighting back in one way it can because when it comes to these two particular metals, it's one of the biggest producers in the world of these products that are required in the manufacturing. So they have some leverage here. And that's why we're seeing them taking these actions. It's still early days to see exactly what sort of impact this will have on the market.

But I think when you look at the broader context, it's yet another escalation and this war between the US and China over access to microchips. Janet Yellen is due there this week. Will this come up? Yes. I mean, the US side has said that this is one thing that Yelan does want to discuss with her Chinese counterparts. And Beijing itself has not really commented much about the trip. other than confirming the date. But certainly observers in China say that trade tariffs, this microchip issue, and some of the sanctions that the US has on Chinese tech companies will, of course, be issues that Beijing wants to bring up with Yellen.

What's the best outcome here for China from that trip? The Yellen trip is part of this broader effort, I think, just to get the two sides speaking again. There have been a whole host of issues that these. two sides have disagreed upon. There's been an assumption that relations, you know, have never been really at a worse point between the two sides. So I think just an effort to have US officials come to China and to discuss some of these more substantive issues and just to sort of put a floor under these souring relations will be seen as an achievement here. Eyes have been drawn to night skies around the world over the last two nights for July's

spectacular supermoon. It's been called the full buck moon, a Native American name chosen because apparently the antlers of male dears are fully growing at this time of year. For Reuters, Alcus Constantinidis was in Greece, tasked with capturing the moon rising above the ancient temple of Poseidon on Cape Sunian. They really are extraordinary photos, which you'll no doubt see on media outlets now around the world. So Alcas, tell us how you get set up for these photos. We are like enough now that a few software that gives us the moon phases. We are able to track where exactly the moon is going to appear.

I do this small research. I find the specific spot that I have to set up. I would like to have the moon in the perfect spot inside my frame. Subconsciously, when you have a well-balanced frame where all of the elements are placed perfectly in position, the human brain recognizes a photo as a really, really good photo. How long do you have to get that picture? To be honest, every time, it's the same stress, and I feel it, because you have a timing that the moon is going to appear at 21, 23, exactly from the sea level.

And then you're counting the minutes where you need these extra minutes that you're going to see the moon appearing behind the temple, and it doesn't appear. And then you say, is it going to appear? Am I going to see it? is it going to happen? Am I going to have the picture? Is the weather good? Did I make any mistakes? And it's like for a minute, a minute and a half that you have this time frame to get the pictures that you really want, where the moon is going to be behind the temple and where you're going to put some new elements in your frame. Now, if you haven't seen these photos, make sure you check them out at Reuters.com.

That's all we have for today's edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily news show. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.