Officials say that the US is close to an agreement to give Ukraine long-range cruise missiles that could reach deep into Russia. Constitutional reforms would make more than 7,000 Mexican judges elected officials, rather than appointed. Nvidia suffers a record $279 billion loss in market value. And China makes a tough sales pitch to African leaders.
Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here.
Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here.
Find the Recommended Read 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, a Russian air attack close to Veneto border prompts fresh calls from Zelensky for long-range missiles. Stocks slide after renewed growth concerns and Nvidia's sell-off. Leaders from across Africa arrive in Beijing looking for infrastructure deals and financial support. And Mexican Congress debates judicial reforms, despite a rare work stoppage in protest by Supreme Court judges. It's Wednesday, September 4th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oakes, in the book hall. Explosions and gunfire lighting up the night sky across Lviv in Ukraine, less than 50 miles from the border with Poland. At least three people were killed and dozens injured in the Russian airstrikes. They came a day after the war's deadliest single attack this year, when Russia hit a military institute in the central town of Poltava, killing 50 and wounding hundreds more. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has again called on allies to help with air defences and allow long-range strikes into Russia. U.S. officials say they're close to an agreement to send joint air-to-surface standoff missiles known as jazzams to Ukraine. Mike Stone covers arms manufacturing. Sending jazzams to Ukraine would be a tectonic shift in how the Russians are prosecuting their war on Ukraine. What I mean by that is, all of a sudden, all these helicopter bases that fly short sorties into Ukraine would have to move back, potentially one refueling stop, so you'd be able to pick up the aircraft, making their trip towards Ukraine an hour earlier, for example. You could prepare your defences, you could shoot them down. But what might this mean for U.S. policy? In the past, the administration has had concerns about Ukraine striking deep within Russia. The United States has had a policy in place. If you want weapons from us, you can't strike cross-border into Russia. The Ukraine has actually volunteered that early on in the hopes that it would open up the vast resources of the United States' armaments to them. It has worked so far to get lots and lots of weapons to Ukraine. Various types, increasing capabilities, jazzams would be the next step. In Kyiv, President Zelensky is overseeing the biggest government reshuffle of the 30-month war against Russia. That includes Foreign Minister Dimitro Koleba, who has resigned. A senior ally of Zelensky described the changes as a reset ahead of the winter. The U.S. has charged top Hamas leaders for their roles in planning and perpetrating the October 7th attack in Israel. The charges against a group's leader, and at least five others, accuse them of orchestrating the attack, which killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans. Vice President Kamala Harris has erased Donald Trump's edge on the economy among Hispanic voters and is now neck and neck with the former president. This is according to the latest router's Ipsos poll. Harris leads by a wide margin on health care and climate change among Hispanics. Pope Francis warning against religious extremism and encouraging inter-religious dialogue to counter it. He's in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country. And it's the first beach of his 12-day trip across Southeast Asia. And at the U.S. Open, Francis Tiafo will take on Taylor Fritz in an all-American semi-final, with the childhood friends promising an epic encounter. Both are looking to end a long-grand slam drought for American men, with Andy Rodick, the last men's player to win a major, at Flushing Meadows in 2003. Stocks have posted their worst day since last month's mini meltdown. Kamala Cremans is here to explain what's going on. Kamala, has everyone returned from Labor weekend in a foul mood? Well, there could be something to that. September is historically a bad month for stocks. It's the phenomenon known as the September Effect. And it's actually the topic of my podcast this week on Reuters Econ World. We look at the calendar effect and behavioral bias that can kick in after the summer vacation. You can catch the show on Reuters.com, the Reuters app, or wherever you get your podcasts. In terms of specific reasons why stocks fell so sharply, well, we had weak U.S. manufacturing data. That's revived worries about the global growth outlook. And just like in August, tech got hit the hardest with NVIDIA leading a plunge in chip makers. We'll have to see how the rest of the week develops. U.S. job openings later today will provide clues on the strength of the labor market. But the big focus will be on Friday's payrolls report for August, which could determine whether the Fed's expected rate cut this month will be regular or supersized. Theist debate in Mexico's lower house of Congress on Tuesday, despite a rare last-hit work stoppage by Supreme Court judges in protest. The proposed judicial reform would make more than 7,000 judges elected officials, rather than appointed. The reforms proposed by outgoing President Antris Manuel Lopez-Obrador have led to protests, strained relations with the United States, and sparked market volatility. Cassandra Garrison has been following the debate in Mexico City. Lopez-Obrador has argued that these changes are needed because the current judiciary system serves only a minority and sometimes even serves organized crime at the expense of society. He believes the reform will help fight impunity and corruption, which has been one of the top crusades of his administration. But critics have argued that the popular election of judges would end merit-based career paths and make the judiciary even more vulnerable to outside influence, such as political parties or organized crime groups, and markets have also reacted negatively over concerns that these changes could weaken checks and balances in Mexico and damage the business climate in Latin America. And what does this mean for the President's successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, who is set to take office next month? Sheinbaum, who is the protege of Lopez-Obrador, has been very supportive of this reform and has backed him on pushing it through, but she's going to inherit a very delicate diplomatic dance when this is passed and when she takes office. The US and the Canadian ambassadors to Mexico have both been very concerned about the election of judges by popular vote being a risk to Mexico's democracy, so it's going to be up to Sheinbaum, which she takes office to ensure Mexico's trading partners and investors that democracy is fully intact, and Mexico is a reliable place to do business. Leaders from 50 African nations are in Beijing this week, looking for more pledges of Chinese loans and investments on the continent. On Thursday, China Xi Jinping will address the summit, urging the African countries to snap out more of its electric vehicles and solar panels, and attempt to shift them before Western curbs kick in. But China may find it's a tough sell. Joe Cash is in Beijing. The problem is, the African leaders in attendance may not be easy bait as China pledged at the last summit to buy $300 billion worth of African goods, a pledge which goes unfulfilled. So they will also want to hear fresh pledges for infrastructure. They will want to hear that Chinese firms are going to particularly manufacturers, are going to set up new facilities in their countries. China has indicated a fresh preference for financing the technologies, but its domestic companies have invested heavily in, and it now needs to sell. So there may be a mismatch between what the African leaders are hoping to acquire from China in terms of pledges and what China wants to offer them. And one African nation has already suggested that China won't be pushing on an open door when it tries to convince delegates to absorb more of its goods. We interviewed Angola's finance minister, who pointed out that there was competition for China, particularly from Europe, and that it would be buying solar panels from Europe, because Europe required it to do so as part of its financing arrangement, and whether it bought China solar panels, Chinese EVs, European solar panels, European cars, depended on where the financing was coming from. And as Europe so far had been more forthcoming, therefore it was a more attractive proposition to Luanda. [MUSIC] Today's recommended read is an incredible graphic which illustrates in detail how building fires have been fueled by the use of flammable materials, and how the lessons after the deadly Grenfell tower fire in London, which killed 72 people, have gone unlearned. We'll be digging into that more later this week on the pod. And for more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or The Reuters App. To never miss an episode, subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.
