0:02

Today, bombing continues in

0:04

Rafa as Israel strikes a defiant

0:06

tone. The war

0:08

in Gaza hangs over Europe's Eurovision Song

0:10

Contest. Why dirt cheap

0:12

tractors are a bad sign for US farmers.

0:16

And the canine workouts delighting dogs

0:18

and their owners in China. It's

0:23

Friday, May 10th. This is

0:25

Reuters World News, bringing you everything you

0:27

need to know from the frontlines in

0:29

10 minutes, every weekday. I'm

0:32

Carmel Krimans in Dublin. Israeli

0:43

forces bombarded areas of Rafa as

0:46

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed

0:48

President Biden's threat to withhold

0:50

weapons, vowing that Israelis will

0:52

fight alone and with

0:57

their fingernails if necessary. In

1:00

Cairo, ceasefire talks have ended with no deal

1:02

in sight. And at

1:04

the United Nations, another bid for Palestinian

1:06

statehood is on the table. The

1:09

General Assembly will support a bid for

1:11

Palestinian membership today and send

1:13

the application back to the Security Council. The

1:17

same application was vetoed by the US in

1:19

April. To

1:22

the Swedish city of Malmo, where Israeli

1:24

artist Eden Golan is through to

1:26

the Eurovision final. Making

1:30

it to the finals is something

1:32

crazy and I'm so grateful for

1:34

everyone who voted and who took

1:37

part in supporting us and me.

1:40

Israel's participation in the Song Contest prompted

1:42

boos during her performance and

1:44

demonstrations outside from those who

1:47

oppose Israel's war in Gaza. It's

1:50

given Eurovision, a kitschy event normally

1:52

associated with sequence and over-the-top performances

1:54

a hard edge this year. This

2:00

is what demonstrator Matilda Varata had to

2:03

say. What we expect and what we

2:05

would like to see is that they

2:07

disqualify Israel like they did with Russia,

2:10

when they're representing the Ukraine. It's

2:13

not true that the Eurovision is

2:15

not political, it has always been

2:17

political and it will always be.

2:20

So what does Israel think of the reception it's getting

2:22

at the Eurovision? We're joined by

2:25

James McKenzie, bureau chief for Israel

2:27

and the Palestinian territories. Well,

2:29

it's been seen really in

2:31

sort of perspective of this widespread feeling

2:34

there is in Israel at the moment

2:36

that the country is very

2:38

isolated internationally since the beginning of

2:40

the Gaza war. There's

2:43

always a kind of sort of

2:45

little political dimension to the Eurovision

2:47

song contest. It's normally fairly harmless.

2:49

Countries that are traditionally friendly

2:51

countries vote for each other and countries

2:53

that are traditionally not friendly vote against

2:56

each other. That's been a part of

2:58

it ever since it started. But of

3:00

course, this year it's a lot more

3:02

serious and a lot sort of sharper

3:04

edged than that. And there's

3:06

a real feeling that this young singer

3:08

is representing her country in a very

3:11

hostile world. The protests

3:13

at the event themselves sort of symbolize

3:15

that. And it's really being seen as

3:17

a kind of, I don't know, a

3:20

kind of highly visible symbolic

3:22

moment kind of that's laid this sort of

3:24

situation bare. I think that's the way a

3:26

lot of people in Israel are seeing it.

3:33

The Philippines is calling for Chinese diplomats

3:35

to be expelled in an escalation of

3:38

a long running dispute over the South

3:40

China Sea. At

3:42

issue is an alleged leak of a phone

3:44

call between a Chinese diplomat and a Filipino

3:47

admiral. China's foreign ministry says

3:49

its diplomats have to be allowed to do

3:51

their job. Russian

3:54

President Vladimir Putin wants to reappoint

3:56

Mikhail Misustin as prime minister. The

3:59

technocrat... has helped Putin steer the

4:01

Russian economy since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

4:05

Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money criminal

4:07

trial are preparing to call their final

4:09

witnesses. Chief among them

4:11

will be the former president's ex-lawyer Michael

4:14

Cohen. And

4:17

while Trump's criminal case continues, Jared

4:19

Kushner is hard at work, helping

4:21

to re-elect his father-in-law. Reuters

4:23

reports that Kushner has been making phone calls

4:26

to donors encouraging them to attend a Trump

4:28

fundraiser in New York. A

4:31

Florida sheriff has released bodycam footage of

4:34

a deputy fatally shooting a black U.S.

4:36

Air Force airman. Roger

4:38

Forson had a handgun at his side when he

4:40

was shot. The family

4:43

of the 23-year-old say the deputy, who

4:45

was investigating a domestic violence complaint, knocked

4:47

on the wrong door. If

4:56

you're in the market for a tractor right now, there

4:59

are some steep discounts to be had. In

5:02

fact, unsold tractors and combines

5:04

are piling up on lots. The

5:06

reason? U.S. farm income

5:09

has plummeted to an 18-year low.

5:12

Part of that is due to crop prices cooling

5:14

off. But it's also a

5:16

product of the pandemic era. And

5:18

this kind of glut tells us a lot

5:20

about the state of the ag economy. Bianca

5:24

Flowers covers agriculture. So

5:26

Bianca, could you start us off with a

5:28

bit of a history lesson? What's the backdrop

5:30

for this apparent disconnect? So, you

5:32

know, at the onset of the pandemic, a

5:35

lot of the industrial sector in general

5:37

was hit with supply chain constraints,

5:39

including farm equipment manufacturers. So

5:41

that meant that a lot less machinery

5:44

was being built for the time. At

5:46

the same time, farmers had a record

5:48

amount of farmer income subsidized by

5:50

government funds. And so that left them

5:52

with the discretionary cash to actually purchase

5:55

farm machinery. Now, what inflationary

5:59

pressures combined with with falling commodity prices,

6:01

we're starting to see that take

6:03

a turn. And that means farmers

6:06

are planting less now. Production

6:08

costs are still pretty high as well as fertilizer costs.

6:11

And they just don't have that discretionary cash that

6:13

they're used to. So crop

6:15

prices are down, which might be good for

6:17

consumers, but not great for farmers or the

6:19

likes of, say, John Deere. Essentially, lower prices,

6:22

like lower crop prices, means lower food

6:24

prices for households because they'll have more

6:26

money to spend on food and other

6:28

household expenditures. And that

6:30

is the adverse effect for folks in

6:33

the rural economy, specifically households that are

6:35

dependent on agriculture. So while folks like

6:37

myself may benefit from lower crop prices,

6:39

even though inflation is still high on

6:41

some consumer staples, people, farmers,

6:44

their families who actually depend

6:47

on crop prices being high, that means

6:49

lower income for rural households. And

6:51

so farmers aren't making money. They're

6:54

going to be reluctant to buy new machinery.

6:57

Farmers of course are facing another threat that's

6:59

eating into their bottom line, bird

7:01

flu. Make sure to download

7:04

our weekend podcast posting on Saturday. It

7:06

answers all your burning questions about

7:08

avian flu, including, is it safe

7:11

to cuddle cows? Spoiler alert,

7:13

it's not. And

7:18

from cuddly cows to fast dogs. Over

7:22

in China, the markets for pets and

7:24

sports are bright spots in an otherwise

7:26

weak economy. To find

7:28

out why, Nikoko Chan has been to a

7:30

dog trail race in Shanghai, where

7:33

dog owners and their pets skip through

7:35

car tires and crawl under nets.

7:40

I'm a dog person, so being in a

7:42

big field on a weekend with 200 dogs

7:44

is pretty exciting for me. But

7:47

if you're not a dog person, that would probably

7:49

not be up your alley. Most

7:52

of the people participating are pretty young. Probably

7:55

everyone is under 45, I would say,

7:57

with a majority of them. them

8:00

being in their late 20s or early 30s. China

8:05

emerged from COVID later than the rest of the

8:07

world, really in 2023, when borders reopened and

8:11

COVID zero policy was dropped. And

8:13

so since then, we've seen some big

8:15

changes in consumer behavior. One

8:17

of them is spending more on experiences like

8:20

concerts. And also, people care

8:22

a lot more about their physical health.

8:24

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

8:26

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

8:28

Hello. So in order to get the

8:30

bigger emphasis on pet spending, we spoke

8:32

to an analyst who identified these as

8:34

bright spots in the economy, the pet

8:36

market and also the exercise

8:39

market, the outdoor exercise market

8:41

in particular. And so this type

8:43

of event can really be seen as an intersection of

8:45

all these trends. I

8:49

spoke with a lot of people at the

8:52

event, including Hong-Sei Wen, who placed third with

8:54

his border collie, Yao Yao. And

8:56

he told me that originally, he only would

8:58

go to the gym to run and lose weight.

9:01

But after having a dog, both his dog

9:03

and exercise became really integral parts of his

9:05

life. And the sentiment is really what

9:07

this event is about. I mean, we can talk about

9:09

consumer trends and how the pet market

9:11

is a billion dollar industry and how

9:13

the sports market is a billion dollar

9:15

industry. But really, you just see people

9:17

are putting a lot more priority on

9:21

their sense of well-being. And this type of

9:23

event is an extension of that. That's

9:29

it for Friday. We'll

9:32

be back on Monday with our daily headline show. Have a

9:34

great weekend whenever it comes for you. And

9:36

remember to check out our special episode on

9:38

Avian Flu. To make sure

9:40

you never miss an episode of Reuters World News, subscribe

9:42

on your favorite podcast player

9:44

or download the Reuters app.