Palestinian statehood, Skydance-Paramount and Trump at the Fed

By Reuters July 25, 2025

This transcript was created using speech recognition software, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript.

Carmel Crimmins

Today, France plans to recognize a Palestinian state as ceasefire talks collapse. The U.S. clears the way for an $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger. Trump visits the Fed and bickers with Powell over renovation costs. And Thailand rejects international mediation as fighting with Cambodia continues. It's Friday, July 25th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmins in Dublin. Negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza have collapsed, Israel and the United States walking away from the discussions. US envoy Steve Witkoff accuses Hamas of failing to act in good faith. Hamas says it's surprised by Witkoff's remarks, saying the group's position had been welcomed by mediators. It's the latest setback in securing a truce and the release of Israeli hostages plus respite for Palestinians facing a worsening humanitarian crisis. And while international pressure mounts for a breakthrough, an announcement from President Emmanuel Macron, France will officially recognize a Palestinian state in September at the UN General Assembly, drawing angry rebukes from Israel and the United States. John Irish has more for us from Paris.

John Irish

For months, this has been in the works and Macron has wanted to gain some momentum and get others to join him in doing this. It's been a rocky path to making this decision because obviously France has close relations with Israel, but I think it's significant in the sense that this is the first major Western power to announce its intention to recognize the Palestinian state. And it will have an impact on relations with Israel. And you can already see immediately that Israel reacted very strongly to it with both Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister launching all sorts of accusations about this decision. France has traditionally wanted to play a role in trying to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to getting a two-state solution. I think over the last months, the concern has been that the two-states solution is disappearing and so you have to put it back on the agenda. And they feel that this will help in that process.

Carmel Crimmins

The FCC has approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, clearing the way for an $8.4 billion sale of some of the most prominent names in entertainment, including CBS, Paramount Pictures, and the Nickelodeon channel. They all now fall under the ownership of David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Entertainment business correspondent Dawn Chmielewski has been following the twists and turns of this sale. What did both sides have to do to make this deal happen?

Dawn Chmielewski

Skydance offered a number of assurances to the FCC to win this approval. Chief among them was this commitment to unbiased journalism. As you know, President Trump has had a long-running feud with certain segments of the news media, and CBS was the focus of one of its lawsuits. That suit was just settled for 16 million dollars seemingly clearing the way for regulatory approval for the deal, although the SEC chairman and Paramount say that the two are not tied. Now, in order to win further approval, Skydance committed to what it called unbiased journalism. It said it would air all points of view, and this speaks to Trump's concern that the media is treating him unfairly or not allowing conservative voices to be heard. So that was one assurance. Another was that Skydance would not institute diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at Paramount when the two companies are combined. Trump and his administration view affirmative action as discriminatory. So Skydance promised that it would not Institute these policies when it takes over the new company. Skydance also said it would make an investment in Paramount, that it will invest $1.5 billion improving Paramount and significantly investing in local news.

Carmel Crimmins

Why are some Democrats criticizing the deal?

Dawn Chmielewski

There's some Democrats who feel that both this settlement and then the more recent cancelation of the most popular show in late night, Stephen Colbert's show, were concessions that were made to the Trump administration to win this for Paramount to be able to close this deal.

Carmel Crimmins

What has Paramount said about that.

Dawn Chmielewski

Paramount offers a couple of explanations with, you know, it agreed to the settlement, which brings to an end what could have been a lengthy and costly legal battle with the President. Similarly, Paramount argued that its decision to cancel the Late Show was a financial one. Audiences have shrunk, ad revenue has shrunk and CBS says, look, we're losing $40 million a year on this thing, this is no longer sustainable.

Carmel Crimmins

An awkward conversation about money, between two of the most important people in financial markets. President Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell, both wearing hard hats, sparring over the Fed's renovation bill during a walkthrough of the construction project. And while he was there, Trump didn't miss the opportunity for a dig.

Donald Trump

Well, I'd love him to lower interest rates.

Carmel Crimmins

Trump's visit to the Federal Reserve, less than a week before the central bank's next rate-setting meeting, was unusual. In fact, he's only the third president to ever visit. Ann Saphir covers the Fed.

Ann Saphir

Although this visit itself is not specifically about interest rates, it's visiting a building that is under renovation and that White House critics say is costing too much and is ostentatious to boot. It's an escalation of pressure that he has been putting on the Fed since the beginning of this term and really dating back to his first term as well, demanding lower interest rates.

Carmel Crimmins

Now, Trump has said that if fraud were involved in the cost overruns, that would be grounds for firing Powell. So what does the Fed say about these renovations?

Ann Saphir

The Fed says that the main reason that it costs more than originally estimated is actually all that inflation and materials costs went up and labor costs went up and the Fed had to pay those as well. So the visit does nothing, I believe, to move the Fed towards lowering interest rates. It's still expected to keep policy on hold when it meets next week to decide interest rates

Carmel Crimmins

And while Trump keeps the pressure on Powell, the president's supporters are keeping the pressure on him to release additional information about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Justice department officials will meet on Friday with Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for a second day. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida on sex trafficking charges. Officials say they contacted her to see if she has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims. Thailand's military fire artillery towards Cambodia from a border town. The two countries exchanging heavy fire for a second day in an escalating border dispute that has killed at least 16 people. Both sides blame the other for firing first and Thailand is rejecting mediation efforts from third countries. It wants the situation solved through bilateral talks. Martin Petty is Reuters breaking news editor for Southeast Asia. What are the two sides fighting over?

Martin Petty

The two countries have been in dispute for a very, very long time about certain parts of the border, in particular, some ancient temples. For a couple of months now, the situation has been tense between them. Cambodia has sought resolution at the International Court of Justice, Thailand isn't taking part and this week, there was an intensification when two Thai soldiers lost limbs in the space of a week due to landmines in the disputed border area. Thailand maintains that these landmines were not left over from decades of civil war in Cambodia, but that they were freshly laid in the past two months, which Cambodia strenuously denies. But this led to a diplomatic standoff. Thailand recalled its ambassador from Cambodia and said it was going to expel Cambodia's ambassador and Cambodia is going to withdraw all of its diplomatic personnel from Thailand. And that's what led to the clashes that erupted.

Carmel Crimmins

And finally, tributes are being paid after the death of wrestling icon, Hulk Hogan. He died on Thursday at the age of 71. Police in Clearwater, Florida, responded to a call for a cardiac arrest at his home. Hogan became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform it into a family-friendly entertainment worth billions. He was also a supporter of President Trump. And for today's recommended read, demand in China is surging for a business that, in theory, shouldn't even exist. The repair of advanced Nvidia AI chipsets that the US has banned as an export to China. We'll drop a link to that story in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back on Sunday with our headline show.