China presses Iran, weapons in space and UN war crimes probe (Updated)

Hi, I'm Kim Van Nel in Whanganui, New Zealand. And I'm Christopher Walgesper in Chicago. It's Thursday, September 17th. Today, China uses its influence in Tehran to try and ease Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Canada pivots to Europe. The United Nations finds evidence of war crimes in Iran. And the U.S. admits it's got weapons in space. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, 7 days a week. Make this your most rewarding season ever with FanDuel. Age and location restrictions apply. Product availability varies by market. See FanDuel.com for eligibility. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. A United Nations fact-finding mission says it has reasonable grounds to believe that the United States has committed war crimes in Iran. The independent experts found evidence related to two. attacks in February, including one on a school in the southern city of Manab that killed more than 150 people, including around 120 schoolchildren. The mission concluded the school was the intended target, not collateral damage from a strike on a nearby Revolutionary Guard compound. The Trump administration has not released findings from its Pentagon investigation into the school bombing. The U.N. report also accuses. Iran's government of crimes against humanity in its crackdown on protesters. Meanwhile, China is asking Iran to help rein in Yemen's Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia called in the favor from Beijing following the Houthis' military blitz this week. That's according to three Iranian sources familiar with the matter. Riyadh turned to China for help after the Houthis' rapid advance threatened Saudi oil exports and shipping. Beijing has asked Iran to use its influence with the Houthis to help prevent the conflict from spreading further, especially across energy shipping routes that China depends on. Iran's foreign ministry and the Saudi government's media office did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Stable prices have been the problem for now more than five and a half years. So what the committee decided to do today was take an action to ensure a timely response. a return to our price stability objective. Fed Chair Kevin Walsh explaining why the central bank is raising interest rates for the first time in three years. Not only did rates go up by a quarter percentage point, the expectation is they'll be hiked again before the end of the year. Here's Fed reporter Howard Schneider. The statement had a slight change of emphasis that's very, very important. They took out references to inflation. being attributed at least in part to supply shocks. Those are the type of things that are caused by energy price spikes or commodity price spikes that central banks tend to ignore because just as fast as they come in, they go away. So the fact that they're putting this now somewhat on the demand side, that they're talking about needing to get inflation back down on a timelier basis, all that to me says they've got more hikes to come. President Donald Trump took to social media saying interest rates should be 1% or less. But the Fed said it's not. But the Fed's decision to hold firm puts his relationship with his own Fed Chair nominee back in the spotlight. Walsh, it appears, is talking more frequently with the president. And, you know, that may be, if he's able to stay in his lane and stay independent, not so bad a thing if he's able to talk the president through the logic of what the committee is doing, why it makes sense, why it actually helps the president to get inflation down, why it actually is a sign of strength in the economy. That they're taking this action. Together, Canada and the European Union can anchor our ground to hold our values while forming a protective canopy under which our citizens can thrive. This is about sovereignty. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaking before the European Parliament today following the proposal to make Canada a, quote, associate member of the EU. Canada and Europe are each strong. Europe and Canada are stronger together. The background is important here. Canada-US relations have taken a huge hit when trade talks collapsed last month. EU correspondent Julia Payne breaks down what this new alliance means. The EU has realised that it has traded its dependence on Russian gas for US gas. And it's now, you know, realising that this, that it should not depend on an unpredictable partner, you know, under US President Donald Trump. And it is seeking to diversify. And this would work well with Canada that wants to find other partners. And the EU and Canada, by coming closer together, can reduce their dependencies on both the United States and China. The EU and Canada have had general conversations so far. But they are keen to. They are keen to work close, more closely together on supply chains, critical minerals, defence, artificial intelligence and energy. Well, this would not be a membership. Carney has made that clear in statements this week. Also, it would be very difficult for Canada to meet EU norms to enter the single market or be part of an economic zone that countries like Iceland and Norway are part of. And the EU has made that clear. The Pentagon is, for the first time, acknowledging it is operating what is known as on-orbit weapons, capable of defending against space-enabled attacks. As space reporter Joey Roulette explains, much of that acknowledgement is about deterrence. There's a lot of different types of space weapons and it's an evolving field and there's a lot of innovation happening in that area right now. And much of it is very secret. But there's really. There's really two different types. There's spacecraft and satellites and weapons that can support operations on Earth. So that's like spy satellites, communications and maybe some weapons that are aiming at Earth. Not to say that those are definitely in space, but this is just conceptual. And so then there are weapons that are space to space. So a satellite that can attack another satellite. The US has accused Russia and China of weaponizing space. And Russia has shown interest in what space can offer militarily. Russia, you know, once it invaded Ukraine, it tilted much of its space program to focus on military space operations. So it is kind of overtly interested in that area. And then China has considered a number of spacecraft operations that could be used in the military context. But there's no real example of that actually happening yet. This was really just kind of a moment in the rhetoric of this boiling up space race that's been going on for the past. few years on the civil side. And this is just kind of a significant moment on the military side of space. Rogue AI agents from OpenAI hijacked user accounts and probed for security weaknesses at Hugging Face as early as May. That's nearly two months before the July breach that triggered a global reckoning over AI safety. An independent researcher uncovered the activity last week. Experts say it was. was a missed warning sign that could have prevented the larger incident. OpenAI says it partially disclosed the May activity in a report and privately notified Hugging Face, adding it was committed to transparency. And finally, to Ed Sheeran's US tour. His opening acts and his band have quit in solidarity with rapper Macklemore. He was dropped from the lineup after calling for a free Palestine on stage earlier this month. Sheeran says the decision to drop him was not his. Macklemore says he's donating a million dollars to humanitarian aid in Gaza. FanDuel is now available everywhere in the US. So you can get in on the sports action. No matter where you are. Including these places. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. For more on any of the stories from today, as well as more analysis on the news shaping our world, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. There's a link in the description to download it. Start getting pure news straight from the source. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week.