Paramount deal, Germany elections, AI at the UN (Updated)

Hi, I'm Kim Vanell in Whanganui, New Zealand. And I'm Jonah Green in New York. It's Monday, September 21st. Today. Major networks suspend pool coverage of the White House after Trump's media ban. OpenAI's Sam Altman prepares to address the UN with AI fears front and center at the gathering of world leaders. And another win for the far right in Germany puts Chancellor Merz in a tight spot. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven 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. Major television networks have suspended White House pool coverage after President Donald Trump banned CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from White House grounds. The move effectively eliminates the most. important video source for presidential events. CNN was supposed to cover Trump's trip to New York today, but couldn't provide the feed. The three outlets are now suing Trump and his administration, arguing the ban violates their First Amendment rights. The president defended the ban on Monday, claiming without evidence that the news media posed a national security threat. Paramount has settled with California and 11 other states. They've sued to block its 110-billion-dollar acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The move clears one of the last major hurdles to a deal that would reshape Hollywood. The settlement requires independent editorial boards for CNN and CBS, and imposes a $30 million penalty for each film short of the 30 movies Paramount pledged to release annually. But one challenge remains. The Reuters Guild is still suing to stop the merger, arguing it would suppress wages and reduce output from Reuters. In Yemen, Iran-aligned Houthi fighters are pushing to seize strategic mountain positions after a rapid advance along the country's Red Sea coast. The developments follow a report that President Donald Trump called off planned U.S. airstrikes against the Houthis at the last minute, despite fresh Saudi approval. The conflict has already rattled the region after reported Houthi missile strikes on Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh. Our chief correspondent for Saudi Arabia, Timur Azari, explains why the fighting in Yemen now matters far beyond the battlefield. It's been many years since Riyadh was targeted on this scale. So it's definitely an escalation, and it's just another sign of what a difficult spot. The kingdom here is in as it tries to sort of decide what to do in Yemen. It's been 11 years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and Yemen is still, you know, is still in conflict. And the Houthis are still able to take territory and to threaten Saudi Arabia. Timur says the Houthi attacks have shaken the kingdom. Since 2022, Saudi Arabia has been in talks with the Houthis. They reached a ceasefire with the group. So Saudi Arabia seemed pretty secure. In the belief that the Houthis would stick to that path despite the escalation in the region. And we've really seen that turn on its head in the last few months. And now the conversation is basically about, you know, can we ever engage the Houthis in the political process again? And if we can't, then, you know, probably there's only a military solution. If you look at Saudi strategy over the past sort of decade, it's been predicated on this national transformation strategy, where you have. Huge infrastructure projects. And you're really trying to turn this kingdom from a place that exported oil to a place that brings people in and that people visit for tourism. And that depends on having a region that's relatively stable. And clearly we're not heading in that direction. The widening conflict in the Middle East is just one of the topics on the agenda as world leaders gather in New York this week for the UN General Assembly. They're also going to tackle the risks of artificial intelligence. With Reuters learning that open AI CEO Sam Altman will also be there to brief leaders. Our UN correspondent, Agnes Larkowski, at the UN headquarters, has more. One of the really interesting subjects is artificial intelligence. Leaders from leading AI labs have warned about the sort of breakneck speed of AI development. And Antonio Guterres actually has called for coordinated efforts to address artificial intelligence. to rein in the speed of AI development for a long time. One important elephant, not in the room but missing from the room or missing from the conversation perhaps, is President Xi Jinping of China. He's skipping the General Assembly of the United Nations and is opting for one-on-one direct conversation with President Donald Trump in Washington D.C. on Thursday. This is inevitably going to create a split-screen moment and is going to highlight concerns about where the locus of political power is, whether it is where the two most powerful nations in the world meet in D.C. or whether it is here in the building behind me. FanDuel is now available everywhere in the U.S. So you can get in on the sports action no matter where you are, including these places. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. safety research. And so that is partly why Anthropic is still racing forward. It wants that seat at the table to guide the conversation. Jeffrey says Anthropic is already partnering with some drug makers to provide AI to automate lab and other equipment. Pharmaceutical companies are liking that. Actually, the CEO of Novartis has joined Anthropic's board. At the same time, Anthropic is navigating what some sources called a trust problem. There is this concern that as those drug companies use Claude for their own drug programs, as they put their own proprietary data into Claude and talk to Anthropic about what they're doing, that Anthropic will learn from that and then match, maybe out-compete those companies in the drug industry. See FanDuel.com for eligibility, gambling, problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Headline show.