Why Millions of People in Eastern Congo Face Starvation

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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Alex Ossola (0:18)

Warner and Paramount are headed back to the bargaining table. Plus, to fund his proposed budget, New York City's mayor could raise property taxes by almost 10 percent. And millions of people in Congo are at risk of starvation.

Nicholas Bariyo (0:31)

The supermarket shelves are empty, the food stores are closed or empty. So most of the traders have nothing to sell. Those that are available are very, very expensive and unaffordable.

Alex Ossola (0:45)

It's Tuesday, February 17th. I'm Alex Ossola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

First up on this evening's show, media news. The saga continues. Warner Bros. Discovery said today that it will restart Deal Talks with Paramount. Warner's board has set a seven-day window for Paramount to make its quote, best and final offer. Netflix says its $72 billion deal for Warner's movie and TV studios, plus its HBO Max streaming service, is still better than Paramount's bid. The new Deal Talks set the stage for a potential bidding war. Netflix has the right to match an offer Warner accepts from another bidder. Warner shares closed up 2.7% today, while shares of Paramount rose 4.9%, and Netflix added 0.2%. Over at CBS, Stephen Colbert lashed out at the Federal Communications Commission and his own network during his show last night. He said CBS scrapped an interview he had planned with Texas state representative James Talarico, a Democrat running for Senate. Colbert laid out what happened to the Talarico segment during a six-and-a-half-minute monologue.

Stephen Colbert (1:58)

He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network's lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.

Alex Ossola (2:08)

Colbert said the network was worried of running afoul of the FCC's equal-time rules for radio and broadcast television. The rules require shows that have candidates on during elections to also bring on their opponents. There's long been an exemption for news and talk show interviews, but last month the FCC issued guidance on the rules that were widely interpreted to be aimed at late night and daytime shows that feature Democratic politicians. The FCC said a show that is motivated by partisan purposes wouldn't be entitled to an exemption. CBS and the FCC didn't respond to requests for comment. In US markets, major indexes were slightly higher. The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and the Dow all rose about 0.1%. General Mills says weight loss drugs are changing how it does business. At an industry conference today, the cereal maker's CEO said it's planning new products packed with protein and fiber, as well as smaller package sizes. Earlier today, the company cut its sales and profit outlook for the year. Shares fell 7%. While shares of TripAdvisor rose 9.7% on activist investor Starbird Values plans to push for shakeup of its board. Starbird has been saying TripAdvisor should consider selling some or all of the company. And the German pharmaceutical and agriculture conglomerate Bayer has proposed settling a class action lawsuit to resolve claims that its flagship herbicide Roundup causes cancer. The settlement plan includes more than $7 billion to fund payments over 21 years.

This morning, we told you about how New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had to present a budget for the coming fiscal year. Today, he warned that a nearly 10% increase in property taxes may be needed. His first choice is to raise taxes for rich corporations and individuals. But doing that requires approval from the state legislature and governor. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has opposed raising taxes. But Mamdani and the city council don't need the governor's approval to raise property taxes. The mayor's office says a property tax hike would affect 3 million residential units and over 100,000 commercial buildings. Coming up, the latest on talks between the US and Iran, what's behind widespread hunger in Congo and more international news after the break.

Christopher Mims (4:30)

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