Reuters World News - CIA in Venezuela, Voting Rights Act, shutdown and Russian oil

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

President Donald Trump greenlights covert CIA operations in Venezuela. The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative justices could be willing to undercut the Voting Rights Act. A judge blocks mass layoffs as the U.S. shutdown enters its third week. And Kyiv’s long-range drone strike strategy targeting Russian energy infrastructure appears to be paying off.   Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Thursday, October 16th. Today. Trump greenlights covert CIA operations in Venezuela. The Supreme Court considers weakening protections against racial discrimination in a high-stakes-Louisiana redistricting case. A court halts mass federal layoffs as the government shutdown continues. And Ukraine's long-range drones' drones. strikes mean fuel shortages and price hikes in Russia. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10

minutes, seven days a week. US President Donald Trump has confirmed he's authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela, ramping up pressure on President Nicholas Maduro. They have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. Trump has not provided evidence for his claim that Venezuela is sending former prison. to the U.S. He said drug trafficking is another reason for his authorization of the CIA involvement. Trump was also asked whether he may target President Maduro. Does the CIA have authority to take out Maduro?

Oh, I don't want to answer a question like that. That's a ridiculous question for me to be given. Not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn't it be a ridiculous question for me to answer? In response, Maduro called on the U.S. to pursue peace, not war, telling an audience in Caracas, he says no to regime change. The U.S. administration has offered $50 million for information leading to Maduro's arrest and conviction on drug trafficking charges. Venezuela's government says U.S. actions have the goal of seizing

the country's oil resources and are a violation of international law. The U.S. Supreme Court is signaling it may weaken a key part of the Voting Rights Act. the law that bars racial discrimination in voting. The case focuses on Louisiana, where black residents make up a third of the population, but had just one black majority district out of six. After a judge ordered a second,

white voters challenged the new map, saying it relies too much on race. Reporter John Cruzel covers the court. So what this case really boils down to are these tensions between, on the one hand, the Voting Rights Act, which sometimes requires the creation of additional minority majority voting districts. And on the other hand, this constitutional principle of equal protection, which puts sharp limits on race-based government actions, including the drawing of electoral maps. If the High Court sides with Louisiana, John says it

could have big implications for other redistricting efforts. This could mean, that Congress sees fewer minority representatives in the U.S. House. And because there's often an overlap between partisan affiliation and race, for example, in Louisiana, black voters tend to favor Democrats. This could end up having the effect of helping Republicans gain seats in the U.S. House where they currently hold a slim majority. A federal judge in California has ordered the Trump administration, administration to halt mass layoffs during the shutdown, as she considers claims by unions that

the job cuts are illegal. Her ruling, which is likely to be appealed, came shortly after White House Budget Director Russell Vaught said that more than 10,000 federal workers could lose their jobs because of the shutdown. The messaging war, meanwhile, over who's to blame, is going up a notch, with Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem recording this video message, which is airing at U.S. airports. However, Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay.

A rising number of major airports are opting not to show the video. Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell has asked the Office of Special Counsel to investigate the video, saying it appears to violate the Hatch Act, which is meant to insulate government services from partisan politics. Ukraine's focus on long-range drone strikes against Russian energy infrastructure appears to be paying off. It's already causing fuel shortages and price hikes in Russia. And as our Ukraine reporter Max Hunter explains, it's an effective way of hitting vulnerable targets.

Probably Ukraine has it doesn't have very many high power missiles in the same way Russia does. And a drone is slower and carries a lot less explosive. It helps if you can hit something which is naturally combustible and an oil storage facility or refinery will go up in flames even if it's hit by a drone with, say, a 50-kilogram warhead rather than a missile with a 500-kilogram warhead of the kind the Russians used to hit Ukrainian targets. Max says while the Biden administration was worried about hitting energy targets

and seeing a rise in oil prices, President Trump doesn't seem to be worried. He's repeated the lambasted countries, especially America's NATO allies, who continue buying Russian oil and gas, for continuing to fund Russia's war machine while at the same time calling for the US to help Ukraine with military aid. So, yeah, for Trump, this – and for what appears to be his understanding of the war, Ukrainian strikes that take out Russia's oil sector would for him seem to be quite a natural solution to the problem of Russia's oil-funded war machine. Trump says India has agreed to stop buying Russian oil, although there's been no confirmation from New Delhi yet. A woman who says she was abused by the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is suing Bank of America and the Bank of New York.

Mellon, alleging the banks knowingly provided financial services that enabled his sex trafficking operation for years. Bank of America and BNY declined to comment. Jane Doe says she opened a Bank of America account in 2013 at the direction of Richard Kahn, Epstein's former accountant, and that Kahn regularly sent her money for rent through the account. Lawyers for Kahn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to a temporary ceasefire after deadly airstrikes and groundfighting along their contested border left more than a dozen civilians dead and more than 100 wounded.

The clashes erupted after Pakistan demanded the Afghan Taliban cracked down on militants attacking from Afghan territory, a claim the Taliban denies, accusing Pakistan of provoking tensions. South Korea's national security, advisor, Wiesung-Lak, announcing the government is sending teams to help bring back its nationals trapped in scam compounds in Cambodia. The UN says the scam centers, which have emerged in Southeast Asia since the COVID-19 pandemic, generate billions of dollars in revenue for criminal networks every year. Workers, often lured by fake job ads, are trafficked and forced to carry out

online scams targeting victims worldwide. About a thousand, South Koreans are believed to be among the tens of thousands held there. South Korea has issued a travel ban to parts of Cambodia. Penh rejects claims it's not acting, calling human rights reports on the scam centers exaggerated. Conviered your passion in a business with Shopify and bathe records of ventas with the form of pay with a better conversion of the world. Has you heard of the best. The best conversion of the world.

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in Shopify.es bar records. And for today's recommended read, Muslim girls in Nigeria's conservative choir estate, a defying tradition by playing soccer, facing community criticism, but finding support too, as they balance faith, family, ambition. There's a link to that story in today's podcast's description. For more on any of the

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