Reuters World News - DeSantis out, Indian temple, Ukraine’s reconstruction and Karl Marx’s cemetery

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ended his fading presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump just two days before the New Hampshire primary. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened a major Hindu temple in northern India, marking a milestone for Hindu nationalists and Modi’s campaign for re-election. Ukraine considers when to spend money on reconstruction. Plus, solving a grave problem in a London cemetery. Listen to our special episode on the New Hampshire primary here. Listen to our special episode on migrants being bused from Texas 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

Today, a shake-up in the Republican primary, but what effect will a DeSantis departure have in New Hampshire? Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opens a giant temple in a triumph for Hindu nationalists. Ukraine starts to rebuild towns and cities even as war rages on. And, in London, Karl Marx's final resting place looks for a new lease of life. It's Monday, January 22nd. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know, from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool.

And I'm Jonah Green in New Hampshire. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ended his presidential run, throwing his support to Donald Trump. While this campaign has ended, the mission continues. That winters the field down to just the former president and Nikki Haley. So how will this shake up the race? For that, I'm joined now by political correspondent James Oliphant, who's here in Manchester, New Hampshire.

So Jim, now it's a two-person race, which you said previously is what Haley wanted. But does this help her or hurt her? Well, you can't say that certainly it hurts her because this is what she wanted. The question now for Haley is can she consolidate all the anti-Trump voters that she needs to at least get close to Trump? And there's always been an argument that, hey, you know, if you can keep Trump under 50%, which means less than half of the Republican electorate, then there's an opportunity for somebody to beat him. And I think, you know, we're expecting Trump to win. And the real question is, what's the margin going to be? What happens to all these DeSantis voters?

I mean, do they split or do they just go right to Trump? Well, they do polling on this. They ask voters what their second choice is. And it seems pretty clear from a number of polls that it's about a two-to-one split. So for every two voters that would go to Trump, one would go to Haley. So there is an advantage for Trump there, but it's not a total one. And yeah, that probably breaks Trump's way. but there are dissanist voters who felt like, you know,

it was time for some sort of a generational change or they didn't like Trump for one reason or another, and she'll pick up some of that support. With the Republican primary now a two-horse race, Haley and Trump have ramped up their attacks on one another. Trump has accused Haley of forming an unholy alliance with liberals, never-Trumpers, and rhinos, or Republicans in name only,

to try and win the New Hampshire primary. He also repeated a false claim that registered Democrats were allowed to vote in the Republican primary. And Haley? She has taken a name at Trump's age, pouncing on this moment when the 77-year-olds seemingly confused her with former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. On January 6th, you know, Nikki Hallie, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, you know, they, did you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything? deleted and destroyed all of it, all of it, because of lots of things. Like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. I wasn't even in D.C. on January 6th.

They're saying he got confused that he was talking about something else. He was talking about Nancy Pelosi. He mentioned me multiple times in that scenario. We can't have someone else that we question whether they're mentally fit to do this. Make sure to check out our weekend podcast on New Hampshire for a deeper dive on the race. We'll put a link in the description of today's episode. Thousands have gathered for the opening of a grand temple of Hindu Lord Ram

on what has been one of India's most contested religious sites. The temple is built on the site of a 16th century mosque that was demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992. The temple's inauguration is a huge political victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he seeks a rare third term in office. YP Rajesh is in New Delhi. YP, why is this temple controversial?

The site has been contested because local Muslim groups and Hindu groups have claimed ownership of the land on which the mosque and the temple have stood. So that went to court and finally in 2019 the court decided in favor of the Hindus saying there is evidence of some non-Islamic structure below the mosque and that's how the Hindus finally got possession of the site in 2019. So this is obviously a milestone event for Modi. How has India changed since he's been in power? Hindu reawakening is very central to the politics of the BJP. And this is something they have been at since the time, even before the time Modi came to power, but it only got more accentuated since 2014 when Modi won power and became Prime Minister.

Modi's and the BJP's following has grown in these 10 years. Today in India, it's a public holiday in many states. People have taken off from work. They're watching the live telecast of the temple ceremony. They're decorating their houses with lights and flags, holy flags all over markets and residential areas. And a couple of months before elections, the party sees this as a very good sign for them to be able to win a third term.

Dozens have been killed in a shelling attack in the Russian health city of... Denebsk. The city's Russian-installed mayor said Ukrainian forces bombarded the area. A Ukrainian army group operating in the region said it did not carry out the attack. In a separate development, Russia has been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal after a suspected Ukrainian drone attack. The US military has declared two Navy seals dead in the Gulf of Aden. They went missing 10 days ago during a raid on a boat carrying Iranian weapons.

They're among the first known US fatalities in the US campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Over to markets now, and stocks are on a role everywhere, except China. Kamal Krimmins has more. The buzz around AI is boosting US and European stocks, and in Japan, the Nikai has hit a fresh 34-year peak. Helping the mood is the Bank of Japan. It's meeting this week, and investors are convinced that it's in no hurry to step away from its ultra-easy monetary policy. Chinese shares, on the other hand, are starved of stimulus. China's central bank kept benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly meeting on Monday.

Analysts suspect the PBOC doesn't want to put further pressure on the yuan. In Ukraine, despite there being no sign to an end in fighting, rebuilding is underway across the country. But how much should be invested on reconstruction now is something that is dividing some of the country. Dan Pellyshuk has visited the northeast of Ukraine, which borders. the brunt of the fighting at the start of the war. I think the important thing to mention here is that reconstruction is still in its very early stages. And so there's no real formula to rebuilding.

There's no rulebook for how to rebuild, yet it's still something that's crucial. As Ukraine not only tries to win the war, but wants to build a functioning, viable European state. So driving around places like Trostejanet and Ohtyirka, you don't have to look very far for residential buildings with windows blown out. In Ohtirka, a military base completely blown away. The city hall, essentially a pile of rubble. And in Trosteanets, the central square basically gutted with a heavily damaged train station, a residential building across the central square there, basically a shell of its former self.

One mayor argues that it's critical to restore comprehensively. a city to to its fullest extent. So the mayor of Thrustiennes is very much an active proponent of restoring a city to its fullest so that people will return. And just down the street, you've got the mayor of Ochtirka, who also makes a compelling argument that all it takes is, you know, one missile strike to undo that brand new train station that you've built or square that you've kind of reimagined. In the short term, you know, you've got these two.

two great challenges to deal with, which is winning the war on the battlefield and rebuilding your cities. But at the end of the day, they're both two parts of one greater story in that rebuilding in a way that bolsters Ukraine's greatest strengths, which in this case is Ukrainians, to contribute to the economy and help build the state in a way that will make it healthy enough to win the war against Russia. Karl Marx's London Cemetery is trying to solve, grave problem. Victorian-era Highgate is a popular attraction, especially for left-wing visitors wanting to pay

their respects at Mark's tomb. But it's still a functioning graveyard, and it's running out of space. So it's hoping for a new lease of life by reclaiming long-abandoned graves to be sold again for fresh burials. Home to over 50,000 graves, including those of singer George Michael and writer Douglas Adams, Highgate has earmarked an initial few hundred graves that have not been used for decades. Ian Dungavel is chief executive

of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust. Without it, the real danger is it would have just become a spooky old graveyard of limited interest to anyone. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. Don't forget to check out our two weekend special episodes, one on tomorrow's primary in New Hampshire and another following migrants bust out of Texas. You'll find links to both in the description of today's pod.

To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.