Reuters World News - Fed chair, shutdown deal, SpaceX and Senator Jeanne Shaheen

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

President Donald Trump says he's chosen former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh to head the U.S. central bank. Trump and Senate Democrats say they've reached a deal to dodge a government shutdown. SpaceX mulls mergers with other companies helmed by Elon Musk. And we sit down with New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen to talk Iran and Venezuela. Plus, a bizarre attempt to free Luigi Mangione from prison.    *This episode has been updated to reflect that former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh has been named as successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. 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 Friday, January 30th. Today, Trump closes in on his new Fed chair choice. Lawmakers dodge a government shutdown over immigration tactics as new video emerges of Alex Preti. SpaceX is in merger talks with other Musk companies ahead of a blockbuster IPO. And we sit down with Senator Gene Shaheen to talk Iran. and Venezuela. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. We begin in the US with the announcement that Kevin Walsh is President Donald Trump's pick

to be the new head of the Federal Reserve. The Fed Chair is one of the most powerful positions in the world with control of interest rates, impacting everything from your mortgage to credit card bills to whether businesses hire or fire. So who is Kevin Walsh and what might we expect? Here's Fed reporter Howard Schneider. He's wanted this job for a long time and been lobbying for it was almost picked in 2017 during Trump's first term. Warsh has been a real hawk in his day. Always thought that the Fed's quantitative easing was going to lead to skyrocketing crisis, which it never did. So it's kind of an interesting choice in this context. He has family ties to

Trump, social ties to Trump. His wife is the daughter of Vestay-Lauder fortune and they've been a big fundraiser for Trump. And knows the Fed well, has been a critic of the Fed. So it'd be interesting to see how he interacts. Stocks plunged and dollar and bond yields shot up on the news that Trump may be zeroing in on a decision. For more on the market reaction to the possibility of Kevin Walsh, tune in to our sister podcast Morning Bit wherever you get podcasts. U.S. Senate leaders have reached a deal to avoid a partial government shutdown after Democrats threatened to stop funding Department of Homeland Security operations.

The deal separates the debate over aggressive immigration tactics from the broad funding package that Congress has until midnight tonight to pass. Meanwhile, the Trump administration's efforts to dial down tensions on the ground in Minneapolis continue. Nothing's ever perfect, anything to be improved on, and what we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient by the book. U.S. Borders Tsar Tom Holman there outlining what he calls improvements to immigration enforcement tactics. Homan, who was installed this week as commander of operations after the outcry over Alex Prettie's killing, says federal agents will move away from the broad

street sweeps that have drawn widespread outrage. The protests, meanwhile, continue and organizers are calling for a nationwide strike today, urging people to leave work, skip school, and stop spending money to send a message to the government. And on this weekend's Reuters On Assignment podcast, our producer Christopher Waljasper, will be talking to some of our reporters about what it's been like covering the ice operations and protests in Minneapolis over the last few weeks. That podcast drops on Saturday morning. Newly unearthed video of Alex Preti shows him getting into a physical confrontation with federal agents, 11 days before he was shot and killed by ICE officers. The video, which has been verified by Reuters, shows Prattie

shouting and spitting at a vehicle before kicking the car. shattering its tail light as it attempted to drive away. Several agents stop the SUV, get out and push Prattie to the ground as others fire tear gas into a crowd of protesters. Eventually, the agents let Prattie walk away and what appears to be a gun can be seen tucked into his waistband. We have a Reuters exclusive for you now. Elon Musk is moving to combine two of his biggest companies, SpaceX and XAI. The deal would set the stage for a blockbuster public offering later this year, with SpaceX valued above $1 trillion. Sources say it would also bring his rockets, Starlink satellites, X social media and GROC chatbot under one roof. And as space

reporter Joey Roulette explains, the reason for the amalgamation is ambitious. The driving force behind And this whole merger idea are space-based data centers or putting AI data centers in space, which is kind of this new concept to save money on energy costs for today's data centers by putting them in space where they can theoretically be powered by near constant solar energy. Joey says that's easier said than dumb. There are so many uncertainties involving this and a lot of risk that's going to require very large solar panels, many hundreds or potentially thousands of satellites to equal the type of efficiency or power that an Earth-based center gets.

And the cost of rocket launches needs to come down a lot before this makes any kind of economic sense. A Minnesota man is accused of making a bizarre attempt to break Luigi Mangione out of jail. According to prosecutors, the man posed as an FBI agent and turned out of. at the jail with supposed release papers. When guards asked for ID, he handed over his driver's license and admitted he had weapons. Officers then found a barbecue fork and a pizza cutter blade in his bag. Mangione, who's pleaded not guilty to the killing of United Health Group's CEO, is awaiting trial, for which he faces a possible death penalty.

Iranian security forces have rounded up and arrested thousands of people to deter further protests, sources have told Reuters. It follows a bloody crackdown on demonstrations in the country, which killed some 5,000 people in recent weeks. President Donald Trump says he plans to speak with Tehran, even as he dispatches another warship to the Middle East. Sources have also told Reuters that President Trump's threats to attack Iran are designed to inspire protesters to affect regime change in the country.

That strategy, using pressure and the threat of force to try and shape events on the ground, whether in Iran, Venezuela or Greenland, is something Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have been scrutinizing closely. Our producer Evan Jacobi spoke with the committee's top Democrat, Senator Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire. Thanks for joining us, Senator. First up, Iran. Do you support Trump using these threats to inspire protesters? I certainly support the Iranian people in their fight for freedom and human rights.

I think we need to be very thoughtful about how we express that support so that there are not false promises made to the Iranian people. And so I have done a video message to the Iranian people. people along with some of my colleagues in the Senate to let them know that we're thinking about them and we're very concerned about the abuses that are going on there. But I think we have to be, as I said, very careful about making promises that we might not be able to fulfill. And on that note of regime changes in Venezuela, do you feel that the removal of Maduro has helped the U.S.? The verdict is not in yet on that. Maduro, as we know, was an indicted criminal.

So there were some real concerns about the threat that he posed to the United States. And that's the rationale that the administration used to take him out of Venezuela and put him in jail where he awaits trial. Now, what happens next? I think we need to, again, push the administration replacing one dictator. in Maduro for Delci Rodriguez, who was his second in command, his henchman, I think is not the answer that I would like to see. So who would you like to see as a future leader of Venezuela? Obviously, the people of Venezuela would need to make a decision about who their next leader

would be if they're free and fair elections. I think Maria Karina Machado, the Nobel Prize winner, who, has risks so much, who has shown so much courage in helping to unite the opposition against Maduro will be somebody who will be involved in those future democratic elections. But it's up to the people of Venezuela to make that decision. And for today's recommended read, another Reuters exclusive. The U.S. Agency for International Development warned the Biden administration in early 2024 that northern Gaza had turned into an apocalyptic wasteland with dire shortages of food and medicine. But the US ambassador to Jerusalem and his deputy blocked that cable from wider distribution within the government.

There's a link to that story in the description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. 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 from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.