Reuters World News - Greenland, Iran, Siri and Saks

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Wednesday, January 14th. Today, Trump urges Iranians to keep protesting and promises help is on its way. Greenlandic and Danish foreign ministers head to Washington, D.C. Trump touts his economic record on a trip to Detroit. And Apple chooses Google's Gemini to revamp Siri. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. President Donald Trump is urging demonstrators in Iran to keep protesting, saying in a truth social post that, quote, help is on the way. He declined to elaborate on what exactly that means. Trump also says he's cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until protesters stop being killed.

Starting point is 00:01:05 Weeks of anti-regime protests have left some two. 2,000 people dead, according to Iranian officials, which is the first time Iran itself has given a death toll. EU foreign policy chief, Kaya Kallas, says additional sanctions on Iran are being considered. The heavy-handed and brutal response by the security forces is unacceptable and exposes a regime afraid of its own people. While German Chancellor Frederick Meuse says he believes that the Iranian regime is in its final and may only last weeks.

Starting point is 00:01:42 Sources are telling Reuters, however, that regime change in Iran is unlikely unless ongoing protests or international pressure forced defactions at the top of the Iranian establishment. Greenlandic and Danish foreign ministers will meet US Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington later today amid increasing threats by President Trump

Starting point is 00:02:06 to take Greenland by any means necessary. ahead of the meeting, Greenland Prime Minister, Jan's Frederick Nielsen, reiterating that the Arctic Island, which is a Danish territory, is not for sale. Trump, though, appears undeterred. We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. Our reporter Jacob Greenholt-Peterson is in Greenland and says Trump's threats may have

Starting point is 00:02:40 backfired. In recent years and the last few times I've been in Greenland, there's been lots of talk about independence. But this time around, the seriousness of the threats from Trump seems to have really sunk in and those threats have actually pushed Greenlanders closer to Denmark and not away from Denmark. We spoke to one pensioner Charlotte Heilman. And she said she couldn't imagine living as an American. She certainly did not want to become part of the United States. She said we're part of Denmark and we're part of NATO and she didn't understand why all these threats kept coming from the United States. President Trump flipped off and appeared to swear at a Ford factory worker who criticized his handling of the Epstein controversy during his visit

Starting point is 00:03:31 to Michigan. TMZ first published the video which captures their exchange and the White House has not disputed it. The inflation numbers just came out and we have very low inflation. So that would give too late, Powell, the chance to give us a nice, beautiful, big rate cut. Before boarding Air Force One for that trip to Detroit, he used December's Consumer Price Index to advocate for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve. But the report shows prices for a number of everyday items is continuing to rise. And as our Fed reporter Howard Schneider explains, that complicates Trump's hope for a January rate cut.

Starting point is 00:04:12 People buy food and energy, and those prices went up a bit smartly. The food inflation was the biggest in a few years. So that's not great news for consumers or for the Trump administration heading into midterm election year. But the tariff passed through seems to be kind of crawling to an end, so you should get some disinflation. And should pave the way for, you know, one, two, some are even saying now, three. rate cuts this year. Here's the issue. It's really going to take until April before the data is clear of the noise from the shutdown. So even though this is a pretty Fed positive report, it's not going to change the outcome for January, which seems pretty baked in in a pause.

Starting point is 00:04:52 No reason to make a call on rates yet. Luxury retailer Sachs Global has filed for bankruptcy in one of the largest retail collapses since the pandemic. A retailer long loved by the rich and famous, Sacks fell on hard times after COVID as competition from online outlets rose. It's barely a year since a deal that brought Sachs Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus under the same roof. The retailer says its stores will remain open for now after it finalised a financing package and appointed a new CEO. Conservative justices on the US Supreme Court appear poised to uphold laws banning transgender athletes from female sports teams.

Starting point is 00:05:38 The court heard arguments for challenges to bans in Idaho and West Virginia. Bill and Hillary Clinton are refusing to testify in a Republican-led congressional investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, calling it partisan politics. House Oversight Committee chair, James Comer, a Republican, says he'll move to hold former President Clinton in contempt next week, which could be. lead to criminal charges. So no one's accusing Bill Clinton of any wrongdoing. We just have questions, and that's why the Democrats voted along with Republicans to subpoena

Starting point is 00:06:13 Bill Clinton. But Comer brushed off a question as to whether he would also subpoena Donald Trump. You can't bring in a current president of the United States, and you all know that. The Clinton say they've provided what information they have and accused Republicans of trying to avoid their own scrutiny. Now, if you've ever found yourself repeating, Hey, Siri. Hey, Siri!

Starting point is 00:06:38 In ever-increasing volume and frustration, Apple is trying at last to help. It's announced plans to revamp its struggling voice assistant with the help of Google. Under a multi-year deal, Google's Gemini AI will serve as the foundation of not just Siri, but also future Apple intelligence features. To better understand the deal, we called up our tech reporter, Stephen Nellis, in San Francisco. I know people tend to think of Apple and Google is sworn enemies because one of them makes the iPhone and the other one provides the Android operating system. But Google has many businesses and the primary way to think about this deal is Apple needs this technology to keep its products like

Starting point is 00:07:19 the iPhone and the iPad competitive. There are a range of options to choose from. Microsoft, Open AI, Anthropic and Google is through Apple has chosen. And Stephen says that Apple's strategy of integrating AI into consumer. consumer technology sets it apart. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, has very much talked about AI, is an enabling technology that should work behind the scenes to make products do things that you want them to do and do them better for you. For example, on the Apple Watch, they can use just a tiny bit of signal from the heart rate

Starting point is 00:07:53 monitor there to detect things like potential heart conditions and alert users to it. Those are already using different forms of AI behind the scenes. So that's a very different approach and a different business model from companies that are trying to push products to consumers that will keep them engaged for a long time. And for today's recommended read, to Davos in Switzerland, where business and political elites will be heading to the World Economic Forum next week. While its rules-based global economic order has been shaken by President Trump, there's a link to the article 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 favourite podcast player.

Starting point is 00:08:41 If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.

Reuters World News - Greenland, Iran, Siri and Saks

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