Reuters World News - Harris rallies in DC, lawn sign wars and Canada’s India accusation

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

Kamala Harris warns tens of thousands gathered at her biggest rally that her Republican opponent Donald Trump is seeking unchecked power. Trump defends himself to Puerto Rican voters. Tensions simmer as Canada accuses an Indian minister of being behind a plot to target Sikh separatists. Plus, on the ground for the campaign lawn sign wars.  Find our recommended read here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to our weekend episode on climate change and volcanoes in Iceland 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, Harris makes her closing arguments at the site of Trump's January 6th rally. Tarrantial rains caused deadly flash floods in Spain. Canada alleges that a top Indian minister was behind the plot to target-seek separatists. And the battle over Americans campaign yard signs. It's Wednesday, October 30th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaksin, Liverpool. And I'm Christopher Waljasper in Chicago.

If elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemy's list. When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list. Speaking in front of tens of thousands on the national law, Kamala Harris warned supporters that Donald Trump was seeking absolute power in his bid for a second term. This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power. Choosing the same spot, Trump addressed his supporters on January 6th. Harris also sought to strike a contrast in tone from Trump's recent rally at Madison Square Garden.

Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is. but America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are. White House correspondent Jeff Mason was there and sent us this dispatch right after Harris finished speaking. Lots of crowd noise behind me because, according to a campaign official, there were more than 75,000 people here. That's really what the campaign wanted was a big group

and a big night for the vice president to make her closing argument. And that's largely what she did. She drew contrasts again, as she's been doing for months now, between herself and former President Donald Trump. She made a point of saying that it was now time to turn the page on the division and chaos that she says he would present and what would come with a second Trump presidency. She talked about her policy proposals. She also acknowledged that some voters still didn't really know who she was and didn't know a lot about her. And so she used this opportunity seven days roughly before the election. to reintroduce herself one last time.

A Reuters Ipsos poem published on Tuesday shows Harris' lead over Trump has dwindled in the final stretch of the presidential contest, with the Democrat ahead by a single percentage point over the Republican. As Harris spoke in Washington, Trump visited a heavily Hispanic city in Pennsylvania, two days after a comedian's comments about Puerto Rico drew outrage at Trump's large New York rally. Nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rico. and our Puerto Rican community more than I do. The U.S. Census Bureau says Puerto Ricans of the largest Hispanic group in Pennsylvania, a state that holds the highest number of electoral college votes of the seven

battleground states expected to decide the election. The fight for votes is raging not just in battleground states, but also across the front lawns of America. Many voters have recently reported their campaign lawn signs being stolen, and they're going to great lengths to fight back. Tired of her Kamala Harris signs disappearing from her Springfield, Missouri front yard, Laura McCaskill taped a tracking device to one to see where it might end up. That led her to a blue Kia sedan in a nearby town, where a young man admitted he had stolen her sign,

along with dozens of others, according to a video she shot. Yeah, and I mean, like, are you just looking to have it back? I'm sorry, this is funny. Why don't you just take them all? Here you go, liberals. Wait, here you go, sir. It's more than that, actually. No, it's not. It's so stupid. Just go vote. Political reporter Andy Sullivan's been reporting on these long-sign wars from Washington.

I think it's one of those election year irritants, like those spam fundraising text messages you get or the attack ads you see on TV all the time. The people I've talked to said not only is it theft, you're stealing something from somebody, but also you're suppressing their free speech. And to certain people, it can feel a bit like voter intimidation. How are these frustrated folks fighting back? The most ingenious way to prevent this from happening or to at least catch the thief is the use of Apple air tags. He spoke to two people who did that. They had their signs taken. Then they put one of those little tracking devices on there.

And when their sign got stolen, both of them said, well, they could see it travel around in a car as the car went to a house. And so then they can call the police and the police can show up and say, did you take this? Is this not yours? Whereas otherwise it can be very difficult to prosecute, police are not going to spend a lot of time on something like this when the theft is an item that typically costs $20 or so. And then on top of that, there's the more low-tech solutions. People say a common way to protect your signs is to smear them with vassaline and glitter.

That way, the thief touches the sign. They get glitter and goop all over their hands. And evidently, it's very hard to get glitter off your hands. What sort of penalties are there for a crime like this? This is theft, and the penalties for theft vary from state to state and locality to locality. There's one person in Pennsylvania I wrote about who is being charged with several crimes. He could face up to 12 years in prison and fines of up to $55,000. Often the penalties are a lot less than that, but just the sheer hassle of being charged with a crime

and having to go to court and hire a lawyer certainly would not make anybody happy. The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a bid by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be removed from the ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan in the presidential race. Kennedy has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump. Steve Bannon has been released from prison. The longtime Trump ally had been serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress. In 2022, Bannon was convicted for defying a subpoena from the House Committee investigating the January 6th attack. And in Spain, at least 51 people have been killed in flash floods sweeping the eastern region of Valencia. One local resident, Antonio Carmona, saying the storm swept away horses and dogs. And the fate of a neighbor who got trapped in a car is still unknown.

And if you're interested in the impact of climate change and the financial markets, check out the latest episode of Econ World Podcasts later today, where Chris will be talking all about carbon trading. Chinese and Hong Kong stocks dipped on Wednesday with investors cautious ahead of the U.S. election, while also awaiting top leadership meetings next week that could reveal fiscal stimulus details. China is considering approving the issuance of over 10 trillion yuan. That's 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars next week in extra debt over the next few years to revive its fragile economy. The fiscal package is expected to be further bolstered if Donald Trump wins the U.S. election.

The European Union's decision to significantly increase tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles also weighed on sentiment and dragged down EV stocks. Canada says India's Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, is behind the plots to target Sikh separatists in Canada. It's the latest accusation in a ratcheting up of diplomatic tensions between the two nations, dating back to the 23 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardip Singh Najjar on Canadian soil. Our political reporter in New Delhi, Christian Kalsik, is here to explain how this new accusation could impact already tense relations.

So, Christian, tell me about Amit Shah. So Amit Shah, in a nutshell, is the second most powerful politician in India after Prime Minister, Andrew Modi. Amid Shah has been Modi's closest political ally for the last 20th. years at least since when both Amitza and Modi have been in electoral politics. The two go back to their days when they were governing the state of Gujarat and they have been together since. As the country's home minister, he heads over all internal security issues. That includes the federal police, that includes some of the intelligence agencies as well. So he has immense state authority and state power as well

at his disposal. So how is India reacting to this accusation? The reaction has been quite muted till now. We have reached out to Amin Shah's office and there has not been any reaction. So I think for now India is studying what to say, but the acquisition is definitely huge because this is as close as Canada can link the targeted attacks on Sikh dissidents on its soil to Prime Minister Modi because he is the most powerful person after Modi. How could this affect already tense relations between India and Canada? So of course, the saga has been going on for over a year and India has denied all these allegations, but the tensions have been going up through this entire process. And after both sides expelled each other's diplomats over the last few weeks, it was kind of

a stalemate that both sides were now waiting if the other side will take any action. But now after Canada has taken Amitza, it is expected that there will be some political or diplomatic reaction from India. Today's recommended read is a special report on how the Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, fumbled the revival of an American icon. You can read more about some of his missteps in a link in today's pod description. For more on any of today's stories, head to reuters.com or check out the Reuters app. To never miss an episode, follow us on your favorite podcast player.

We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.