Reuters World News - Mayorkas, judges under threat and Valentine’s spay

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

The House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Biden's top border official. Divisive US politics have led to a leap in threats against judges. Indian security forces fire tear gas to stop protesting farmers from reaching New Delhi. And this Valentine’s Day name an ex, neuter a cat and nix the love.    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, the first sitting cabinet member in 150 years is impeached by the House, as America's device of politics drives a spike in threats to judges. India locks down Delhi as farmers protest over crop prices. And this Valentine's Day, a shout out to your ex from an animal shelter, offering the chance to name and neuter a feral cat in their honour. 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 Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. On this vote, the Yeas are 214 and the Nays are 213. The resolution is adopted.

The Republican-controlled House has narrowly voted to impeach the Homeland Security Chief for refusing to enforce immigration laws. Alejandroz Mayorkas is now the first member of a president's cabinet to be impeached since Ulysses S-Grant Secretary of War in 1876. Mayyorka's trial will move to the Senate, but it's largely expected that the Democrat-led chamber will vote to acquit him. Immigration is shaping up to be a major issue ahead of the presidential election. A Reuters ipsos poll from last month ranks it as the number two concern for voters after the economy. The impeachment vote comes a week after hardline Republicans, egged on by presidential candidate Donald Trump, defeated a bipartisan deal to address border security.

Its supporters, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, say it would have been the most sweeping border security policy change in decades. Now, President Joe Biden is calling on the House to bring a Senate-passed aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan up for a vote. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate came together to send the message of unity to the world. It's time for the House Republicans do the same thing. To pass this bill immediately. Biden says recent comments from Trump about defunding nations,

add to the urgency for Congress to pass funding for Keev. He said, if an ally didn't spend enough money on defense, he would encourage Russia to, quote, do whatever the hell they want, end of quote. Can you imagine a former president of the United States saying that? The whole world heard it. For God's sake, it's dumb, it's shameful, it's dangerous, it's un-American. Divisive politics have driven threats to federal judges

to more than double over the past three years. That's according to data from the U.S. Marshals Service. Director Ronald Davis told Reuters that threats related to the country's bitter political divisions have caused a sharp uptick in threats. Reporter Joe Tamfani has been digging into the numbers. There have always been threats against judges, against prosecutors. In the past, though, they typically were from people who were upset about their own particular case. for example, the child custody dispute didn't go their way.

Now, though, in recent years, they're seeing many more threats that are from people who are upset about some issue, some ideology, some political issue, and people with no connection, no personal connection with the judge or the case at all. And that's made a much more challenging for the marshals and for everybody that's supposed to be protecting these judges. Where are the threats coming from? What we've seen in the numbers is that there was a sharp spike in threats around the time when Trump started attacking judges in very personal terms.

You see the numbers start to rise right around then, and they seem to continue in the years where he's been facing, since he left office and he's been facing all these prosecutions, the civil cases and so on. Our ability to see these threats themselves is somewhat limited, but that seems to be a big source of them. There also seem to be some people more on the left politically that are upset about various judicial decisions that also protest and make threats as well. But it seems like the bulk of them are coming from the other side, as far as we can tell. Democratic former Congressman Tom Swazzi has won a special House election in New York, narrowing an already razor-thin, Republican majority. The seat became available after the House took the extraordinary step of

expelling Republican George Santos. His scandal-led tenure led to an indictment on fraud charges. Unofficial tallies in Indonesia's presidential election show Defence Minister Praboa Sobiento taking a commanding lead. If sustained, that could see him win in a single round. Talks on a Gaza truce have ended without breakthrough in Cairo, as calls grow for Israel to hold back on a planned assault on the southern end of the enclave. The United Nations has warned a ground invasion of Rafa could lead to a slaughter. A Kansas City win and Taylor Swift cheering in the stands has Sunday's Super Bowl smashing US viewer records. The televised game during the largest audience for a broadcast since the moon landing.

Scantily clad revelers dancing through the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Along with the glitter and paint, party goers at this year's carnival are using plenty of insect repellent. That's after warnings from local health officials about a spike in dengue fever. The health ministry has said cases were up four times from the previous year. If you're being lavished with chocolates this Valentine's Day, you might want to hold on to your stash. It's an appreciating asset. Hershey and Cabrries are both planning more price hikes to cover a record surge in cocoa prices. Extreme weather in West Africa, where most of the world's cocoa is produced, has battered supply.

A deluge of rain is lowering out. output and delaying harvests, and the result is that cocoa futures have doubled in price since the start of last year. Consumers are already balking at current prices, with fewer kisses and Reese cups sold last year. Farmers in India scatter after police fire tear gas at the start of their march towards New Delhi. With a general election just months away, officials don't want to see a repeat of previous protests that choked the capital. They've set up metal barriers and barbed wire to block access to the city. M.I. Angpwyrdage covers commodities in New Delhi. And Mayank, why are these farmers protesting? So farmers are seeking guarantees backed by law

for more state support or a minimum purchase price for their crops. So in India, the government announces support prices for more than 20 crops each year just to set a benchmark. But then the government buys only rice and wheat at support level and that benefits 7% of wheat and rice farmers. So the government builds reserves to supplies free rice and wheat to nearly 800 million people. So that's the world's biggest food welfare program and that costs the government nearly $25 billion every year. So now protesting farmers demand that the government should implement this across all crops. Most economists believe that this wouldn't work out because India has already a bloated subsidy bill and any further increase in government spending will only

strain resources. Does this pose a threat to Modi's re-election bid? Prime Minister Modi is quite popular and from the countryside and from cities, what we get to hear is that his popularity remains intact and he's likely to win his third term in office despite these protests. Now for the broken-hearted sick of Valentine's Day. How about a Valentine's spay? An animal shelter in New Jersey has launched a new to your ex campaign

to help control the overpopulation of feral cats in the area. Ken Suransky is executive director of the Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center in Blackwood. For a $50 donation, really anyone can send in the name of one of their exes. And what we'll do is we'll name a community cat after that person, first names, or nicknames only. Then that community cat will be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, eartipped, and then released back out to the community.

He said that overpopulation of feral cats is a huge problem, not only in the US, but globally. The fundraising campaign has proved so popular that the shelter is extending it past Valentine's Day. And some names are proving alarmingly popular. If you're dating in Jersey, maybe keep your wits about you with these guys. It looks like so far the most common names sent in are Jeff, Mike, Ian and Tyler.

So those are the four most common X names sent in. I think my favorite is Gaslight Guide. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. 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 favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.