Reuters World News - Nikki Haley on home turf and the historic aircraft deal sealed with a Goan fish curry

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

We’re with Nikki Haley in her hometown state for her official announcement. We visit a small Himalayan town sinking under the weight of a construction drive. And how the biggest aircraft deal in history went down with a Goan fish curry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The war in Ukraine is entering a dangerous new phase. Kiev's pleas for more weapons growing more desperate as Russian bombs rained down. Ukraine is burning through shells faster than Western countries can produce them. President Vladimir Zelensky says soldiers are fighting for every foot of territory in the east. And he's calling on defense chiefs,

meeting in Brussels to do more. It's Wednesday, February 15th. Coming up, we travel to Nikki Haley's home state as she announces her challenge to Donald Trump. We're high up in the Himalayas, in a town that's sinking to the ground, plus the historic aircraft deal that went down over a fish curry. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vennel in London. start in the UK with the dramatic resignation of the Scottish government's leader, Nicola Sturgeon. And so today I am announcing my intention to step down as First Minister and leader of my party. She's come under pressure in recent weeks over a standoff with the London government,

over a proposed change to Scottish laws on gender recognition. The UK government said it had the legal right to block the move. The row has led to protests outside the Scottish Parliament. Sturgeon has long campaigned for a new referendum on independence. You can keep up to date with the developments on that story and other news from around the world at Reuters.com. Separatists in Indonesia's Papua province, speaking in a video that purports to show a New Zealand pilot taken hostage. Philip Mertens was abducted by fighters from the West Papua National Liberation Army last week.

They want independence from Indonesia. The video appears to show Mertons in good health standing on a hillside. He's surrounded by rebel fighters holding guns and spears. Voiters is continuing to verify the images. A friend of Mertons confirmed it was the pilot. In Turkey and Syria, earthquake survivors are struggling without shelter in freezing temperatures. Around them, buildings are being demolished. No hope of finding survivors beneath.

The death toll has climbed to over 41,000. And with chaotic conditions on the ground, aid officials are worried about diseases like typhoid and rabies. This is the World Health Organization's director for Europe, Hans Kluge. Just over a week since this terrible tragedy, there are also growing concerns over emerging health issues linked to the cold weather, hygiene and sanitation, and the spread of infectious diseases with vulnerable people, especially at risk. There's also the psychological trauma. Medics in emergency clinics say survivors are turning up with panic attacks and PTSD.

Syrian Hassan Mawath says loud noises trigger his son Ahmed. He wakes up in the night, shouting earthquake. Plenty of roaring jets at India's flagship airshow. But the biggest buzz was around local carrier Air India. It stunned the aviation world with a whopping order for nearly 500 jets from Airbus and Boeing. The record order puts Air India in the major leagues of global airlines. The deal took a year to pull off. Tim Heifer, our global aerospace correspondent, tells us how the deal was done.

We've been reporting for months on these negotiations as they've been unfolding. Actually, in a hotel in London, became the centre of the global aircraft industry for a few months. And in that hotel, St James's court, just around the corner from Buckingham Palace, they gathered the industry for what people call a bake-off. And that means that you get everybody in the same place, the plane makers, the engine makers, and they all camp out in different suites or different rooms, and they take it in turns to come in and make their offers. They went to a great lengths to keep it confidential, because there are tremendous states involved for their competitors. The deal was announced

yesterday, and they celebrated with a very nice meal, this beautiful restaurant in that hotel, which serves coastal curries from Goa. And I think you could perhaps say that that's normal for a negotiation with tons of money involved. The Consumer Price Index has shown us that things are getting more expensive. But those increases are the smallest they've been since the end of 2021. So is the Fed on the right path? To break it down for us in just 30 seconds, is our Fed. expert Howard Schneider. Howard, you're on the clock. Give it to us. So on the right track, sure,

but it's going to be a very long and windy road. Inflation did fall January to December, but it was the slowest decline, the least decline for several months now. So still very high at 6.4%. And the thing is, the aspects of the economy, the service sector, particularly, where the Fed feels inflation is going to be stickiest, that did not come down as much as people hoped and has really showed no sign of abating yet. Housing remains high. Goods are doing pretty good, but services is the real problem. Perfect. Thank you so much, Howard. Okay, see you. And we're off. The Republican presidential contest is now at least a two-horse race. I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president.

Haley has kicked off her campaign for the 2024 nomination, challenging her former boss, Donald Trump. Trump currently holds a strong lead in a new Reuters Ipsos poll. But Haley has begun wooing voters in her hometown state, South Carolina, key for the upcoming contest with the Democrats. Reuters Graham Slattery is in Charleston, South Carolina, as the stage is set for her launch. Behind me, you can hear the music that's playing as workers set up the stage for former Governor Haley.

You know, it's obviously optimistic, upbeat music. very different from the campaign music that we've seen amongst other Republicans, particularly former President Trump. And it speaks to a certain degree to the nature of the campaign she hopes to run. She's running in part on the concept of optimism, taking the U.S. out of this rhetoric of doom and gloom that's come to dominate politics in the last several years. She's seen as a top contender, but she still has her work cut out for her. Now, one big advantage that Haley has at the moment is,

is that she's well known in South Carolina. She was the governor here for several years between 2011 and 2017. And she pulls particularly well in this state. Winning South Carolina is simply more valuable than winning the primary contest in other states. If Nikki Haley can win here, she'll likely carry quite a lot of momentum into the nominating contest in other states, which would follow.

She's the daughter of two Indian immigrants, grew up in a rural part of South Carolina. She's relatively young. She's 51, Donald Trump's 76, and she's running on the concept of generational change. She'll also obviously be a unique figure on the debate stage. And like a lot of Republicans, she's embraced many of the policies of the Trump era, but she says she wants to deliver them with less drama and less divisiveness. Additionally, she has leaned quite a bit recently on her foreign policy credentials. She was the U.S. ambassador to the UN for two years in 2017 and 2018 under former President Trump. And she says that those sort of foreign policy bona fides are particularly important now, given ongoing geopolitical tensions with Russia, given the Ukraine war and with China,

given what we've seen just in the last couple of weeks. Imagine waking up one morning to find a crack so deep in your living room wall that you have to abandon your house. It's a reality for some residents living in the Himalayas. Rapid construction in a corridor near the India-China border, meant to make it easier for millions of Hindu and Sikh pilgrims to visit religious sites, is taking its toll on villages and towns normally nestled in the clouds. Reuters journalist Christian Koshik filed this report

some 6,000 feet in the air from the town of Joshimath, where entire buildings have crumbled. The buildings, whether it's dental or commercial, that are now considered unfit for people to live in, are marked with a giant ominous red cross or a red X in front of them. When you walk around these houses, you can see a lot of stuff that has been thrown out from there. These houses have been evacuated. People have been moved to safer locations. But their life's belongings, a lot of it had to be discarded.

Harish Joshial is one of those people. The laborer explains what happened on the night of January 2. He says that the ground started to rumble and cement fell from the ceiling of his house. They hadn't even been a crack there before. He woke his children and raced outside. Jaswan Singh Gotola's house overlooks a railway being built to transport pilgrims. He found hairline cracks in the walls about 18 months ago. Now they have widened and a pillar hangs precariously from a wall.

The 55-year-old fears he will soon have to abandon the village. His family has called home for generations. He tells me that around 10 families have already left because their houses are destroyed. The Railway Ministry's construction company, RVNL, said it would compensate villages affected by subsidence. RV&L did not comment to Reuters. I am Christian Koshik in Joshimai. And that's it for this edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can find more trusted news at Reuters.com.