Reuters World News - Pakistan’s Iran strikes, German far-right and Texas border fight

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

Pakistan has conducted strikes inside Iran targeting separatist Baloch militants, two days after Tehran said it had attacked the bases of another group within Pakistani territory. Germans protest the far-right AfD after a report that two senior party members discussed plans for the mass deportation of citizens of foreign origin. Plus, Texas’ showdown with the federal government over border enforcement. Listen to our special episode on Davos 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, Pakistan launches strikes against Iran as tensions spill over. The fight between Texas and the federal government over border enforcement heats up. Well, in Germany, a far-right meeting about mass deportations triggers uproar. And in Davos, executives wrestle with AI's bottom line. It's Thursday, January 18th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. every weekday. I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. And I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. Pakistan has carried out military strikes against separatist militants inside Iran. The expansion of

hostilities comes two days after Tehran said it had attacked militant bases inside Pakistani territory. Charlotte Greenfield is in Islamabad. Charlotte, what do we know about the Pakistan strikes? They say that they've targeted Baloch militants that a separatist group that actually operates within Pakistan, but they're saying they targeted them on Iranian territory. But of course, this is widely being seen as retaliation or a show of strength after Iran actually conducted missile and airstrikes on Pakistan's territory on a militant group a few days ago. So now both Pakistan and Iran have now attacked militants on each other's soil. Could this escalate further? It's quite unclear what's going to happen next, but there are

real concerns and fears, particularly here in Islamabad, that things could escalate. Pakistan's caretaker prime minister was in Davos for the World Economic Forum, and he has actually said he's cutting short his trip and coming back to Pakistan in the wake of these strikes. However, analysts have spoken to have said that Pakistan probably wouldn't want an escalation and that players such as China, which has ties with both Iran and Pakistan, could well step in to try and help temper down the tensions. And how do these exchanges fit into the wider conflict in the Middle East? It is quite difficult to say Iran's motivations actually remain quite opaque for the initial strikes. However, Iran has also carried out strikes on Iraq and Syria in recent days, and Iran's foreign

Minister has indicated that it did target militants that it said were linked to Israel within Pakistan, though we don't have a lot more information on that. And Pakistan and the militant group involved have not said anything on that. But obviously there are concerns that it could be part of these broader regional escalations. The US military has carried out more strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The fourth strike in less than a week destroyed 14 missiles that were an imminent threat to vessels in the Red Sea, according to US Central Command. Britain's Princess Catherine of Wales

will be in hospital for up to two weeks after a planned abdominal surgery. No details were given, though a palace spokesperson said the condition was non-cancerous. King Charles will also undergo treatment next week for an enlarged prostate. Efforts to remove Trump from the ballot in Maine are on hold until the Supreme Court weighs in

on Colorado's efforts to do the same. Maine State Superior Court judge Michaela Murphy paused the Secretary of State's decision to remove Trump. Over two markets now, and in Davos, the promise of artificial intelligence, is being heralded all over the World Economic Forum, the bright banners. But inside the conference center and luxury hotels, executives aren't so sure. Jeffrey, the vibe among some executives at Davos is that AI is. overhyped right now. Is that right? Executives have been blown away for more than a year by chat GPT, and they've seen so many

demos from technology companies about what artificial intelligence can do for them, but they have told me that it hasn't really translated into real business value yet. And so 2024, according to CEOs and other business leaders here at Davos, will be the year to figure out How do you go from that hype to something that is more, to something that actually makes money for their businesses? So how does Silicon Valley expect to see a real return from AI? What I'm hearing from executives is that theory or an idea is to put AI into the hands of the money making parts of the business. But they also are looking at cost cutting or efficiency, specifically, how can we save people time when they have to submit thousands of regulatory responses?

Can you have an AI or AI like chatbot speed up that writing process? Crowds in Berlin rallying against a far-right alternative for Germany or AFD party. Protests are gaining momentum after a report that senior party members discussed plans for the mass deportation of citizens of foreign origin. AFD has denied the plans of party policy. Sarah Marsh is in Berlin. Sarah, the AFD are popular, right? They're polling second in surveys at the moment. Will this dent their popularity? I mean, they certainly seem worried that it might. Polls show that many Germans that are supporting the AFD currently, they're doing so out of protests against the government and not because they hold far-right

views. Co-leader Alice Vidal this week parted ways with one of her advisors who'd been at the meeting, and she really made clear that mass deportation of citizens of foreign origin was not party policy. But we know there are also extremist strands in the AFD, and some party members have also celebrated these so-called remigration plans. And if you look at polls this week, they haven't shown any dip in support for the party so far, but it may just be too early to tell. And some are calling for the party to be banned. How likely is that? So it's a bit tricky. The government or the parliament would have to ask for an investigation into whether the party is unconstitutional, and the final decision would lie with the constitutional

court. And there's concern that the legal hurdles to such a ban are really high. So the consensus at the moment in Berlin seems to be that attempting to ban the AFD could actually backfire, fueling the party's narrative that it's the victim of mainstream politics. And how is this popular far-right presence and this scandal likely to impact Germany's economy? So at the moment, it's not so much about how the AFD policy could harm Germany, because it's not expected to get into government anytime soon because none of the mainstream parties are willing to work with it. But it's more about the damage to Germany's reputation and its image as an open, welcoming, progressive country. And I think a lot of business leaders fear that it could

really harm Germany's ability to attract skilled foreign labor and investment. So in the last few days, we've had a lot of business leaders speak up against the far right, which is quite unusual in Germany where business leaders try to keep out of party politics. And so we've had the head head of chip maker in Finian, we've had the CEO of Chemicals Maker Ivonic, all sort of saying the whole of Germany needs to stand up now against the far right threat. Texas is in a showdown with the federal government over border enforcement. Washington has taken it to the Supreme Court, accusing Texas of erecting new barriers to stop federal border patrol agents from reaching a boat ramp they use to access the Rio Grande, where many migrants attempt

to cross. It's been brought to a head by the death of a woman and two children who drowned while trying to cross last week. Immigration reporter Ted Heson. There's been this ongoing fight between the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott and the Biden administration, over about 29 miles of razor wire that have been strung up near Eagle Pass, Texas. And the Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to step in and lift a lower court injunction that would allow them to cut this razor wire and access the border, they say it's necessary for them to reach migrants who might be in distress and in emergency situations, whereas the governor of Texas and the Texas government

is saying that they need this razor wire there to block the migrants from coming in because otherwise they're going to be able to enter the country illegally. Who's in charge of the border legally? Historically, border enforcement in the United States has been the purview of the federal government. And that's really where this legal fight stems from. You have the governor of Texas has been pressing the limits of what a state can do as far as enforcing the border and stopping migrants. They've deployed National Guard troops to the border to stop migrants.

They've strung large floating buoys across the Rio Grande River near Eagle Pass as well. So where might this fight go next? So as I mentioned, Texas has really been pressing the bounds of immigration enforcement through a few different ways. And they've also passed the law that's going in effect in March that would allow Texas state authorities to arrest people who are suspected of crossing the border illegally. They do want to use this as a test case. They're expecting it will climb up through the courts and eventually make its way to the Supreme Court. And they're hoping that the court will rule in their favor and allow them to more aggressively enforce immigration laws.

Texas is also busing migrants who have recently crossed the US-Mexico border out of the state. To hear how that policy is affecting some of those people, check out a special edition of the Reuters World News podcast on Saturday. 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 it's going on the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player

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