Reuters World News - Powell, Iran options, Minnesota and Golden Globes

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

U.S. federal prosecutors open an inquiry into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and are threatening a criminal indictment. U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s weighing a range of options in Iran. Homeland Security plans to send hundreds more officers to Minnesota. And "One Battle After Another" and "Hamnet" win big at the Golden Globes. Listen to Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Find the Recommended Read 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

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Monday, January 12th. Today, Jerome Powell says he's being threatened with a criminal indictment. Trump mulls options for intervening in Iran as the death toll from protests there rises. Homeland Security orders more offices into Minneapolis, and stars hit the red carpet for this year's Golden Globes. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front of lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. We start with a significant escalation in U.S. President

Donald Trump's push for more control of the Federal Reserve and of interest rates. Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, says U.S. federal prosecutors have opened an inquiry into him and threatening him with a criminal indictment about a building renovation project. But in a video message, Powell says that's a pretext. The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public rather than following the preferences of the president. Fed reporter Howard Schneider has more on Powell's response. He is saying flat out that he regards this as an effort by the administration to use the Justice Department, to use the threat of a criminal indictment, to put pressure on him because he's not doing what the president wants on interest rates. which is a pretty remarkable kind of outing of Powell's view in his heart of hearts about this whole thing.

That hasn't happened yet. He's been very kind of distanced himself from it and tried to not kind of take the bait, if you will, and get into a shouting match with the President of the United States. But I guess the arrival of grand jury subpoenas and the threat of a criminal indictment has made him speak out. Howard says the blowback has been swift. Powell's term as Fed Chair ends in three months. And his replacement, while chosen by Trump, must be approved by the Senate Banking Committee. One of the key people to agree on the replacement is Republican Senator Tom Tillis, who is now speaking out. Tillis has said in a very quick statement, it's not Powell's judgment that should be in question here. It's the Department of Justice.

And I'm not voting for any nominee, including for Fed Chair, until this gets resolved. Because there's no secret in my mind now that Donald Trump is trying to destroy the independence of the Federal Reserve. And to hear how markets are reacting to the news, here's Mike Dolan from our sister Markets podcast Morning Bit. Hi, Kim. Yeah, the Powell News is the big breaking story for markets this morning. The dollar is the focus.

It's fallen against the euro and other major currencies on this. US stock futures are also down, having closed on Friday at record highs, it has to be said. And Treasury is hard to gauge. Tokyo markets closed overnight. So we're only getting cash trading running up into the U.S. open. And that will be a major focal point, even though there are two big debt auctions today to complicate matters. Thanks, Mike. You can hear morning bid wherever you get your podcasts.

President Trump says he's reviewing options to intervene in Iran and isn't ruling out using the military. Seriously, the military is looking at it. And we're looking at some very strong options. It's the starkest. signal yet that the US may act as the death toll from anti-Rashin protests in Iran continues to rise. A warning, some of the details of what's happening in Iran are disturbing. In Tefran, bodies line the streets outside a morgue. Families and friends gather to identify their loved ones.

Nearby, people in hazmat suits load bodies onto a truck. The bystander footage was released on Sunday, and although Reuters, was able to verify the location it was shot, we could not verify the date. Protests have swept the country with people angry of a sky-high inflation, a collapsing currency, and social and political repression.

It's the biggest challenge to the Islamic Republic's clerical establishment since 2022. Trump's talk of intervention has sparked threats of retaliation from Iran's parliamentary speaker, who says Iran, Iran could target U.S. military bases. Authorities in Iran have blacked out the internet, making getting information out, difficult, although Trump says he plans to talk to Elon Musk about restoring

it using Starlink. White House reporter Trevor Hunigot has more on the other moves Trump may take. So we're clearly at a real inflection point on this Iran situation right now. From the Trump administration's perspective. We've already heard directly from President Trump that he's considering a range of options, including military options this week. There's a meeting that we expect that he'll have with some senior aides on Tuesday. And it appears that, you know, a pretty wide variety of things are on the table right now. And so this is very much a live situation right now. President Trump also told reporters that he has heard from the Iranians on Saturday and that there may be a subsequent meeting or some follow-up where they're going to have some discussions.

But he also said he might need to take action even before there is a meeting between the U.S. and Iranian officials. He also said that he is in touch with opposition figures in Iran. We don't know who that is or what that means at this point. Protests have taken place around the world in solidarity with demonstrators in Iran. One in Los Angeles took a violent turn when a U-Haul truck plowed into the crowd. It's not clear if there were any injuries. In Berlin, people gathered calling for the fall of the regime and for Europe to step up to support Iranian demonstrators.

In London, people gathered outside Downing Street and the Iranian embassy, too, waving Iranian flags. In Paris, people burned images of Iranian supreme leader Ayatolli Ali Khamini. One other bit of Trump news. The president says he might block Exxon from investing in Venezuela after the U.S. oil major's CEO called the country Uninvestable. Trump has urged key oil execs to spend $100 billion on revitalizing Venezuela's oil industry in a high-profile meeting less than a week after U.S. forces captured and removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power.

On his true social account, Trump posted a picture of himself as if from a Wikipedia page where he's given the title of Acting President of Venezuela. In Minneapolis, dozens of activists protest the presence of immigration and customs enforcement agents outside a federal building, days after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old woman Renee Good, who was killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday. Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem says hundreds more officers are being sent to Minneapolis to protect ICE agents and Border Patrol officers there.

2,000 extra offices have already been dispatched and what the agency is calling its largest operation ever. To Hollywood now, for some surprise winners and losers in the 83rd annual Golden Globes, an award ceremony seen as a teaser before the film industry's top honors, the Academy Awards, in March. Lisa Richhine has more.

One bottle after another was the big winner. It won four awards, including Best Most movie, musical, or comedy. It's a dark comedy starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Leo did not win, however. He lost out to Timothy Shalame, who won Best Actor in a Movie Musical or Comedy for Marty Supreme, where he plays a professional table tennis player. The Globes split the film awards into two categories, Best Musical, or Comedy, and Best Drama. The Best Drama Film was Hamnet, which is a story about William Shakespeare and his wife and how they deal with the death of son, who was named Hamnet. It is believed that experience inspired Shakespeare to write the famous play Hamlet. Nikki Glazer was the host, and she pretty much steered clear of politics,

as did most of the stars. There are a few comments here and there, but not the heavy political jabs at President Trump that you sometimes see from a Hollywood crowd. Nicky Glazer really just stuck to making fun of the stars in the audience, George Clooney. Leo, Dwayne Johnson. She had some polite jabs at them, nothing too biting. And for today's recommended read, a landmark case accusing Myanmar

of committing genocide against minority Muslim Rohingya opens at the UN's International Court of Justice today. There's a link to that story 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 favorite podcast player.

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.