Reuters World News - Storm Fern, ICE protests and ex-Olympian alleged drug kingpin arrested

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

Storm Fern barrels across two‑thirds of the U.S., disrupting travel and triggering emergency alerts, while Minnesota’s “ICE OUT!” protests escalate with clergy arrests over Trump‑era immigration raids. In Kyiv, thousands lose heat in sub‑zero temperatures as US-brokered peace talks continue in Abu Dhabi. Plus, Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder suspected of becoming a cocaine smuggling kingpin, has been arrested and brought to the U.S. to face charges.  Listen to the latest episode of On Assignment Trump's second year. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.  Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠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 your weekend host Sharon Reich Garson. It's Saturday, January 24th, today. Winter storm fern barrels across the U.S., putting two-thirds of the country under its icy grip, and 14 states on alert. In Minnesota, thousands brave negative temperatures to take part in an ice-out protest. Plus, heat cuts hit Kiev as high-stakes talks in Abu Dhabi show no movement. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. Winterstorm Fern is spreading snow, sleet, and freezing rain across the eastern two-thirds of the U.S., with government warnings stretching from the southern Rockies to New England. At least 14 states in D.C. have declared weather emergencies. Forecasters say the setup echoes the 2021 ice storm.

storm in Texas, which brought widespread outages, though officials say they're preparing systems now. Airlines are canceling flights to and from New York and Newark for Sunday and Monday, as heavy snow is expected there, and U.S. carriers are issuing waivers as weather disrupts hubs across the South, East, and Central U.S. The low hits 8 degrees Fahrenheit in Oklahoma City, where snow is already falling and forecasters say up to 12 inches plus a glaze of ice are possible. And in Washington, D.C., outreach teams are distributing supplies and urging people indoors. They're also full of foliage, toothbrushes, toothpaste, socks. Human Services Director Rachel Pierre says capacity isn't the problem.

The concern is that, you know, someone may really not understand how cold it is and not come in. Be sure to check Reuters.com for updates and stay safe. To Minneapolis now, where thousands hit the street in negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday to join a statewide ice-out protests. Organizers say up to 50,000 people turned out, a figure Reuters couldn't verify. At Minneapolis, St. Paul International Airport, video shows dozens of clergy members kneeling in the road, singing and praying while police tell them to move. They didn't.

Reuters reporters on the ground watched as officers zip-tied and arrested clergy one by one. Organizers say around 100 faith leaders were taken into custody. The protest follows a week in which ICE detained several children in Minneapolis, including a five-year-old. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino has defended the agency's actions. Organizers believe this was the largest show so far of public opposition to the federal surge in Minnesota. The FBI says a top 10 fugitive is now in U.S. custody. Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, turned alleged cartel in Kingpin, has been arrested in Mexico City and flown to Los Angeles after years on the run.

U.S. officials allege he worked with the Sinaloa cartel, moving hundreds of kilos of cocaine, into North America and directing multiple murders in Colombia and Canada. He's charged with running a transnational trafficking enterprise and is due in federal court in L.A. on Monday. FBI director Cash Patel has described wedding as the modern day El Chapo. He is a modern day El Chapo. He is a modern day Pablo Escobar. And he thought he could evade justice. But these brave men and women put together prosecution packages. Agents say dozens of his alleged associates are already in custody, and more arrests are expected. Now to Ukraine, where Russia's overnight strikes on the country's energy system left nearly 6,000 buildings in Kiev without

heat as temperatures hover around 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Many apartments are already freezing with the city's main heating grid still crippled from earlier strikes. All of this is happening as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators meet in Abu Dhabi with no signs of compromise. Moscow's still demanding Ukraine surrender all of the Donbos, a red line Kiev says it won't cross. President Zelensky says territory remains the sticking point and that a U.S. security deal for Ukraine is ready once President Trump sets a date to sign. Negotiators are back at the table today. Donald Trump had a busy an often chaotic first year back in office. But this year, he'll face voters in November's midterms who'll decide whether his party gets to retain power in Washington. On this week's on assignment,

Reuters North American editor Sally Busby joins host Jonah Green to discuss whether Trump's priorities are helping or hurting the GOP at this point. There's definitely signs in polling that people are like, whoa, I wanted you to focus on my energy costs, my rental costs, my health care costs. And I didn't really want you to do all these military adventurers. We'll drop a link in the pod description. Let's turn now to the Beckham family, where a very public drama is unfolding. There have been whispers, but this week, the whole thing blew wide open on social media. The soccer megastar and former Spicegirl's eldest son, Brooklyn Peltz, Beckham,

is accusing his parents of trying to control him and wreck his marriage. And he doesn't stop there. In a string of Instagram posts, he claims his parents went to extreme length to protect the Beckham brand, even accusing them of trying to bribe him for the rights to his own name. So what's really going on? We put that question to reporter Paul Sandal. Nearly a decade ago, Victoria registered Brooklyn Beckham as a trademark in the UK. And she's done this with all of her children, the younger ones, Cruz Romeo,

and Harper 7 as well, they're all registered trademarks pertaining to businesses such as media, sports, cosmetics, fashion, some of the areas where brand Beckham already operates. And this is what people think his comments about them bribing him to lose the rights to his own name. This is what it alludes to. And there's another layer here. Just a few years ago, part of the brand was sold to, authentic brands group who co-own the brand. They paid, reportedly paid, around $270 million to buy a controlling stake, 55% stake in DB ventures. So there's also outside business interest

in the Beckham name now. That could have been part of the reason why she wanted to renew the original trademark around Brooklyn's name. Trademarking a name, even a child's name isn't unheard of for a family that's built itself into an empire. But how common is this? Registering your name as a trademark of your celebrity is pretty common. It's not very common to extend it to your children. A lot of celebrities who use their name don't really want their children to face the pressure of becoming part of the family business in the way that the beckons have always done since the children were young. They've been all across social media. They've been at Victoria's fashion shows in the front row.

They've really become part of the family and the brand as it's evolved through the last couple of decades. Over to Antarctica now, where penguins are responding to warming temperatures by breeding earlier and earlier each year. And their breeding season is shifting at record speeds, faster than any other bird species ever recorded. Lead researcher Juarez Martinez says the effects of that shift still aren't clear. The biggest unknown at the moment is whether the penguins are effectively adapting to climate change, like for example moving together with their food resources, or they are what we call mismatched. So the food resources and the penguins are not moving at the same time. and this could have impacts on how many penguins they can raise every year.

But he says it's a major concern for two of the three penguin species on the continent, especially chin strap penguins. We are fearing that this might cause much more competition because these three species normally were kind of like separated apart because of their different timing of breeding. Extra competition can be an extra problem. Actually, chin straps in many models, they don't look that they are going to survive this century.

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