Reuters World News - US Houthi strikes, Iran’s tanker seizure, Britain’s Post Office and the Emmys

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

The US and Britain have launched strikes from the air and sea against Houthi military targets in Yemen. Iran says it has seized a tanker in retaliation for the confiscation last year of the same vessel by the US. A TV drama exposes one of Britain's biggest miscarriages of justice – at the Post Office. The Emmys are back – the same night as the Iowa caucuses. Plus, all the gadgets at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Listen to our special episode on Taiwan's elections here. *This episode was updated. A headline about Donald Trump tangling with the judge in his civil fraud trial was removed due to it incorrectly referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James as the US attorney general.    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 US and its allies attack the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Britain tries to rectify a post office scandal, which is grabbing headlines. The Emmys go up against the Iowa caucuses after strike delays. And the busiest gizmos and gadgets from this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It's Friday, January 12th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. every weekday. I'm Kim Vanel in Wanganui, New Zealand. And I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen.

It's in response to Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. President Joe Biden said he would not hesitate to act further if those attacks continued. The Iran-backed group said on Friday that it wouldn't be deterred. So does this mean the war in Gaza is spiraling into a regional conflict? Adrease Ali is in Washington, D.C. Adrease, what do we know so far? They used fighter jets, ships, and submarines to carry out the strikes against more than a dozen targets is what one U.S. official told us. And what we also know is that other countries like Australia, Canada, Bahrain, provided support

even though they themselves didn't drop the bombs. So it's one of those situations where we're seeing not just a response by the United States, but really international partners in the region and around the world. Is this the beginning of a wider war? The actions taken today by the United States and the United Kingdom, definitely appear to be a broadening of the conflict that started on October 7th between Israel and Hamas. But what we don't know is whether this will sort of be a one-off strike with some Houthi retaliation or whether this becomes sort of a more of a protracted conflict that spirals further and further

in the Middle East and in Yemen and really between the United States and countries in the region. Iran has said that the attack on the Houthis in Yemen would fuel regional instability. On Thursday, Iran seized an oil tanker off the coast of Oman, bringing Tehran more directly into the shipping turmoil that prompted the US and British attacks. Dmitri Zedanikov is in London. Dima, what do we know about this seizure? So the event unfolded yesterday. First, a group of Moskmen boarded a ship.

Various maritime security agencies said it started sailing towards Iran, but the connection was lost very quickly. But then a few hours later, Iranian naval forces came out and said they were. behind the seizure. They also clarified it was a retaliation for what happened last year when the United States seized the same ship, accusing it of taking Iranian Revolutionary Guards oil to China. Iran back then promised it will not go and noticed and there will be a retaliation. Now we've had these US and British airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. What impact is all of this having on the price of oil? Well, the answer is on my screen. The price of oil today is

approaching $80 per barrel and is clearly now responding to the tensions. But what's interesting is that most analysts believe a major floor-up in tension has not been completely and fully priced in. So we may see a much bigger spike in oil prices if we see significant disruptions and the rising tensions in the Red Sea. Existing tensions have already snarled global supply chains, with container ships forced to reroute, delaying deliveries. Tesla has said it will suspend most car production,

at its factory near Berlin for two weeks because it can't get components. A grand jury in Ohio has declined to bring charges against a 34-year-old black woman for mishandling her fetus. Brittany Watts was arrested in October and charged with abuse of a corpse after having a miscarriage at home.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is leaving the team after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles. Robert Kraft is a Patriots owner. I don't think in the NFL there's been any other partnership that lasted longer and has been as productive as ours. Taiwan's three main political parties are set to hold mass rallies

ahead of critical elections this weekend. Those polls are happening against a backdrop of increased Chinese pressure on the island. We'll have the results on Monday. To hear what you need to know about those elections, listen to a special episode of Reuters World News on your favourite podcast player. There's a link in the description to today's show. This year's Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, wraps up in Las Vegas today. TV correspondent Omar Yunus has been covering all the new gadgets and gizmos.

So, Omar, what stood out to you this year? The big thing this year is AI. A lot of products that have been at the show before have kind of come back with generative AI incorporated into them. We've seen a lot of really cool robots, AI-powered companion robot from Samsung called the ballie, which looks like a ball, and it basically follows you around your house. It can do exercises with you. And it's also kitted out with a projector. So if you have a video call, it projects the video call onto a wall or onto the floor. What about televisions? When are we going to be able to roll them up or maybe look through them? There are a couple of really out there

TV designs here. Both LG and Samsung have transparent TVs. that just look like a sheet of glass, see-through glass, and then when you switch them on, the image just appears on the sheets of glass. It's quite incredible. To the UK, where a story about the state-run post office has completely dominated headlines for the last week. It's been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice

in the country's history, but it's taken a drama by TV Channel ITVX to bring the issue to focus. We are fighting a war against an enemy owned by the British government. Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of postal workers were wrongly convicted of fraud or theft. Manny went to prison and some took their own lives, but they hadn't done anything wrong. It was all due to a faulty computer system that created false shortfalls in their accounting. Paul Sandel has been following the story.

It's been such a complex, long-running saga. It really hasn't grabbed public attention until this ITV drama, which is the most popular commercial, or broadcaster in Britain and really brought in the emotional, psychological, financial turmoil that these people suffered. And it was a real story of

the man in the streets or the woman in the street fighting back, trying to find justice for the way they were treated. And so, because of this TV show, the government is suddenly taking action? But today I can announce

that we will introduce new primary legislation to make sure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated. The government is now looking for a quick resolution to speed up the compensation

for hundreds of victims who still are battling through the courts to try and get the conversation they're due. But Rishi Sunaq, the Prime Minister, is looking for an easy win on this to do something as quickly as possible to get some traction, some momentum behind it. So he looks like these people

are finally getting some of the justice they deserve. The Emmys are bad, after Hollywood strikes delayed the ceremony for a few months. And for some reason, they're on a Monday, the same night as the Iowa caucuses. Lisa Richwine is in Hollywood. It is an unusual time for the Emmys. Well, first of all, it was supposed to be back in the fall, but it got moved because of the strikes that were happening at the time. And so then when you move to January, you have NFL games to compete with.

So they can't do a Sunday night. The NFL playoffs are on. The NFL is the biggest entity on television. so they had to move it to a night that was not Sunday, so they picked a Monday. And has this sizable delay affected the awards? Which season is this about even? Yeah, a lot of these shows aired a while ago. The eligibility period started in the middle of 2022, and in the middle of 2023, the

nominations were announced last July. But because of the strikes, things got delayed. The voting took place in August. So the bear, for example, is competing with its first. first season at the Emmys. And it already won a Golden Globe for its second season last week. But because the Emmys got delayed and they have a different eligibility period, the bear is competing for season one that ran in 2022. All right. Who's going to win? Everybody thinks it's going to be a big night for a succession. In the comedy race, there's a bit of a question. Ted Lassow's third season

is the favorite. It got more nominations than the show has ever had. So that's a sign that the Emmy voters still really like it. Although with fans, it was a little divisive. So we could see the bear or maybe even a show on Amazon Freevy, which is called Jury Duty. Those would be the potential big surprises. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back this weekend with two special episodes, one looking at what to expect from Davos with the World Economic Forum next week, and we'll take a deep dive into the Iowa caucuses. To make sure you know what's going on in the listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player

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