Trump aid freeze, India stampede, immigration raids and Congo violence
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Today, President Trump's attempt to freeze federal funding stirs chaos before it's blocked in court. Immigration enforcement raids hit major cities across the U.S. What we know about the rebel uprising in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And the U.S. Federal Reserve wraps its first meeting since Trump took office. What's the outlook just over a week in?

It's Wednesday, January 29th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday. I'm Christopher Waljasper in Chicago. And I'm Tara Oaks in London. When you hear LSEC data and analytics, what do you think of?

President Donald Trump's attempt to freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid has been temporarily blocked just minutes before it was due to take effect.

A federal judge put it on pause after it sowed chaos throughout government and stirred fears it would disrupt programs that serve tens of millions of Americans. At least three lawmakers said that healthcare providers were blocked from the payment portal for Medicaid, which covers about 70 million Americans, though the White House said the program was exempt.

Andy Sullivan has been looking into what's behind the freeze. So, Andy, can they do this? They almost certainly can't do this, according to law. Congress is the one that sets federal spending, and the president has very limited authority to do anything with that. He basically needs to get permission from Congress if he wants to not spend money. This is obviously going to be a huge fight in the weeks and months ahead. Democrats are already saying it's illegal, but this is clear to me.

Clearly, the pattern that we're seeing from Trump, it's shoot first, ask questions later. You don't ask permission. You just go ahead and do the thing. What kind of programs does this freeze affect? I mean, the memo is very vague, but as far as we can tell, this would freeze a wide range of payments, things like school lunches, foster care programs, highway construction money, you name it. But, you know, we're talking 10%.

tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars here. If this money gets disrupted, that would make it very difficult, especially for places like Louisiana and Mississippi that really depend disproportionately on federal aid to cover their needs. A deadly stampede in India. At least seven people have been killed as tens of millions gathered during the six-week Mahakumbh Hindu festival.

Witnesses say there was a huge surge near the meeting of three holy rivers, where a dip is considered particularly sacred. No rest in the AI race, not even on the first day of Lunar New Year. Not to be outdone by others, Chinese tech company Alibaba has released its own version of its QEN 2.5 AI model, which it says surpasses the highly acclaimed DeepSeek V3. More job shakeups at the federal level.

As part of the plan to shrink the size of a U.S. government, the Trump administration says it's offering buyouts to two million civilian federal workers to encourage them to quit. And it's Senate confirmation hearing day for someone trying to land a top federal job. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's controversial pick to head up health and human services, faces scrutiny from both sides of the aisle.

Plus, a scathing indictment from his cousin, Caroline Kennedy, who urged senators not to vote for him, calling him a predator with dangerous healthcare views. A new Reuters poll finds that Americans have a dim view of some of President Donald Trump's early spate of executive orders.

Overall, the poll showed 45% of Americans approve of Trump's performance as president. The share who disapproved was slightly larger at 46%, an increase from 39% in the prior poll. Atomic scientists have moved the "doomsday clock" one second closer to midnight.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists have set the clock to 89 seconds before the theoretical "point of annihilation" closer than it's ever been before. The U.S. Federal Reserve wraps its first meeting under the Trump administration today, with little expectations of changing the federal funds rate despite the president's calls for further, faster cuts.

Our Fed reporter Howard Schneider has been looking into how a flurry of executive orders and other actions by the new administration could impact the Fed's long-term outlook. We'll see what Powell has to say this afternoon. It's also recent news.

that none of it's going to be seen in the data yet, but I think it does show the potential for real disruption and uncertainty around this new administration. I mean, even things like pausing all federal spending, that can feed through into consumption and growth. Not even to mention, we've now got threats of tariffs going on to Mexico and Canada as soon as this Friday. Is it inflationary? Price shock? Who knows? And then there's the whole deportation issue. I

and whether the immigrant workforce falls or not. But certainly there's a potential there to put some constraints on the labor market. But they'll want to see how all this plays out a bit before making any further decisions. And it's not just the Fed keeping a close eye on how Trump's policies play out. Bond investors are also watching. Tune in to this week's episode of Reuters Econ World podcast to hear all about Wall Street's bond vigilantes and how they could check Trump's power.

You're in New York City this morning. You're getting dirt bags off these streets. That's Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. In a video she posted on X of an immigration raid she joined, Noem posted the video in which two officers in the Bronx take a handcuffed man into a vehicle.

The man had been charged with kidnapping, assault, and burglary related to a crime in Aurora, Colorado. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is reporting between 1,000 and 1,200 arrests a day. That's nearly three times the daily average in 2024.

Immigration reporter Ted Hessen has been looking at the nationwide raids. What we've seen in the last few days is the Trump administration greatly increased the immigration enforcement that they're doing around the country. Those arrests have skyrocketed. Essentially, what they appear to be doing is going out with lists of people that have some sort of either criminal charge or criminal conviction and trying to find them and make arrests. Now, what the Trump administration has said

is that when they go to places where these offenders are, if they find other people that don't have legal immigration status, that they'll pick them up. And what you see here is under Trump's ice, basically anyone is on the table if they're encountered by an immigration officer. Gunfire on the streets of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

M23 rebels have seized the airport east of the city, potentially cutting off the main route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of displaced people. It's been the worst escalation of a long-running conflict in more than a decade, rooted in the long fallout from the Rwandan genocide and the struggle for control of Congo's mineral resources.

In the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, protesters attacked a UN compound and foreign embassies, expressing anger at what they said was foreign interference.

Joe Bavia is covering the conflict from Johannesburg, South Africa. The official stated reason for the M23 rebellion is the protection of a Tutsi minority in the eastern borderlands near Rwanda and Uganda that the rebels say have been under threat in the wake of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

But what we've seen actually in the last month was a very concerted effort by the rebels to gain territory and to make advances.

And there's been talk among diplomats we've spoken to that Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president, is taking advantage of a special moment. There's quite a bit of kind of crisis fatigue. And in the United States, the return of Donald Trump to the White House. What's been the official line from Congo's leadership and Rwanda's about this conflict?

Well, Congo has always said they're not fighting a Congolese rebellion. They are fighting a Rwandan proxy force. There's quite detailed evidence of really sophisticated surface-to-air missiles, GPS jamming equipment, armored vehicles, snipers, special forces. So if you believe the evidence put forward by the United Nations experts,

a serious military intervention by the Rwandan army. Rwanda has always said that it doesn't support rebels in eastern Congo. They basically have a kind of a blanket denial in the face of accusations from panels of UN experts who look into this. To stay ahead in fast-moving markets, you need to transform quality data into tailored, practical, and valuable intelligence.

And for today's recommended read, the impact of the US's international aid freeze.

Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of Myanmar refugees along the border with Thailand have been ordered to close this Friday after Donald Trump shut down most foreign aid, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. There's a link to the story in the pod 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. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.