Constitutionalism gives us the expectation of governance according to rules that everyone from those that are governed to the ones that govern are expected to obey. But what happens if those that govern exempt themselves from those rules?
Cocoa farmers in Ghana are disgruntled over delayed payments from the state regulator - COCOBOD. The farmers say the delay is endangering investments for the next farming season. Ghana, which is the world's second largest cocoa producer, changed the system through which farmers receive their payments in an attempt to reduce reliance on debt.
And we hear from Giel Malual and John Kuei - the two South Sudanese men who have just completed a walk across the length of mainland UK to raise awareness about the war in Sudan, and mobilise donations to build schools for young refugees displaced by the conflict.
Presenter: Nkechi Ogbonna
Producers: Bella Twine, Keikantse Shumba, Chiamaka Dike, Blessing Aderogba and Patricia Whitehorne
Technical Producer: Maxwell Onyango
Senior Producer: Charles Gitonga
Editors: Samuel Murunga and Maryam Abdalla
Plus: Trump administration to take stake in rare-earth metal company. And quantum-computing company IonQ to acquire chip maker SkyWater Technology. Julie Chang hosts.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says he is taking a “sledgehammer” to a federal program that many tribes and tribal businesses rely on. He is referring to the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program that extends contract priorities to disadvantaged business owners. Hegseth uses words like “fraud” and “scheme” to describe what he says is an outdated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative. His is part of an overall scrutiny of the program by the federal government. Hundreds of Native small businesses have accessed the program over the past 60 years, and some Alaska Native corporations have multi-million dollar contracts.
GUESTS
Jon Panamaroff (Native Village of Afognak), co-chair of the Native American Contractors Association and CEO of Command Holdings
Kevin Allis (Forest County Potawatomi), founder and president of Thunderbird Strategic and former CEO of the National Congress of American Indians
Nick Grube, investigative reporter at Honolulu Civil Beat
Millions of Americans get snowed and iced in. Maine plane crash. The weekend shooting death of a Minneapolis man by federal agents. CBS News Correspondent Cami McCormick has those stories and more on the World News Roundup podcast.
Following yet another deadly shooting by ICE agents in Minnesota, more than 60 CEOs there have now signed a letter calling on federal, state, and local officials to de-escalate. Some smaller businesses across the state have temporarily closed or reduced hours as employees and customers worry about being stopped or profiled by ICE. Also: Surging precious metal prices hint at investor anxieties, and we look at the economic impact of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
From the BBC World Service: A group of European countries has signed a clean energy pact, committing to build an offshore wind power grid in the North Sea. The agreement is in contrast to the U.S. and President Donald Trump's strong opposition to wind power. Then, gold hit another high. Plus, Peru’s Chinese-funded “mega port” has ambitious plans to become a local and regional hub for Latin America, but is it delivering?
Plus: A hearing is scheduled for today in Minnesota federal court that seeks to bar Homeland Security and Justice Department officials from destroying or concealing evidence related to this weekend’s shooting. And gold has surged past 5000 dollars for the first time ever - adding to its historic rally. Luke Vargas hosts.
Billions of dollars has been poured into the AI economy in recent years. As part of a new series about what the AI economy means for you, Marketplace Tech is looking at the infrastructure build-out behind the AI boom, starting with a visit to an Amazon Web Service lab in Cupertino, California, where AWS developers are squeezing as much networking efficiency out of their servers as possible for their AI ambitions.