NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-01-2026 1AM EST

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, Nimeshaye Stevens. Good vibes are being reported in New Orleans this New Year's holiday. Increased security is in place in the French Quarter, where modus drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street last year, killing 14 people. Tyler James has a tourist there who says he feels safe. Safety here? Very well. I mean, national guards everywhere.

I have no problem without whatsoever. A freem. I'm on board with there. I feel safe that. My family displaced the French community. Officials in New Orleans say federal and state officers will assist local police through carnival season, which ends with Mardi Gras in mid-February. At least eight people were killed in the latest U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. U.S. Southern Command has not disclosed the location of the latest attacks, but announced on Wednesday that they were carried out over two days. At least 115 people have been killed in the nearly two dozen U.S. strikes on some of the last month.

small boats in the Caribbean and East Pacific since early September. Israeli forces are demolishing homes in a large refugee camp north of the occupied West Bank. As NPR's Nuha Muslai reports, the Israeli military says it's trying to eradicate terrorism. The Israeli operation in the Tulkanin refugee camps began back in February, but now the home demolitions are escalating. One resident of the camp, Ibrahim Alcom, says, 25 buildings are being destroyed, displacing dozens of families. This latest escalation has rendered large part of the camp completely uninhabitable,

with widespread devastation to home, infrastructure, and basic services. The two current governor says more than 36,000 people have been displaced since February. For NPR news, I'm Noha Moussela in Ramallah. at a volatile 2025 with huge gains. NPR's Raphael NOM reports that investor faith and AI helped the S&P 500 post its third consecutive winning year in a row. It may be a market cliche, but it truly has been a rollercoaster for stocks. There were some rough patches along the way. The launch of President Trump's tariffs sparked widespread fears about the global economy.

The president also picked a fight with the Federal Reserve, threatening to fire chairman Jerome Powell, and there was yet another government shutdown. But then there was also AI. Optimism that AI will be a game changer for the U.S. economy led to big gains in companies such as NVIDIA. As a result, indexes posted big gains in 2025, with the S&P up 16% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ up 20%. Rafael now in PR News. This is NPR. This is NPR. The Trump administration is freezing monthly funding to help low-income families pay for child care. More than 800,000 families were receiving the aid as of 2019 when the latest numbers were made available. HHS says the freeze will continue until states provide certain required data from child care providers.

In Finland, authorities are holding a ship and crew believed to have traveled from Russia after damaging critical undersea cables between Finland and Estonia. Terry Schultz reports. A disruption in a telecommunications network alerted officials to damage to an underwater cable in the Gulf of Finland. Finnish police and border guards dropped onto the deck of the cargo vessel Fitberg, which was traveling from St. Petersburg, Russia to Haifa Israel, and they found the ship's anchor was down,

raising suspicion it had been dragged over the cables, as has happened in previous similar incidents. Helsinki police chief, Yari Liuku, says the investigation is underway. We are at the moment suspecting aggravated disruption of the telecommunication and also aggravated sabotage and attempted aggravated sabotage. Police say the 14-person crew has been detained. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz. Thailand has repatriated 18 Cambodian prisoners of war

as part of a ceasefire agreement between the two nations. Cambodia's defense ministry says the move will foster peace and stability. Both sides say that the move recognizes humanitarian principles under international law. Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday. The Dow lost 303 points. The NASDAQ fell 177. The market is closed for the holiday. This is NPR News.