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Episode Date: January 2, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. A fire at a Swiss alpine bar has killed at least 40 people and injured more than 100 others, many of them seriously. The blaze broke out during a New Year's Eve celebration at a popular ski resort north of Matterhorn. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports an investigation is underway. Officials have not yet confirmed a cause for the fire. Two women who escaped the club told French media that they saw a bar. barman carrying a barmaid on his shoulders and that she'd been holding a champagne bottle with lit sparklers and that that had set fire to the wooden ceiling. Videos on social media appear

to show flames spreading above the bar and a YouTube video from 2024 posted by a channel with the bar's name shows women wearing motorcycle helmets and carrying bottles of alcohol topped with sparklers as they walk through the establishment. That's MPR's Ruth Sherlock reporting. It's been five years since mobs attacked the U.S. Capitol building, but fallout from the January 6th insurrection continues. NPR's Kadia Riddle reports this week House Republicans released the transcript of their closed-door hearing with former special counsel, Jack Smith. Jack Smith led two investigations into President Trump, one over Trump's attempt to cast doubt on the 2020 election results, which led to the January 6th storming of the Capitol. The second was over Trump's handling of classified documents

after leaving the White House. The Department of Justice dropped both these cases once Trump was elected again in 2024. And many Republicans have continued to put forth a counter-narrative around the events of January 6th. But in his recently released testimony, Smith stood by his findings. President Trump was by a large measure, the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. Smith resigned as former President Biden's tenure was coming to a close. Katie Riddle in PR News. Today marks 10 years since armed militants seized a national wildlife refuge in Oregon to protest federal land policies. NPR's Kirk Sigler reports.

In late 2016, an Oregon jury acquitted right-wing extremist Ammon Bundy for leading an armed takeover of the Malhear National Wildlife Refuge. After a standoff two years earlier on their Nevada ranch, the Bundys traveled to eastern Oregon to protest the jailing of two ranchers. Western historian Patty Limerick recalls that many locals appreciated the attention given to their struggles with federal land managers, but most, including the jailed ranchers, told the Bundys to go home. They didn't. That is such an arrogant imposition of authority for people who are going to denounce arrogant impositions of authority in others, in land managers. The tense 41-day standoff between the militants, Oregon State Police, and FBI left one dead Bundy's supporter, Levoy Finnecom. Kirk Sigler, NPR News. This is NPR News in Washington. The Chinese government says it's imposing a 13% surcharge for contraceptives.

NPR's Emily Fang reports it's part of an ongoing effort to boost the country's birth rates. For more than three decades, contraceptive products had no tax on them in China because officials said the country was in the midst of family planning under the one-child policy that limited families to just one-child. child. That was back when Chinese leaders feared the country could not support a large population. But they now have the opposite problem, a shrinking working age population. In 2016, that one child limit was raised to two children and now it's three children as China contends with a falling birth rate. Chinese state media have suggested that some of the revenue from the new 13% tax on contraceptives could go to funding policies that encourage families to have more children or defraying the cost of child care.

Emily Fang and Peer News. A new U.S. travel ban is making it harder for many Palestinians to get visas. The State Department says it will now reject visa applications from people using travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority. There are some exceptions, including valid visas issued before 2026 and certain diplomats and athletes. Liberal Jewish groups in the U.S. are calling on the Trump administration to reverse the move, saying it undermines diplomacy and weakens the Palestinian Authority. Stocks across Asia traded mixed today. Japan's Niki average fell. Stocks in China posted slight gains and shares in Hong Kong soared,

gaining more than 700 points. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News, in Washington.