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Episode Date: January 3, 2026

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. Amid growing threats from the Trump administration, Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicholas Maduro, says he wants to improve relations with Washington. Maduro called Venezuela a U.S. ally and offered to cooperate on fighting drugs and producing oil. John Otis has more. In recent months, the U.S. has sent warships to the Caribbean Sea, blown up alleged drug trafficking boats from Venezuela,

and has tried to block Venezuelan tankers from exporting oil. All this is part of a campaign by the Trump administration to remove Maduro from power. But in an interview broadcast on Venezuela and state TV, Maduro called for a fresh start. He said the two countries should engage in, quote, serious talks about fighting drug trafficking and said U.S. companies could return to Venezuela to produce oil. Here in Venezuela, you have a brother country of the United States, Maduro said. Here you have a government that is a friend. For NPR news, I'm John Otis.

Americans may get to enjoy Italian pasta in the U.S. after all. The Trump administration has relented after threatening to slap tariffs on Italian pasta brands. And fears Ruth Sherlock has more. The row over Italian pasta became a diplomatic matter. In the Italian Foreign Ministry, a special task force was set up to address the issue. The U.S. Department of Commerce had accused 13 Italian pasta brands of dumping practices. when a company sells goods abroad at a cheaper price than in its domestic market. They threatened a penalty of almost 92%.

Now, though, the US has sharply lowered the proposed duties following a preliminary review. The Commerce Department says Italian exporters have addressed many of the concerns raised in an initial assessment. Ruth Sherlock, MPR News. South Carolina's Department of Public Health reports nine more confirmed measles cases in its first outbreak update of the year. It's affecting kids at a greater ratio than in other states with outbreaks. South Carolina Public Radio's Lewis Alfredo Garcia has more. State health officials say the count of in-state cases related to the outbreak is up to 185,

and it's in a county that borders North Carolina. The county has the lowest school vaccination rate of any county in South Carolina. Exposure spreads throughout households and schools for the most part, but it is affecting kids at a higher rate than cases in other states with current outbreaks. South Carolina's Department of Public Health reports, about 90% of its 2025 measles cases were in children. Cases in the outbreak along the Arizona-U-Tah border are not as child-heavy. 65% of Arizona's 2025 cases were in children, and it is 60% for Utah. Each state had more than 150 cases last year. For NPR news, I'm Louis Alfredo Garcia in Columbia, South Carolina.

This is NPR. Physical adaptations for walking upright on two feet. may go back seven million years in the human family tree. That's according to a new analysis of some old bones. NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boyce reports, Walking Upright was an important shift for early human ancestors. Walking upright frees the hands and makes it possible to leave the trees and live in new places. Now, a team of researchers led by Scott Williams of New York University

says they found skeletal features associated with upright walking in the fossilized leg bone of a primate that lived seven million years ago. This animal that otherwise looks very chimpanzee-like in its overall shape has these bipedal adaptations hafted on top. Their findings described in the journal's science advances are sure to be controversial. The oldest widely accepted evidence of upright walking is from human relatives that lived around 3 to 4 million years ago. Nell Greenfield-Boyce, NPR News.

In Telluride, Colorado, there appears to be no end in sight for a ski patroller's strike that's been going on now for about a week after contract negotiations broke down, and that means ski resorts are closed in the town. Ski patrollers want an increase in pay in an area where the cost of living is extremely high. The resort says the ski patrol members are asking for too much money. The Telluride Tourism Board says bookings for short-term rentals are down 54% just since the strike started. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.