NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-03-2026 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 3, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. President Trump says the U.S. is taking over Venezuela. A military operation early this morning seized President Nicholas Maduro and his wife. They're being taken back to the U.S. to stand trial in the Southern District of New York on drug and weapons charges. Trump says U.S. officials will run the country temporarily, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef. will operate Venezuela's oil reserves. NPR's Franco Ordonez has more. Trump says that the U.S. is going to get very strongly involved. He says companies are going to be investing millions and billions of dollars. Of course, Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world. And U.S. involvement would be a huge deal for the industry. I mean, though it would be take a long time to reestablish the oil infrastructure. in the country. NPR's Franco Ordonia is reporting. South Florida is home to many Venezuelans. They gathered early this morning in a Miami suburb to celebrate Kavan Antonio Hedara reports from

Miami. After learning of the news from Caracas, exultant expats in South Florida gathered from the early morning in El Arapaso in Dorau, a city where 40% of its residents have Venezuelan roots. Carmen Wallace left Venezuela in 2017 after street protests were suppressed violently, and she was surprised by the military operation. She is cautious about the future. Honestly, there's a lot of things that we need to see before we all go back, but this is a start. Venezuela and Euphoria is now tempered as they observe events and the Trump administration's statements.

For NPR news, I'm Kevan Antonio Haydari in Miami. Russia is condemning the U.S. actions against Venezuela. Charles Maines reports from Moscow, Maduro, has been an ally of the Kremlin. In a statement, Russia's foreign ministry called the Trump administration's pretext for attacking Venezuela unfounded instead of the U.S. actions marked an unacceptable assault on Venezuela's sovereignty. Despite such expressions of support, Moscow has stopped short of challenging the U.S. more forcefully amid a months-long pressure campaign by the Trump administration against the Venezuelan leadership. The Kremlin reportedly rebuffed a request by Nicholas Maduro for direct military assistance in

the fall, a result analysts say, of Moscow's desire to maintain good relations with the Trump administration as it tries to broker its own peace deal for Russia's war in Ukraine. Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini said today, the Islamic Republic will not yield to the enemy. President Trump said yesterday, if Iran kills peaceful protesters, the U.S. will come to their rescue. At least 10 people have died in demonstrations this week.

This is NPR News. Syria is circulating new currency bills to replace the old Syrian pounds, which will gradually be withdrawn from circulation. The government is attempting to stabilize the economy a year after the fall of the government of Bashar Assad. Some of the old banknotes bear the image of Assad and his late father and predecessor, Hefez Assad. Beverage giant Coca-Cola plans to lay off 75 employees at its Atlanta corporate headquarters. The company says, it's part of a broader reorganization of its workforce this year. Marlon Hyde of member station W.A.B.E. has more in the story.

About 75 employees at Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters will lose their jobs towards the end of February, according to a worker adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filing. Lisa Chang, Koch's executive vice president and global chief people officer, wrote in a warn letter that the company anticipates workforce reductions will occur in waves over the coming months. She adds that employees were given more than 60 days notice, and affected workers are not represented by a union. Coca-Cola spokesperson, Scott Leet, says this is part of an ongoing process to eliminate some jobs while creating others, and the overall number of changes has yet to be determined. Fairn PR News. I'm Marlon Hod in Atlanta.

A Milwaukee County judge is resigning. Last month, Hannah Dugan was found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding. Immigration agents had showed up in her courtroom to arrest a defendant. Dugan led him to a side door. In her resignation letter, Dugan said she still plans to appeal the conviction. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.