NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-05-2026 4AM EST

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. After U.S. forces captured Venezuela's president on Saturday, President Trump said his administration will now run Venezuela. But on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a more nuanced response. He said the U.S. will instead manage the country through the use of sanctions. But the purpose of those sanctions, he said, will be clear. The goal of the policy is to see changes in Venezuela that are beneficial to the United States, first and foremost, because that's who we work for. but also we believe beneficial for the people of Venezuela who have suffered tremendously. We want a better future for Venezuela, and we think a better future for the people of Venezuela

also is stabilizing for the region and makes the neighborhood we live in a much better and safer place. Rubio was speaking on NBC's Meet the Press. The deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is in custody in New York City where he's expected to face trial on federal drug trafficking charges. Trump's decision to oust Maduro came after he pardoned other high-level drug traffickers and Pierce Brian Mann reports. Trump has accused Maduro of leading a campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the United States and its citizens. But Jeffrey Singer, a drug policy expert at the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, says Trump has pardoned or freed other major drug traffickers.

If this is what's motivating him, if it's stopping drug trafficking, then why is he pardoning the Honduran president who was convicted of cocaine trafficking? Former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, was convicted last. year of helping drug cartels smuggle more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., but Trump freed him in December. During Trump's first term, his administration also freed a senior Mexican general accused of aiding the drug cartels. Brian Mann, NPR News. Denmark is defending its authority over Greenland after President Trump and the wife of a Trump advisor renewed calls for the U.S. to annex the territory. MPR's Lydia Kalitri has more on that story. President Trump told the Atlantic Sunday that Greenland could be subject to future U.S.

intervention, saying, quote, we need it for defense. On Saturday, Katie Miller, wife of Trump's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, posted a picture of the American flag covering Greenland on social media, with the caption, Soon. Danish Prime Minister Meda Fredrickson said in a statement that the U.S. has no right to annex territories of Denmark and told the U.S. to stop the threats about taking over Greenland. Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in annexing Greenland from Denmark for its strategic location in the Arctic.

Lydia Kalitri, NPR News. Israel is revoking the licenses of more than three dozen humanitarian organizations now working in Gaza. Officials say it's an effort to prevent infiltration by militants into the enclave. The ban takes hold on March 1st and includes such well-known groups as Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam.

They provide essential service. services to Gaza, including needed medical care. You're listening to NPR News. Asian shares rallied on heavy buying of tech-related stocks today and U.S. futures were flat after Small Gaines Friday on Wall Street. Officials in Switzerland say they've identified all 40 people who died on New Year's Eve fire in a bar at a ski resort in the town of Cranz, Montana. Many people were also injured in that blaze. Hundreds of mourners attended a mass Sunday before marching to the scene of the fire to honor those who died. A criminal investigation into the owners is now underway.

Modern Christmas may be long over, but a holiday known as Epiphany or Old Christmas is fast approaching. Chad Barrett of member station W.E.T.S. has more on how early settlers in the U.S. celebrated Christmas time. Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park in Elizabethan, Tennessee, has celebrated the holiday known as Old Christmas for almost 20 years. It was a big tradition to fire muskets off at Christmas time. kind of the equivalent of fireworks today. That's Chad Bogart, Museum Curatorial Assistant at the Park.

In the 18th century, Christmas was celebrated as a 12-day holiday from December 25th until January 5th. The next day, January 6th, was Epiphany, traditional day that the Magi visited the Christ Child. Bogart says the phrase Old Christmas came about because of a calendar change in the 1500s from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, where 12 days were removed to get everything back in sync. For NPR News, I'm Chad Barrett in Elizabethan, Tennessee. Weather forecasters say more rain is on the way to parts of California still reeling from earlier storms. Crews have been cleaning mud from key highways affected by mud slides and flooding. Counties in the northern part of the state remain under a flood watch as much as three inches of rain is expected through Monday night.

I'm Dale Wilman and PR News.