NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-06-2026 1AM EST

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

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Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts, perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. Venezuelan leaders are rallying around the South American nation's interim president, Delci Rodriguez. This after ousted leader, Nicholas Maduro and his wife were arraigned on drug and trafficking and other charges in the United States. NPR's Kerry Kahn has more. Delsi Rodriguez, Maduro's longtime vice president, was sworn in by her brother, who is the head of Venezuela's National Assembly.

She pledged to bring Venezuela out of what she called these terrible times that threaten the peace and stability of the country. Maduro's son also named Nicolas gave an emotional pledge of support for the new leader. The homeland is in good hands, Papa, and we will hug each other soon here in Venezuela, he said. The younger Maduro is also a named defendant in the indictment against his father and stepmother. A group of independent journalists say seven reporters were arrested outside the National Assembly. Carrie Khan, NPR News, Bogota, Colombia. Trump administration officials say the United States will run Venezuela until that nation completes an orderly transition of power. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller says the U.S. is setting the terms and conditions going forward and that the Venezueling government is cooperating.

The President of the United States has asked Secretary Rubio, who also happens to be his national security advisor, to directly, of course, under the President's close guidance and direction, to be the lead. on this process, but obviously there's many other elements evolved. You have energy policy, treasury policy, financial policy, military policy. So it's a big team and a group of people. Everybody's working great and closely together under President Trump's leadership. Miller says the U.S. is in de facto control of Venezuela, citing the naval blockade around that South American nation. A corporation for public broadcasting says its board has voted to shut down the organization.

This followed months after Congress took away federal subsidies, for public broadcasting. As NPR's David Falkinflik reports, CPB had distributed federal funds to public TV, radio stations, as well as PBS, and NPR for over half a century. The board voted on December 10th. It was disclosed in court filings in CPB's lawsuit against President Trump over his executive order seeking to fire several CPB board members.

CPP says its lawsuit is now irrelevant. CEO Patricia Harrison said CPB dissolved, quote, to protect the integrity of the public media system. Otherwise, it would be, Harrison said, quote, vulnerable to additional attacks. In another executive order, Trump sought to bar CPB from subsidizing NPR and PBS, which he accused of bias.

The networks deny that. In a separate suit against the White House, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations allege the order is unconstitutional. That case remains in court. This is NPR. The Secret Service says a 26-year-old man has been detained on suspicion of breaking into Vice President J.D. Vance's home in Cincinnati, Ohio.

William DeFour is charged with a felony count of vandalism and three misdemeanors. He's been under the guardianship of a parent since 2024 because of mental illness. Holocaust survivor and storyteller Eva Schloss has died at the age of 96. Schlaas was also the stepsister of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank. She's being honored by the King of England as NPR's Lauren Freyer reports from London. King Charles says he's privileged and proud to have known Eva Schloss. She was the co-founder and honorary president of the Anne Frank Trust, UK, a charity named after her stepsister. Schloss was born in 1929, Vienna, then fled the Nazis to Amsterdam, where she became friends with the teenage diarist.

Both were from Jewish families, forced into hiding, then arrested, and sent to concentration camps. The only members to survive were young Eva, her mother, and Anne's father, who then married, after the Holocaust. Eva later married a German Jewish refugee and settled in London, where it was only in her late 50s that she became a Holocaust educator and author. Lauren Freyer and PR News, London. On Wall Street, stocks were sharply higher with the Dow Jones Industrials gaining 594 points, the NASDAQ rose 160 points, and the S&P 500 added 43. US futures are flat in after-hours trading,

and on Asia-Pacific market shares are mostly higher, 1% in Shanghai and in Hong Kong. This is NPR News. Want to get strong in 2026? Turns out you don't need to spend hours at the gym every week. Even just one session, 30 to 45 minutes a week, doing about one or two sets per exercise, that can be quite effective. How to get started with strength training. This week on the Life Kid podcast, listen in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thank you.