NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-06-2026 9PM EST

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

NPR News: 01-06-2026 9PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump says Venezuela will turn over 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. after the U.S. military action there and capture of the country's president. As NPR's Franco Ordonez reports, Trump says the oil will then be sold at market price. President Trump says in a social media post that he'll control the proceeds from the oil sales to, quote, ensure that the money is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States. He adds that it will be transported by storage ships directly to unloading docks in the U.S. He says that his energy secretary, Chris Wright, is executing the plan.

Venezuela, of course, has some of the largest oil resources in the world, but it has been decimated by poor management. Oil fields are decaying, and the infrastructure is in horrible shape. Trump has said the U.S. will be strongly involved in reviving the country's oil industry and expects U.S. companies will help with the costs. Franco, Ordonias, NPR News. Five years ago today, a violent mob of supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol. To mark the anniversary, a group of rioters who received pardons from Trump returned to the scene. NPR's Tom Dreisbach reports.

On January 6th, 2021, they stormed the U.S. Capitol. This time around, they rallied to demand reparations and revenge against the judges and prosecutors who jailed them. Brandon Fellows received a pardon for breaking into the building and spoken a joint in a ransacked Senate office. He told me, the rioters were justified. The election was stolen, and we had a right to do a lot worse that day. The protest was righteous, in your view, and you could have gone even farther. I think we should have. Courts and election officials from across the country found that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

Trump's election lies helped motivate the mob to attack the Capitol, injuring approximately 140 police officers. Tom Dreisbach and PR News. Authorities still have no motive for last month's campus shooting at Brown University and the killing days later of an MIT professor. But recordings the suspect made after the shootings shed some light on his state of mind. David Wright of Member Station Ocean State Media reports. Transcripts released by the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office come from videos Claudio Nevis Valenti recorded in his Salem, New Hampshire,

storage locker after the shootings. His right eye, wounded by one of his own shell casings, Valente says he'd been planning the attack at Brown University for some time. Six months, he says, or six semesters. He claims to have roamed the campus many times before December 13th. I had plenty of opportunities, he says, but I always chickened out. He says he has no hatred towards America and that, quote, this was an issue of opportunity. For NPR News, I'm David Wright in Providence, Rhode Island. This is NPR.

Elon Musk's AI chatbot GROC is under fire for generating sexualized images of women and children without consent. The EU and other countries have condemned the Platform X and called for investigations. Musk's Platform X says it takes action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, by removing it. Pope Leo has marked the end of the Vatican's Jubilee year, period that occurs once every quarter century with a message to help and care for immigrants. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports. In the closing ceremony for this holy jubilee year, Pope Leo kneeled in prayer at the stone floor threshold of the holy door of St. Peter's Basilica, which Christians coming to Rome could

walk through this past year. He then pulled the door shut. The Vatican says a record 33.5 million pilgrims visited this year. Pope Leo has made care for immigrants a central issue of his papacy. He used his homily on this special day to call on Christians to welcome strangers and resist what he called the flattery and seduction of those in power. In a separate prayer for epiphany, he told worshippers, in the place of inequality, may there be fairness and may the industry of war be replaced by the craft of peace. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News. Indonesia's conservation park has shared a video of a giant panda cub named Rio 40 days after his birth. Veterinarians examined him for the first time outside of the incubator.

Pandas are known for the breeding difficulties, making Rio's birth especially significant. This is NPR News from Washington.