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Episode Date: January 7, 2025

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The Indicator is a podcast where daily economic news is about what matters to you. Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation. So as a new administration promises action on the cost of living, taxes, and home prices, The S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever. follow all the big changes and what they mean for you. Make America affordable again. Listen to The Indicator, the daily economics podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. Vice President

Kamala Harris says Monday was a good day for democracy. She spoke after overseeing Congress's peaceful certification of President-elect Donald Trump's victory in the November election. President-elect Trump I do believe very strongly that America's democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. Every single person, their willingness to fight for and respect the importance of our democracy. The formal process went off without a hitch. It was conducted under tight security because of what happened four years ago when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Joe

Biden's 2020 electoral victory. As NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports, no details of that day are included on official tours of the U.S. Capitol. Footage of January 6, 2021, shows rioters trampling police as they broke through barricades, breaking into congressional offices and forcing lawmakers into hiding. But the official policy for tour guides showing the capital to nearly two million tourists a year is not to mention any of that. Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, who served on the committee investigating the attack, thinks that should change. The people who come here want to know about it. They want to know where it took place.

They want to know where different police officers were injured and where people were hiding. An official change seems unlikely. Trump isn't just a former president, but the incoming president and leader of the Republican Party, a party that largely doesn't want to revisit or relitigate what happened that day. Barbara Sprint and PR News, The Capitol.

President Biden has told New Orleans that it is not alone. Biden spoke Monday evening at a cathedral in the city's historic French quarter, paying tribute to the victims of the New Year's trunk attack that killed 14 people. Biden spoke at the prayer service after meeting with victims' family members, and after he and First Lady Jill Biden laid a bouquet of flowers in front of a makeshift memorial on Bourbon Street. Chinese state media say more than 50 people are dead following a strong earthquake that struck the Tibet region not far from Nepal.

NPR's U.S. Geological Survey says the quake had a magnitude of 7.1, as NPR's John Ruich reports. The quake struck a little after 9 a.m. local time and USGS registered several substantial aftershocks. The epicenter was high in the Himalayas, some 50 miles north of Mount Everest. The earthquake rattled Tibet's second biggest city, Shigatse, the center of which is over a hundred miles to the northeast. Photos and videos online showed collapsed walls, rubble in streets, and overturned vehicles. Chinese media said the quake had a magnitude of 6.8.

Shigatse is the site of a major Buddhist monastery that's the traditional home of the Panchen Lama, the second most important spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. John Rewich, NPR News. This is NPR. The Chinese government recently announced that assisted reproductive services, including IVF, are now covered by insurance nationwide. It's part of broader effort to address the country's declining birth rate, as NPR's Owen Zhao reports. The Chinese health authority said in a New Year message that over one million people

have benefited from the assisted reproductive services last year since it has been covered by insurance. It comes at a time when China's population dropped for a second year in 2023 and hit a record low birth rate with 6.39 births per 1,000 people. But access remains restricted. In China, the assisted reproductive services are only available to married couples. Single women seeking to have children through IVF are still excluded. Alvin Tsau, NPR News, Beijing. President Biden's decision to block Japan's Nippon Steel from acquiring Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel in a nearly $15 billion deal is now in the hands of a federal appeals court.

The companies have filed a lawsuit in an effort to overturn Biden's decision. It alleges Biden's decision to block the transaction on Friday was political. Incoming President Donald Trump also opposes the deal. Financial markets in Asia mostly higher in Tuesday trading. Although shares are down in Hong Kong, the benchmarks in Japan, South and Australia are gaining ground. Following Monday's rally on Wall Street, led by shares in Nvidia, the S&P 500 added six tenths of a percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.2 percent.