NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-07-2026 12AM EST

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

NPR News: 01-07-2026 12AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What's in store for the music, TV, and film industries for 2026? We don't know. But we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year, plus setting some personal pop culture resolutions. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. Residents of Caracas reported heavy gunfire around Venezuela's presidential palace this week. NPR's aide a parole to report said it appears to stem from some confusion.

On social media, videos from Caracas showed men with rifles trading fire on the streets. From their balconies, residents saw what appeared to be anti-aircraft fire streaking through the air. The government's information ministry told the Spanish News Agency Efe that the gunfire was to dissuade drones over flying Miraflores, the presidential palace. The violence surfaced fears that there might be a struggle for power following the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro. But earlier in a day, Venezuela's vice president, Desi Rodriguez, was sworn in as acting president. The Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padino, also said the Venezuelan armed forces are firmly behind Rodriguez. Ida Pralta and PR News,

Cucuta, Colombia. U.S. envoy, Steve Whitkoff, is reporting progress in peace talks and the war in Ukraine. Whitkoff spoke with reporters in Paris on Tuesday. We think we're largely finished with security protocols. which are important so that the people of Ukraine know that when this ends, it ends forever. But we also think critically that we are very, very close to finishing up as robust a prosperity agreement as any country has ever seen coming out of conflicts like this. Nearly three dozen nations, including Britain and France, have pledged to send troops to Ukraine

to secure peace once to fighting their ends. British Prime Minister Kier Stormer says the UK will also take part. part in U.S.-led efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine. The Department of Health and Human Services has frozen Biden-era child care funding, affecting 1.4 million children. NPR's Caden Mills has details. The new rules are for the federal Child Care and Development Fund, one of the largest federal funding sources meant to help low-income families pay for

child care. Current rules require states to base funding for providers on enrollment rather than verified attendance. Under the new rules, funding will be attendance-based, and states will be allowed to reimburse providers rather than pay them in advance for their services. The administration also moved to prioritize parent vouchers, moving away from grants paid to providers. A cap on family co-payments will also be scrapped. Childcare advocates say the proposed changes would roll-back rules designed to encourage a more stable and affordable child care industry. Kaden Mills and PR News. President Trump is telling Republican lawmakers to let go of issues that cannot win in the midterm elections so that they can retain their majority in Congress.

If the GOP loses that control, Trump says he will likely be impeached again. Trump issued the warning to Republicans who had gathered at a party retreat on Tuesday. You're listening to MPR. Protests continued in Iran Tuesday, amid anger over that nation's troubled economy. One crowd staged a sit-in. at the Grand Bazaar, which is a long-time hub for economic and political life in Tehran. At least 36 people have been killed in violent unrest, and authorities have said they've detained more than 2,000 others.

Officials are bracing for me even more violence after Iran's central bank reduced the nation's subsidized exchange rates for dollars. Pope Leo has marked the end of the Vatican's Jubilee year, a period that occurs once every quarter century with a message to help and care for immigrants. NPR's Ruth Sherlock has the story. 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. U.S. futures are flat, and after hours trading on Wall Street on Asia-Pacific markets, shares are mixed. This is NPR News. Have you ever thought about leaving the U.S.? Starting over somewhere new?

Well, I have. And according to one poll, 40% of young women said they've moved to another country permanently if they had the chance. But why? Where to start? Listen to the It's Been a Minute podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.