NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-11-2025 11PM EST

Episode Date: January 12, 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 Dale Willman.

Wildfires are continuing to burn their way across parts of Los Angeles and areas surrounding that city. It's been five days since those fires began and now they're spreading into new communities, as Elise Hugh reports. Flames are stretching into the communities of Brentwood, West LA, and Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles. Firefighters are conducting air drops and digging lines on the ground in an effort to stop the flames from spreading. They are racing to contain the Palisades fire, which is already the biggest of the wildfires in the county, ahead of more wind events forecast for Monday. Los

Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Morrone gave an update. LA County fire will be prepared. These winds combined with dry air and dry vegetation will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County high. Dusk to dawn curfews are in effect for Palisades and Eton fire evacuation zones. For NPR News, I'm Elise Hugh in Los Angeles. Tick Tock is waiting for a decision from the Supreme Court over a law that could ban the app by January 19th. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, lawyers for the video service say if it is shut down,

lawmakers could then go after other companies. Tick Tock is asking the Supreme Court to pause or overturn a law prohibiting the app from operating in the U.S. unless it sheds its Chinese owner. TikTok's legal team told the court that upholding the ban will set a dangerous precedent. Lawyer Jeff Fisher, who represented creators on TikTok in the case, asked the justices why lawmakers did not appear worried about other Chinese apps and its crackdown. Would a congress really worried about these very dramatic risks leave out an e-commerce

site like Temu that has 70 million Americans using it. The Justice Department says China's potential influence over TikTok makes the app a risk to Americans' data and security. President-elect Donald Trump says once in office, he will find a way to save the app. Bobby Allen in PR News, Washington. Ukraine's president says his soldiers have captured North Korean troops fighting for Russia. Thousands of North Korean soldiers are now involved in that war, as NPR's Joanna Kikissis reports. Writing on the social media app Telegram, Ukrainian president Volodymyr

Zelensky said the two North Korean soldiers were wounded in Kursk, the Russian border region partly occupied by Ukraine. He said the soldiers are cooperating with Ukraine's domestic intelligence service and will be available to speak to journalists. A unit of Ukraine's special operations forces also released this video, complete with dramatic music, showing the capture of the North Korean soldiers. In the video, one soldier appears listless as medics swab at his wounds. Zelensky shared photos of another injured soldier with bandaged arms and a striped sweater. He said the soldiers are being treated for their injuries in cave.

Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, L'viv. And you're listening to NPR News. At least 10 news organizations have retracted or amended stories after an NPR investigation showed that a man they featured as a brave Chinese dissident was linked to an elaborate con. As NPR's Frank Langford reports, journalism scholars can't recall such a mass action based on concerns about a single news source. Dozens of news organizations around the world covered Wang Jingyu as he presented himself, a courageous dissident standing up to China's Communist Party. But an NPR investigation linked Wang to a Byzantine Khan that involved forged government documents and bankrupted the victims.

Wang denies any wrongdoing. The news organizations that changed or retracted coverage of Wong include the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Germany's Deutsche Welle, as well as Radio Free Asia, which is funded by the US government. Ed Wasserman, former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California Berkeley, said quote, I've never seen anything like this. Frank Lankford, NPR News. Special Counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Justice Department after he submitted his investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump. The resignation was expected and comes as legal wrangling continues over how much of

the report should be made public. Department officials announced the resignation today but say it happened on Friday. Firefighters say two trams collided in Strasbourg, France today. About 50 people were injured in the accident but none of them were hurt seriously. The collision occurred in a tunnel near the city's main train station. The city's mayor says it may have been caused by a tram backing up. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have outlined their plans to slash the I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.