NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-12-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: January 12, 2025

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Noor Ram, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Ram. Fire crews are battling to contain several major wildfires in Southern California. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office is investigating at least 16 deaths. L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna confirms at least 14 people in his jurisdiction died, and at least 16 people are missing. Luna said he understands residents want to go home and check on their property.

They shouldn't. I stopped by several checkpoints, both in Altadena and Malibu yesterday. I personally listened to residents. Please, please let me back in. So I'm just going to say this. In driving around some of these areas, they literally look like war zones.

There are downed power poles, electric wires. And driving around some of these areas, they literally look like war zones. There are downed power poles, electric wires. There are still some smoldering fires. It is not safe. Fire officials say slower winds helped in the effort to contain the fires this weekend. Elise Hugh reports. L.A. County firefighters say they're entering

a critical stage in their six-day battle against the deadly wildfires. The biggest, the coastal Palisades Fire, is at least 11% contained. But the flames are dangerously close to densely populated parts of Los Angeles, including Brentwood and the San Fernando Valley. CAL FIRE Chief Deputy Director Annalee Berlew. We know we have not only a firefight ahead on this incident still and on the Eaton incident, but also with the wind events that are here with us already and coming over the coming days.

She said she expects Santa Ana winds to kick up new fires as conditions remain bone dry. The cause of these fires is still under investigation. For NPR News, I'm Elise Hough in Los Angeles. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to pardon January 6 protesters on his first day in office. But Trump's running mate, JD Vance, says violent protesters should not be pardoned. NPR's Luke Garrett reports. Vice President-elect Vance tells Fox News not all January 6 protesters should be pardoned.

If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned. And there's a little bit of a gray area there. Federal prosecutors charged more than 1,500 people with crimes in connection with the January 6 attack. But Vance says nonviolent protesters should be pardoned. There are a lot of people, we think, in the wake of January the 6th who were prosecuted unfairly. We need to rectify that.

Around 140 police officers were injured during the violent January 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol. Rioters tried to stop the certification of the 2020 election, which President Biden won. Trump still denies he lost in 2020 as he heads into the White House for a second term. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. This is President Biden's final full week in office. He's scheduled to deliver a foreign policy speech tomorrow to highlight the work he's scheduled to deliver a foreign policy speech tomorrow to highlight the work he's done to rebuild alliances around the world.

Biden is also likely to talk about his foreign policy challenges, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. This is NPR News. Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is urging Muslim leaders to speak out against the Taliban's treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan by denying them access to an education. She spoke at a summit in Islamabad, Pakistan. Yousafzai was a 15-year-old advocate for girls in Pakistan when the Taliban shot her in the head.

She survived and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in 2014. Ships that transport everything from coffee cups to clothes across the ocean are often so large, no one notices when they collide with a whale. But new research could help reduce those collisions. Northwest Public Broadcasting's Courtney Flatt reports. Whales often get killed by ocean going ships. So research published in the journal Science combined worldwide shipping data with whale migration routes. The study looked at blue, humpback, fin and sperm whales. It found they're at risk all over.

Wherever you have coastlines, port and migratory animals is where you have this conflict. That's Sean Hastings. He's with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hastings says voluntary programs off the California coast asks ships to slow down, and they've helped a lot. The study found most whale ship hot spots could be covered if the shipping industry put the brakes on 2.6% of the ocean's surface. For NPR News, I'm Courtney Flatt in Richland, Washington.

The Australian Open Tennis Tournament is underway. It's the first Grand Slam of the year. More than 30 American players will compete, including 19 vying for the women's singles title. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.