NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-18-2026 9PM EST

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

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This message comes from Databricks, the data and AI company. Are your AI agents working? Most aren't reliable for business. You need AI that's accurate. Agent Bricks, AI agents grounded in your data and built for your goals. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. The Pentagon has placed 1,500 active-duty soldiers on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota, NPR has confirmed. This comes as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz mobilized the state's National Guard yesterday to help local law enforcement if needed.

MPR's Kat Lonsdorf has more. That official tells NPR that the troops will be coming from Alaska, where they specialize in cold weather operations. It's very cold in Minneapolis right now. Those troops have been placed on prepared to deploy orders in case the situation here escalates. NPR reached out to the Pentagon to confirm. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said, quote, the Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the commander-in-chief if called upon. President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act last week.

But the situation on the ground has been relatively quiet the past few days, and local leaders have urged calm. Kat Lansdorf, NPR News, Minneapolis. ICE is reporting another death at the largest detention center in the country. The Nicaraguan man is the third person to die at the massive detention camp run by a private contractor. Angela Coterega with member station KTEP has more. ICE says Victor Manuel Diaz died at the tent facility last Wednesday. The 36-year-old from Nicaragua had been in custody since January 6th,

when ICE says agents encountered him in Minneapolis and determined he was in the country illegally. According to ICE, staff at the massive detention camp in El Paso found Diaz unconscious and called for emergency medical help. ICE says the death is a presumed suicide. There are conflicting reports about another death at the camp that ICE says was suicide. A detainee told the Associated Press, that man was in an altercation with staff when he died. For NPR News, I'm Angela Kochergan, El Paso. President Trump is inviting world leaders to join the Board of Peace, a new body that will help rehabilitate Gaza after the war. And Pierre's Daniel Estrin has more. The United Nations Security Council officially sanctioned the new Board of Peace to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza. But Gaza is not mentioned once in the charter of the new Board of Peace that President Trump will head. NPR has obtained a copy of the charter being distributed. Trump seeks a broad mandate to secure peace in conflict zones, suggesting Trump may wish to use it as a kind of alternative UN to handle other world conflicts in addition to Gaza. The charter

appears to criticize the United Nations by calling for, quote, a more nimble and effective international peace-building body. The document says permanent member countries must donate at least $1 billion each, and Trump would have broad powers as chairman. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington. A beloved Epicurean magazine will make a comeback of sorts this year. As NPR's Netta Ulibe reports, Gourmet magazine is finding new life in a new form. Gourmet magazine shuttered in 2009, but its former publisher, Condé Nast, kept renewing its trademark for years. Recently, a sharp-eyed food writer named Sam Dean noticed the rights had expired. He came up with a plan to reboot Gourmet as an online-only newsletter, along with a group of other journalists. Most are in their 30s and too young to have written for the original Gourmet.

That speaks to the original magazine's influence. Its last editor, Ruth Reischel, has given the new newsletter her blessing, but it will launch on Tuesday as a fully independent operation owned by its workers without the imprimatur of Condé Nast. Neta Ulibe, NPR News. A rare purple star sapphire, weighing 3,563 carrots and claimed to be the world's biggest of its kind, it's going up for sale. The estimated value, $300 to $400 million. One of the owners says the stone, which has been polished, was found in a gem pit near the remote Sri Lankan town of Rathnapura, known as the City of Gems in 2023. It was bought together with other stones, but it took around two years for the special sapphire to be discovered amongst the others. Sri Lanka and sapphires are known for their unique color, clarity, and shimmer. Asia markets are trading lower at this hour than NICA, the main market in Japan, down 1.4%.

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