NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-19-2026 10PM EST

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

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This message comes from Data Bricks, 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 Rylan Barton. A group of U.S. Catholic leaders is denouncing foreign policy moves by the Trump administration. NPR's Jason DeRose reports.

U.S. Cardinals from Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Newark, write in a statement that the building of sustainable peace is, quote, being reduced to partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies. The statement points to U.S. actions related to Venezuela, Ukraine, and Greenland. Cardinal Shupich of Chicago writes that, quote, as pastors entrusted with the teaching of our people, we cannot stand by while decisions are made that condemn millions to lives trapped permanently at the edge of existence. The statement comes as Pope Leo recently put forth a Vatican foreign policy agenda calling for just and sustainable relations among nations. Jason DeRose, NPR News. CBS News has now aired a 60-minute segment that its new editor-in-chief pulled from the program last month. It focuses

on allegations of mistreatment of Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration to a Salvadoran prison. NPR's David Fulkenflik reports. CBS editor-in-chief Barry Weiss told 60 minutes the day before that segment was to air that she wanted its journalist to get a White House official to answer questions on tape. Despite the intervening month, no administration official sat for an interview. Sunday's resulting report closely tracked a leak of the December version that was mistakenly distributed through a Canadian streaming service. The new segment reflects more written comment from the administration. Sunday's episode also includes a segment about confrontations between ICE agents and protesters in Minneapolis over deportations. It includes interviews with the

Police Chief, who is critical advice, and with the agency official who oversees deportations. David Fulkenflick and PR News. Hundreds of millions of people are consulting chat GPT for advice on health, according to the Apps Maker OpenAI. NPR's Acadia Riddle reports. There's a lot of things to worry about when it comes to AI and medicine, privacy, accuracy, misinformation. But there's also a lot to be optimistic about, says Dr. Robert Watcher at the University of California, San Francisco. like that AI can quickly read lengthy patient history. So the idea that I, in the two minutes I have before I see you, I'm going to read 600 pages and not miss anything is ludicrous.

And so part of the reason I'm now pretty optimistic about AI in healthcare is the problems we're trying to solve are absolutely unsolvable with if all we can count on as humans. Open AI has just released a new platform specifically for health and wellness called ChatGPT Health. Katie Reddle, NPR News. Hackers disrupted Iranian state TV to air footage supporting the exiled crown prince. The video urged security forces not to target civilians. A crackdown on anti-government protesters has killed at least 4,000 people in Iran, according to human rights observers. This is NPR News from Washington. Faith leaders in Minnesota are calling for worshippers' rights to be protected after anti-immigration enforcement protesters disrupted a service yesterday

at a Southern Baptist Church in St. Paul. The Justice Department says it opened a civil rights investigation after a group of about three dozen protesters walked into the church during the service loudly chanting. The Kremlin says President Trump will go down in the history books if he manages to secure U.S. control over Greenland. The comments come as the White House continues its push to annex the territory despite the island belonging to Denmark, a NATO ally.

From Moscow, NPR's Charles Mainz reports. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov says, he isn't weighing in on whether a possible U.S. annexation of Greenland would be good, bad, or even legal. Instead, Peskov says he's merely acknowledging that President Trump's actions would be historic and written about for years to come. Trump has justified his intentions on Greenland as necessary to protect U.S. security interests in the Arctic from rival powers, including Russia. Yet many Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and members of his Security Council, have suggested Trump's claims on Greenland are historically justified. And what observers say is tacit Russian support for a move all but sure to provoke a crisis in the transatlantic alliance.

Charles Mainz in PR News, Moscow. New U.S. dietary guidelines give a big boost to protein, advising Americans to eat protein foods at every meal up to double the previous recommendation. Nutrition experts are questioning the push, saying most Americans already consume more protein than they need. I'm Rylan Barton. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. This message comes from Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com.

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