NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-21-2025 2AM EST

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

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What's in store for the music, TV, and film industries for 2025? We don't know, but we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year. Listen now to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. President Trump signed a slew of executive orders Monday at the White House, several dealing with immigration and tariffs. One imposes 25 percent tariffs on products from Mexico and Canada beginning February the 1st because Trump says those nations are not doing enough to stop drug cartels from bringing fentanyl into the U.S. So they are now designated as terrorist organizations, foreign. And Mexico probably doesn't want that.

Joanne Floyd. Trump's executive order seeks to pause the TikTok ban for 75 days. It also instructs the Department of Justice to not prosecute companies for keeping TikTok online. And that's because a federal law recently upheld by the Supreme Court criminalizes firms from supporting TikTok. Doing so could trigger multi-billion dollar fines. That applies to web hosting companies and Apple and Google, which make TikTok available

in mobile app stores. Apple and Google removed TikTok from app stores that have not restored the service. But Oracle brought TikTok's web hosting back after a 14-hour blackout over the weekend. Legal experts say Trump's executive order keeps TikTok in limbo until TikTok is sold. Bobby Allen, NPR News. President Trump signed an executive order directing the United States to again withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement. His action Monday came hours after he was sworn into office for a second term. It is a blow to the worldwide efforts to combat global warming and it distances the United States from its closest allies. Global efforts to fight the climate change issue have stumbled but survived the Republican first term

as other countries, states and cities and businesses have picked up the slack. and cities and businesses have picked up the slack. Billionaire wealth is growing faster than last year, and now the world can expect at least five trillionaires within the next decade, even as the number of people in poverty has barely budged since 1990. The anti-poverty group Oxfam International, their latest report on global inequality,

is calling for caps on CEO pay, better salaries for workers, and it echoes much of the language of former President Joe Biden for his call for highest taxes on the wealthiest to get them to pay their fair share. Oxfam's report was released on Monday. The annual meeting of the elites held by the World Economic Forum, the think tank and Davos opened on Monday, but Tuesday is the considered the biggest day in terms of meetings and speeches. Top Canadian ministers say that Canada will be ready to retaliate against President Trump after he's announced that he would be imposing tariffs of 25% against Canada and Mexico. Trump pledged in his

inaugural address that the tariffs would be coming and said that those countries would have trade penalties. This is NPR News. President Trump is once again, as we said, promising to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement aimed at limiting the long-term effects of climate change. It came as Trump was sworn in for a second term, repeating actions he took in 2017. We have a new report now on the search for the missing American in Syria, Peter Theis. His mother was there. She now believes that her son is being held

and is still alive. NPR's Emily Fang reports. Last December, rebels ousted Syria's former dictator, and Tice has been trying to work with Syria's new government to find your son Austin. He went missing after being taken at a checkpoint in the Damascus suburbs in 2012. Deborah Tice met with Syria's current de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharah, for about three hours during her visit. Al-Sharah himself was imprisoned by American forces

for five years. And he wants to work. He wants to work for all the families so that they can be reunited. Tice said al-Sharah pledged to help her find her son, and she says the new Trump administration is also in touch with her. Emily son and she says the new Trump administration is also in touch with her.

Emily Fang and Pyr News, Damascus. The U.S. Senate on Monday passed what's called the Lakin-Riley Act. The legislation would require federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft or violent crimes. The bill is named after a Georgian nursing student who was murdered by a Venezuelan man who was in the U.S. without legal status. Her death became a rallying cry for the Trump team. This is NPR News from Washington.

Support for NPR. It's a new year, and according to Pew, 79% of resolutions are about one thing, health. But there are so many fads around how to keep ourselves healthy. On It's Been a Minute, I'm helping you understand why some of today's biggest wellness trends are, well, trending. Like, why is there protein in everything? Join me as we uncover what's healthy and what's not on the It's Been a Minute podcast from NPR.