NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-21-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

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Americans are living longer than ever before. On the Sunday story from Up First, we look at a growing number of people using these extra years to find new meaning. You get to the point where you start asking, what did you do in your life that was significant? A look at the transformative power of human passion and finding your purpose in the third act of life. Listen now on the Up First podcast from NPR.

Live from NPR News in Washington, on Corva Coleman, President Trump has declared a national emergency at the southern U.S. border. NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran reports Trump wants additional funding and resources for border security. President Trump's executive order calls for the deployment of armed forces, including the National Guard, to the southern border. The order says it's needed to obtain, quote, complete operational control of the southern border of the United States. Trump is also asking the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to continue building barriers at the border and to secure detention space and transportation for the immigration enforcement operations. It's important to note that Trump is inheriting a relatively quiet border.

Although it's true that unauthorized crossings hit an all-time high in 2023 during the Biden administration, that number has sharply dropped to COVID era figures, in part due to Biden's asylum restrictions at the border. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Washington. Trump has also pardoned some 1,500 January 6th defendants who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol four years ago. They've been in jail for a long time already. I see murderers in this country get two years, one year, and maybe no time. So they've already been in jail for a long time. These people have been destroyed. The founder of the proud boys Enrique Tarrio has been pardoned and will be freed from a more than 20 year sentence. Stuart Rhodes, the founder of the militia group, the Oath Keeper was not pardoned, but had his 18 year federal sentence commuted. The judge who sentenced

Rhodes said at sentencing that he presented an ongoing threat and peril to the U.S. Among the other executive actions, President Trump has signed an order to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement. NPR's Julia Simon has more. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the climate treaty in his last term. This time, he did it on his first day.

Almost a decade ago, 196 countries came together to sign the historic treaty. The goal remains to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over levels in the 1800s. Scientists agree that with ever-increasing levels of climate pollution, the world will see more devastating heat waves, floods, and fires. Trump's decision comes on the heels of deadly fires in Los Angeles that scientists already say were made worse because climate change made vegetation more dry. Climate experts say as the U.S. retreats from climate leadership,

other countries are stepping up, including China, the U.K., and the European Union. Julia Simon, MPR News. Julia Simon, MPR News. Meanwhile, two new wildfires have broken out in Southern California. The Lilac Fire and the Palo Fire are burning north of San Diego. California fire authorities say they have each scorched 30 acres. They've started to order evacuations from nearby areas. These fires are wind-driven.

Forecasters say winds in the region could gust up to 70 miles per hour today. You're listening to NPR. Most of the country is feeling the coldest weather of the season. Arctic air is blasting the south. The National Weather Service has posted cold weather cautions in every southern state. Texas is under extreme cold and winter storm warnings. Freeze warnings stretch from eastern Texas into Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Blizzard conditions are expected in Lake Charles. Opening arguments will start today in London in a trial involving billionaire Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid newspapers.

Britain's Prince Harry and a veteran politician claim they illegally acquired private material about the men. And here's David Falkenfleck has more. Murdoch's News UK has paid well over $1.5 billion to 1,300 people who filed formal complaints against the tabloids for hacking into their voicemails and for other illegal invasions of privacy. Harry and former member of parliament Tom Watson alleged Murdoch and his executives decided to destroy evidence, including millions of emails, and then to lie about it to police. They put Washington Post CEO Will Lewis at the

heart of that alleged plot. He was a Murdoch executive in the UK at that time. Lewis denies any wrongdoing. News UK has denied hacking into Watson's phone, says Harry waited too long to sue, and it fiercely rejects any coverup. David Falkenfleck, NPR News, London. The rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban,

say they have released two Americans in a prisoner exchange. They released Ryan Corbett, who was detained in 2021 while in Afghanistan on a business trip. The identity of the second American has not yet been announced. The U.S. has released an Afghan man serving a life term for drug offenses. I'm Corlman, NPR News.