NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-22-2026 2PM EST

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

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Live from NPR news, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Several major U.S. allies have used the World Economic Forum in Davos this week as a platform to directly challenge President Trump's territorial claims to Greenland and new tariff threats. Trump has walked back both. Today, Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, was the latest leader to implore European countries to rally in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of his country nearly four years ago. We have more from NPR's Joanna Kisysz. Zelensky said Europe loves to talk about the future but avoids taking action today. And he said Europe has not faced the reality of the changing world order. Zelensky asked, what if Russia attacked a NATO country?

Who will respond right now? NATO exists thanks to believe that the United States will act, that it will not stand aside and will help. But what if it doesn't? He said Europe must learn how to defend itself and that Ukraine will help. Zelensky has suggested forming a European armed force of up to 3 million troops. Joanna Kikisis and PR News, Kiev. Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. are expected to hold talks in the United Arab Emirates starting Friday.

Meanwhile, President Trump has introduced his Board of Peace. Critics view it as an attempt to replace the United Nations role in resolving global conflicts. U.S. Special Envoy, Steve Whitkoff, is participating in talks in Moscow today over a possible peace deal in Ukraine. Here's Villa Marx. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Whitkoff confirmed he'd travel on to Moscow from Switzerland for further talks with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin. Wittkoff said he thought the the U.S. mediating team had made, quote, a lot of progress and insisted the remaining negotiations were now focused on a single outstanding issue. Describing how a suggested tariff-free zone in

Ukraine would be, quote, game-changing for the country's economy. Villamarks reporting, as Minneapolis remains on alert amid a contentious ice crackdown, the Trump administration has now sent agents to Maine. The governor says people who don't have criminal records are being detained. Maine Public Radio's Patty White reports. Governor Janet Mills says she takes allegations of criminal activity seriously, but that's not what the ICE operation seems to be about. We're hearing about people who have not been engaged in criminal

activity were being torn from their families, from their schools, from their businesses, and who are in fear, and their families and their communities are in fear. And that's just not right. That's not right. Mills, a Democrat, says President Trump's immigration crackdown appears to be centered in blue states. As of Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security listed 12 people arrested in Maine as being among the quote, worst of the worst. For NPR news, I'm Patty White in Portland. Maine. This is NPR News. Senator Amy Klobuchar filed the paperwork today to build out a campaign for

Governor of Minnesota. This, in the aftermath of Governor Tim Walts's abrupt exit from the race, as federal allegations of state government fraud on his watch intensified. The Oscar nominations for Best Picture this morning included films from Norway and Brazil. NPR's Neta Ulibe reports they're part of a rising number of non-English language films, actors to be recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year. Along with A-lister's like Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B. Jordan, the acting nomination announcements were filled with names like these. Inga, Eve's daughter, Lelos, in sentimental value.

Renata Reinsva in sentimental value. Wagner Mora in the Secret Age. Stellen Scarsgaard in sentimental value. These four actors set a record in 2026 for the most non-English language performances, nominated for Oscars in a single year. Sentimental value from Norway got nine nominations. Brazil's The Secret Agent got four, twice as many as the blockbuster Avatar Fire and Dash. Other non-English language movies with multiple Oscar nominations this year include the Spanish film Surat,

and it was just an accident by Iranian director Jafar Panehi. Neda Uliu B, NPR News. U.S. stocks trading higher this hour with the Dow up 472. points are nearly 1% at 49,550. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.