NPR News: 01-09-2026 9AM EST
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The Labor Department says U.S. employers created about 50,000 jobs in December.
What job growth statistics did the Labor Department release?
That's fewer than forecasters expected, and it's weaker than November's report. President Trump says he has canceled a second U.S. military attack on Venezuela. He says the two countries are working well together. He's also said oil companies are going into Venezuela. Speaking in an interview last night with Fox's Sean Hannity, Trump says he will meet several oil company executives today at the White House.
Fourteen companies are coming here. They're going to go in. They're going to rebuild the whole oil infrastructure. They're going to spend at least $100 billion.
What recent developments have occurred regarding U.S.-Venezuela relations?
It's an unbelievable oil that they have and an unbelievable quality of oil and amount of oil.
Trump also says he'll meet Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado next week at the White House. Iran's supreme leader addressed his nation today about anti-government protests. These are nearly two weeks old. He said the rioters are acting out only to please President Trump. And Behr's Aya Batraoui reports this comes as Iranian authorities shut down Internet across the country.
The country of more than 90 million people has been without Internet since Thursday. NetBlocks, which tracks Internet connectivity around the world, says Internet was halted after Iranian authorities imposed a nationwide blackout. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed the nation, saying rioters had destroyed public property to please President Trump, according to reports carried by the AP and Reuters. He said Iran would not tolerate people acting as, quote, mercenaries for foreigners. Iran also says Israel is inciting violence. Protests erupted December 28th after the local currency fell to its lowest level in Iran. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say Iranian police and Revolutionary Guard Corps have used live fire to disperse some of the protests, killing people.
Hundreds have also been detained. Aya Bhattarawi, NPR News, Dubai.
Russia says it fired a next-generation hypersonic missile at Ukraine overnight, inflicting damage on energy and drone facilities. The apparent attack comes as Russia has touted the weapon as a game-changer on the battlefield in Ukraine and a challenge to the West. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Means reports.
Russia's defense ministry said it had launched the Ereshnik, or hazeltree missile, a nuclear-capable weapon that Moscow claims is invincible to Western air defenses due to the way it scanners its payload at high speeds, like nuts falling fast from a tree. Russia said the strike was a response to an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on a residence tied to President Vladimir Putin, an attack both Ukraine and the U.S. say never happened. Explosions were reported in Ukraine's Lviv region. Whether Ereshnik was the cause wasn't immediately clear. Russia's deployed the Ereshnik just once before, back in 2024, when it used dummy warheads rather than explosives on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, causing minimal damage.
Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow.
On Wall Street stock market, futures are higher. This is NPR. Police in Portland, Oregon say that Border Patrol agents shot and wounded two people there yesterday. Federal officials say they were targeting alleged Venezuelan gang members. Portland City and Oregon State officials say they want federal immigration officials out of the city. Demonstrators also turned out last night in Portland to protest. The shooting came a day after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis. The House of Representatives has passed a measure to restore federal health care subsidies that expired at the end of December. They're for people getting health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The bill's fate in the Senate is uncertain, but health coverage for this year has already started.
And NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin reports millions of people have already chosen a plan.
Ken Warner lives in Connecticut.
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