Chapter 1: What are the latest updates on U.S. inflation rates?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The Labor Department says inflation was steady in December. The agency says consumer prices rose 2.7 percent last month over what they were a year ago. That matches the inflation report from November. and it falls in line with what economists had expected.
President Trump is threatening a new 25 percent tariff on goods from any country that does business with Iran. This is over Iran's attacks on anti-government protests by its own citizens. Human rights groups say more than 500 Iranian civilians have been killed. The White House says Trump is exploring messages from Iran that ask for a meeting, but he has also threatened to use U.S.
military force against Iran. One of Iran's biggest opponents is the government of Israel. NPR's Emily Fang reports Israel has largely stayed quiet as Iran's political turmoil flares.
Israel and Iran are ideological foes, and last June, Israel and Iran pummeled each other with missiles and explosive drones. The U.S. then hit Iranian nuclear facilities with massive bombs. Mayram Zanshain is an analyst with the advisory nonprofit International Crisis Group in Israel. And she says Israel believes its military pressure on Iran has been successful in destabilizing it.
It does see the combination of this last operation in June plus the economic hardships in Iran and now these protests as successful, meaning maximum pressure, military pressure work.
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Chapter 2: How is President Trump responding to Iran's political turmoil?
But she also says Israel is first watching what the U.S. does or does not do in Iran before acting and is now nervous the U.S. will cut a deal with Iran over its nuclear program. Emily Fang, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
The states of Illinois and Minnesota and the cities of Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Paul are suing the Trump administration. They say federal immigration agents are illegally stopping people and the jurisdictions want the federal enforcement surge to stop. NPR's Meg Anderson has more on the lawsuit filed by Minnesota.
The lawsuit alleges the surge is, quote, creating dangerous and chaotic circumstances. Hundreds of community members have joined neighborhood watch groups to track federal immigration officers and observe them when they detain people. So when officers exit their vehicles, observers are there soon after honking horns, blowing whistles and recording.
Protesters and federal officers have clashed again in Minneapolis, this time after ICE officers hit a vehicle with their car. The officers eventually used tear gas to disperse the crowd and left without detaining anyone. NPR reached out to ICE for comment on the incident, but did not hear back. Meg Anderson, NPR News.
Writing online last hour, President Trump addressed the immigration issue in the Midwest. He wrote, quote, fear not, great people of Minnesota, the day of reckoning and retribution is coming, exclamation point. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments next hour about transgender athletes.
It'll consider cases that test state laws banning transgender girls and women from joining publicly funded school sports. A new report says climate pollution in the U.S. rose last year. NPR's Jeff Brady has more on a new estimate that points largely to power plants and buildings for the rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
The research firm Rhodium Group estimates U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased 2.4 percent last year. Ben King with Rhodium says higher natural gas prices encourage power plants to burn more polluting coal. And in buildings, Americans turned up the heat. We've had, in 2025, generally colder winters across the country.
That's leading to more use of natural gas and fuel oil for heating in the building sectors. King says climate pollution from transportation was flat, even though people traveled more. That's because there are more electric vehicles and hybrids on the road. Trump policies to boost fossil fuels and hurt renewable energy had little effect on the estimates.
Those policy changes could show up in future years. Jeff Brady, NPR News.
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