NPR News: 01-18-2026 4PM EST
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. A U.S. official confirms that as many as 1,500 active duty troops in Alaska are on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota. President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and send troops to the state to deal with protests in Minneapolis over immigration enforcement. Mayor Jacob Fry told ABC's This Week his city will not be intimidated.
They're looking for an excuse. They're trying to intimidate Minneapolis residents. But I'll tell you, I've seen tens of thousands of people remain composed to line up to get groceries to people that are scared to go outside, to make sure that people have a walk to their car on their way back home from work.
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into Fry and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on whether their public statements have interfered with law enforcement. Fry calls this deeply concerning that as mayor he has the responsibility to speak on behalf of his constituents. Members of the European Union held an emergency meeting in Brussels today. They're increasingly alarmed about President Trump's heightened rhetoric about taking Greenland and imposing new tariffs on European allies. If a deal to accomplish that doesn't happen. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports.
Thousands gathered in Copenhagen this weekend to show solidarity with Greenland, an autonomous territory of EU and NATO member Denmark. On Sunday, European and NATO members issued a joint statement. France, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden say Trump's threats over Greenland risk accelerating a dangerous downward spiral in relations between transatlantic and NATO allies. We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland, they said. We're ready to engage in dialogue with the U.S., but a dialogue based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Eleanor Beersley, NPR News, Paris. Homebuilders are feeling pessimistic. A survey by the National Homebuilders Association in Wells Fargo found builder confidence was down in January. NPR's Stephen Bissaha reports.
There were signs of a return to optimism among single-family homebuilders at the end of the year. The housing market index saw three straight months of gains, but that's now ended. The index fell two points to 37. Anything below 50 means an overall negative outlook. Builders are dealing with rising construction costs and high interest rates. Most of the builders responded before the Trump administration announced new housing policies, like ordering Fannie and Freddie Mac to buy up $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities to lower mortgage rates. The average 30-year mortgage is down. It's just over 6%. But that's still well above COVID-era rates that make many homeowners reluctant to sell. Stephen Basaja, NPR News.
This is NPR News. Officials in Guatemala said today hundreds of anti-riot police entered a maximum security prison and freed guards who had been taken hostage by prisoners. Dozens of guards are still being held at two other prisons, apparently part of a coordinated inmate uprising. More cities are turning to artificial intelligence to help address homelessness using data and predictive algorithms to try to stop it before it starts. NPR's Windsor Johnston reports on the effort to bring tech into the social safety net.
Cities like Los Angeles are using predictive algorithms to scan everything from emergency room visits to public benefits records, identifying people most at risk of losing housing. Janie Roundtree, executive director of the California Policy Lab at UCLA, says the goal is early intervention.
We are never going to solve the problem of homelessness unless we can not only house people who are already experiencing homelessness, we also have to prevent it before it happens. You need people to find those people in time to help them.
People flagged by the system get a call from a case manager and possibly one-time financial help. But critics warn the technology could raise privacy concerns and deepen existing inequities.
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