NPR News: 01-20-2026 4AM EST

episode

NPR News Now 4 min 5 speakers 7 chapters transcribed

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: chapters · speakers · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Giles Snyder 0:01

Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder.

What recent statements did Denmark's Foreign Minister make about President Trump?

Giles Snyder 0:04

Danish Foreign Minister Lars-Lokal Rasmussen says President Trump's tax to Norway's Prime Minister, linking his stance on Greenland to last year's decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, was not helpful.

Unknown 0:18

disrupted by the statement from the president. And that's a reality of life. And that's why it's so important that all our allies in the NATO alliance and the European Union stand up for these principles to show the American president You have a desire, you have a vision, you have a request, but you will never be able to achieve that by putting pressure on us. That signal is of crucial importance in order to, I would say, to push the Americans back into the meeting room as we agreed last week.

How is California's Republican Party responding to congressional map rulings?

Giles Snyder 0:51

Overnight on social media, Trump said he spoke by phone with NATO's Secretary General regarding Greenland. and agreed to a meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he is due to speak Wednesday at the World Economic Forum. California's Republican Party preparing to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that upheld a newly drawn congressional map favoring Democrats. And Paris Hansi-Lowong reports that ruling kept in place Democrats' counter-response to the nationwide gerrymandering push led by President Trump and his Republican allies.

What complications arise from the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization?

Anzi Luong 1:23

A panel of three federal judges found the drawing of California's new congressional map was driven by partisan politics, but rejected the claim by California's Republican Party that the map violated the U.S. Constitution because race was the main driver. California's map could help Democrats pick up five more U.S. House seats. And it was approved by the state's voters last year to counter the new Texas map that President Trump pushed for to help Republicans. Last month, the Supreme Court decided to allow Texas to use that map for this year's midterm election.

What factors are contributing to China's declining birth rate?

Anzi Luong 1:48

The court has previously ruled that partisan gerrymandering is not revealable by federal courts. Time is running out for the Supreme Court to weigh in on California's congressional map before the state's candidate filing period starts early next month. Anzi Luong, NPR News.

Giles Snyder 2:01

This week, President Trump plans to officially withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization. This comes at the end of a required one-year notification period, but as NPR's Gabriella Emanuel reports, the WHO says the withdrawal is more complicated.

What historic address is House Speaker Mike Johnson preparing to deliver?

Lawrence Gostin 2:16

In order to leave the WHO, the U.S. is supposed to give one year's notice. It did that. But it's also supposed to pay all its bills, which amount to $278 million. The State Department told NPR that's not happening. Lawrence Gostin is at Georgetown University and directs the WHO's Center on Global Health Law.

Unknown 2:37

This is a very, very public and messy divorce between WHO and the United States.

Lawrence Gostin 2:43

He says practically the U.S.

What achievements did Indiana's college football team accomplish this season?

Lawrence Gostin 2:45

can leave, but it's unclear if the WHO will continue letting Washington participate in its meetings and share data about things like disease outbreaks. The State Department says it doesn't want to participate. Gabriela Emanuel, NPR News.

Giles Snyder 3:00

This is NPR. China has just posted its lowest birth rate since it started keeping records after the country's founding. Empire's Emily Fang reports this is despite more government policies encouraging women to have more children.

Emily Fang 3:16

The number of new babies born in 2025 dropped by 17 percent from the year before. And most crucially, the ratio of babies born per 1,000 women dropped to its lowest level since 1949. China now has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, well below the ratio needed to maintain its current population of more than 1 billion people. Starting in the 1970s, China enforced a one-child policy, driven by fears that the country could not support a population that grew too quickly. But in 2016, China removed that cap, eventually lifting it to the maximum of three children per family now. But despite more generous maternity policies, subsidies to make preschool more affordable, and publicity campaigns extolling the virtues of family life,

Emily Fang 3:58

Chinese women are having fewer and fewer children.