NPR News: 01-22-2026 6PM EST
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What is the current situation in Gaza amidst the Israel-Hamas war?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Desperate Palestinians are burning trash to keep warm in Gaza after two years of the Israel-Hamas war. Meanwhile, in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump inaugurated his Board of Peace to oversee reconstruction of the enclave. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, says the next phase of the ceasefire deal will address disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.
Gaza, as President Trump's been saying, has amazing potential, and this is for the people of Gaza. We've developed it into zones. In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying, let's build a free zone, and then we have a Hamas zone. And then we said, you know what, let's just plan for catastrophic success. Hamas signed a deal to demilitarize.
What are President Trump's plans for the Board of Peace in Gaza?
That is what we are going to enforce. People ask us what our plan B is.
We do not have a plan B. President Trump's ambitions for the Board of Peace have grown. He says it could rival the United Nations' role in resolving international conflicts, but many U.S. allies have opted not to participate so far. Trump has said he's not sure if he would chair the group after his term in office. A new study says the U.S. homicide rate has fallen to a historic low. NPR's Windsor Johnston reports it marks what researchers are calling a dramatic turnaround in violent crime.
The national homicide rate is on track to reach its lowest level in 125 years and the steepest single-year drop on record. That's according to the Council on Criminal Justice, which analyzed crime data from 40 major U.S. cities. The report found 25 percent fewer homicides, 13 percent fewer shootings, and a nearly 30 percent drop in carjackings compared to 2019, all now below pre-pandemic levels. The FBI hasn't released full national data yet, but local trends suggest the pandemic crime spike was a blip, not a lasting trend. Drug crimes were the only category that ticked up last year, but they remain lower than before the pandemic. Windsor Johnston, NPR News, Washington.
The Supreme Court has received an emergency request from California's Republican Party to block the state's new Democratic-leaning congressional map. As NPR's Hansi Lowong reports, the map is California Democrats' counter to the nationwide gerrymandering push led by President Trump and his Republican allies.
A panel of three federal judges recently rejected a challenge to the congressional voting map by California's GOP and the Trump administration. The Republicans claimed that race and not partisan politics was the main driver of the map's redrawing. That new map could help Democrats pick up five more U.S. House seats in this year's midterm election. California voters approved the new districts last year to offset the new Texas map that President Trump pushed for to help Republicans. Last month, the Supreme Court decided to allow Texas to use it for the midterms. The high court has previously ruled that partisan gerrymandering is not reviewable by federal courts, but California Republicans hope the race argument is a way to get their challenge heard.
In the meantime, New York and Virginia are also taking steps to redistrict in a way that will likely favor Democrats. Hansi Lewong, NPR News.
U.S. stocks rose today and regained more of their losses for the week. This is NPR News from Washington. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is criticizing Europeans for their slow response to Russia's invasion. Meanwhile, he says talks with President Trump have been productive at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He's urging Europe to become a global force. contrasting its response to Washington's actions in Venezuela and Iran. The Trump administration says the U.S. has completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization. As NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports, the WHO says the U.S. actually has to pay its bills first.
Just over one year ago, President Trump announced his intention to leave the World Health Organization, accusing the agency of mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. has to give one year's notice to withdraw, according to a decades-old congressional resolution.
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