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How Jan. 6 will be different this year. And, who took home a Golden Globe award

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How Jan. 6 will be different this year. And, who took home a Golden Globe award

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Today is Jan. 6, the day Congress is scheduled to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the Electoral College. The atmosphere is expected to be very different from four years ago, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Around 140 police officers were injured. While the FBI has classified the attack as an act of domestic terrorism, Trump has referred to it as a “day of love.” He has also promised to pardon people charged for their involvement in the attack.

Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell watches a video of rioters during a hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on July 27, 2021 in Washington, D.C.

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  • 🎧 When Trump ran for president again, he embraced the idea that the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, was overblown and said there were no guns. NPR’s Tom Dresibach tells Up First that this claim is false. Trump also said his supporters at most “got a little out of hand” — a narrative that judges who heard the more than 1,500 cases have dispelled. Trump promised pardons on Day One in office but has been vague about who would receive them. Aquilino Gonell, who was a Capitol Police sergeant during the attack and whose injuries forced him to retire, says he feels betrayed by the election. “What did I risk my life for?” Gonell says.
  • ➡️ Some of the people who stormed the Capitol believed in the QAnon conspiracy theory that claims Trump is involved in a secret battle against evil members of the alleged deep state. After the attack, multiple social media platforms pushed to ban QAnon content. Here’s why it hasn’t gone away.
  • ➡️ There are subtle ways this year’s certification process will differ from 2021’s due to Congress passing new rules. These are some of the key changes.

CNN is fighting a defamation lawsuit in court today. After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, CNN reported as part of its investigation into claims of “black market rescues” that a security consultant was among those offering to evacuate people desperate to flee the country — for a price. When the story aired, a photo of Zachary Young, a security contractor who had offered to evacuate people from Afghanistan, was shown. Young says he sued CNN to clear his name.

  • 🎧 Young’s attorneys say his character was maligned, and he wasn’t doing it for individuals but for deeper-pocketed organizations like U.S. and European nongovernmental organizations. His attorneys claim he lost millions of dollars due to this story, according to NPR’s David Folkenflik. CNN apologized some months after the story first appeared, saying it shouldn’t have applied the “black market” label to Young. The network’s lawyers have taken a more aggressive tone, saying Young lied to CNN reporters and that the network couldn’t confirm he evacuated anyone as he claimed. Behind the scenes, some editors at CNN have expressed misgivings about the reporting.

The 82nd Golden Globes took place last night in Beverly Hills. Comedian Nikki Glaser hosted. The queer musical-thriller Emilia Pérez took home the move movie awards, including one for best musical or comedy film. On the television side, FX’s Shōgun led wins and took home awards in every category it was nominated for. Here’s the full list of last night’s winners.

  • 🎧 Though Emilia Pérez‘s big wins were no surprise, says NPR’s Mandalit del Barco, who was inside the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel last night, there were some surprising moments. The movie musical Wicked only took home one win for its box office achievement. In 2022, the Globes faced criticism after the Los Angeles Times reported there were no Black members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which used to hand out these awards. The organization has since been bought and formally disbanded. The number and types of voting members have been expanded to include more than 300 entertainment journalists from around the world.

Today’s listen

Palestinian artist Tamer Nafar performs during a festival in the town of Sakhnin in northern Israel on Oct. 23, 2016.

Palestinian artist Tamer Nafar performs during a festival in the town of Sakhnin in northern Israel on Oct. 23, 2016.

Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

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The Arabic and Hebrew music landscape has been shaken up by the Israel-Hamas war. NPR’s Daniel Estrin says he didn’t listen to music for a long time after the Oct. 7 attacks as he just couldn’t stomach it. The music scene also reflected this. First, there was shock, then silence, as many musicians were not writing. Now, there is a burst of new music. Estrin spoke with Israeli music critic Einav Schiff and Palestinian musician Tamer Nafar about some of the songs on their playlists and to reflect on over a year of war.

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Jossiel Estefes "Onex stands beside his bike in a gas station in Connecticut during a ride.

Jossiel Estefes “Onex stands beside his bike in a gas station in Connecticut during a ride.

Mayolo López Gutiérrez


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Mayolo López Gutiérrez

Brothers Andrés and Eddie Lucero founded the South Bronx-based Aztec Rebels motorcycle club in 2016 after learning about the culture and politics of another Bronx-based motorcycle club. They dreamt of developing a space where they could hear their own music, speak their language and be understood. They started with five founding members. Since then, they have expanded to more than 20 full members. “People are always looking for a family, and that’s why sometimes they get into gangs. We want to be that place where Mexicans can come and be in a safe environment, without violence, but with a family,” Eddie says.

3 things to know before you go

A team of 100 researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford uncovered around 200 dinosaur footprints along five trackways in southeast England during a week-long excavation in June 2024.

A team of 100 researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford uncovered around 200 dinosaur footprints along five trackways in southeast England during a week-long excavation in June 2024.

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  1. Researchers found around 166-million-year-old footprint tracks at a limestone quarry in southeast England, providing insights into certain dinosaurs’ size and speed. Five trackways were uncovered: Four are suspected to be the giant 60-foot, 2-ton Cetiosaurus and the fifth a Megalosaurus.
  2. Congestion pricing was introduced yesterday in the center of New York City. The measure, which charges many drivers $9 to enter Manhattan at peak hours, went through despite a late attempt by New Jersey to stop it in court.
  3. A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist has resigned from the Washington Post after the editorial page editor rejected her cartoon depicting media and tech giants submitting to President-elect Donald Trump.

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to Extend Cease-Fire by Three Weeks

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Trump Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to Extend Cease-Fire by Three Weeks

President Trump announced a three-week extension of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon that had been set to expire in a few days, after hosting a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats at the White House on Thursday.

Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that has been attacking Israel from southern Lebanon, did not have representatives at the meeting and did not immediately comment on the announcement. The prime minister of Israel and the president of Lebanon also did not comment.

A successful peace agreement would hinge upon Hezbollah halting attacks, which Lebanon’s government has little power to enforce because it does not control the militia. Lebanon’s military has mostly stayed out of the fighting and is not at war with Israel.

The cease-fire, which was scheduled to end on April 26, would last until May 17 if it takes effect as Mr. Trump described it. Before the cease-fire was brokered last week, nearly 2,300 people were killed in Lebanon and 13 in Israel. Since then, the number of Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah attacks have been dramatically reduced, though the two sides have continued exchanging fire.

The Lebanese Ambassador to the United States, Nada Hamadeh, credited Mr. Trump for extending the cease-fire, saying that “with your help and support, we can make Lebanon great again.” Mr. Trump replied, “I like that phrase, it’s a good phrase.”

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Asked about the potential of a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, Mr. Trump said that “I think there’s a great chance. They are friends about the same things and they are enemies on the same things.”

But Lebanon and Israel have periodically been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948. Israel has invaded Lebanon for the fifth time since 1978, incursions that have destabilized the country and the delicate balance of power between Muslim, Christian and Druze communities.

In the hours before the president’s announcement on social media, Israel and Hezbollah were trading attacks in southern Lebanon, testing the existing cease-fire.

Mr. Trump said the meeting at the White House had been attended by high-ranking U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon.

Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh killed three people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Hezbollah claimed three separate attacks on Israeli troops who are occupying southern Lebanon, though none were wounded or killed.

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Hezbollah set off the latest round of fighting last month by attacking Israel soon after the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran. Israel responded to Hezbollah’s attacks by launching airstrikes across Lebanon and widening a ground invasion of the country’s south.

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U.S. soldier charged with suspected Polymarket insider trading over Maduro raid

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U.S. soldier charged with suspected Polymarket insider trading over Maduro raid

Smoke rises from Port of La Guaira in Venezuela on Jan. 3, 2026 after U.S. forces seized the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

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Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed an indictment against a U.S. Army soldier, accusing him of using his insider knowledge of the clandestine military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January to reap more than $400,000 in profits on the popular prediction market site Polymarket.

The Justice Department says Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, who was stationed at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, was part of the team that planned and carried out the predawn raid in Caracas earlier this year that resulted in the apprehension of Maduro.

The Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed the actions against Van Dyke, the first time U.S. officials have leveled criminal charges against someone over prediction market wagers.

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According to the indictment, Van Dyke now faces counts of wire fraud, commodities fraud, misusing non-public government information and other charges.

Trading under numerous usernames including “Burdensome-Mix,” Van Dyke allegedly traded about $32,000 on the arrest of Maduro, resulting in profits exceeding $400,000.

“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain.”

Van Dyke’s defense lawyer is not yet publicly known. Polymarket did not return a request for comment.

The charges against Van Dyke come at a sensitive time for the prediction market industry, which has been growing exponentially, despite calls in Washington and among state leaders for the sites to be reined in.

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Van Dyke is the first to be charged in the U.S. for suspected Polymarket insider trading, but Israeli authorities in February arrested several people and charged two on suspicion of using classified information to place bets about military operations in Iran on Polymarket.

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Senate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS

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Senate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS

The Senate early Thursday morning adopted a Republican budget blueprint that would pave the way for a $70 billion increase for immigration enforcement and the eventual reopening of the Department of Homeland Security.

Republicans pushed through the plan on a nearly party-line vote of 50 to 48. It came after an overnight marathon of rapid-fire votes, known as a vote-a-rama, in which the G.O.P. beat back a series of Democratic proposals aimed at addressing the high cost of health care, housing, food and energy. The debate put the two parties’ dueling messages on vivid display six months before the midterm elections.

Republicans, who are using the budget plan to lay the groundwork to eventually push through a filibuster-proof bill providing a multiyear funding stream for President Trump’s immigration crackdown, used the all-night session to highlight their hard-line stance on border security, seeking to portray Democrats as unwilling to safeguard the country.

Democrats tried and failed to add a series of changes aimed at addressing cost-of-living issues, seizing the opportunity to hammer Republicans as out of touch with and unwilling to act on the concerns of everyday Americans.

Here’s what to know about the budget plan and the nocturnal ritual senators engaged in before adopting it.

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The budget blueprint is a crucial piece of Republicans’ plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end a shutdown that has lasted for more than two months. After Democrats refused to fund immigration enforcement without new restrictions on agents’ tactics and conduct, the G.O.P. struck a deal with them to pass a spending bill that would fund everything but ICE and the Border Patrol. Republicans said they would fund those agencies through a special budget bill that Democrats could not block.

“We can fix this with Republican votes, and we will,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the Budget Committee chairman. “Every Democrat has opposed money for the Border Patrol and ICE at a time of great peril.”

In resorting to a new budget blueprint, Republicans laid the groundwork to deny Democrats a chance to stop the immigration enforcement funding. But they also submitted themselves to a vote-a-rama, in which any senator can propose unlimited changes to such a measure before it is adopted.

The budget measure now goes to the House, which must adopt it before lawmakers in both chambers can draft the legislation funding immigration enforcement. That bill will provide yet another opportunity for a vote-a-rama even closer to the November election.

Democrats took to the floor to criticize Republicans for supercharging funding for federal immigration enforcement rather than moving legislation that would address Americans’ concerns over affordability.

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“This is what Republicans are fighting for,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the Democratic leader. “To maintain two unchecked rogue agencies that are dreaded in all corners of this country instead of reducing your health care costs, your housing costs, your grocery costs, your gas costs.”

Democrats offered a host of amendments along those lines, all of which were defeated by Republicans — and that was the point. The proposals were meant to put the G.O.P. in a tough political spot, showcasing their opposition to helping Americans afford high living costs. Fewer than a handful of G.O.P. senators crossed party lines to support them.

The G.O.P. thwarted an effort by Mr. Schumer to require that the budget measure lower out-of-pocket health care costs for Americans. Two Republicans who are up for re-election this year, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, voted with Democrats, but the proposal was still defeated.

Republicans also squelched a move by Senator Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat of New Mexico, to create a fund that would lower grocery costs and reverse cuts to food aid programs that Republicans enacted last year. Ms. Collins and Mr. Sullivan again joined Democrats.

Also defeated by the G.O.P.: a proposal by Senator John Hickenlooper, Democrat of Colorado, to address rising consumer prices brought on by Mr. Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran; one by Senator Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, to require the budget measure to address rising electricity prices, and another by Mr. Markey to create a fund to bring down housing costs.

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Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is up for re-election in Georgia, also sought to add language requiring the budget plan to address health insurance companies denying or delaying access to care, but that, too was blocked by Republicans.

While Republicans had fewer proposals for changes to their own budget plan, they also sought to offer measures that would underscore their aggressive stance on immigration enforcement and dare Democrats to vote against them.

Mr. Graham offered an amendment to allocate funds toward a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to the apprehension and deportation of adult immigrants convicted of rape, murder, or sexual abuse of a minor after illegally entering the United States. It passed unanimously.

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, sought to bar Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and other services, and criticized the organization for providing transgender care to minors. Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, also attempted to tack on the G.O.P. voter identification bill, known as the SAVE America Act. Both proposals were blocked when Democrats, joined by a few Republicans, voted to strike them as unrelated to the budget plan.

The Republicans who crossed party lines to oppose their own party’s proposals for new voting requirements were Ms. Collins along with Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

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Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski also opposed the effort to block payments to Planned Parenthood.

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