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What's in store for the music, TV and film industries for 2026? We don't know, but we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year, plus setting some personal pop culture resolutions. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump says the United States is prepared to intervene if Iran kills protesters. NPR's Franco Ordonez reports on Trump's pled to defend demonstrators who have taken to the streets in Iran in recent days.
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President Trump vowed to step in if Iran uses lethal force on demonstrators as economic protests continue. In an early morning social media post, Trump wrote that if Iran kills peaceful protesters, then, quote, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go. The comments mark a sharp escalation by the president toward Iran. Clashes between police and protesters have turned deadly over the past week. Iran warned that any U.S. intervention would be crossing a red line and be met with a response. Franco Ordonez, NPR News, Palm Beach.
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Actor and producer Angelina Jolie visited the Rafah border today on the Egyptian side of the crossing with the Gaza Strip. Egyptian official say Jolie visited a hospital to speak with Palestinian patients and met with the Red Crescent as she seeks to raise support for humanitarian aid teams displaced by war. In a statement, Jolie says the ceasefire in Gaza must hold and access must be sustained. The reality on the ground is that emergency supplies are slow to arrive inside Gaza, including shelter materials, as tent cities are gripped by wintry weather. A magnitude 6.5 earthquake has struck central and southern Mexico. It sent people in Acapulco and other areas running into the streets. The tumbler even disrupted Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum's first press briefing of 2026, The event setting off alarms and prompting her and others to quickly evacuate. There have been reports of landslides. However, there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Well, it's been two weeks since the Justice Department was supposed to release all of the Epstein files in its possession. NPR's Stephen Fowler reports there are well over a million more pages yet be released.
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The DOJ has failed to fully meet a deadline set by a law signed by President Trump. The relatively few documents that have been made public have extensive redactions. And the government also says some of what's released should not be trusted. While there's no public estimate of how many files remain or when they'll be made public, according to some emails released in the files, the number of documents collected as evidence in the criminal investigation into Epstein alone is well north of a million. Stephen Fowler, NPR News.
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At a last check on Wall street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 93 points at 48,156. The Nasdaq was down 92. The S&P was off 12. This is NPR News. A spokesperson for India's governing Hindu Nationalist party is accusing New York City's new mayor, Zoran Mamdani, of interfering in Indian politics. Shweta Desai reports from Mumbai comes after the girlfriend of a prominent detained activist shared a note she claimed came from Mamdani.
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Indian media reported that the national spokesperson for the Hindu nationalist BJP made the accusation. It came after the girlfriend of activist Umar Khalid shared an undated handwritten letter that she said was from Mamdani. It expressed solidarity with Khalid. He's been held without trial for over five years. He is accused of violating anti terror laws. Rights group says he is being punished for his opposition to the Hindu nationalist government. Khalid's girlfriend told NPR that Mamdani gave the note to his parents during a December 9 meeting. Mamdani's office has not commented, but the new mayor has previously expressed support for Khalid. For NPR News, Shawn I'm Shweta Desai.
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A number of new laws have taken effect this new year across the United States. In New York, for example, Governor Kathy Hochul said health insurers would be required to cover medically necessary EpiPens and cap out of pocket costs at $100 a year, breast cancer screening and imaging and the cost of scalp cooling systems to reduce hair loss during chemo. In Colorado, parents of babies in the NICU will get more paid time off. And in California, rideshare drivers can unionize. This is NPR News.
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