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This week on Up first, the Trump administration and Venezuela. Can the U.S. run a foreign government as the president says, they simply may not adopt the policies that Trump would like to see. It's a complex, fast moving story as always. We're working overnight and every night so you can start each morning knowing what matters. Listen up first on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts.
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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump is urging big oil to invest in Venezuela's aid, scaling oil infrastructure to the tune of at least $100 billion. Days after he said the US was running the South American country. For the time being, Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are at the table.
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We're going to be working with Venezuela. We're going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in, that we're going to allow to go in, going to cut a deal with the companies. We'll probably do that today or very shortly thereafter.
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But it remains to be seen how much more the companies are willing to risk in a country that has been economically and politically volatile, more so in the wake of President Nicolas Maduro's ouster and arrests by U.S. forces last Saturday. Meanwhile, the administration says the U.S. seized another oil tanker off Venezuela's coast today. It's the fifth vessel the US has taken in recent weeks. The Venezuelan government has begun releasing some political prisoners. Here's NPR's Ada Peralta.
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The president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, announced Venezuela would release an unknown number of political prisoners as a, quote, gesture to seek peace. As soon as the news began to circulate, family members began gathering outside the notorious Eliocoide prison in Caracas. Frances Fernandez was hoping her husband, a journalist who has been in jail for 20 months, would be released. We're nervous and anxious. We have all kinds of emotions, she said. By late evening, some prisoners, including a former presidential candidate, started to be released. They were received by families with hugs and tears. Ada Pralta, NPR News, Cucuta, Colombia.
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An Alpha News video reposted by Vice President J.D. vance appears to show the shooting of a 37 year old mother in Minneapolis from the perspective of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fired the shots on Wednesday. It shows the ICE officer walking around Renee Goode's SUV toward the driver's side. Goode's window is rolled down. She is seen smiling, telling the officer, quote, that's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you. The video shows another woman outside the vehicle interacting with the officer. Both women are U.S. citizens. An agent can be heard using a profanity as he tells Goode to get out of the car. That's when Good puts the car in reverse and begins to drive away. The administration says the officer was struck and acted in self defense. Minnesota officials earlier today urged the public to submit evidence of their own, as state and local authorities say that the FBI has denied them access to critical evidence. In his repost of the video, Vice President Vance argued the officer again was acting in self defense when he fatally shot Good. The Dow Jones industrial Average closes up 230 points at last check. This is NPR News. The new U.S. labor Department numbers show U.S. hiring in December cooled further and brought to a close the slowest year of job growth since the onset of the pandemic. Employers added 50,000 jobs, falling short of the widely projected 70,000. One of multiple memorials. In Switzerland, which is observing a national day of mourning for victims of the alps Bar fire, 40 people died on New Year's Eve 116 others were injured. Authorities say sparklers on champagne bottles were the cause. The owners of the bar are under criminal investigation. Many parents are expressing confusion by the Trump administration's cuts to the childhood vaccine program. From our partner KFF Health News, Jackie Fortier has more.
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An overhaul of the US Childhood immunization guidelines dropped the number of diseases children should be vaccinated against from 17 to 11. California pediatrician Eric Ball says parents are flooding his office with questions.
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Many families are worried that the vaccines will be unavailable for their children or that insurance companies will not pay for them.
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Insurance will still cover vaccines for diseases the CDC no longer recommends for all children. Childhood disease experts were baffled by the change, while federal health officials say it followed a review of the science.
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Jackie Fortier with our partner KFF Health News. The dows closed up 237points, nearly half a percent. The S and p closed up 44 points. And the NASDAQ had gained 191 points points. This is NPR News.
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