Trump's Bold Move on Immigration; New Healthcare Framework Released | NTD News Today (Jan. 15)

Welcome to NTD News Today. Here are today's top stories. An ICE agent is hospitalized after the DHS says he was ambushed during a traffic stop in Minneapolis. Officials say the officer fired in self-defense after being attacked by three suspects. And President Trump issues a warning if state officials fail to stop protesters targeting immigration officers. President Trump meeting Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Karina Machado at the White House today, calling her a very nice woman ahead of the sitdown. US forces seize another Venezuela linked oil tanker. US Southern Command said the seizure took place in the Caribbean. Federal prosecutors charged 15 former college basketball players in an alleged betting scheme. The details on allegations against the former Division One players. A SpaceX capsule carrying a fourman crew splashes down in the Pacific. NASA said a medical issue forced an emergency return to Earth. This is NTD News Today live from our global headquarters in New York City. Today is Thursday, January 15th. I'm Stephanie Aox. President Trump today unveiled a new framework to lower health care costs and drug prices for Americans. Here's the president announcing the plan. >> We're calling it the great healthc care plan. Instead of putting the needs of big corporations and special interests first, our plan finally puts you first and puts more money in your pocket. The government is going to pay the money directly to you. It goes to you and then you take the money and buy your own healthcare. Nobody's ever heard of that before and that's the way it is. The big insurance companies lose and the people of our country win. This proposal locks in the massive discounts on prescription drugs that my administration is achieving through our most favored nation drug pricing agreement. Now, >> the White House says the initiative will slash prescription drug prices, reduce insurance premiums, hold big insurance companies accountable, and maximize price transparency in the American health care system. Trump said the plan would send money directly to the American people. As you've been hearing, the president criticized Obamacare for benefiting insurance companies. He said this plan would end kickbacks to insurance brokers and corporate middlemen. The president is urging Congress to pass the framework quickly. Federal prosecutors have charged 15 former college basketball players in an alleged betting scheme. Authorities say the players and five other individuals aimed to rig NCAA and Chinese basketball games. The 15 athletes played basketball for division one schools as recently as last year. Prosecutors say the other five individuals are fixers. This includes a former coach and a former player. Authorities describe the other three as gamblers, influencers, and sports handicappers. The fixers allegedly recruited the college players with bribe payments ranging from$10,000 to $30,000 per game. This comes shortly after at least 10 players received lifetime bands. That's for bets which sometimes involved their own teams in their own performances. And tensions escalated in Minneapolis following a violent nighttime confrontation between an ICE agent and an illegal immigrant in Minneapolis. Homeland Security says the man ambushed the agent and the agent in turn shot him in the leg. Here's what we know. An ICE agent is in the hospital after the Department of Homeland Security said he was ambushed by an illegal immigrant in Minneapolis. According to DHS, agents were conducting a traffic stop when the man, a Venezuelan national, fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car. He then took off running. An officer caught up with the man when DHS says he and two other people began attacking the officer using a shovel and a broom handle. In a statement on X, DHS said fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life. Officials say that a bullet struck the man in the leg and both he and the ICE officer were hospitalized. DHS says the two other asalants scrambled back into an apartment, but are now in custody. In a late night news conference Wednesday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara confirmed the shooting. He also said crowds had gathered near the scene and were attacking police officers. The crowd is engaging in unlawful acts. They have thrown fireworks at police officers and at multiple times uh gas has been deployed. This is already a very tense situation and we do not need this to escalate any further. >> O'Hara also confirmed no one else was shot. At the same news conference, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry urged protesters to stay nonviolent. He blamed the Trump administration for escalating the situation by surging ice into Minneapolis. For those that have peacefully protested, I applaud you. For those that are taking the bait, you are not helping and you are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city. >> Minnesota Governor Tim Walls echoed the same sentiment and he said ISIS's actions are no longer about immigration enforcement, but in his words, a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota. In a post on X, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch defended federal agents, saying ICE operates in thousands of communities without incident with men and women carrying out their duties to protect the public from criminal aliens. And he blamed the violence on rhetoric from Minnesota officials. Acting ICE director Todd Lions told Fox News this week that Minnesota's sanctuary policies are what's driving the surge in federal agents. >> DHS, meanwhile, has been touting what it's calling Operation Metro Surge as a success. In a press release yesterday, the department said it had arrested the worst of the worst criminal illegal immigrants from Minnesota neighborhoods, including violent asalants, domestic abusers, and drug traffickers. It said it did so despite a lack of cooperation from Minnesota officials. According to DHS, Governor Walls and Mayor Fry have been responsible for releasing nearly 470 criminal illegal immigrants onto Minnesota streets in less than a year. It called on the two leaders Wednesday to honor ICE arrest detainers of more than 1300 immigrants in the state's custody. >> In response to the protests targeting immigration officials, President Trump threatened to use the insurrection act of Minnesota officials don't stop the protesters. In True Social Post this morning, Trump wrote, quote, "If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don't obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE, who are only doing trying to do their job, I will institute the Insurrection Act." The Insurrect Act is a law authorizing the president to deploy military forces on US soil. Protesters and federal agents engaged in a tense standoff last night. Footage showed officers and demonstrators gathered on suburban streets with some protesters setting off fireworks while officers used tear gas and flashbang grenades. Other images show vandalized and ransacked vehicles in the area after clashes erupted. It's not immediately clear who the vehicles belong to. Meanwhile, DHS Secretary Christy Gnome said she discussed the insurrection act with President Trump. Here's the secretary. I describe it as uh violent um and and a violation of the law in many places. I discussed with the president this morning uh several things that we are dealing with under the department and different operations. Uh we did discuss the insurrection act. He certainly has the constitutional authority to utilize that. Um my hope is that this leadership team in Minnesota will start to work with us to get criminals off the streets. The Trump administration has until Monday to respond to Minnesota's request for a temporary injunction of ICE activity. A US district judge says she will not block ICE action in the state for now. Minnesota and the Twin Cities are suing the Trump administration. They argue the federal government is usurping constitutional state powers. They also allege ICE agents are using excessive force. Judge Katherine Mendez says says not imposing a preliminary injunction isn't a prejudgment. The defense didn't immediately respond to the injunction request. The Trump administration says ICE is making cities safer. President Trump praised to the judge's ruling in a truth social post today, saying, quote, "The great patriots of law enforcement will continue to make our country safe." Next, a top ICE official is resigning to run for Congress. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Madison Shiahan shared the news on social media. Shihan said she's leaving the agency and running for Congress. She wants to represent Ohio's ninth district in the US House of Representatives. Shihan will be challenging Democratic rep Representative Marcy Captor in the November midterms. She had joined ICE early last year and is a close ally of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nom. And US forces seized another Venezuela linked oil tanker today, marking the sixth vessel targeted in recent weeks. US Southern Command said Marines and sailors boarded the motor tanker Veronica without an incident. The vessels intercepted so far have been either under US sanctions or part of a shadow fleet of ships that attempted to evade in sanctions. Last week, US forces seized a Russian flagged tanker that was being shadowed by a Russian submarine. And President Trump is meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Karina Machado today at the White House. Trump called Machado a very nice woman in an interview yesterday, adding that they would probably just talk basics. The United States said in 2024 that former dictator Nicholas Maduro lost the presidential election to Machado's party in Venezuela. Machado was going to run against Maduro in that election, but the regime disqualified her. She went into hiding and was succeeded by Edmundo Gonzalez. Trump's meeting with Machado comes after US forces captured Maduro from the capital city of Kacus. Machado won last year's Nobel Peace Prize and has offered to share the prize with Trump. Coming up, expert insight and analysis of the latest news on the brutality in Iran as the US sanctions key leaders there while Trump holds off on strikes. Meanwhile, Verizon says it has restored service after an outage disrupted cellular services for more than 10 hours. The carrier said it was issuing $20 credit cards to affected customers. those stories after this. Welcome back. Turning now to Iran. President Trump says the repression of protesters appears to be easing up. The president said yesterday he was told the killing is stopping and that the regime has no plans to execute any demonstrators. Trump told reporters the information came from what he called some very important people on the other side. He did not name those people. Iran's foreign minister, meanwhile, has publicly denied plans for hanging anti-regime protesters. However, Trump still says the US will watch and see what happens, saying he's been told on good authority, and he hopes it's true. Iran today reopened its airspace after 5 hours amid speculation about possible US military action. The Iranian government did not give an explanation for closing its airspace, but it did come after President Trump's comments hinting at possible strikes should Iran start to execute protesters. The Trump administration is still applying pressure on the Iranian regime. Secretary Scott Bessent says the Treasury Secretary is sanctioning key Iranian leaders involved in the brutal repression of protesters. >> President Trump stands with the people of Iran and has ordered Treasury to sanction members of the regime. Iran's leaders have brutally responded to peaceful demonstrations with violence. From mass shootings in the street to attacks on wounded victims and hospitals. Today's sanctions target 18 individuals and entities that the regime uses to evade sanctions on Iranian oil and divert proceeds from its energy sales away from the rightful owners, the Iranian people. >> The sanctions today also target five Iranian officials accused of being architects of the repression. They include Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and law enforcement commanders. Bessant said the United States stands firmly behind the Iranian people in their call for freedom and justice. He warned Iranian officials that the US will track their wire transfers to banks around the world. Bessant also urged Iranian leaders to stop their repression and to stand with the Iranian people. He added that his department will use every tool to target those behind the regime's oppression of human rights. Joining us now to discuss the latest in Iran is geopolitical analyst Brandon Wiker. Great to have you with us today, Brandon. Can't wait to hear your insights and analysis. What impact do you think could the US's new sanctions on key Iranian leaders have on the regime? >> Uh, zero. I I I don't believe sanctions are going to work. I think this is all uh chest beating and chest thumping and it makes everybody feel good in Washington. But people need to remember Iran is one of the most sanctioned countries in the world. I don't really know what other more significant sanctions we could do. Uh whatever we didn't do before it was because we knew it wouldn't be that significant, but this is all that's left to us in terms of the sanctioning. So that's what we're doing. Um you know the the interesting thing you had earlier in the show I saw you were talking about the ghost fleet that actually is doing some damage to Russia, to Iran, to China. So, our stuff in the going against that ghost fleet is actually probably more useful in terms of hurting Iran's economy uh than anything we're doing to sanction these leaders in my opinion. >> And with the Pentagon sending um naval assets toward the Middle East, um is is that likely, you know, I guess the US is preparing for potential strikes? Is is that something that the Trump administration would need to obviously get approval from Congress on? >> Uh in terms of the ghost fleets, uh they haven't they haven't had approval from Congress on any of the stuff they've been doing in the Caribbean yet, which is interesting. So, uh and you could make the argument, and I think they probably would, that this would somehow fall under the authorization to use military force going back to 9/11. Uh they've been putting everything under that impromater for 20 plus years. uh American uh presidents have. So, I don't know if they would actually need to get congressional approval. Of course, the Republicans hold the majorities in Congress anyway, so I'm sure they could probably get approval if they needed to. But the really interesting thing here is everybody's acting like the the the threat of strikes is over. Um I said yesterday on another program, and I maintain that we are just at the start of this crisis. It will lead to air strikes. The reason that the Trump administration has not followed through on their threats against Iran is because they're very worried, rightly so, about Iran's massive missile, hypersonic weapon, and drone overmatch. People do not understand all the air strikes we and the Israelis did last year didn't put a dent on those Iranian underground missile cities and the right now US and Israeli air defense systems in the region are depleted and there is no guarantee that the Arabs are going to help shoot down a missile swarm from Iran because of tensions over the Gaza war. So if it is you're you're saying that this is heading towards strikes, what does the US need to do to position itself to win? >> Well, uh the thing that we need to remember is again Iran is not a Iran is not an equal of the US militarily, maybe not even conventionally an equal of the IDF, but Iran has certain unconventional capabilities that makes it a very significant threat, notably to Israel and the US bases in the region. And that really comes down to those missile swarms, those hypersonic weapons uh and the drones as well as the force multipliers of the Houthis to a lesser extent now Hamas and Hezbollah. So the Iranians have a lot of things they can do still to really damage Israel in particular. I think that the Trump administration was about to bomb last night and the reason they pulled back is because they realized the Iranians really could basically obliterate Tel Aviv and Hifa uh and some of the big economic hubs of Israel as well as those US bases even with all the air defenses like I said they're not foolproof and the kinds of numbers that Iran can throw at us will overwhelm what we have in the region both us and Israel. So Trump is holding off from strikes. What are the next steps that you >> He's going to probably Yeah, he Well, those carriers are inbound. He's going to probably wait for the carriers to, you know, position themselves. We're already apparently moving assets into Diego Garcia, which is in the Indian Ocean. Uh we are obviously moving lots of assets still into the Middle East via Europe. Uh, I would anticipate in the next couple weeks this thing is probably going to heat up again. Uh, but Trump's going to be in a holding pattern until those carriers are in position. >> Okay. Um, give us your final thoughts. Anything you want to deliver in our last 30 seconds? >> My hope is that we can avoid another Middle East war. I hate the regime in Iran, but we cannot afford a Middle East war right now. We need to focus on Western Hemispheric Defense and space defense, Golden Dome. Those need to be the two things we're focused on. >> Oh, just lastly as well, because some of those assets uh moving towards the Middle East are leaving the Indo-Pacific. How much of a risk does that uh involve in terms of the security there? >> Oh, the Chinese are very happy about that right now. I can guarantee you it it weakens our security. The people who are crying the most in America right now are the Indopaccom boys. uh because they you know they're finally was getting attention and now suddenly in the last few months they've been losing all the attention and all those resources going to Southcom Yukcom and now Sentcom again. >> Geez. So um okay let's work on that Iron Dome that uh Golden Dome and um see where we go from here. Thank you so much for your for your time uh and your insight Brendan Wert. >> Yep. And next on Capitol Hill, a push from Democrats to limit President Trump's directives in Venezuela fails. It was very close to passing. NTD's Molina Weisgup tells us what changed in the final hour. After a very close vote and Vice President JD Vance making his way to Congress to cast a tiebreaking vote, Democrats failed to pass their War Powers Act aimed at curbing the Trump administration's authority in Venezuela. Ultimately, two Republicans who initially voted in favor of opening the debate on the act decided in the final hour to switch their vote. Those were Senators Josh Holly and Todd Young. They both said they were reassured by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the US military is not currently in Venezuela and that if troops are needed on the ground for a major operation at any point, the administration will come to Congress first. >> The secretary also told me directly that the administration will not put ground troops into Venezuela. They do not seek to occupy Venezuela, but his commitment to abide by the war powers notification procedures and also the constitution is directly responsive to my concerns. >> Senator Tim Kaine, the Democrat who led the charge on this War Powers Act, said though he's disappointed it didn't pass in the end. He felt like his push opened up a pathway to more discussion around the Venezuela action. The White House made a number of public commitments to them about Senator Rubio coming finally to do a public hearing before foreign relations and the need for formal authorization if any boots on the ground are needed in Venezuela. These are not sufficient for me, but these were not things that we would have had had we not filed this resolution. >> The resolution, if approved by Congress, would have blocked President Trump from using military force within or against Venezuela. And when it was coming down to the vote yesterday, Senator Ree called a point of order because he said the resolution did not address future military actions, only current ones, he asserted that US forces are not in Venezuela currently. So the point is moot. Three Republicans still voted with Democrats, though those are Senators Ran Paul, Lisa Macowski, and Susan Collins. The president initially criticized those Republicans who voted to advance this resolution last week, saying that none of them should be reelected. Reporting from Washington DC, Molina Weissup, NTD News. >> And thank you, Molina. Researchers say a Chinese cyber espionage group has targeted US government officials. A cyber security firm uncovered the campaign. Acronis' threat research unit said the hackers used Venezuela themed fishing emails in the days after the US capture of dictator Nicholas Maduro. The cyber security firm found a zip file that was uploaded on January 5th to a publicly accessible malware analysis service. The researchers said the Chinese cyber espionage group involved is believed to be called Mustang Panda. It has a history of using headlines or key issues as a means to steal data and is established has established footholds in US government entities. So far, it's unclear which entities have been targeted and if they were compromised. The Department of Justice has previously said that Mustang Panda is sponsored by the Chinese Communist regime. >> Critical minerals is the focus of a new bipartisan bill. Lawmakers introduced legislation to create a $2.5 billion stockpile of critical minerals. The aim is to stabilize prices and strengthen domestic mining and refining. Lawmakers say the move counters Chinese control of lithium, nickel, and rare earth markets crucial for electric vehicles, technology, and defense. The bill would create a strategic resilience reserve managed by a seven member board appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Minerals could be stockpiled, sold for defense or industry, and profits reinvested to sustain the fund. Allied na nations could also participate. Senator Jin Janine Shaheen says the reserve will insulate the US from foreign threats while supporting the economy. And a prominent pro Palestine activist could face rearrest. An appeals court has ruled a lower court judge lacked the authority to release Mahmud Khalil. The panel says the Columbia University graduates case should have gone to an immigration court. Khalil is an illegal US resident whose wife and child are Americans. The Trump administration said Khalil's activism harms US foreign policy. They argued that Khil fraudulently obtained his green card by concealing multiple critical pieces of information in his application. The defense says he has freedom of speech under the Constitution. Khil is suing the Trump administration over his previous 104day detention. And next, Verizon says it has restored service after an outage disrupted cellular services for more than 10 hours a day. 10 hours yesterday. The carrier said it was issuing $20 credit cards to affected customers. Outage Tracker Down Detector said it had received a total of more than 1.5 million reports. Impacted users said their phones were in SOS mode or had no other signal messages. Major cities impacted by Verizon's outage included Houston, Philadelphia, Dallas, Miami, and New York City. Alerts in some cities urged residents to try landlines and devices from other carriers. Verizon did not disclose the cause of the outage, but said there was no indication of a cyber attack. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's AI company has imposed limits on its chat bots image editing capabilities. That follows concerns that X AI was being misused to generate explicit non-consensual images. Here are the details. Elon Musk's X AI has imposed image editing restrictions on all users of its Grock AI chatbot. The artificial intelligence company made the announcement late Wednesday. It comes after concerns grew when the service produced sexualized images. Governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have cracked down on sexually explicit content made by Grock. They've imposed bans and demanded safeguards. XAI said in an ex post they have implemented technological measures to stop Grock from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing. It added the restriction applies to all users including paid subscribers. Billionaire Musk owns XAI which in turn owns X formerly known as Twitter. California's governor and attorney general said they were demanding answers from XAI earlier Wednesday and British media regulator said Thursday its formal investigation into X would continue over Grock although it welcomed the company's policy change. >> US children could soon drink whole milk at school for the first time in nearly 15 years. President Trump yesterday signed a law allowing the beverage to be served alongside low-fat and fat-free alternatives. >> As it currently stands, schools participating in the National School Lunch Program are only able to offer students low or non-fat milk options. That was changed during the Obama administration. A lot of people disagreed with it at the time. With this legislation, schools will finally be able to expand their offerings to include nutritious whole milk. It's actually a legal definition, whole milk. And it's whole with a W for those of you that have a problem. Most of the media will get that. This is the perfect followup to the new real food pyramid. And >> it obviously builds on the dietary guidelines that uh Secretary Kennedy and I along with our whole team released last week. The idea of making America healthy again is so encouraging and inspiring. >> The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act will expand milk options for nearly 30 million children who eat school meals. It enacts a long-standing priority of the dairy industry. The law is also aligned with the the administration's Make America Healthy Again agenda. The administration has promoted other Maha priorities like getting the number of childhood vaccines in line with other western countries and discouraging the use of artificial dyes in food. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in two closely watched cases involving whether males may compete on female school sports teams. NTD's Daniel Mahan spoke with Erin Marcino, vice president at Advocates for Faith and Freedom, who attended the arguments representing several California school districts. So, it was a really interesting day at the Supreme Court. >> Erin Marcino has litigated and won major constitutional cases in the highest courts across the country, including the Supreme Court and nearly every federal circuit. At the high court on Tuesday, Marcino says her team emphasized the importance of defining biological sex under Title Nine, arguing that sex-based protections are essential to preserving fairness in women's sports. >> Also kind of highlighted some of the really good things that have come out of Title 9 and that would be um all of the advancements for women in the workplace. um the huge huge percent of Fortune 500 female CEOs competed in sports um as they were growing up and in school. And so we've seen really amazing things that have happened because of female participation in sports and having their own protected teams. So an area where they can succeed and have fair competition. The justices seem to lean towards upholding laws in Idaho and West Virginia that prohibit males from playing on female school sports teams. >> Marcino says one moment stood out during arguments from attorneys representing trans identifying athletes. >> Justice Alo asked quite pointedly, "What would your definition of sex be?" Because Title 9, which is the statute that allows for separate teams for girls and boys sports, says that it's based on sex. So he was wondering, "What did Congress mean by sex when they enacted the statute?" And the response was, "We have no definition for you." >> Both Idaho and West Virginia argue their laws are consistent with the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law. Marcino says during those arguments an attorney for one of the transgender identifying persons changed the classification. >> So the transgendered individual's attorney changed the classification from being all transgendered students to only transgendered students who had gone through a mitigation process of taking hormones for a period of time and only had a certain level of circulating testosterone. where in according to their theory that that athlete would no longer have a performance advantage in athletics and then the council also admitted that there wasn't really enough information in the record to solidify um that argument. Mercino says the science in that area is really not developed. >> But we know that even a person who has gone through, you know, two years of what they call hormone therapy, um that person still anecdotally has a performance advantage. So Leah Thomas had gone through two years of hormone therapy and still, you know, swept swimming. So it's it's kind of a a tough argument to make. The states also argue that their laws do not violate Title 9, which bars sex-based discrimination at federally funded schools. >> I really believe that in this case, all signs are pointing to the court ruling that states are allowed to uphold Title 9 by having different teams for boys and girls. And that means that they can truly have different teams for boys and girls. Marcino notes that even a ruling favoring the states would not mandate a nationwide change. >> The 23 states that allow for transgendered individuals to play on teams of the opposite biological sex, those would still remain in place. So there's definitely still going to be ongoing litigation. >> She adds there was little discussion of privacy, safety, or the impact on female athletes required to compete against males. A decision in both cases is expected by the end of June. Daniel Monahan, NTD News. >> And coming up, a second construction crane collapses in Thailand, killing two people tragically. The incident comes a day after a separate crane fell onto a moving train. That and more. I'm Stephania Cox and this is World Watch. The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland say they're forming a high level working group with the US to help guide the Arctic territo's future. It comes after a White House meeting yesterday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Though they described the meeting as constructive, the ministers also said that there is a fundamental disagreement with the Trump administration. Ahead of the meeting, President Trump restated his ambition of making Greenland part of the US. In a True Social Post, he said the United States needs Greenland for national security, adding that it's vital for the Golden Dome the US is building. During a news conference yesterday, Foreign Minister Lars Rasmusen said Denmark believes the long-term security of Greenland can be ensured with the current framework. Greenland's foreign minister stressed the importance of cooperating with the US, but added that the residents of the island do not want to be owned by the US. Troops from several European countries are arriving in Greenland. Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands have said they're sending military staff to begin preparations for larger drills later this year. In a statement today, the Danish Prime Minister said there was agreement within NATO that quote, "A strengthened presence in the Arctic is crucial for European and North American security." The scale of the planned European military buildup has not been made public, but initial deployments appear small. French authorities said about 15 soldiers were already in Greenland for a military exercise. Germany will deploy a reconnaissance team of about 13 personnel today. Poland on the other hand said it will not send soldiers to Greenland. >> I mean a conflict or an attempt to take over the territory of a country that is a NATO member by another NATO member state. And what's more, it's the United States. Well, that would be the end of the world as we know it, which has guaranteed our security for decades. >> Pentagon Chief Pete Hegsath and Japan's defense minister working out an Virginia Army base today. The two were seen alongside troops lifting weights, doing push-ups, rowing, and more. This comes ahead of a meeting between the two officials later today. Japan's defense minister says he hopes to address the security situation in the Indo-Pacific. This will mark the fourth time the two officials have joint talks. And another construction accident in Thailand. A crane working on an elevated highway project outside Bangkok fell onto the road below, killing two people. Officials said a company named Italian Thai Development was one of the contractors working on the project. The incident comes a day after at least 32 people were killed and dozens more injured when a separate construction crane fell onto the moving train. The same construction company is involved in that project. The construction is part of a Chinese high-speed rail project under Beijing's belt and road initiative. Highly controversial initiative. Coming up, the Detroit Auto Show is underway. Car enthusiasts are getting a glimpse of the latest rides in Motor City. Stay with us for that. Welcome back. The Space X capsule carrying a four member crew splashed down safely today in the Pacific Ocean off California. A medical condition affecting one of the astronauts forced an emergency return to Earth. >> SpaceX Dragon copy concurs. Splash down and names are cut. SpaceX Dragon, it's so good to be home. With deep gratitude to the team who got us there and back. >> NASA announced the plan to bring all four members of crew 11 home a few weeks ahead of schedule last week. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said one of the astronauts required immediate medical attention on the ground. The space agency has not identified which of the four crew members was affected and didn't describe the nature of the issue. We did make a decision um prior to today, a couple days earlier, that we were bringing the crew to a medical facility in the San Diego, you know, off the San Diego area. And so the crew will stay there. Um they'll stay there overnight and we expect to bring the crew back to Houston on Friday, obviously pending the medical. >> The Detroit The Detroit Auto Show is getting underway in Motor City ahead of its public opening. The media got a glimpse of the latest rides and a chance to take them for a test drive. NTD's Andrew Thomas has more on the hottest wheels on display there. >> On Saturday, the annual Detroit Auto Show opens to the public. Chairman Todd Zot said the event is about new rides in the iconic American city. >> There is only one motor city. um a show that's uniquely Detroit and um behind me you see some uh great Detroit metal. >> A range of new rides are on display, but it's not just an auto show. Zot says visitors have the opportunity to take a test drive. >> We've got over 41 brands here to look at and you can experience the cars. You can hear the tire squealing here in the background. Those are our four test tracks. We have test rides. Last year, we gave 100,000 test rides here in uh Huntington Place. >> The 2025 Detroit Auto Show drew 275,000 attendees. This year, visitors can get a peek at new rides by Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Jeep, and many more. >> So, when it comes to technology, you know, our show reflects what's going on in the industry, you know, at a consumer level. So, there's lots of EVs here. You know, there's a changing landscape. We have EVs, we have hybrids, we have combustion engine vehicles. >> The Detroit Auto Show runs through January 25th. Andrew Thomas, NT News. >> Schools in Finland are teaching young students how to spot fake news. As Russia's war in Ukraine drags on, the Nordic nation is working to teach children how to distinguish what's true from what's not. Entities Andrew Thomas has more on how advancements such as artificial intelligence are complicating those efforts. North of the Finnish capital of Helsinki, children are learning about fake news. Teacher and vice principal Ilvanhan says his students have been studying the topic since the first grade. In a recent class, students were instructed to come up with a list of indicators to look out for when consuming online news. >> We've been talking about what the news are, what they include, and then uh from there on we just evolved like going deeper and deeper into things. So now we've been studying about how to recognize if the if a picture or a video is made by AI. >> Finnish children begin learning about the internet in preschool. Helsinki teaching specialist Kia Hakala says learning how to interpret online information is a fundamental part of education. >> We think that uh having good media literacy skills, it's a very uh big civic skill. It's very important to the nation's safety and to the safety of our democracy. So that's really the the whole goal of all of this. >> Media literacy has been part of the Finnish curriculum for around 30 years. Still, education minister Anders Alderquourt says educators couldn't have predicted fake news as it exists today. >> I don't think we envisioned that the world would look like this, that we would would be bombarded by with disinformation that our institutions are challenged uh our democracy really challenged through disinformation. Alddero says media literacy is no longer simply academic. Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea set off a wave of disinformation, pushing Finland to ramp up its education efforts. >> I think initially it was only thought as a as a basic civic skill that you need to understand media. But now it becomes really a way of trying to protect our democracies. >> Finland has a long history of combating propaganda from neighboring Russia. Alderquit says Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 put Finland on the front line. >> I think it's uh fairly obvious that Europe in general is targeted more and I think you it's safe to say that that Finland also as a result of uh of us entering NATO for example. I think that has changed our our position globally. >> Last year Helsinki based newspaper Helsink collaborated on a new ABC book of media literacy. Every 15-year-old in the country received a copy as they began high school. >> And we know from studies that young people tend to get more of their news on social media in Finland as well. So, it's really important for us to be seen as a place where you can get information that's been uh verified that you can trust. >> Russia's war effort in Ukraine has put disinformation front and center in Europe. Martha Turnbullet, the Helsinki based European center of excellence for countering hybrid threats, says NATO is a primary target. >> Certainly around the topic of uh focusing on anti-NATO uh agendas is certainly increased since the invasion of Ukraine, but I think generally what we've seen is the information space has become much more polluted over the past few years and that's a trend that will continue. >> Turbull says developments like artificial intelligence can make fighting disinformation even tougher. >> I think it's definitely becoming harder. It already is much harder in the information space to spot what's real and what's not real. It just so happens that right now it's reasonably easy to spot the AI generated fakes because the quality of them isn't as good as it could be. But as that technology develops and particularly as we move towards things like agentic AI, I think that's when it could become much more difficult for us to spot. >> Andrew Thomas, NTD News. In the House, both sides of the aisle express agreement that keeping ahead of China in the so-called AI arms race is crucial in all areas of national and economic security. NTD correspondent Jason Blair has more from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. >> Winning the AI arms race is key to America's national security and our economic security. The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a full committee hearing on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance for the US to stay ahead of the Chinese Communist Party with AI technology. >> In an environment where it seems that Democrats and Republicans can't agree on much, there seems to be an overwhelming consensus that America must lead the AI race. >> China sees us as the enemy. It's high time we do the same. The outcome of this race, it directly affects military competitiveness of the United States of America versus China. It is that black and white. >> I think all of us here and I think most people at at home can recognize that no matter how you feel about AI, we want the United States to lead. >> Expert witnesses were invited to share their expertise and recommendations. >> Ci talked about AI in his New Year's address this year. uh he he he understands that this is a fulcrum, right? That this is this is the pivotal technology that allows all these other technologies of the of of the future and the in the near future. He sees this as so important um that he is pulling out all the stops. My primary message to the committee is this advanced AI compute is essential to the AI era enabling both economic dynamism and novel military capabilities. Denying our foreign adversaries access to this resource then is a matter of both geostrategic competition and national security. >> And in the Senate chamber, the Senate Aging Committee highlighted the Chinese Communist Party's involvement in scams targeting American seniors. >> Scams targeting seniors are stealing billions of dollars from hardworking Americans, and we here in Congress have a responsibility to confront them head on. >> Scott says in 2024, older Americans lost over $4.8 8 billion to fraud. >> Compounds built and staffed by trafficked workers forced to carry out scams targeting our friends, Americans. Not only is this a disgusting display of international failures to protect human rights, dignity, and security, it's also another way communist China is undermining our country and targeting the American people. Statebacked scamming has emerged from China, just like statebacked industrial espionage efforts. China plays a leading role in scams that originate both in China itself and outside in hotspots across Southeast Asia for example. >> Parik says these efforts by the Chinese Communist Party are part of a broader approach to great power competition. Reporting in Washington DC, Jason Blair, NTD News. >> That's all we have time for this hour, but if you have any feedback on the show or have something you'd like to see us cover, send us an email at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you. Stay with us. will be broadcasting the White House press briefing right after this break.