{"id":121233,"date":"2025-01-03T08:30:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T08:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/friday-morning-news-january-3-2025-world-news-group\/"},"modified":"2025-01-03T08:30:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T08:30:48","slug":"friday-morning-news-january-3-2025-world-news-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/friday-morning-news-january-3-2025-world-news-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday morning news: January 3, 2025 – WORLD News Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

WORLD Radio – Friday morning news: January 3, 2025
News of the day, including Congress to vote on House speaker, authorities continue investigating terror attacks, and Taiwan pledges to strengthen defenses
\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La. \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Associated Press \/ Photo by Mariam Zuhaib<\/span> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t
Speaker Johnson \u00bb<\/strong> Members of the 119th Congress of the United States will take the oath of office:
AUDIO: [2023]: So help you God? I do. Congratulations, you are now members<\/em>
Sounds from the last swearing in ceremony two years ago.
House Speaker Mike Johnson today is fighting for his political life. His seat in the House is not in jeopardy, but his speakership most certainly is. Members will vote today on whether to reelect Johnson to the post.
The speaker says he\u2019s had many conversations this week with some undecided or skeptical Republicans.
JOHNSON: \u200aMy conversations with my colleagues have gone great and a lot of members have come in very thoughtfully in good faith, you know, with process improvements and things they’d like to see differently.<\/em>
President-elect Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Johnson. When asked what his message would be to Republican holdouts, Trump responded:
TRUMP: \u200aHe’s the one that can win right now. People like him. Almost everybody likes him. Others are very good too, but they have 30 or 40 people that don\u2019t like \u2018em \u2026<\/em>
With a razor-thin GOP majority, Johnson will need to win virtually every Republican vote to hang onto the speaker\u2019s gavel.
New Orleans latest \u00bb<\/strong> The FBI is no longer looking for additional suspects in connection to Wednesday\u2019s deadly terror attack in New Orleans. Christopher Raia with the bureau\u2019s Division of counterterrorism told reporters today:
RAIA: We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar.<\/em>
That\u2019s a reversal from the bureau’s earlier assessment that the attacker likely did not act alone.
The death toll now stands at at least 14, revised slightly from earlier reports that 15 people were killed. Investigators say Jabbar, a 42-year-old Houston native and U.S. Army veteran, rammed a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and then brandished a gun and opened fire before police shot and killed him.
RAIA: This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act.<\/em>
Police found an ISIS flag on the truck.
Las Vegas latest \u00bb<\/strong> Federal authorities have also been working to determine if there was any link between the New Orleans attack and a Cybertruck blown up in front Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas:
MAYORKAS: \u200aThe Federal Bureau of Investigation that is leading the investigation both in New Orleans and in Las Vegas, Nevada, has not found any connection between those two incidents.<\/em>
Meantime police have revealed new information about the driver of the Cybertruck.
Authorities believe him to be 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado.
Las Vegas County Sheriff Kevin McMahill:
MCMAHILL: \u200aHe was indeed in the United States Army. He was also a Green Beret operations sergeant who spent most of his time at Fort Carson, Colorado and in Germany.<\/em>
The driver apparently shot himself in the head before the explosives in the truck were detonated.
McMahill said the perpetrator likely planned to cause more damage but the explosive was rudimentary and the steel-sided Cybertruck absorbed much of the force.
Israel latest \u00bb<\/strong> In Iran:
SOUND: [Chants in Tehran]<\/em>
Chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” in Tehran yesterday as residents flocked to the Iranian capital to mark five years since the death of General Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in 20-20.
PEZESHKIAN: [Speaking\u00a0Farsi]<\/em>
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said it would have been a shame for someone like Soleimani to die in bed instead of\u2014in his words\u2014being martyred. He goes on to call the governments of America and Israel “barbaric, anti-human liars.”
China-Taiwan \u00bb<\/strong> Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has pledged to strengthen the island\u2019s defenses in the face of escalating Chinese threats. WORLD\u2019s Kristen Flavin has more.
KRISTEN FLAVIN: Lai said in a New Year\u2019s address this week that Taiwan was a crucial part of the \u201cline of defense of democracy\u201d globally.<\/em>
He added that \u201cauthoritarian countries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are still collaborating to threaten the international order.\u201d<\/em>
China claims Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, is part of its territory and has vowed to annex the island \u2026 by force if necessary.<\/em>
\u200aTaiwan’s defense ministry said Chinese warplanes and warships had carried out the first \u201ccombat patrol of the new year around the island.\u201d<\/em>
Lai \u200aagain expressed his willingness to talk with Beijing. But earlier appeals have been rebuffed.<\/em>
For WORLD, I\u2019m Kristen Flavin.<\/em>
Trump pre-inauguration rally<\/strong> Donald Trump is expected to hold a big Washington rally the day before he\u2019s sworn in as the nation\u2019s 47th president.
The victory rally, as it\u2019s being billed, will be held at the Capitol One Arena in D.C. on Jan. 19th.
He\u2019ll be inaugurated at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20th.
The arena seats roughly 20,000 people. Trump\u2019s big outdoor events were limited in the months following an assassination attempt.
I’m Kent Covington.
Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, notable figures from the world of arts and culture who died in 2024.
This is The World and Everything in It<\/em>.
WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.
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\u00a9 1986-2025 WORLD NEWS GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.<\/small><\/p>\n

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