News Wrap: Flood and mudslide threats force more evacuations in California

Amna Nawaz:

Much of California is finally getting a change to dry out tonight after weeks of heavy rain and snow.

But communities all over the state are still facing flooding and mudslide dangers. In the south, coastal flooding has inundated streets in Sunset Beach. In the north, the Lexington Reservoir near Los Gatos is spilling over for the first time in nearly four years. Meanwhile, avalanche warnings are up in parts of the Sierra Nevada, after nearly 50 inches of new snow fell since Friday.

The White House today rejected criticism that it's been slow to answer questions about classified documents being found at President Biden's home and former office. A spokesman for the White House Counsel's Office cited the risk of interfering with a special counsel's investigation.

Separately, the president's press secretary declined to say if any additional documents have turned up.

Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Press Secretary:

I'm just going to continue to be prudent here. I'm going to let this ongoing review that is happening, this legal process that is happening and let that process continue under the special counsel.

Amna Nawaz:

For his part, the president today ignored shouted questions about the documents issue.

On the war in Ukraine, the top U.S. military officer, Army General Mark Milley, held his first face-to-face meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart. They met in Poland near the Ukrainian border as Kyiv presses the West for heavy weapons.

Meanwhile, the death toll reached 45 in Saturday's Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro. It was the deadliest attack on civilians in one location since last spring.

Authorities in Nepal confirmed today that all 72 people on a domestic airliner died Sunday when the plane plunged into a gorge. It was the country's deadliest accident in 30 years. Cremation ceremonies began today for the victims. Other families waited outside hospital morgues, as anger grew over Nepal's history of air disasters.

Ram Bahadur KC, Relative of Victim (through translator): We have lost the precious lives of so many, and this is happening again and again in Nepal. Nepalese people and people of other countries have lost their family members. This is an irreparable loss.

Amna Nawaz:

Also today, investigators sent the plane's flight data recorder to France for analysis. The aircraft was manufactured there.

In Brazil, the prosecutor general filed the first charges overnight in the riot at the national capital complex. Police arrested more than 1,000 people on January 8 after they ransacked government buildings. They were trying to overturn the presidential election results. The initial 39 defendants are accused of staging a coup, among other charges.

Mexico's former top security official, Genaro Garcia Luna, has gone on trial in New York today for allegedly protecting the Sinaloa drug cartel. Officially, he led a war on cartels between 2006 and 2012. But prosecutors say, in fact, he took millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa gang. Garcia Luna later moved to the U.S. and was arrested in 2019.

China reports its economy grew by 3 percent last year, one of its lowest rates in decades. The slowdown reflects strict COVID measures and a real estate slump. It's also part of a longer-term decline since China's growth peaked in 2007. At the same time, official data suggests an improved outlook for 2023 now that the pandemic rules have eased.

The European Union has unveiled a sweeping new industrial plan to promote green technology. It also aims to forcefully counter unfair trading practices from China. E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Ursula von der Leyen, President, European Commission:

We have an industry at the moment being challenged by the pandemic, supply chain issues and price shocks. We see aggressive attempts to attract our industrial capacities away to China and elsewhere.

We have a compelling need to make this net zero transition without creating new dependency. We have learned our lessons.

Amna Nawaz:

E.U. leaders will focus on the clean tech issue at a summit next month.

And, on Wall Street, blue chip stocks dropped after disappointing earnings from Goldman Sachs. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 391 points, or 1 percent, to close at 33910. The tech heavy Nasdaq rose 16 points. The S&P 500 slipped eight.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": new childhood obesity guidelines spark debate; the political divide between red and blue states is put on display as governors are inaugurated; economists and business leaders raise the alarm about Congress' looming debt ceiling crisis; plus much more.