January 7, 2019 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In our news wrap Monday, the U.S. and China began trade talks in Beijing amid rising tensions over tariffs and the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in Canada. The Trump administration has said it will impose new tariffs if a deal is not reached by March 1. Also, in Afghanistan, the Taliban killed 21 police and militia members after storming two checkpoints in the western part of the country.

National Security Advisor John Bolton announced conditions for when U.S. troops could leave Syria. The requirements seemed to contradict President Trump’s declaration that the U.S. would withdraw immediately, a decision that prompted the resignation of former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. Nick Schifrin joins Amna Nawaz to discuss whether U.S. goals and strategy on Syria are aligning.

As the civil war in Yemen enters its sixth year, tens of thousands have died in the fighting, while disease and hunger have killed thousands more. The many children who have lost or been abandoned by parents have suffered the most, both physically and emotionally. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports on the devastating effects of the war from inside the country’s oldest orphanage.

President Trump has threatened to use executive power to declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and obtain funds for a border wall without approval from Congress. But would such a dramatic move be legal? William Brangham asks Elizabeth Goitein of NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice how a national emergency is defined and what powers become available after one is declared.

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter from the Cook Political Report join John Yang to discuss why the border wall is so important to President Trump right now, how neither side is feeling enough pain to be interested in yielding and whether a "generational divide" in the Democratic Party might affect the new Congress.

A new Lifetime documentary describes in graphic detail abuse allegations against singer R. Kelly from dozens of women, many of whom were minors when they met the R&B star. Chicago-based music journalist Jim DeRogatis, who has covered this story for 17 years, talks to Yamiche Alcindor about R.Kelly's "pattern of predatory behavior" and whether society devalues the experiences of young black women.