All Summaries for The Daily

Sam Bankman-Fried, the fallen golden boy of crypto, is going on trial for what prosecutors are calling the largest financial fraud in recent history.David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The Times, explains the case of the man who was supposed to save the cryptocurrency industry and what its outcome could tell us about why he did not.Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: A year ago, Sam Bankman-Fried was a fixture on magazine covers and in the halls of Congress. Now he’s fighting federal charges of fraud and money laundering.Crypto insiders are trying to distance themselves from Mr. Bankman-Fried by zealously seeking to hold him to account.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Drugs like Ozempic are revolutionizing the treatment of obesity. The medications, originally used to treat diabetes, keep gaining attention as celebrities and other influencers describe taking them to lose weight quickly.Dani Blum, a reporter for The Times, tells the story behind the drugs and describes some of the ramifications of using them.Guest: Dani Blum, a reporter for Well at The New York Times.Background reading: Ozempic can cause major weight loss. What happens if you stop taking it?Some people taking the drugs can experience such intense lack of appetite that they become malnourished.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Twenty years ago, a glamorous platinum-blond widow arrived at the Paris law office of Claude Dumont Beghi in tears. Someone was trying to take her horses — her “babies” — away, and she needed a lawyer to stop them.She explained that her late husband had been a breeder of champion thoroughbreds. The couple was a familiar sight at the racetracks in Chantilly and Paris: Daniel Wildenstein, gray-suited with a cane in the stands, and Sylvia Roth Wildenstein, a former model with a cigarette dangling from her lips. They first met in 1964, while she was walking couture shows in Paris and he was languishing in a marriage of convenience to a woman from another wealthy Jewish family of art collectors. Daniel, 16 years Sylvia’s senior, already had two grown sons when they met, and he didn’t want more children. So over the next 40 years they spent together, Sylvia cared for the horses as if they were the children she never had. When Daniel died of cancer in 2001, he left her a small stable.Then, one morning about a year later, Sylvia’s phone rang. It was her horse trainer calling to say that he had spotted something odd in the local racing paper, Paris Turf: The results of Sylvia’s stable were no longer listed under her name. The French journalist Magali Serre’s 2013 book “Les Wildenstein” recounts the scene in great detail: Sylvia ran to fetch her copy and flipped to the page. Sure enough, the stable of “Madame Wildenstein” had been replaced by “Dayton Limited,” an Irish company owned by her stepsons.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has ordered an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, putting into motion the third formal attempt by Congress to remove a president in the past four years.Luke Broadwater,  a congressional reporter for The Times, explains the unique realities behind this one.Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Mr. McCarthy, who formerly argued that the House must vote before opening an impeachment inquiry, changed his tune this week.What we know about the impeachment case against Mr. Biden.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a rare move, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, traveled outside his country this week to meet with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. Julian Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times, explains what Russia wants from North Korea and how far Mr. Putin might go to get it.Guest: Julian E. Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Kim Jong-un has ammunition stocks that Russia covets as it continues its war in Ukraine, and North Korea may get advanced technology and badly needed food aid in return.Heading to Russia to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin, the North Korean leader chose to travel by rail, on a train with some unusual features.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. government recommended that almost every American begin taking a new annual vaccine for Covid, a milestone in the nation’s three-year battle against the virus.Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times, explains why the era of booster shots is now over and how to navigate this latest uptick in infections.Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: The C.D.C. recommended all Americans aged 6 months and older should get at least one dose of new Covid vaccines.Covid continues to rise, but experts remain optimistic.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Later this week, as many as 150,000 U.S. autoworkers may walk out in a historic strike against the three Detroit automakers, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. The United Auto Workers union and the Big Three are still far apart in talks, and have only two days left to negotiate a new labor contract before the deadline.Neal Boudette, who covers the auto industry for The New York Times, walks us through a tangled, decades-long dynamic and explains why a walkout looks increasingly likely.Guest: Neal E. Boudette, an auto industry correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: An auto strike is looming that threatens to shut down Detroit’s Big Three.The United Auto Workers has said it is prepared to strike at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis if a deal is not reached before current contracts end.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For years, the government has been trying to rein in Big Tech, pursuing some of the largest and most powerful companies on the internet. This week, the government takes on Google in the first monopoly trial of the modern internet era.David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the case against the internet giant and what it might mean for the future if the it loses.Guest: David McCabe, a technology policy correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The 10-week trial amps up efforts to rein in Big Tech by targeting the core search business that turned Google into a $1.7 trillion behemoth.A federal judge said that the Justice Department could not move forward with a number of claims in antitrust complaints, narrowing the scope of the trial.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In early 2021, a Wikipedia editor peered into the future and saw what looked like a funnel cloud on the horizon: the rise of GPT-3, a precursor to the new chatbots from OpenAI. When this editor — a prolific Wikipedian who goes by the handle Barkeep49 on the site — gave the new technology a try, he could see that it was untrustworthy. The bot would readily mix fictional elements (a false name, a false academic citation) into otherwise factual and coherent answers. But he had no doubts about its potential. “I think A.I.’s day of writing a high-quality encyclopedia is coming sooner rather than later,” he wrote in “Death of Wikipedia,” an essay that he posted under his handle on Wikipedia itself. He speculated that a computerized model could, in time, displace his beloved website and its human editors, just as Wikipedia had supplanted the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which in 2012 announced it was discontinuing its print publication.Recently, when I asked this editor if he still worried about his encyclopedia’s fate, he told me that the newer versions made him more convinced that ChatGPT was a threat. “It wouldn’t surprise me if things are fine for the next three years,” he said of Wikipedia, “and then, all of a sudden, in Year 4 or 5, things drop off a cliff.”This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains descriptions of severe injuries. Last week, a devastating fire swept through a derelict building in Johannesburg that housed desperate families who had no place else to go. The authorities had been repeatedly warned that it was a potential firetrap. Nothing was done, and at least 76 people died.Lynsey Chutel, who covers southern Africa for The Times, explains how Johannesburg, once a symbol of the hope of post-apartheid South Africa, became an emblem of just how bad the country’s breakdown has become.Guest: Lynsey Chutel, a southern Africa correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: An extensive paper trail revealed that the authorities in Johannesburg were warned repeatedly about the dangers in the building that burned down.Johannesburg, with a severe shortage of affordable housing, has hundreds of illegally occupied derelict buildings that officials and housing advocates say have become firetraps.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For decades, drugmakers have argued that patents are critical to bringing new drugs to the market. But in 2004, when a promising H.I.V. treatment emerged, Gilead Sciences decided to slow-walk its release to maximize profit on the company’s existing patents.Rebecca Robbins, who covers the pharmaceutical industry for The Times, discusses one man’s case and how patents can create perverse incentives to delay new and better drugs.Guest: Rebecca Robbins, a business reporter covering the pharmaceutical industry for The New York Times.Background reading: Gilead delayed a new version of a drug, allowing it to extend the patent life of a blockbuster line of medications, internal documents showed.In August, an expert panel recommended the new daily pill Descovy for H.I.V. prevention.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In New York, the arrival of more than 100,000 migrants seeking asylum over the past year has become a crisis for the city’s shelter system, schools and budget.As another critical election season begins to take shape, Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York State politics for The Times, explains why the situation has also become a political crisis for the state’s Democratic leaders.Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a reporter covering New York State politics for The New York Times Metro desk.Background reading: New York’s migrant crisis is growing. So are Democrats’ anxieties.A scathing letter revealed tension among New York Democrats over the city’s migrant crisis.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

A Times investigation found that U.S. passenger planes come dangerously close to crashing into each other far more frequently than the public knows.Sydney Ember, an economics reporter for The Times, explains why an aviation system known for its safety is producing such a steady stream of close calls.Guest: Sydney Ember, an economics correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Airline close calls happen far more often than previously known.What you need to know about turbulence.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A Times investigation revealed that in much of the United States, communities and farms are pumping out groundwater at alarming rates. Aquifers are shrinking nationwide, threatening supplies of drinking water and the country’s status as a food superpower.Christopher Flavelle, who covers climate adaptation for The Times, went to Arizona, the state at the forefront of the crisis, and looked at one especially controversial idea to address it: desalination.Guest: Christopher Flavelle covers climate adaptation for The New York Times.Background reading: America is using up its groundwater like there’s no tomorrow.Five takeaways from the investigation into the groundwater crisis.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A year ago, Congress overhauled the way drugs for older Americans get paid for, by giving Medicare the power to bargain with drug makers over prices in the biggest change to health care for more than a decade. This week, the Biden administration began its implementation.Sheryl Gay Stolberg, who covers health policy for The Times, discusses the decades long battle for bargaining power and Rebecca Robbins, who covers the pharmaceutical industry for The Times, explains its potential to reshape the business of drugs in America.Guest: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, a Washington correspondent covering health policy for The New York Times.Rebecca Robbins, a business reporter for The New York Times covering the pharmaceutical industry.Background reading: The Biden administration announced a long-awaited list of the first 10 medicines that will be subject to price negotiations with Medicare.Drugmakers are “throwing the kitchen sink” to halt Medicare price negotiations.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the Republican presidential race, the battle for second place has been jolted by the sudden rise of a political newcomer whose popularity has already eclipsed that of far more seasoned candidates — Vivek Ramaswamy.Jonathan Weisman, who is a political correspondent for The Times, explains the rising candidate’s back story, message and strategy.Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Surging poll numbers underscore that Vivek Ramaswamy is having a well-timed political moment.Mr. Ramaswamy, a millennial, has a lot to say about his generation.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the past decade, China has placed more and more restrictions on the lives of its citizens — tightening its hold over what people can do, read and say.When Bei Zhenying’s husband was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison for “smearing” the country’s political system, she was left to pick up the pieces of his life. She now believes that her husband was the writer behind one of the most mysterious blogs on the Chinese internet, which for 12 years had ridiculed the ruling Communist Party from within the country.Vivian Wang, a China correspondent for The Times, tells the story of the couple.Guest: Vivian Wang, a China correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: China took Bei Zhenying’s husband. She was left to uncover his secret cause.China’s search engines have more than 66,000 rules controlling content.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week, India landed its spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 on the moon, becoming the first country to land such a craft near the south pole, where scientists believe vital reserves of water could be found frozen. The landing also revealed just how much the international space race has changed.Kenneth Chang, a science reporter for The Times, explains why a new set of players are dominating the space race and what is motivating their groundbreaking missions to the moon.Guest: Kenneth Chang, a science reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: India became the first country to get a craft to the lunar south polar region in one piece, adding to the achievements of its homegrown space program.At the moon’s south pole, a quest for ice.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The signs on the gate at the entrance to the path and along the edge of the reservoir were clear. “No swimming,” they warned, white letters on a red background.On a chill mid-April day in northwest England, with low, gray clouds and rain in the forecast, the signs hardly seemed necessary. But then people began arriving, by the dozens and then the hundreds. Some walked only from nearby Hayfield, while others came by train or bus or foot from many hours away. In a long, trailing line, they tramped up the hill beside the dam and around the shore of the reservoir, slipping in mud and jumping over puddles.Down on the shore, giggling and shrieking people picked their way across slippery rocks. Then, with a great deal of cheering and splashing, they took to the water en masse, fanning out in all directions. Some carried a large banner that read, “The Right to Swim.”More rounds of cheers went up as new waves of swimmers splashed into the water. An older woman wearing a pink floral swimsuit paused on the shore to turn to the crowd still on land. “Don’t be beaten down!” she shouted, raising a fist above her flower-bedecked bathing cap. “Rebel!” Then she, too, flopped into the lake.The group of rebellious swimmers were trespassing for a cause: the uncontested right to walk, camp, cycle, swim, canoe and perform any other form of nonmotorized exploration throughout the country, also known as the “right to roam.”This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

The mysterious crash of a private jet outside Moscow is believed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the boss of the Wagner militia who led an armed rebellion against Moscow in June. Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times, explains what we’ve learned about the crash, and what a potential political assassination says about President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: All 10 people on a jet linked to Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the mercenary group Wagner, were killed, Russian officials said.A blast is likely to have downed the jet and killed Mr. Prigozhin, U.S. officials say.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last night, Republicans held their first debate of the 2024 presidential cycle without the party’s dominant candidate onstage: Donald J. Trump.Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The Times, walks us through the debate and discusses how it might influence the rest of the race.Guest: Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Seven takeaways from the first Republican debate.Trump skipped the event in favor of a gentle online interview with Tucker Carlson.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

After a closely watched vote, driverless cars, once a Silicon Valley fantasy, have become a 24-hour-a-day reality in San Francisco. Are autonomous vehicles an interesting and safe transportation alternative? Or are they a nuisance and a traffic-blocking disaster waiting to happen?Cade Metz, who covers technology for The Times, describes the unique challenges of coexisting with cars that drive themselves.Guest: Cade Metz, a technology correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: On Monday, Waymo began letting the public pay for rides in its driverless cars in San Francisco. The New York Times dispatched three reporters around the city to test the service.Local officials are worried that state regulators have been too eager to embrace plans for round-the-clock driverless taxi services.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A marine heat wave is warming the waters off the coast of Florida, pushing temperature readings as high as 101 Fahrenheit and endangering a critical part of sea life: the coral reef.Catrin Einhorn, who covers biodiversity, climate and the environment for The Times, discusses the urgent quest to save coral and what it might mean for the world if it disappears.Guest: Catrin Einhorn, a biodiversity, climate and environment correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: A desperate push to save Florida’s coral reef, by getting it out of the sea.Measuring and comparing sea surface temperatures is complex, but scientists agree on one thing: 101 Fahrenheit in the ocean off Florida is bad news for wildlife.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida began the race for the Republican nomination with high expectations and a clear argument: that he was a political fighter with a solid record of conservative achievements in his state. Now, he appears to be in a downward spiral.Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The Times, explains why the DeSantis campaign is stumbling so badly.Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Governor DeSantis, who has been losing ground in polls and dealing with staffing, spending and messaging issues, tweaks his messaging and tactics.Here are four major challenges facing his campaign.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Where did it come from? More than three years into the pandemic with untold millions of people dead, that question about the origin of Covid-19 remains widely disputed and fraught, with facts sparkling amid a tangle of analyses and hypotheticals like Christmas lights strung on a dark, thorny tree. One school of thought holds that the virus, known to science as SARS-CoV-2, spread to humans from a nonhuman animal, probably in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, an emporium brimming with fish, meats and wildlife on sale as food in Wuhan, China.Another school argues that the virus was laboratory-engineered as a bioweapon to infect humans and cause them harm, and was possibly devised in a “shadow project” sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army of China. A third school, more moderate than the second but also implicating laboratory work, suggests that the virus got into its first human victim by accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research complex on the eastern side of the city, maybe after undergoing well-meaning but reckless genetic manipulation that made it more dangerous to people.If you feel confused by these possibilities, undecided, suspicious of overconfident assertions — or just tired of the whole subject of the pandemic and whatever little bug has caused it — be assured that you aren’t the only one.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of death.When fires swept West Maui, Hawaii, many residents fled for their lives — but soon discovered they had nowhere to go. Thousands of structures, mostly homes, have been reduced to rubble. Husks of incinerated cars line the historic Front Street in Lahaina, while search crews nearby make their way painstakingly from house to house, looking for human remains.Ydriss Nouara, a resident of Lahaina, recounts his experience fleeing the inferno and Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The Times, explains how an extraordinary set of circumstances turned the city into a death trap.Guest: Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Nearly a week after the fires started, relatives are receiving little information as search and identification efforts move slowly.How the fires turned Lahaina into a death trap.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

A plea deal struck between the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden was supposed to bring his years of legal troubles to an end. Instead, that deal has unraveled and a special counsel has been named to take over the case.Michael Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The Times, explains why that turn of events is increasingly pitting the interests of Hunter Biden against those of President Biden.Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The lawyer who represented Hunter Biden in plea negotiations stepped down, saying that he intends to testify as a witness on behalf of the president’s son.Here’s a timeline of Hunter Biden’s life and legal troubles.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a region of Africa where authoritarianism has been rising, Niger seemed to be on a different path of democracy and partnership with the United States.Declan Walsh, chief Africa correspondent for The Times, explains how a military coup has now put all of that in jeopardy and why Niger’s allies still think it’s possible to reverse that coup.Guest: Declan Walsh, the chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The military junta that seized power in Niger said it would prosecute the president on treason charges, while also telling an intermediary that it was open to talks with neighboring countries.“Not another coup as usual”: Here’s what to know about Niger’s crisis.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On Monday, former President Donald J. Trump and 18 others were indicted by an Atlanta grand jury, with Mr. Trump and some of his former top aides accused of orchestrating a “criminal enterprise” to reverse the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.Richard Fausset, who covers politics and culture in the American South for The Times, explains why, of all the charges piling up against Trump, this one may be the hardest to escape.Guest: Richard Fausset, a New York Times correspondent based in Atlanta.Background reading:A grand jury in Georgia indicted the former president and 18 allies on multiple charges related to a conspiracy to subvert the will of voters.Here are the latest developments in the investigation.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Last week, wildfires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui that became the deadliest in the United States in over a century. The town of Lahaina, once the royal capital of the kingdom of Hawaii, was one of the places hit hardest — its historic center was decimated, including Waiola Church, the oldest on the island and a cherished meeting place.Today, the minister of Waiola Church, Anela Rosa, explains what it means to lose Lahaina and what it will take to rebuild it.Guest: Anela Rosa, minister of Waiola Church in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.Background reading: Lahaina was once Hawaii’s royal capital, and there were fears that some of its oldest buildings had been destroyed by the wildfires.A journey through Lahaina’s endless streets of suffering.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last October, the United States Bureau of Industry and Security issued a document that, underneath its 139 pages of dense bureaucratic jargon and minute technical detail, amounted to a declaration of economic war on China. The magnitude of the act was made all the more remarkable by the relative obscurity of its source.In recent years, semiconductor chips have become central to the bureau’s work. Despite the immense intricacy of their design, semiconductors are, in a sense, quite simple: tiny pieces of silicon carved with arrays of circuits. The chips are the lifeblood of the modern economy and the brains of every electronic device and system, including iPhones, toasters, data centers and credit cards. A new car might have more than a thousand chips, each one managing a different facet of the vehicle’s operation. Semiconductors are also the driving force behind the innovations poised to revolutionize life over the next century, like quantum computing and artificial intelligence. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for example, was reportedly trained on 10,000 of the most advanced chips available.Though delivered in the unassuming form of updated export rules, the Oct. 7 controls essentially seek to eradicate, root and branch, China’s entire ecosystem of advanced technology. If the controls succeed, they could handicap China for a generation; if they fail, they may backfire spectacularly, hastening the very future the United States is trying desperately to avoid.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

A few days ago, when the U.S. team was eliminated from the FIFA Women’s World Cup, it marked the end of a history-making run.Rory Smith, chief soccer correspondent for The Times, argues that it also marked the end of something even bigger: an entire era that redefined women’s sports.Guest: Rory Smith, the chief soccer correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: After 48 games in the Women’s World Cup, half the teams had been sent home. And yet the field of potential winners feels bigger than it did at the start.Expanding the tournament was a good idea. Just not for the reasons FIFA thinks.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This summer, unrelenting heat waves have taken a devastating toll in many parts of the world, putting this year on track to be the hottest ever recorded.Coral Davenport, who covers energy and environmental policy for The Times, and Dana Smith, a reporter for the Well section, discuss what it means to live in this new normal, an era in which extreme heat threatens our way of life.Guest: Coral Davenport, an energy and environmental policy correspondent for The New York Times.Dana G. Smith, a reporter for the Well section of The New York Times.Background reading: Heat is costing the U.S. economy billions in lost productivity.Here’s what extreme heat does to your body.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Satellites owned by Elon Musk’s Starlink orbit the earth and beam an internet connection to almost anywhere. In 2019, the company sent its first 60 or so satellites into orbit — today, it has some 4,500 circling the planet, with around 1.5 million customers across about 50 countries and territories.Adam Satariano, a technology correspondent for The Times, details the company’s rise and power, and discusses the implications of one man’s controlling it all.Guest: Adam Satariano, a technology correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Elon Musk has become the dominant power in satellite internet technology. The ways he is wielding that influence are raising global alarms.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

To win a conviction against former President Donald J. Trump for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election, Jack Smith, the special counsel, is applying laws in ways that have never been used before.Charlie Savage, a Washington correspondent for The Times, explains Mr. Smith’s approach and previews Mr. Trump’s likely response.Guest: Charlie Savage, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: By layering varied charges atop the same facts, while sidestepping a free-speech question, the special counsel has structured the election indictment to reduce risk.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The latest economic figures are some of the best of President Biden’s tenure so far. It appears increasingly likely that the United States has managed to tame high inflation without causing a recession.Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, discusses the encouraging outlook and speculates about why the positive data hasn’t translated into a bump in President Biden’s popularity.Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: For President Biden, many of the numbers that define an administration — on the economy, crime, immigration — are finally heading in the right direction. Except one: his approval rating.With the strong numbers, there are tentative signs that the national mood is beginning to improve.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When Barb’s father all but left, her mother turned inward, sitting quietly in front of the television, always smoking, often with a cocktail. Something had overtaken her, though it wasn’t clear what.Six years later, Barb was 20 and in college when someone else in the family needed help. Her sister Christy was the second-born, 24 years older than Barb and the star of the family in many ways. But where once Christy was capable and professionally ambitious and socially conscious, now, at 44, she was alone, her clothes unkempt and ripped, her hair unwashed, her marriage over.Depression was the first suspected diagnosis, then schizophrenia, though neither seemed quite right. Christy wasn’t sad or delusional; she wasn’t even upset. It was more as if she were reverting to a childlike state, losing her knack for self-regulation. Her personality was diluting — on its way out, with seemingly nothing to replace it.What was left of Christy was chaotic and unpredictable. She refused to bathe and stopped bothering to make meals. She crashed a neighbor’s party and made odd conversation with strangers. She clogged a toilet with tampons and flooded the house. She was gleefully impulsive, spending thousands of dollars a year on magazine subscriptions. That strange, reckless profligacy made Barb think of their mother, who in her final years sat at home, saying yes to every sales phone call. How heartbreaking but also interesting, Barb thought, that Christy shared the same peculiar tendencies — a family trait of sorts.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

The wildfires sweeping Canada have become the largest in its modern history. Across the country, 30 million acres of forest have burned — three times as much land as in the worst American fire in the past 50 years.The scale has forced an international response and a re-evaluation of how the world handles wildfires.Firefighters on the front lines discuss the challenges they face, and David Wallace-Wells, a climate columnist for The Times, explores how climate change has shifted thinking about wildfires.Guest: David Wallace-Wells, a climate columnist for The New York Times. Background reading: With most of Canada’s fire season still ahead, the country is on track to produce more carbon emissions from the burning of forests than all of its other human and industrial activities combined, David Wallace-Wells writes in Times Opinion.Canada’s record-breaking wildfire season shows the need to shift from suppressing fires to preventing them as they become more difficult to combat.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

With Donald Trump facing charges in three different criminal cases, the biggest questions in American politics are whether that creates an opening for his Republican rivals in the presidential race — and whether it disqualifies him in the eyes of general election voters.A new set of Times polls has answers to those questions. It shows the president and the former president still tied among registered voters, each at 43 percent.Nate Cohn, The New York Times’s chief political analyst, talks us through the first Times/Siena polling of the 2024 election cycle.Guest: Nate Cohn, chief political analyst for The New York Times.Background reading: Can the race really be that close?The first Times/Siena poll of the Republican primary shows Trump still commands a seemingly unshakable base of loyal supporters.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Tuesday afternoon, the special counsel Jack Smith filed criminal charges against former President Donald Trump over his wide-ranging attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The Times, talks us through the indictment and the evidence it lays out that Trump participated in an illegal conspiracy to remain in power.Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: The New York Times’s live coverage of the indictment.Four takeaways from the indictment.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

How did the National Rifle Association, America’s most influential gun-rights group, amass its power?A New York Times investigation has revealed the secret history of how a fusty club of sportsmen became a lobbying juggernaut that would compel elected officials’ allegiance, derail legislation behind the scenes, and redefine the legal landscape.Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter for The Times, sets out the story of the N.R.A.’s transformation — and the unseen role that members of Congress played in designing the group’s strategies. Guest: Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Over decades, a small group of legislators led by a prominent Democrat pushed the gun lobby to help transform the law, the courts and views on the Second Amendment.The potential Republican 2024 presidential candidates showed strong support for gun owners’ rights — a core issue for the party’s base, but one that can be a tougher sell in a general election.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last year, Giorgia Meloni, an Italian far-right politician, became prime minister on an agenda that many feared would mark a radical turn for the country. Now, her visit to the White House last week has bolstered her credentials on the international stage.Jason Horowitz, the Rome bureau chief for The New York Times, explains how she got here and the path she has carved out for Europe’s far-right parties.Guest: Jason Horowitz, the Rome bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: At the White House, President Biden embraced Ms. Meloni as a friend and cast aside initial doubts that her far-right party might prove to be troublesome for Washington.Ms. Meloni has surprised many by showing a pragmatic streak since coming to power, though some still fear an authoritarian turn.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On the weekends, when Roy Gamboa was a little boy, his grandfather would wake him before dawn. He would pour some coffee into a bowl of rice, and that would be the boy’s breakfast. Roy knew better than to question anything; he sat quietly in his grandfather’s truck as they rumbled down the big hill from their village, Hågat, to Big Navy, as the U.S. Naval Base in Guam is known. They passed through the military gates, along a dirt road and onto the shore of a little cove, next to one of America’s deepest harbors, where skipjacks flipped out of the aquamarine water. The boy noodled with seashells as his grandfather cast. When his grandfather caught a fish, he would unhook it and throw it on the ground, and Roy would snatch it up and quickly stuff it, still wriggling, in the bag. If the fish weren’t biting at one spot, they packed up and moved to another. No one from the Navy ever stopped the old man and the young boy.Some mornings, his grandfather would take Roy back across the dirt road into the jungle to pick papayas, lemons and coconuts. He would thrash a course into the thicket to collect firewood from the slender trees — tangen tangen in CHamoru, the language of the Indigenous inhabitants of Guam, which Roy’s grandmothers and grandfathers were. They would cut the logs into quarters to dry, and stack them higher than Roy could even reach. Other mornings, the man and the boy went to the same spot to cut the grass, all the way from the cove’s blue waters to the ruins of an old cemetery. “Why are we the only ones cutting the grass here?” Roy would ask.“Boy, this was our land before the war,” his grandfather would reply, pointing to 40 acres running from the cemetery to the water to the jungle, over the road and back almost as far as their eyes could see. “We’re taking care of it because we hope, one day, in the future, our land will be returned to us.”Since then, Guam has become a strategic node in America’s designs in the Pacific. It is commonly referred to as “the tip of the spear” — a place from which the United States can project military might across Asia, an essential conduit to the first island chain of Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan and then on to China. As geopolitical tensions rise, Guam’s importance to American military planners only increases, and so does the risk to those who live there. In every iteration of war games between the United States and China run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Beijing’s first strike on U.S. soil has been to bomb Guam.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Some of the worst symptoms of menopause — including hot flashes, sleeplessness and pain during sex — have an established treatment. Why aren’t more women offered it?Susan Dominus, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains how menopause has been misunderstood both by doctors and society for years, and tells us what happened when her article about it went viral.Guest: Susan Dominus is a writer for The New York Times Magazine.Background reading: From The New York Times Magazine: Women have been misled about menopause.A selection of seven books to guide you through menopause.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A major new study has revealed just how much elite colleges admissions in the U.S. systematically favor the rich and the superrich.David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The Times and The Morning, walks through the data and explains why the study is fueling calls to abandon longstanding practices like legacy admissions.Guest: David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The New York Times and The Morning.Background reading: From the Upshot: A study of elite college admissions data suggests being very rich is its own qualification.Here’s David Leonhardt’s article for The Morning discussing the results of the study.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Wednesday morning, Hunter Biden was scheduled to a guilty plea in a Delaware courtroom, marking the end of a yearslong federal investigation that many Republicans believed would put the president’s son in prison, and put an end to the Biden presidency.Michael Schmidt, who covers national security and federal investigations for The New York Times, explains why none of that has happened.Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times who covers national security and federal investigations.Background reading: Under an agreement with the Justice Department, Hunter Biden accepted probation for filing his taxes late.Republicans in Congress sought to block the plea deal, arguing that it had been tainted by political interference.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, it put the global food supply at risk — until the two countries struck an unusual deal to keep shipments flowing. Last week, that deal fell apart.Marc Santora, who has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, explains what the collapse of the agreement means for the war and why its impact will be felt by tens of millions of people across the world.Guest: Marc Santora, a Ukraine correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: After Russia pulled out of the agreement allowing ships to carry grain past its Black Sea blockade, Ukraine accused Moscow of aiming strikes at food export infrastructure.Russia has hit the port city of Odesa repeatedly since withdrawing from the grain deal.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For the past few months, a single senator — Tommy Tuberville — has blocked hundreds of promotions in the U.S. military.Karoun Demirjian, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains what’s behind the senator’s blockade, and why military leaders say it’s becoming a threat to national security.Guest: Karoun Demirjian, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Tuberville’s bid to reverse a Pentagon policy ensuring abortion access for service members has delayed the smooth transfer of power at the highest echelons of the armed forces.Here’s David Firestone of Times Opinion on Tuberville’s blockade.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a San Francisco courtroom, federal regulators are fighting to block one of the biggest deals in the history of Silicon Valley. David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The New York Times, talks about Lina Khan, the F.T.C. chair who is the architect of the lawsuit, and the growing campaign to finally rein in big tech.Guest: David McCabe, a New York Times correspondent covering technology policy.Background reading: The Federal Trade Commission sued Microsoft to stop the company from closing its purchase of the video game powerhouse Activision Blizzard, escalating government efforts to stymie the largest consumer technology deal in decades.Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, appeared in federal court on Wednesday to defend the deal by pledging support for open platforms and consumer choice.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Since its introduction less than a year ago, ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence platform that can write essays, solve math problems and write computer code, has sparked an anguished debate in the world of education. Is it a useful research tool or an irresistible license to cheat?Stella Tan, a producer on The Daily, speaks to teachers and students as they finish their first semester with ChatGPT about how it is changing the classroom.Guest: Stella Tan, an audio producer for The New York Times.Background reading: ChatGPT’s potential as an educational tool outweighs its risks, a Times technology columnist argues.While schools debate what to teach students about powerful new A.I. tools, tech giants, universities and nonprofits are intervening with free lessons.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Earlier this month, a group of hard-right Republicans hijacked the floor of the House of Representatives in protest against Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The mutiny, staged by nearly a dozen members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, raised questions about whether the speaker could continue to govern his slim and fractious majority.Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains how and why this small group of members made the chamber ungovernable.Guest: Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: In early June, members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus refused to surrender control of the floor, forcing Republican leaders to scrap votes for the week and leaving speaker Kevin McCarthy facing what he conceded was “chaos.”The group effectively shut down the House floor, calling the speaker’s fiscal compromise with President Biden a betrayal.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

An armed rebellion in Russia over the weekend stunned the world and amounted to the single biggest challenge to President Vladimir V. Putin’s rule since he came to power 23 years ago.Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times, talks about the man who led the revolt, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, and about what might happen next.Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: How the rebellion in Russia unfolded.The mutiny raised a searing question: Could Mr. Putin lose power?For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For months, much of the world has been watching and waiting as Ukraine prepares for a major counteroffensive in its war with Russia. That battle is now underway, and it’s not what was expected.Andrew E. Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The New York Times, reports from the front line.Guest: Andrew E. Kramer, the Kyiv bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Military analysts said it would take weeks or months to gauge the success of the attacks Ukraine mounted last week across a broad stretch of the front line.As Ukraine pushes to recapture territory, Russia has moved ahead with elections in occupied areas.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.