As Iran has tightened its chokehold on one of the world’s most vital shipping routes and the Trump administration sent mixed signals about how long the war would last, oil prices have swung wildly. Rebecca F. Elliott, who covers energy for The New York Times, explains just how much the world depends on that route — the Strait of Hormuz — and how quickly shutting it down can throw global energy markets into chaos. Guest: Rebecca F. Elliott, who covers energy for The New York Times. Background reading: How war in the Middle East is choking off the world’s oil and gas. A jump in oil prices was a sign of growing concern that the war will continue to take a toll on energy supplies. Photo: An island in part of the Strait of Hormuz. The war in the Middle East has affected the strait, a conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil. Nicolas Economou/Reuters For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
1D AGO
Why Trump is threatening to block his own party’s agenda
Iran faced another intense day of bombing. The BBC reports attacks on minelaying ships near a vital shipping route. Republicans gathered in Florida for their annual retreat to hash out policy priorities ahead of the midterms. Mia McCarthy of Politico joins to discuss the top issues on the GOP’s agenda. Alabama’s governor commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of a murder he didn’t commit. AL.com’s Savannah Tryens-Fernandes breaks down the case. Plus, a whistleblower says a former DOGE employee took highly sensitive social security data with him to another employer, two candidates emerge in the race to succeed Marjorie Taylor Greene, and how a modern-day treasure hunter ended up in prison. Today’s episode was hosted by Cecilia Lei.
1D AGO
Iran’s New Nepo Ayatollah
Who is the new supreme leader of Iran, and how does he differ from his predecessor father? Guest: Graeme Wood, staff writer at The Atlantic and a lecturer in political science at Yale. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1D AGO
An Ohio newspaper gives AI a byline
The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio, has been around since the 1800s. Now, it's leaning into a very 21st century tactic: embracing the use of artificial intelligence in its journalism. That includes AI actually writing articles. The paper's editor, Chris Quinn, says incorporating artificial intelligence is critical to its success. Will Oremus, tech reporter at The Washington Post, says lots of publications are experimenting with AI. But the Plain Dealer has taken it further than most.
1D AGO
How RFK Jr. is Dismantling America’s Health Policies
More To The Story: In January, the federal government released updated dietary guidelines for Americans that reimagine the nation’s longtime food pyramid by literally turning it upside down. The guidelines, which once prioritized foods like grains while minimizing fats, now recommend red meat, whole milk, proteins, and healthy fats. It’s one of the most unmistakable ways that US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought the Make America Healthy Again movement into the federal government. Over the last year, RFK Jr. has reshaped the country’s vaccine advisory committee with vaccine skeptics, fired thousands of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, and revised the CDC’s stance on the unfounded link between vaccines and autism. The moves, often influenced and cheered by folks in the MAHA movement, are ones that infectious disease epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera says are not merely misguided, but dangerous. On this week’s More To The Story, Rivera examines how Big Ag has influenced the nation’s latest dietary guidelines, whether the US is on the cusp of a national measles outbreak, and why the CDC dropping vaccine recommendations could have potentially long-term and deadly consequences. Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick | Digital producer: Artis Curiskis | Deputy executive producer: Taki Telonidis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson Read: Measles Cases This Year Near 1,000. That We Know Of. (Mother Jones)Listen: Why Trump Deemed Basic Sanitation Illegal DEI (More To The Story)Read: RFK Jr. Wants to End the “War” on Unproven Treatments Like Stem Cell Therapy (Mother Jones) Donate today at Revealnews.org/more Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at Revealnews.org/weekly Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
1D AGO
Four years in, war in Ukraine grinds on. Is that what Russians want?
Russian planners and Western intelligence predicted the invasion of Ukraine would be quick and decisive. Of course, Kyiv did not fall quickly - and still hasn’t. In the four years since Russia first invaded, the Kremlin’s so-called “special military operation” has evolved into the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II. According to Western governments and think tanks, more than 1.5 million people are dead. And throughout the war, one of the biggest questions has been, is this what Russian people want? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org. This episode was produced by Christine Arrasmith, Mia Venkat and Connor Donevan, with audio engineering by Stacey Abbott. It was edited by Nick Spicer and Sarah Handel. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below: See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
What a $100-Per-Barrel Oil Spike Does to the Global Economy
After oil soared to nearly $120 per barrel on Sunday, President Donald Trump began to signal that the US had already achieved victory in Iran and could wind down the conflict soon. There was an immediate drop in oil prices — and the entire global economy seemed to sigh in relief. On today’s Big Take podcast, Stacey Vanek Smith and Bloomberg Opinion’s Javier Blas discuss why the global economy is so sensitive to oil price spikes and how oil prices are ratcheting up both domestic and international pressure on Trump. Read more: Higher Gas Prices Hit Americans Already Hurting From Inflation This Isn’t an Energy Crisis — at Least Not Yet Hosted by Stacey Vanek Smith; Produced by David Fox; Reported by Stacey Vanek Smith; Edited by Naomi Shavin. Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate, Aaron Edwards and Jeff Grocott; Engineering by Alex Sugiura. Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1D AGO
Iran: Is diplomacy dead?
As the US-Israeli strikes on Iran continue and the death toll continues to rise, so too does the war of words. President Trump has described Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's choice for new supreme leader, as "unacceptable". He has also said he believes the war will be over “pretty quickly”, but it’s not clear how - or when. Nate Swanson, a former State Department official who spent nearly two decades in the US government working on American policy towards Iran, answers our questions on how the next stage of the conflict is likely to unfold - and whether a negotiated peace with Iran is still an option. Producers: Chris Benderev, Cat Farnsworth and Valerio Esposito Executive producer: Bridget Harney Studio managers: James Piper and Mike Regaard. Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: People walk past a banner depicting the Iran's supreme leaders since 1979. The late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini; the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; and his son, the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei. Credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters.
1D AGO
'We do not want your bombs': A view from Tehran
Amidst communications blackouts and rising casualties, Jayme Poisson reaches a resident in Tehran to discuss the war, Trump, the Iranian regime, and his pessimistic view about where this goes next. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
5D AGO
The Film the BBC Wouldn’t Air
Two veteran journalists set out to document Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s health care system: hospitals attacked, medical workers killed, doctors detained and held for long periods without criminal charges. The BBC had commissioned the film. But their Palestinian sources in Gaza and the West Bank were skeptical. “We really had to try and persuade them…to talk to us because they didn’t—and don’t—trust the BBC,” says reporter Ramita Navai. One source doubted the BBC would air the film. “And I was quite shocked he felt that way,” says reporter Ben de Pear. “But actually, he was 100 percent right.” Over the last couple of years, big media organizations have been criticized—from the left and the right—about their coverage of the war in Gaza. But it’s rare to get the chance to peel back the curtain to see what exactly was happening inside one of those organizations to learn whether political pressure played a role in journalistic decision-making. This week on Reveal, we’re partnering with the KCRW podcast Question Everything to tell the story of a film the BBC wouldn’t air and what it says about the future of journalism. Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/weekly Connect with us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
2D AGO
What We’ve Learned From 10 Days of War
What began as a relentless U.S.-Israeli military assault on Iran has turned into a wider crisis as the disruption of the world’s oil markets spreads beyond the Middle East. Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times, discusses what we know about the players involved in the fighting. Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times based in Washington. Background reading: War with Iran has become the world’s latest economic hazard. Follow updates on the fighting in the Middle East. Photo: Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
3D AGO
Can States Stop Trump’s Election Meddling?
President Donald Trump wants to dramatically change how Americans vote, and to make that happen he’s holding all other legislation hostage until Congress passes the SAVE America Act. The bill would require that Americans prove citizenship via a passport or a birth certificate to register to vote. Make no mistake: Trump wants America to pay the price for the election he lost to Joe Biden in 2020. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford joins us to explain how states are ready to fight Trump’s next moves to restrict voting. And in headlines, Iran finds a new supreme leader in the son of the former one, a federal judge wants to reverse layoffs at the Voice of America, and the Trump administration threatens intervention in Cuba. Show Notes: More about Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday
From The New Yorker · The demise of the English paper will end a long intellectual tradition, but it’s also an opportunity to re-examine the purpose of higher education. Written by: Hua Hsu Narrated by: Woody Fu Read the article: https://apple.news/AJiQDJ5H9QVO6f-W22QsaHQ Published: June 30, 2025
06/30/2025 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
How the brains of the wealthy are hardwired differently
From Rolling Stone · They have fantasies of going to Mars, transhumanism, and superhuman AI. How the heck does someone get this way? And what does it mean for the rest of us? Written by: Alex Morris Narrated by: Jaime Lamchick Read the article: https://apple.news/AjdqlVKyiTc6Gc-xb6TepIQ Published: June 15, 2025
07/06/2025 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
My best friend’s murder was a tabloid circus. Now, I’m looking for the truth.
From Rolling Stone · When Nicole DuFresne was killed in New York in 2005, the media twisted the narrative by latching onto a phrase that fell out of her mouth: “What are you going to do, shoot us?” Written and narrated by: Mary Jane Gibson Read the article: https://apple.news/AeuxF4eR5SAKuMnX0XkAC3A Published: July 6, 2025
07/07/2025 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
America’s overheated landfills have been making people sick
From Bloomberg Businessweek · Beneath layers of waste, landfills around the U.S. have been reaching scorching temperatures, and neighbors have been getting sick. Written by: Laura Bliss and Rachael Dottle Narrated by: Inés del Castillo Read the article: https://apple.news/A_bf2QgYhQYC9Seqcjt20Ow Published: July 1, 2025
07/01/2025 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
The eternal quest to save Gap
From Bloomberg Businessweek · The iconic ’90s retailer was on the precipice of death for years. Richard Dickson finally had momentum for a comeback — then came Trump. Written by: Amanda Mull and Lily Meier Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar Young Read the article: https://apple.news/AmHN1IWHBQj2HawQ8HkA_dw Published: June 24, 2025
06/25/2025 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
The spying scandal rocking the world of HR software
From Bloomberg Businessweek · HR software maker Rippling accused Deel, a key rival, of hiring a staff member to serve as a mole. Things escalated from there. Written by: Kate Clark and Ellen Huet Narrated by: Kirsten Potter Read the article: https://apple.news/AvZh6Pz41RjOmFrbAcWwHCg Published: June 10, 2025