The Daily

A Times investigation shows how the country’s biggest technology companies, as they raced to build powerful new artificial intelligence systems, bent and broke the rules from the start.Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The Times, explains what he uncovered.Guest: Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for A.I.What to know about tech companies using A.I. to teach their own A.I.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Overnight on Saturday, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israeli soil, shooting hundreds of missiles and drones at multiple targets.Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The Times, explains what happened and considers whether a broader war is brewing in the Middle East.Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Here is what we know about Iran’s attack on Israel.The barrage made the Middle East’s new reality undeniable: Clashes are becoming harder and harder to contain.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

At the center of the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Manhattan is the accusation that Trump took part in a scheme to turn The National Enquirer and its sister publications into an arm of his 2016 presidential campaign. The documents detailed three “hush money” payments made to a series of individuals to guarantee their silence about potentially damaging stories in the months before the election. Because this was done with the goal of helping his election chances, the case implied, these payments amounted to a form of illegal, undisclosed campaign spending. And because Trump created paperwork to make the payments seem like regular legal expenses, that amounted to a criminal effort at a coverup, argued Alvin Bragg, the district attorney of Manhattan. Trump has denied the charges against him.For Lachlan Cartwright, reading the indictment was like stepping through the looking glass, because it described a three-year period in his own professional life, one that he has come to deeply regret. Now, as a former president faces a criminal trial for the first time in American history, Cartwright is forced to grapple with what really happened at The Enquirer in those years — and whether and how he can ever set things right.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.A massive scam targeting older Americans who own timeshare properties has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars sent to Mexico.Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent for The Times, tells the story of a victim who lost everything, and of the criminal group making the scam calls — Jalisco New Generation, one of Mexico’s most violent cartels.Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, an investigative correspondent for The New York Times based in Mexico City.Background reading: How a brutal Mexican drug cartel came to target seniors and their timeshares.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For former President Donald J. Trump, 2024 was supposed to be dominated by criminal trials. Instead, he’s found ways to delay almost all of them.Alan Feuer, who covers the criminal cases against Mr. Trump for The Times, explains how he did it.Guest: Alan Feuer, who covers extremism and political violence for The New York Times.Background reading: On Wednesday, Donald J. Trump lost his third try in a week to delay his upcoming Manhattan trial.But stalling has worked for Mr. Trump in the past.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

By the time his first term was over, Donald J. Trump had cemented his place as the most anti-abortion president in U.S. history. Now, facing political blowback, he’s trying to change that reputation.Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The Times, discusses whether Mr. Trump’s election-year pivot can work.Guest: Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: After months of mixed signals, former President Donald J. Trump said abortion restrictions should be left to the states.On abortion, Mr. Trump chose politics over principles. Will it matter?For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When Elon Musk set up Tesla’s factory in China, he made a bet that brought him cheap parts and capable workers — a bet that made him ultrarich and saved his company.Mara Hvistendahl, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains why, now, that lifeline may have given China the tools to beat Tesla at its own game. Guest: Mara Hvistendahl, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also bound him to Beijing.Mr. Musk helped create the Chinese electric vehicle industry. But he is now facing challenges there as well as scrutiny in the West over his reliance on China.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Today, millions of Americans will have the opportunity to see a rare total solar eclipse.Fred Espenak, a retired astrophysicist known as Mr. Eclipse, was so blown away by an eclipse he saw as a teenager that he dedicated his life to traveling the world and seeing as many as he could.Mr. Espenak discusses the eclipses that have punctuated and defined the most important moments in his life, and explains why these celestial phenomena are such a wonder to experience.Guest: Fred Espenak, a.k.a. “Mr. Eclipse,” a former NASA astrophysicist and lifelong eclipse chaser.Background reading: A total solar eclipse is coming. Here’s what you need to know.Millions of people making plans to be in the path of the solar eclipse on Monday know it will be awe-inspiring. What is that feeling?The eclipse that ended a war and shook the gods forever.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Chris Kerr was 12 when he first observed a deathbed vision. His memory of that summer in 1974 is blurred, but not the sense of mystery he felt at the bedside of his dying father. Throughout Kerr’s childhood in Toronto, his father, a surgeon, was too busy to spend much time with his son, except for an annual fishing trip they took, just the two of them, to the Canadian wilderness. Gaunt and weakened by cancer at 42, his father reached for the buttons on Kerr’s shirt, fiddled with them and said something about getting ready to catch the plane to their cabin in the woods. “I knew intuitively, I knew wherever he was, must be a good place because we were going fishing,” Kerr told me.Kerr now calls what he witnessed an end-of-life vision. His father wasn’t delusional, he believes. His mind was taking him to a time and place where he and his son could be together, in the wilds of northern Canada.Kerr followed his father into medicine, and in the last 10 years he has hired a permanent research team that expanded studies on deathbed visions to include interviews with patients receiving hospice care at home and with their families, deepening researchers’ understanding of the variety and profundity of these visions.

Decades of efforts to cut carbon emissions have failed to significantly slow the rate of global warming, so scientists are now turning to bolder approaches.Christopher Flavelle, who writes about climate change for The Times, discusses efforts to engineer our way out of the climate crisis.Guest: Christopher Flavelle, who covers how the United States tries to adapt to the effects of climate change for The New York Times.Background reading: Warming is getting worse. So they just tested a way to deflect the sun.Can we engineer our way out of the climate crisis?For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Israeli airstrike that killed seven workers delivering food in Gaza has touched off global outrage and condemnation.Kim Severson, who covers food culture for The Times, discusses the World Central Kitchen, the aid group at the center of the story; and Adam Rasgon, who reports from Israel, explains what we know about the tragedy so far.Guest: Kim Severson, a food correspondent for The New York Times.Adam Rasgon, an Israel correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The relief convoy was hit just after workers had delivered tons of food.José Andrés, the Spanish chef who founded World Central Kitchen, and his corps of cooks have become leaders in disaster aid.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In his campaign for re-election, President Biden has said that raising taxes on the wealthy and on big corporations is at the heart of his agenda. But under his watch, overall net taxes have decreased.Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, explains.Guest: Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times.Background reading: An analysis prepared for The New York Times estimates that the tax changes President Biden has ushered into law will amount to a net cut of about $600 billion over four years.“Does anybody here think the tax code’s fair?” For Mr. Biden, tax policy has been at the center of his efforts to make the economy more equitable.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Long after schools have fully reopened after the pandemic, one concerning metric suggests that children and their parents have changed the way they think about being in class.Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The Times, discusses the apparent shift to a culture in which school feels optional.Guest: Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: ​School absences have “exploded” across the United States.Data shows that the more time students spent in remote instruction during the pandemic, the further they fell behind.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Ronna McDaniel’s time at NBC was short. The former Republican National Committee chairwoman was hired as an on-air political commentator but released just days later after an on-air revolt by the network’s leading stars.Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The Times, discusses the saga and what it might reveal about the state of television news heading into the 2024 presidential race.Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times.Background reading: Ms. McDaniel’s appointment had been immediately criticized by reporters at the network and by viewers on social media.The former Republican Party leader tried to downplay her role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A review of the record shows she was involved in some key episodes.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Maybe you have an idea in your head about what it was like to work at Guantánamo, one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Think again.

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.It’s been nearly six months since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, when militants took more than 200 hostages into Gaza.In a village called Nir Oz, near the border, one quarter of residents were either killed or taken hostage. Yocheved Lifshitz and her husband, Oded Lifshitz, were among those taken.Today, Yocheved and her daughter Sharone tell their story.Guest: Yocheved Lifshitz, a former hostage.Sharone Lifschitz, daughter of Yocheved and Oded Lifshitz.Background reading: Yocheved Lifshitz was beaten and held in tunnels built by Hamas for 17 days.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 few years, Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, has been dismissed as a money-losing boondoggle.This week, that all changed. Matthew Goldstein, a New York Times business reporter, explains how its parent venture, Truth Media, became a publicly traded company worth billions of dollars.Guest: Matthew Goldstein, a New York Times business reporter.Background reading: What to know about Trump Media’s high-flying stock debut.Ethics experts say the publicly traded company could present a new way for foreign actors or others to influence Mr. Trump, if he is elected president.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Against all odds and expectations, Speaker Mike Johnson keeps managing to fund the government, inflame the far right of his party — and hold on to his job.Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains why it might be Democrats who come to his rescue.Guest: Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Ultraconservatives immediately turned on Mr. Johnson after Congress passed spending legislation.Enraged over the spending bill, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene began the process of calling for a vote to oust the speaker.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, the Justice Department took aim at Apple, accusing the company of violating competition laws with practices intended to keep customers reliant on their iPhones.David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the latest and most sweeping antimonopoly case against a titan of Silicon Valley.Guest: David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The New York Times.Background reading: The lawsuit caps years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s suite of devices and services.Read about five major U.S. cases targeting Big Tech.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence.More than a hundred people died and scores more were wounded on Friday night in a terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow — the deadliest such attack in Russia in decades.Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times, discusses the uncomfortable question the assault raises for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin: Has his focus on the war in Ukraine left his country more vulnerable to other threats?Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: In Russia, fingers point anywhere but at ISIS for the concert hall attack.The attack shatters Mr. Putin’s security promise to Russians.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.