Radhika Merchant has married her partner Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani. When your Dad is the 11th richest person in the world, worth over $112bn, you can afford a wedding year, rather than a wedding day, right? After seven months of celebration, Marnie and the panel review the festivities to see if there is any science lingering under the ‘I dos’. Hear of Hindu wedding customs and superstitions, and why something called evolutionary lag might be behind traditions that make very little sense.
Also, rings, but not the wedding bands. Professor Valerie Trouet, from the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research at the University of Arizona tells tales of the ancient circles found within trees harbouring secrets of climates past and future.
Plus sleep divorce, why it might be a marriage saver, and finally putting to bed who has the best sleep pattern, the night owls or the early birds.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Panellists: Tristan Ahtone and Chhavi Sachdev
Producers: Harrison Lewis, Julia Ravey, Alex Mansfield and Noa Dowling
Donald Trump returns to form in a rambling, divisive, and endless acceptance speech certain to remind swing voters why they don't like him, and to remind Democrats that they can beat him. The question now is, who will be the Democratic nominee to turn the race around? With more and more party leaders (and most voters) asking for a change, it looks more likely than ever that Biden will go. Jon, Lovett, Dan, and Tommy talk about what might come next, and size up Kamala Harris's many strengths on the trail.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
For over thirty years, modern Italy was plagued by ransom kidnappings perpetrated by bandits and organised crime syndicates. Nearly 700 men, women, and children were abducted from across the country between the late 1960s and the late 1990s, held hostage by members of the Sardinian banditry, Cosa Nostra, and the ’Ndrangheta. Subjected to harsh captivities and psychological abuse, the victims spent months and even years in isolation while law enforcement and the state struggled to find them.
Ransom Kidnapping in Italy: Crime, Memory, and Violence (University of Toronto Press, 2024) by Dr. Alessandra Montalbano examines this Italian criminal phenomenon. Alessandra Montalbano argues that abduction is a key vantage point from which to understand modern Italy: it troubled the law, terrified society, ignited juridical and parliamentary debates, and mobilised citizens. Bringing together archival and media materials with the victims’ accounts and diverse forms of cultural response, the book examines ransom kidnapping through the lenses of historiography, law, literary criticism, trauma studies, phenomenology, and political philosophy. Ransom Kidnapping in Italy traces how and at what price Italians became aware of living in a country that was being blackmailed by criminal organisations that arguably jeopardised the nation even more than terrorism.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
In October 1919, the champions of the National League, the Cincinnati Reds, faced the champions of the American League, the Chicago White Sox, in the World Series.
While Cincinnati won the championship on the field five games to three, the series will be forever remembered because of the events surrounding it. Even a hundred years later, it remains one of the most significant events in American professional sports.
Learn more about the 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal, and how it almost destroyed the game of baseball, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Former President Donald Trump wrapped up this week’s Republican National Convention on Thursday night with the longest speech in convention history. He started with a first-person account of the attempted assassination against him last weekend. But his promised message of unity fell apart quickly as he embraced autocrats, doubled down on false claims the 2020 election was stolen, and promised the biggest deportation in history. Washington Post reporter Dylan Wells joins us from the convention while Republican political strategist Mike Madrid talks about what’s next for the Never Trump movement.
And in headlines: The calls for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race continued to snowball, a federal appeals court fully blocked the Biden Administration’s student loan repayment program, and Costco is selling an emergency food kit with 150 freeze-dried and hydrated food servings with a promised shelf life of 25 years.
In this week's Progress Report, Zachary and Emma discuss the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump and its implications for society. They highlight the response from both leaders and ordinary Americans, noting the overall unity and calmness in the aftermath of the event. They also discuss other news stories, including Gambia upholding the ban on female genital cutting and the decreasing global poverty rates. The conversation ends with a positive note about the decrease in gun violence during the Independence Day weekend.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
There's developing news: a global tech issue has led to major U.S. airlines grounding flights.
Also, we'll bring you the key takeaways from former President Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention: what he had to say about his plans for a second term and the attempt on his life.
And, we have the latest from the Biden campaign as the president apparently starts to consider dropping his reelection bid.
Plus, what to know about a new summer wave of Covid-19 cases, which popular cleaning products are being recalled, and why one man decided to travel across seven continents to deliver 50 postcards.
Those stories and more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Sit down (literally) with the voices of pop-business, Nick & Jack — The ex-Wall Streeters (now besties) answer questions on investing, entrepreneurship, work, life, and the financially responsible way to eat a strawberry. Guac is always extra, but this advice isn’t.
