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The Journal. - Neom, Pt 1: Skiing in the Desert

In 2017, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious, young leader, Mohammed bin Salman, unveiled Neom: a futuristic new city Saudi Arabia would build in the desert. Neom would be a hotspot for tourism like the French Riviera, a center of innovation like Silicon Valley, and a global melting pot like Dubai. It would help transform the Saudi economy. But over the years, that already bold plan grew even more ambitious.  


In the first of two episodes about Neom, WSJ’s Rory Jones and Eliot Brown explain how an effort to pivot the Saudi economy away from oil grew to encompass plans for a desert ski resort and skyscrapers the length of Connecticut. Plus we hear from two people who uprooted their lives and moved to Neom to help make MBS’s dream a reality. Hosted by Ryan Knutson. 


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CrowdScience - Can we feed everyone?

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, 800 million people are going to bed hungry every night, but 2 billion people in the world are malnourished. Farmers across the globe produce enough food to feed 10 billion people, yet there are only 7.6 billion of us.

We know there is enough food to go around, but filling tummies is only the start – we also need a varied diet. CrowdScience visits Nairobi during GGIAR Science Week, a hub for agricultural scientists. They are meeting to discuss the changes needed to get the right crops into the soil and the right food on the plates of those who need it.

Presenters Anand Jagatia and Alex Lathbridge are joined by a live audience and a panel of experts Lindiwe Sibanda, Sieglinde Snapp and Alex Awiti. Together they explore questions from our listeners in Kenya and around the world: whether we can restore natural habitats whilst promoting food security; why human waste isn’t used more commonly as a fertiliser; and what impact empowering women in agriculture will have on our ability to feed the world.

Recorded at CGIAR Science Week at the UN headquarters in Nairobi.

Image: Drone view of tractor ploughing a field Image Credit: Justin Paget via Getty Images Presenters: Anand Jagatia & Alex Lathbridge Producer: Harrison Lewis Editors: Martin Smith & Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinators: Ishmael Soriano & Josie Hardy Studio Managers: Gayl Gordon, Andrew Garratt & Sarah Hockley

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1A - The News Roundup For April 25, 2025

Tributes for the late Pope Francis are pouring in from across the globe after the Pontiff passed away on Easter Monday. His funeral will be held on this weekend.

This week, the president attacked Supreme Court Justices for getting in the way of his administration's efforts to deport migrants, saying that the Court can't afford trials for everyone they're seeking to remove from the U.S.

In health news, scientists say that the measles outbreak in the Southwest is now the largest since 2000.

And at least 26 tourists died this week in an attack in the India-administered Kashmir. The Indian government has not officially identified any group as being behind the attack, but it did announce a flurry of punitive measures against Pakistan which it said supported the attacks. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attack and issued countermeasures. It's the deadliest attack of its kind in 25 years.

Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.

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CoinDesk Podcast Network - COINDESK DAILY: Bitcoin Worth $2.4M By 2030: ARK Invest

Host Christine Lee breaks down the latest news in the crypto industry as ARK Invest raised its 2030 bitcoin price target to as high as $2.4M.

ARK Invest raised its 2030 bitcoin price target to as high as $2.4M in a bull case scenario as BTC rose above $94,000 Friday amid $2.8 billion in U.S. bitcoin ETF inflows over the past week. Plus, the Federal Reserve lifted restrictive crypto guidance for banks in a sign of softening crypto policy. CoinDesk's Christine Lee hosts "CoinDesk Daily."

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This episode was hosted by Christine Lee. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Christine Lee and edited by Victor Chen.

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The Bulwark Podcast - S2 Ep1029: Beto O’Rourke: Never Lose Hope

Since this country's founding, we have been tested. And the Americans before us somehow stood up and fought the good fight. We can't be the generation that loses it all 249 years into this experiment. But that doesn't mean we can't laugh about the stupid clowns—like Trump showing once again that he has no idea how tariffs work. Plus, RFK's dangerous proposed autism registry is selling a cruel fantasy. And Democrats need to lock down what they're selling and listen to what voters want from the government.

Beto O'Rourke joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
show notes

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State of the World from NPR - A New Mission for Syria’s Famed White Helmets

During Syria's long civil war, the White Helmets were known for running into harms way, rescuing civilians from the aftermath of regime attacks. Now with the regime gone, the famed organization is finding a new mission with new challenges. We go to Damascus to see them in action.

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CoinDesk Podcast Network - MARKETS DAILY: Crypto Update | How PayPal Plans to Bring 400M Users to Crypto

The latest price moves and insights with Jennifer Sanasie and PayPal SVP of Blockchain Jose Fernandez da Ponte.

To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.

Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Senior Vice President of Blockchain at PayPal, joins CoinDesk to discuss the payment giant's new reward program with PYUSD. Plus, how they plan to expand the stablecoin business and bring more than 400 million customers to the crypto space.

Jose Fernandez da Ponte will be joining CoinDesk at Consensus 2025 in Toronto from May 14-16. Get your tickets here: https://consensus2025.coindesk.com/

This content should not be construed or relied upon as investment advice. It is for entertainment and general information purposes.

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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “Markets Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

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Big Technology Podcast - Is Anthropic’s Claude AI Conscious?, Shopping in ChatGPT, Systrom vs. Zuck

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) Anthropic researcher's assertion that there's a 15% chance Claude is conscious 2) What happens if people believe AI is sentient? 3) Why consciousness and intelligence are different 4) Hey, is this all just marketing? 5) Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's push for AI model interpretability 6) China's robot half-marathon 7) Tesla's wild earnings week 8) Why Google is thriving despite the ChatGPT threat 9) Are we going to shop directly within ChatGPT? 10) Kevin Systrom's flawed testimony against Facebook 11) Washington DC thinks Big Tech is getting broken up.


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African Tech Roundup - Innovating Venture Building Support: David Ogundeko on Funema’s Vision for Backing African Ventures

Episode overview: In this conversation, David Ogundeko shares the journey of Funema, an impact-focused alternative investment firm operating for nine years across Nigeria, South Africa, and the US. He discusses his approach to venture building for early-stage founders, why Africa needs a unique investment approach, and how his firm addresses the "chicken and egg" challenge that idea-stage founders face: needing traction to raise funds while needing the right talent to gain that traction. Andile Masuku engages Ogundeko on the evolution of venture building in Africa, from being "mocked" five to six years ago to now becoming an essential element in the ecosystem. Throughout the conversation, Ogundeko makes a compelling case for why Africa's tech ecosystem requires patient capital with 15-25 year horizons rather than traditional 10-year VC fund lifecycles. Key topics: - The evolution of Funema's venture building model over nine years - Why service-based businesses can evolve into stronger tech companies - Misalignment between traditional VC timelines and African market realities - The importance of founder emotional connection to problems they're solving - How AI is democratising education and knowledge across the continent - Funema's ambitious plans to scale venture building across Africa Notable points: 1. Ogundeko developed his venture building thesis after working at Seedstars in 2016, flipping their model to focus on founders with their own ideas 2. Funema has a portfolio of 20+ companies built over nine years of operation The firm prefers working with founders who start with service models to develop deeper market understanding before scaling with technology 3. Traditional 10-year VC timelines are insufficient for African tech development, with Ogundeko advocating for 15-25 year investment horizons 4. Funema is planning to reach 1,000 founders over the next two years and train 100,000 venture builders over five years What makes Funema's approach distinctive is his patience and belief in deep market understanding: "We didn't exactly start out with a very sexy business model. But the learnings that we've been able to get from the market, which we've automated into a platform, is becoming a product that you can call a pure tech business."