In our news wrap Saturday, Russian attacks on Ukraine continued amid U.S. efforts to negotiate a ceasefire, the Israeli army struck a school in Gaza that was sheltering displaced people, U.S. Central Command released video of Friday’s strikes in Syria, and an engineer from Germany became the first person who uses a wheelchair to go to space. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy
We get reaction to the Epstein files, which were released on Friday but were heavily redacted and represent only a fraction of the number held by the FBI. There is more information, but are Epstein survivors satisfied that enough is being done? We are joined by Lisa Bryant, director and executive producer of a Netflix documentary series titled Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.
Also on today’s programme: President Zelensky says he is open to US proposals for direct talks with Russia, though there are conditions; will the prizefighter vs YouTuber bout change boxing? And a new lemon-shaped planet has been discovered -- and it’s really weird.
A sheet of redacted pages in connection with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is shown on a computer screen (19 December, 2025. U.S. Justice Department/Reuters)
A new report from U.S. government watchdog SIGAR gives us the fullest accounting yet of U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.
In short, they call it "a two-decade long effort fraught with waste.”
Each week, Consider This hosts interview newsmakers, experts, and artists for NPR — conversations we don’t always have time to share fully in the podcast or on the radio. So every other week we share one here, for our NPR+ supporters.
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Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Recap of my Sam Altman interview 2) OpenAI's memory play 3) Deepening relationships between people and chatbots 4) Could an all-knowing AI assistant work? 5) Model vs. product revisited 6) OpenAI's enterprise play 7) The infrastructure bet 8) OpenAI's forthcoming AI device 9) AGI's meaning? 10) Google's fast Gemini flash models 11) Microsoft Copilot falling out of favor
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It’s almost 2026, and soon you’ll be receiving your year-end statements for all your investment accounts. You’ll also hear a lot of advice about reviewing and rebalancing your portfolio in January. Robert Brokamp and Certified Financial Planner Sean Gates how to do it and how much re-arranging is necessary.
Also in this episode: -Why Schwab expects a “vibesession” in 2026 -Why inflation feels worse for many Americans -Debunking a myth about the relationship between retirement and life expectancy -Spend money, and get reimbursed for those expenses, from flexible spending accounts and 529s before the end of the year
Host: Robert Brokamp Guest: Sean Gates Engineer: Bart Shannon
In light of the recent tragedy, Mike unlocks a 2016 interview with the late Rob Reiner. It is a conversation that now plays differently: Reiner discusses his film Being Charlie, which was written by his son Nick Reiner—the man now arrested in connection with his death. Mike reflects on the director's legacy, the eerie prescience of their discussion on addiction and family, and the President's disparagement of the deceased. Then, The Spiel turns to the Compact magazine essay by Jacob Savage on the "vanishing" white male in cultural industries. Mike parses the statistics—from Ivy League hiring to MacArthur Grants—to ask if the corrective pendulum has swung too far.
The US justice department has released a tranche of some of the so-called Epstein files, including photos of the interiors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's homes, his overseas travels and celebrities. Survivors and some US politicians have criticised the release as incomplete, overly-redacted and providing no context of when and where photos were taken. We hear from survivor Marina Lacerda.
Also in the programme: US fighter jets attack targets linked to Islamic State in Syria; and a rare sighting of a "pink" platypus in Australia.
(Photo: Undated handout photo issued by the US Department of Justice of a photograph appearing to show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor reclining across the laps of five people. It has been released in the latest tranche of Epstein files. He appears to be smiling with his eyes closed and his head nearly resting on a woman's lap while Ghislaine Maxwell (now a convicted associate of Epstein) stands above peering and smiling in the undated picture. Issue date: Friday December 19, 2025. PA Photo)
News Items: Animals Adapting to Humans, Pig Organ Transplants, Japan Plans to Beam Energy from Space, Ant Yogurt, First Evidence of Fire Making; Your Questions and E-mails: Mercury in Fish, Compounding Pharmacies; From TikTok: Inventor of the Diesel Engine; Science or Fiction
The Justice Department releases a vast trove of documents relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Also, Congress left Washington D.C. for its holiday break without reaching a deal on health care. Millions of Americans will face price hikes on their insurance premiums. And surviving the holiday season, we’ll have tips on what can be a stressful time of the year.
