Another winter storm is on the way for a swath of the US. Congress is probing a double strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. US special envoy Steve Witkoff meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin today to discuss ending the Russia-Ukraine war. CBS's Deborah Rodriguez has these stories and much more in today's World News Roundup.
Plus: Bitcoin makes a comeback after tumbling more than 6% yesterday. And Netflix sweetens its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery in a second round of bids as it tries to outdo rival Paramount. Caitlin McCabe hosts.
The Trump administration freezes asylum and Afghan visa processing after a deadly shooting near the White House, raising questions about the future of U.S. immigration policy. In Hong Kong, investigators probe a high-rise fire that killed more than 150 people and exposed construction failures. Luigi Mangione returns to court as his defense fights to suppress key evidence in the murder of a healthcare CEO. Southern California braces for two rounds of Santa Ana winds. California’s Indian truck drivers face license cancellations under new federal rules. Snapchat nears 1 billion users but continues to struggle with profitability.
Raj Dosanjh grew up in Coventry, which he calls the Detroit of the UK. He still enjoys following the football team, and hopes they rejuvenate the city some. He eventually left for University and moved to London. He likes to dig into how people think and how things are built. Outside of tech, he is engaged to be married in 2026. As such, he has recently taking up physical training - which results in a lot of working out, and meals filled with chicken.
In the past, Raj's now co-founder reached out to him, post shutting the doors on his prior startup. After they had felt out the market to see if a solution for billing could fit, they moved forward and eventually started enabling revenue streams for AI agents.
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Lead is an essential but toxic element of car batteries. The U.S. auto industry promotes the recycling of it as an environmental success story. An investigation by The New York Times and The Examination reveals that the initiative comes at a major human cost, especially abroad.
Peter S. Goodman, who covers the global economy, explains the dirty business of a supposedly clean technology.
Guest: Peter S. Goodman, who covers the global economy for The New York Times.
Once derided as a copycat nation, China is now leading the world in innovation, from driverless cars to pharmaceuticals. Our correspondent explains what others can learn from it. Britain looks abroad for policy ideas, but which country is most like it? And why the capybara is a creature of comfort for our troubled age.
Legal questions swirl around the White House over a pair of strikes in the Caribbean. Lawyers for suspected killer Luigi Mangione argue for the dismissal of a key piece of evidence. And Tennessee voters head to the polls in a closely-watched special election.
All year long, the staff of The New York Times Book Review conducts a running discussion over what belongs on its year-end Top 10 list. In this week’s episode, host Gilbert Cruz gathers a group of fellow Book Review editors to talk about the most exciting fiction and nonfiction of the year.
Here are the books discussed in this week’s episode:
Fiction
“The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” by Kiran Desai
Most parents know what goes into raising children: the time spent changing diapers in inopportune places; the hours of worrying—about what to feed them, how to educate them, how to protect them and keep them healthy; the countless hours devoted to dance classes, summer camps, pediatricians, and piano lessons—all investments meant to give them the best chance in life.
Most of us would do anything to help our kids become the most successful and happiest versions of themselves.
But what if we could start earlier? At the molecular level. What if we could ensure our babies were healthier, smarter, and stronger, before they even took their first breath?
Right now, several biotech companies are doing just that. They offer embryo screening for couples undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). These companies don’t just score embryos for disease risk, which has become standard practice for anyone undergoing IVF—they go further.
Nucleus Genomics promises “optimization” of traits like heart health and cancer resistance, as well as intelligence, longevity, body mass index, baldness, eye color, hair color, etc. It even suggests it may predict a predisposition to become an alcoholic.
In the future, we may be able to more than just screen and select. We’ll be able to make tweaks to our own embryos in order to “optimize” them. This isn’t something out of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. It’s the very real, and near, future. Some would argue it’s already here.
It all creates profound and critical questions. So we hosted a debate: Is it ethical to design our unborn children? And are we morally obligated to do so when the risks of abstaining include serious diseases? Or does designing babies cross a line? Is it wrong to play God and manipulate humanity’s genetic heritage?
Arguing that designing babies is not only an ethical choice, but indeed a moral imperative, are Jamie Metzl and Dr. Allyson Berent.
Jamie is a technology and healthcare futurist, who was a member of the World Health Organization Expert Advisory Committee on Human Genome Editing. He’s also written several best-selling books on this subject, including Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity.
Allyson is a veterinarian who has become an incredible force for genetic research since her daughter, Quincy, was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome. She serves as chief science officer of the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics and chief development officer at a biotechnology company, where she helps accelerate gene therapy programs for Angelman syndrome.
Arguing that designing babies is unethical are O. Carter Snead and Dr. Lydia Dugdale.
Carter is a bioethicist and law professor at Notre Dame. He served as general counsel to the President’s Council on Bioethics under George W. Bush and as an appointed member of UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee. He is also an appointed member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, which advises the pope on bioethics.
Lydia is a physician, medical ethicist, and professor of medicine at Columbia University, where she serves as director of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. She is also Co-Director of Clinical Ethics at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
It’s a critical debate you won’t want to miss.
The Free Press is honored to have partnered with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to present this debate. Head to TheFire.org to learn more about this indispensable organization.
By 1975, the world had seen 25 years of radical change. The changes seen in the first half of the 20th century accelerated even faster. Empires ended, there were social and technical revolutions, new nations were created, humans landed on the moon, and the world was in the midst of peak Cold War.
Energy, inflation, and civil rights, which had always been issues, were now front and center.
Learn more about the world in the year 1975 on the 1,975th episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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