Across the rich world millions spend more than a third of their disposable income on rent. We ask why policymakers have such terrible ideas on easing the pressure. America’s bid to crimp TikTok has raised a flurry of issues far graver than social-media scrolling (9:53). And why pop stars are (again) embracing the album over the single (15:46).
Cross border attacks between Israel and Lebanon are intensifying as Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Israeli leaders to push for a ceasefire deal in Gaza. The country's largest Protestant group gathers for its annual meeting. The Southern Baptist convention will vote on a number of key issues including banning women pastors and IVF fertility among other issues churches are facing. And, Siri is getting an AI upgrade after Apple announced a deal with ChatGPT.
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Today's episode of Up First was edited byHannah Bloch, Cheryl Corely, Gabriel Spitzer, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Lindsay Totty. Our technical director is Zac Coleman, with engineering support from Carleigh Strange.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it was the largest military attack on a European country since World War II. Reliable casualty figures are hard to come by, but U.S. intelligence officials estimated last year that as many as 500,000 Russians and Ukrainians had been killed in the conflict, with an estimated 15–30 million refugees.
But Ilya Ponomarev says that cash and defensive weapons alone won’t liberate Ukraine or impede future Russian aggression. He insists that Vladimir Putin must be deposed by force. And he is actively working to do just that.
Ilya Ponomarev was a member of Russia’s Federal Assembly (Russia’s national legislature) from 2007 to 2016. He was the only member to vote against Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Exiled to Ukraine since 2016, he is the political head of the Freedom of Russian Legion, a paramilitary group made up of Russian dissidents and defectors fighting for Ukraine. He argues that nonviolent resistance is not enough and that radical steps are needed to overthrow Putin.
In today’s conversation, Ponomarev talks about his life as a dissident and what it is like being a target for assassination, his previous relationship with Putin, and why democracy has failed to take root in Russia.
Lucius Caecilius Iucundus kept the economic wheels of Pompeii well greased. He was a middle man doing very nicely- part money-lender, part auctioneer, part banker, all hustler.
Thanks to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the preservation of the ruins of Pompeii, we can still visit his house, look at his bronze portrait, and read his account books. 150 tablets of receipts, carbonised in the destruction of Pompeii, lead us through the deals that keep the city’s economy moving. If you want to buy a Ferrari-level horse but only have the cash for a Fiesta then Iucundus is your man. It might look like dry stuff, but it's as revealing of real life as snooping on someone’s Paypal account or leafing through their credit card receipts might be now. Never mind imperial plunder and luxury lifestyles, it’s a glimpse of how the economy works in a regular town.
Mary Beard visits Iucundus's home and talks to the novelist Robert Harris about his fascination with the Pompeii moneylender.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Expert Contributors: Sophie Hay, Parco Archeologico di Pompei; Matthew Nicholls, Oxford University
Special thanks to National Archaeological Museum, Naples and Parco Archeologico di Pompei
Donald Trump meets with a probation officer for his pre-sentencing interview just a day after holding an unhinged rally in Nevada where Marjorie Taylor Greene compared him to notable defendant Jesus Christ. Trump's crew of hard-right advisors plots a new round of tax cuts for the rich while the Biden campaign sharpens its lines of attack. Then: Jon and Tommy land the world-exclusive first interview with newly minted reality TV persona Jon Lovett, who suffers through a quiz about all the news he missed during his time away.
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.
We're talking about the latest push to end the war in Gaza and how both sides are responding.
Also, a dangerous heatwave in the U.S. could break more records this week.
And we'll tell you what experts have to say about a series of shark attacks in Florida.
Plus, advancements in a new Alzheimer's drug, the most ambitious changes Apple has made to the iPhone in the past decade, and more big advancements in women's sports.
Those stories and more news to know in about 10 minutes!
The European Union may have just taken a big step to the political right, and the Biden administration should take note, Nile Gardiner says.
“I think that the Biden White House is going to be very nervous, looking at the results in Europe, because European voters have overwhelmingly turned against a lot of the left-wing dogma and agenda, not only [that] Europe leads, but the same agenda that is pursued by the Biden administration,” says Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation.
The European Parliament held elections Thursday through Sunday, in which millions of Europeans cast their ballots across 27 countries, and Europe’s conservatives won big.
“I would describe the election results over the weekend as nothing short of a political revolution within Europe—a firm rejection of socialist ruling elites,” says Gardiner, who prior to joining Heritage in 2002 was foreign policy researcher for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
In response to this “political revolution,” French President Emmanuel Macron has called for snap legislative elections at the end of June and beginning of July. According to Gardiner, this is a very risky move for Macron, as he is giving the French electorate the chance to further embrace a conservative government.
Gardiner joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain the implications of the European elections on the U.S.
It feels like this is the summer of space launches. So, it's only appropriate that we kick off our new series Space Camp with a look at space launches. Throughout the series, Regina and Emily will plumb our universe to uncover the strange, wonderful things happening all around us. This episode, that entails answering a series of questions about getting to space: What does hurtling into space feel like? What physics are involved? And what's the "junk" in Earth's orbit?
Space Camp episodes drop every Tuesday in the Short Wave feed in addition to our regular episodes happening every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
For a full explainer of Newton's third law of motion, g-forces and visuals on his cannonball thought experiment, check out our digital story.
Have a particular aspect of space you want us to cover in a future episode? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!
