Steven Spielberg’s movie “Jaws” hit theaters 50 years ago this month, in June 1975, and became a phenomenon almost instantly. In some ways that was no surprise: The Peter Benchley novel it was based on, also called “Jaws,” had been a huge best seller the year before, and the public was primed for a fun summer scare. Brian Raftery — the author of “Best. Movie. Year. Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen” — wrote about “Jaws” for the Book Review last year in honor of the novel’s 50th anniversary, and this week he visits the podcast to talk about the book, the movie adaptation and the era of blockbuster thrillers.
“If you’ve seen ‘Jaws,’ you could probably guess what the opening chapter of the book is,” he tells Gilbert Cruz (who has indeed seen “Jaws,” dozens of times). “It’s this shark attack, where this shark at night just devours this young female swimmer. The writing is really fun. It’s really gnarly, and it’s one of those amazing opening chapters where the book is moving as fast as the shark. After you read that first chapter, you are just completely pulled in.”
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Plus: Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” the VIX, leaps after Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear program and military leadership. And the world’s largest meatpacker makes Its NYSE debut. Zoe Kuhlkin hosts.
In the past few years, as street drug makers increasingly cut fentanyl into drugs like cocaine, there’s been a rise in overdoses among people who aren’t addicted to opioids. Nashville, in particular, has seen overdoses rise among tourists. The city has worked to get overdose reversal drugs into downtown bars and music venues. We'll learn what the uptake process was like. Also: a bond market checkup and a pullback in corporate sponsorship at Pride events.
Israel's military say they struck dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.
Iran says the attacks by Israel are a declaration of war and there are warnings of a strong retaliatory response by Iran to the attacks which killed numerous military officials and scientists.
Also in the programme: Investigators in India have found the on-board video recorder from the Air India plane which crashed on Thursday, killing more than 240 people. We'll report from the crash site in Ahmedabad.
(Photo shows smoke rising from a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran on 13 June 13, 2025. Credit: Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
The first group of South African soldiers deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo, arrive back in the country today. South Africa sent around one thousand five hundred troops to the DRC as part of a wider peacekeeping mission. In February, at least fourteen soldiers were killed during heavy clashes with the M23, a group fighting against the national government led by President Felix Tishekedi. At home in South Africa there has been public debate about the need for this deployment. Richard discusses the delayed end of mission amid reports of low morale and poor conditions in DRC with the BBC’s reporter, Nomsa Maseko.
Also, Ghana makes significant progress in reducing child labour
And does FIFA's expanded Club World Cup offer fresh opportunities to Africa's football clubs or not?
Presenter: Richard Kagoe
Producers: Bella Hassan and Yvette Twagiramariya in London and Charles Gitonga in Nairobi.
Technical Producer: Pat Sissons
Senior Journalist: Karnie Sharp
Editors: Alice Muthengi and Andre Lombard
Israel's military says Iran fired about 100 drones towards its territory, many of which were intercepted, in retaliation to Israeli air strikes overnight. Also: an update from the scene of crashed Air India flight AI17.
Welcome back to The Mining Pod! Today, Will, Colin, Matt, and Nick discuss Bitcoin mining's summer slowdown, American Bitcoin's massive 25 EH/s anticipated ramp up, a big week for public miner fundraising, Amazon's $20B Pennsylvania data center investment, institutional ETF flows showing hedge fund exits, and the controversial filter wars dividing Bitcoin's community.
• American Bitcoin raising for $320M U3S21EXPH buy
• IREN upsizes convertible note to $500M
• Amazon investing $20B in Pennsylvania
• Hedge fund ETT holdings dropped from 122K to 83K BTC in Q1
00:00 Start
01:12 Difficulty Report by Luxor
06:37 American Bitcoin $320M U3S21 Cost
13:40 Fundraising season
23:07 Hedge funds ditched BTC ETFs in Q1
32:08 Amazon going balls deep in PA
37:41 Cry Corner - The Filter Boys Mount UP!
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Published twice weekly, "The Mining Pod" interviews the best builders and operators in the Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining landscape. Subscribe to get notifications when we publish interviews on Tuesday and a news show on Friday!