Russia launched one of its largest assaults on Ukraine, firing more than 500 drones and dozens of missiles overnight. Former President Barack Obama endorsed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s controversial redistricting plan, intensifying the partisan fight over election maps. In the Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to approve a Gaza City takeover, sparking protests in Israel. And in business, Downtown L.A.’s graffiti towers continue to sit idle, while worker safety concerns mount amid California’s dangerous heat wave.
Less than nine months after Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled, the honeymoon is over. How is the new regime responding to rising dissent? Introducing Britain’s revolutionary retirees: why pensioners increasingly dominate political protest. And celebrating the life of on-screen villain, Terence Stamp.
Texas is about to gerrymander five new house seats, and California is ready to retaliate. Gov. Gavin Newsom says that his state will also redraw its congressional maps to create five new districts, effectively fighting fire with fire.
Laurel Rosenhall, who covers California’s government and politics, discusses whether the state’s voters will actually go for this plan, whether it’ll work if they do, and what is at stake either way.
Guest: Laurel Rosenhall, a New York Times reporter covering California politics and government.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
A New York appeals court dismisses a half billion-dollar civil fraud judgment against President Trump after a judge ruled last year that he inflated his net worth to secure better loans. As the White House touts its anti-crime push in Washington, D.C., the president suggests he could send troops to more cities. And SpaceX’s Starship faces its 10th launch test this weekend, but critics question whether the design will ever make it to Mars.
Strategically located in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, with access to Europe, Asia, and Africa, is the island of Cyprus.
Cyprus has a history that goes back as far as civilization itself, and it has had a history with almost every major civilization and empire around the Mediterranean..
Its history isn’t just a relic of the ancient world. It has remained strategically important and a source of conflict to the present day.
Learn more about Cyprus and its deep history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
“Make America Healthy Again” is a great idea — somebody should try it.
A lot of the concerns animating the MAHA movement — chronic disease, the unhealthiness of the American diet, how profits warp our health care system — are serious issues. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hasn’t taken major actions to address them. Instead he’s gutted funding for scientific research, including nearly $500 million dedicated to mRNA vaccine development, throwing a huge amount of possibly lifesaving research in limbo.
How did we get here? What are the politics that allowed Donald Trump to preside over Operation Warp Speed, the single most successful pandemic mitigation policy, and then turn around a few years later to appoint Kennedy to undo it all?
My colleague David Wallace-Wells has done incredible reporting on how pandemic policies have shaped our politics, culture and society. Rachael Bedard is a physician and a writer who has been thinking deeply about what MAHA represents and where the movement could find common ground with its critics.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin and Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Dr. Sunil Patel and Dr. Andrew Gabrielson.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
As Nepal makes 97 peaks free to climb, we look at the science of overtourism – especially on mountains. How do so many visitors affect these environments, and what can be done? Plus, are mountains carbon sources, or carbon sinks? And why do we feel the drive to summit these peaks anyway? A psychologist specialising in thrill-seeking explains.
Also on the show, we take your questions, read out your comments, and look at what it takes to physically measure the height of a peak like Everest.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Caroline Steel, with Chhavi Sachdev and Leonie Joubert
Producers: Margaret Sessa Hawkins, with Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, Imaan Moin and Lucy Davies
You’ve got to speculate to accumulate. We apply that notion to individuals in pursuit of wealth, but what about countries? The Debt of a Nation: Land and the Financing of the Canadian Settler State, 1820–73 (U of British Columbia Press, 2025) is the first comprehensive history of Canada’s nineteenth-century public debt. Beginning in the 1820s, loans gave British North American settler governments access to unprecedented amounts of capital at low interest rates. The credit for such loans derived from colonial appropriation of Indigenous territories, and this process essentially created a market value for stolen land.
Dr. Angela Tozer explores the role of public debt financing in the consolidation of the Canadian settler state: Upper Canada’s first public debt, issued as securities on the London Stock Exchange; the unique government land tenure of Prince Edward Island and attendant impact on Mi’kmaw homelands; and the purchase of Rupert’s Land via a loan. She analyzes how an economic system centred on credit and debt relied on two factors: settlers had to become the risk bearers – though not necessarily the beneficiaries – of loans, and colonial governments had to have the power to appropriate Indigenous territories in order to appear creditworthy.
This history of the intimate relationship between public debt and colonization underscores the importance of the appropriation of Indigenous lands to global markets.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.