Phase one of the Gaza ceasefire is underway as Hamas releases Israeli hostages and thousands of Palestinians held by Israel are being reunited with their families. President Trump addresses Israel's parliament ahead of his trip to Egypt to sign the deal he brokered. And the government shutdown enters its second week, with multiple agencies sending layoff notices and growing pressure on the military payroll.
Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kate Bartlett, Vincent Ni, Jason Breslow, Mohamad ElBardicy and Martha Ann Overland.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas
We get engineering support from David Greenburg. And our technical director is Zac Coleman.
The United States Treasury moves to print current President Trump's face on a new coin, prompting an exploration of why the US officially doesn't put living people on the money. Qatar and the US reach a new level in what Lady Gaga would call a "Bad Romance." (Ben here: we recorded this before the news of the Idaho military base hit; the gang and I are currently in international waters -- wish us luck!) Microsoft has a 'come-to-Jesus' moment with Azure. Chinese authorities leverage AI to improve their censorship regulations for Western films. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.
Open AI has added a checkout feature to ChatGPT, partnering with Etsy and Shopify to let users purchase some items from select merchants. OpenAI says ChatGPT's answers are still organic and unsponsored. But why not offer a seamless way to buy things that come up in certain responses?
Eventually this could lead to so-called “agentic” shopping: letting AI research items, pick one, and then buy it on our behalf. Marketplace's Nova Safo spoke with colleague Meghan McCarty Carino about what AI companies stand to gain from integrating e-commerce tech.
A deadly explosion at a munitions plant in Tennessee has left workers missing as rescue crews search the site. MIT’s president rejected a White House proposal linking university funding to political alignment. The Los Angeles Fire Department is under fire for failing to use thermal cameras before the deadly Palisades blaze reignited. New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted following pressure from President Trump. In business, companies are using AI to create fake news-style ads without disclosure, and Nestlé has withdrawn from a global alliance to cut dairy methane emissions.
The Israeli military said on Monday that it had received the 20 remaining living hostages released by Hamas under the terms of the cease-fire deal.
Rachel Abrams speaks to families of those hostages, and to other Israelis, about the long-anticipated moment, and Isabel Kershner, a Times reporter who covers Israel and Palestine, discusses why the hostages have been such a crucial factor in efforts to end the war.
Guest: Isabel Kershner, a reporter for The New York Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
Background reading:
Read live coverage of the hostages’ return and prisoner swap.
Why now? The lost chances to reach a hostage deal, and a cease-fire, months ago.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Israeli hostages return from Gaza, as President Trump travels to the Mideast to cement the end to the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, the president starts following through on a threat to lay off government workers. And an explosion at a Tennessee munitions plant leaves 16 people dead.
Of the 7,000 languages estimated to exist, half will have disappeared by the end of this century. That’s the stark warning from the Director of the Endangered Languages Archive, Mandana Seyfeddinipur. The evolution of languages, and their rise and fall, is part of human history, but the speed at which this is happening today is unprecedented. Mandana will be appearing at the inaugural Voiced: The Festival for Endangered Languages at the Barbican in October.
A sense of loss also runs through Sverker Sörlin’s love letter to snow. The professor of Environmental History in Stockholm writes about the infinite variety of water formulations, frozen in air, in ‘Snö: A History’ (translated by Elizabeth DeNoma), and his fears about the vanishing white landscapes of his youth.
In the Arctic the transformation from frozen desert into an international waterway is gathering pace. Klaus Dodds is Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London and with co-author Mia Bennett sets out the fight and the future of the Arctic in ‘Unfrozen’. While territorial contest and resource exploitation is causing tensions within the region, there is also potential for new ways of working, from Indigenous governance to subsea technologies.
OA1198 - In this very special episode, Matt catches up with his Constitutional law professor for the first time in 23 years! We follow up with our closer look at the science behind Brown v Board (OA1186) with University of Michigan Law professor Michelle Adams, who takes us through the fascinating and ultimately tragic story of how the promise of Brown ended twenty years later in the struggle to overcome de facto segregation in her hometown of Detroit. Professor Adams has literally written the book on this subject, and if you enjoyed this conversation be sure to pick up her recent masterwork The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North.
