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Newshour - Trump orders blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers

President Trump says he's ordered a total blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela. In a social media post, he said the US military build-up near Venezuela would only get bigger and described the government of Nicolas Maduro as a terrorist organisation. The Venezuelan government has accused President Trump of launching warlike threats. We hear from a US Democrat congressman.

Also in the programme: The EU waters down its plan to end new petrol and diesel car sales by by 2035 and we hear how the Hollywood star, Timothee Chalamet, spent seven years mastering table tennis for his latest film role in Marty Supreme

Photo: US President Donald J Trump speaks at a round-table with high-tech business executives in Washington DC, USA Credit: AARON SCHWARTZ/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock

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Marketplace All-in-One - The life of a Christmas tree seller

It's an annual tradition in New York City: Each December, pedestrians fight for walking room on sidewalks populated by lush firs and frasers. Staffed by seasonal workers, these Christmas tree lots are often open 24 hours a day. We visited one of these tree stands on a sidewalk in West Harlem just after midnight to learn about the biz. But first, holiday season retail sales numbers out yesterday from the Census Bureau were unexpectedly flat.

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CBS News Roundup - 12/17/2025 | World News Roundup

Nick Reiner could face death penalty if convicted in murders of parents Rob and Michele Reiner. Day five of the manhunt for the Brown University shooter. Stunning remarks by Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.


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Marketplace All-in-One - Backlash prompts slashed World Cup ticket prices

From the BBC World Service: FIFA has said it will release $60 seats for next year's World Cup, following complaints from fans over high prices. After all, average ticket prices are about seven times what World Cup tickets cost when the event was hosted in Qatar. Thing is, there's a catch. Then, French soccer player Kylian Mbappé has been awarded $70 million in compensation for unpaid wages in a court case against his former club, Paris-Saint Germain.

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WSJ Minute Briefing - Trump Orders Blockade of Sanctioned Oil Tankers In and Out of Venezuela

Plus: Medical-supplies distributor Medline raises $6.26 billion in the biggest initial public offering of the year. And, California regulators give Tesla 90 days to meet compliance after a judge says the company deceived customers by falsely implying its cars could drive on their own. Luke Vargas hosts.


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WSJ What’s News - Trump Takes Aim at Venezuela’s Maduro With Tanker Blockade

A.M. Edition for Dec. 16. President Trump orders a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. Plus, WSJ deputy finance editor Quentin Webb discusses the appetite for IPOs in 2026, after Medical-supplies distributor Medline completes the biggest initial public offering of the year. And America’s white-collar workers are filled with anxiety. WSJ economics reporter Rachel Louise Ensign unpacks the latest jobs report, which is an ominous sign in an era of big corporate layoffs and CEOs warning that AI will replace workers. Luke Vargas hosts.


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Native America Calling - Wednesday, December 17, 2025 – Saving historic architecture and other important places

During the brief time it was open, the Turtle building in Niagara Falls, N.Y. served as the Native American Center for the Living Arts. It was designed by Northern Arapaho architect Dennis Sun Rhodes. Now it stands vacant and is in the way of a proposal for a high-rise hotel. It is on the most recent list of Most Endangered Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Another place on the list is the Pamunkey Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders say their land will be underwater within the next 65 years. We’ll hear about some of the threatened historic places and the efforts to save them.

GUESTS

Chief Kevin Brown (Pamunkey)

Shaun Wilson (Mohawk), president of the board of directors for the Friends of the Niagara Turtle

Emma Wilson (Mohawk), student and social media manager for the Friends of the Niagara Turtle

Charles Vaughn (Hualapai), council member and former chairman of the Hualapai Tribe

 

Break 1 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)

Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

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Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders - Developer Chats – Petr Petrenko of Bumble

Today, we are continuing our series, entitled Developer Chats - hearing from the large scale system builders themselves.

In this episode, we are talking with Petr Petrenko, Senior PHP Backend Engineer at Bumble. Petr will take us through his developer journey, in working on large scale backends, managing the tension between stability and innovation, and designing systems to interact with culturally different economies.

Questions

  • You’ve worked on large-scale backends that serve millions of users. At what point do systems start to outgrow the teams that built them?
  • At some point, every mature backend reaches a stage where rewriting is no longer realistic. How do you recognize when a system has crossed that line, and what’s the right way to handle it?
  • There’s always this tension between stability and innovation. How do you decide when a system needs refactoring versus when you just need to live with the technical debt?
  • Let’s talk about the human side of legacy systems — what have you learned about culture, documentation, and knowledge transfer that keeps old systems alive and reliable?
  • You’ve also built and maintained complex payment systems for global users. What’s something most engineers underestimate about cross-border transactions?
  • When you’re designing systems that deal with different currencies, laws, and tax regulations, how do you balance the technical with the ethical — for example, user privacy or data sovereignty?
  • For engineers listening who want to build something durable — not just fast — what advice would you give about writing code that will still make sense years from now?
  • One of your most impressive projects is a high-performance image-matching system you built yourself, capable of scanning tens of millions of images with sub-second results. Can you walk us through the moment you realized you needed to redesign the system — and what engineering choices made that level of performance possible?
  • You’ve also worked on billing systems and fraud mitigation at scale. Was there ever a moment when you had to choose between a technically “clean” solution and a solution that better protected users or the business? How did you make that call?

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Curious City - “A Christmas Carol”: An amateur actor’s journey into a Chicago holiday tradition

The Christkindlmarket, the CTA holiday train and “A Christmas Carol” at the Goodman Theatre. Chicago is full of holiday traditions. In this episode, we get an intimate look at the annual theater production through the eyes of our Chicago Sun-Times colleague, Stefano Esposito as he takes to the stage.
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Headlines From The Times - Bondi Beach Terror Attack Linked to ISIS, U.S. Unemployment Hits Four-Year High, TX Pushes Turning Point USA Into High Schools, Holiday Storm Threatens CA Travel, FCC Pressure Chills Bay Area Radio, Roomba Maker Files for Bankruptcy, and More

The suspected gunmen of an antisemitic terrorist attack in Australia are a father and son, reportedly inspired by ISIS. In the U.S., the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.6%, the highest it's been in four years. Meanwhile, in Texas, the state is moving to expand conservative student clubs in public high schools, with Governor Greg Abbott emphasizing his support for Turning Point USA. Also, in Southern California, forecasters are monitoring a strong storm that's expected to reach the coast on December 23rd and last through Christmas Day. And, new reporting is showing the impact of Brendan Carr's leadership at the Federal Communications Commission on San Francisco-based station KCBS and beyond. In business, the company behind Roomba files for bankruptcy, and an Amazon warehouse near LAX sells for a record price.