The United States conducts another boat strike off South America. The January Fifth pipe bomb suspect. Texas redistricting plan prevails. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has those stories and more on the World News Roundup podcast.
Following a fierce bidding war, Netflix announced this morning that it’s buying Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal worth more than $82 billion. The deal still has to be approved by regulators, and some lawmakers are already raising antitrust concerns. We learn more. Then, as part of our lunar economy mini-series, we hear what a lack of private interest oversight could mean for an economy beyond the clouds.
Note: This morning’s podcast has been updated following the official announcement of a Netflix-Warner Bros. deal.
From the BBC World Service: Major airports in India have descended into chaos after the airline IndiGo either canceled or delayed hundreds of flights for the fourth consecutive day. IndiGo says there have been technical issues with aircraft or winter schedules that have delayed some flights, but the biggest reason is a pilot shortage. Also, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have signed a peace deal, and some countries are boycotting Eurovision over Israel's involvement.
Spriha Baruah Tucker has spent time in a number of places - growing up in India, attending boarding school in Singapore, and now living in San Francisco. She spent many years at Google, before founding her own startup called Aviator. Outside of tech, she really likes music, having a soft spot in her heart for Bollywood, but really digging into the jazz world these days. She enjoys the guilty pleasure of trashy romance TV, and tends to travel to get the best food - her favorite being Nashville.
Spriha was a founder at Aviator, and was made aware of her current company while serving her customers. He noticed that all of her customers who used this platform absolutely adored it, to the tune of making infomercials for the platform. She reached out to the founder to let him know... and the rest is history.
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The Trump administration has been trying for months to ban AI regulations at the state level. And its latest gambit to roll such a measure into the congressional National Defense Authorization Act appears to have failed. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday that GOP leadership is now “looking at other places” to include that measure after reportedly facing pushback from both parties.
Plus, New York recently became the first state to enforce an AI law designed to protect consumers from "algorithmic pricing." And Amazon pulled back on AI dubbing for some international content after anime fans complained.
In the inaugural independent episode of "Getting Hammered," Vic and MK decide to bring back the show at least once a week this holiday season, with thanks to all you listeners who have stuck around during hiatus season. In the near future, we'll concoct some ways for you to support the show as we head toward the new year, whether it's premium content, subscriptions, or contributing to our holiday cocktail fund. In the meantime, you can help by subscribing, listening, reviewing, and spreading the word. Today, Vic and MK do a review of Thanksgiving health damage, Christmas traffic, and MK's kids destroying decor before diving into U.S. military attacks on alleged drug-trafficking boats near Venezuela, the law of the sea, Franklin memes, Aftyn Behn, midterm forecasts, special elections, and people who should not sing on stage, the Minnesota massive fraud story, and the drama, drama, drama of Lane Kiffin.
A Pentagon watchdog report and video of a deadly boat strike in the Caribbean deepen scrutiny of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s actions.
Federal agents arrested a Virginia man accused of planting the Jan. 6 pipe bombs after a years-long investigation that uncovered new forensic leads.
And the Supreme Court cleared Texas to use a Republican-drawn congressional map that could shift multiple House seats and reshape the 2026 midterms.
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 Andrew Sussman, Anna Yukhananov, Ben Swasey, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from David Greenburg. And our technical director is Stacey Abbott.
Plus: Meta cuts spending on the metaverse, betting big on AI wearables instead. And stock markets gain ahead of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. Daniel Bach hosts.
Warning: This episode contains strong language and mentions of suicide.
Over the past year, the federal government has taken a series of actions widely seen as attacks on the First Amendment.
Greg Lukianoff, the head of a legal defense group called the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, speaks to Natalie Kitroeff about what free speech really means and why both the left and the right end up betraying it.
Guest: Greg Lukianoff, the president and chief executive of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.