WSJ What’s News - Why Iran Doesn’t Have a New Supreme Leader

A.M. Edition for Mar. 6. Nearly a week after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, WSJ correspondent Sune Rasmussen discusses the delicate balancing act facing Iran’s leaders as they attempt to choose a replacement. Plus, how declining Gulf energy production and exports could cause global economic disruption and higher gas prices. And we’ll look at the Nepalese rapper poised to become the country’s next prime minister. Luke Vargas hosts.


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Marketplace All-in-One - Bytes: Week in Review — Prediction markets reel amid Iran conflict, defense contractors to drop Anthropic, and Meta’s AI deal with News Corp

Meta and News Corp reached a licensing deal this week. Plus, defense contractors untangle Claude from their workflows.


But first, the online prediction marketplace Kalshi lets users bet on the outcome of many things that can happen in the future. One bet that saw a lot of action was whether Ali Khamenei would be ousted as the supreme leader in Iran. Khamenei was killed over the weekend during a U.S. military strike.


Kalshi didn’t pay out the bets that were placed after Khamenei’s death. Instead, it reimbursed those traders. And this outraged some users on the site. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, about all these headlines from the week in tech.

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - Peter and the Antichrist, Chapter Two: “Guys, Palantir is Evil.”

To some, Peter Thiel is a philosopher king. To others, he's real-life supervillain. One thing's for sure: this guy is making enormous waves in everything from tech to surveillance and government. In the chapter of this two-part series, Ben, Matt and Noel dive into one of Thiel's corporate crown jewels -- an enormous, shadowy "data analytics" company called Palantir. Tune in to learn why governments and investors love Palantir... and why numerous critics believe this outfit is ushering the new age of massive, inescapable and un-democratic surveillance.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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Divided Argument - Cruel and Unusual and Stupid

It's our live show at the University of Chicago! Hosted by the University of Chicago Federalist Society, we discuss this week's big shadow-docket rulings about gender transitions in California Schools (Mirabelli v. Bonta) and redistricting in New York (Malliotakis v. Williams), and also break down the recent merits decision about the right to counsel when a defendant is testifying (Villareal v. Texas).

Up First from NPR - Trump Fires Kristi Noem, Middle East War Latest, Venezuela-US Diplomacy

President Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and named Senator Markwayne Mullin as his pick to take over, in the first cabinet shakeup of his second term.
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is widening again, with Israel striking Beirut’s southern suburbs as Lebanon says tens of thousands have been displaced.
And two months after U.S. forces seized Venezuela’s president, Washington and Caracas are suddenly cutting deals on oil and critical minerals and moving to restore diplomatic relations.

Want more 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 Anna Yukhananov, Hannah Bloch, Tara Neill, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.

Our director is Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

Our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor.

(0:00) Introduction
(01:53) Trump Fires Kristi Noem
(05:50) Middle East War Latest
(09:44) Venezuela-US Diplomacy


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The Daily - The Firing of Kristi Noem

On Thursday, President Trump fired Kristi Noem, his secretary of homeland security, whose agency is at the center of his second-term agenda.

Hamed Aleaziz, who covers the department, explains how Ms. Noem ended up losing the president’s trust. 

Guest: Hamed Aleaziz, who covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy in the United States for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

Photo: Nicole Hester/USA Today Network, via Reuters

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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Money Girl - The Gifting Tax Guide: How to Give Money to Family Tax-Free

1001. On this Finance Friday, I’m clearing up the massive confusion surrounding "gift taxes." Many people are terrified to help their loved ones because they fear a surprise tax bill, but the reality is that the thresholds are much higher than you think.

Whether you're helping with a down payment, paying for a grandchild’s tuition, or simply sharing your wealth while you're around to see them enjoy it, there are a few "golden rules" you need to know to stay on the right side of the IRS.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • The 2026 Limits: Why you can likely give away millions without ever owing a penny in gift tax.
  • The Annual vs. Lifetime Exclusion: How to use the $19,000 annual limit to your advantage.
  • The "Direct Payment" Loophole: How to pay for medical or tuition bills without it counting as a gift.
  • The Inheritance Trap: Why gifting a house or stocks now might actually cost your children more in taxes later than waiting for a "step-up in basis."
  • IRS Form 709: When you actually need to file it (and why it’s not as scary as it sounds).

Find a transcript here. 

Have a money question? Send an email to money@quickanddirtytips.com or leave a voicemail at (302) 364-0308.

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Money Girl is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.

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The Ezra Klein Show - Who Should Control A.I.?

Last Friday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that he was breaking the Pentagon’s contract with the A.I. company Anthropic and would declare the company a supply chain risk — a designation for companies so dangerous, they can’t exist anywhere in the U.S. military supply chain. What makes this so wild is the military is still using Anthropic’s A.I. system right now. They reportedly used it during the raid to capture Maduro in Venezuela, and are now using it in the war in Iran.

This story raises so many questions: Why does the government think Anthropic is so dangerous? How exactly is the government using A.I. right now? How do they want to use A.I.? And who should ultimately control this powerful and uncertain technology?

Dean Ball is a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation and the author of the newsletter Hyperdimensional. He served as a senior policy adviser on A.I. for the Trump White House and was the primary staff writer of their A.I. action plan. But he’s been furious at the Trump administration for how it has been handling the conflict with Anthropic. So I wanted to have him on the show to explain why.

Mentioned:

Hyperdimensional" by Dean Ball

What if Dario Amodei Is Right About A.I.?” The Ezra Klein Show

Stratechery” by Ben Thompson

Book Recommendations:

Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays by Michael Oakeshott

Empire Of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood

Roll, Jordan, Roll by Eugene D. Genovese

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. 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, Annie Galvin, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, 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.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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