More than a million federal workers are missing their first full paycheck as the shutdown stretches into week four, with pressure building on Washington to end the standoff. A wild NBA gambling scandal involving secret gadgets lands an active player and a Hall of Fame coach in legal trouble. And Russia's president shrugs off new U.S. sanctions after President Trump cancels his summit with Vladimir Putin.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Emily Kopp, Russell Lewis, Kate Bartlett, Mohamad ElBardicy and Martha Ann Overland.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Christopher Thomas
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
The Trump administration completed its demolition of the East Wing of the White House on Thursday to make way for a new presidential ballroom.
Luke Broadwater, who covers the White House, explains who is paying for President Trump’s latest construction project and why the demolition is striking a nerve.
Guest: Luke Broadwater, who covers the White House for The New York Times.
This weekend American and Chinese officials are meeting to try and ease tensions over trade after China’s recent decision to restrict rare-earth exports. How has China gained the upper hand? Anxiety about screen time is focused on young people, but the elderly are addicted to devices too. And the wonder of waltzes, from Strauss to “Strictly Come Dancing”.
The FBI arrests 34 suspects, including a current NBA player and coach, in a sweeping gambling investigation. President Trump pardons a cryptocurrency mogul who pleaded guilty to money laundering violations. And Hollywood artists are quickly engaging with artificial intelligence programs.
In the years following the end of the Second World War, the post-war world that many in the West hoped for never materialized.
Their former ally, the Soviet Union, turned from friend to foe. They installed puppet communist governments in all of the countries they occupied when pushing their way to Germany, and now the concern was that the Soviets would try to take over the rest of Europe.
In response, twelve nations in Western Europe and North America joined together in a military alliance, the likes of which hadn’t been seen before in history.
Learn more about NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, how it formed, and how it evolved on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Europe has a new entry/exit system based on biometric data. But what exactly is the science behind biometric data, how can we ensure it’s used responsibly, and can it be cracked?
We also look at how some animals use dung as biometric data with Dr. Adrian Shrader, how your walk can be used to ID you from Professor Mark Nixon, and why gold has its own special measurement. All that plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Margaret Sessa-Hawkins with Lucy Davies and Robbie Wojciechowski
The “Democratic penalty” should scare the hell out of Democrats.
The Democratic Party brand has become toxic in certain parts of the country, especially with working- class voters. The Center for Working-Class Politics has actually measured this so-called “Democratic penalty,” and found it’s in the double digits in some Rust Belt states.
So what should Democrats do about it?
One theory says that Democrats were once economic populists and just need to be again. Another theory says that the working class feels left behind and looked down on by a Democratic Party that has moved sharply left on culture, on climate, on guns, on immigration.
Jared Abbott is the director of the Center for Working-Class Politics, which has done a lot of research and polling on working- class voters. So I asked him on the show to talk through these theories and what it would take for Democrats to once again be the party of the working class.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones. 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 Aman Sahota and Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
Epic poetry, notably the Iliad and the Odyssey, stands as one of the most enduring legacies of ancient Greece. Although the impact of these epics on Western civilization is widely recognized, their origins remain the subject of heated debate. Were they composed in a single era or over the course of centuries? Were they crafted by one or by many poets? Do they reflect historical reality? These and other important questions are answered in this book. Michael Cosmopoulos, in The World of Homer: Archaeology, Social Memory, and the Emergence of Epic Greek Poetry (Cambridge UP, 2025), reconstructs the world of the Homeric poems and explores the interplay between poetry, social memory, and material culture. By integrating key insights from archaeology, philology, anthropology, and oral tradition, he offers a nuanced perspective of the emergence and early development of Greek epic. His wide-canvas approach enables readers to appreciate the complexity of the Homeric world and gain a deeper understanding of the intricate factors that shaped these magnificent poems.
