From the BBC World Service: It’s the second day of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tour of the Middle East. So far, there's been the red carpet treatment in Riyadh, culminating in billions of dollars in Saudi investment. Later in the tour, Trump is expected to meet Syria's interim leader to lift sanctions against the country. Plus, in France, the shop-on-a-truck idea has branched out into new areas such as beauty and cosmetics.
Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Young Candidates Are Coming For The Incumbents
Gen Z and millennial candidates are running for public office, and they’re not afraid to take on members of their own parties who have been in power for decades. Reset talks with Chicago Tribune state government reporter Olivia Olander, NPR politics reporter Elena Moore and Illinois State Rep. Nabeela Syed.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
Big Technology Podcast - AI’s Drawbacks: Environmental Damage, Bad Benchmarks, Outsourcing Thinking — With Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna
Emily Bender is a computational linguistics professor at the University of Washington. Alex Hanna is the Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute. Bender and Hanna join Big Technology to discuss what their new book, “The AI‑Con," which they describe as the layered ways today’s language‑model boom obscures environmental costs, labor harms, and shaky science. Tune in to hear a lively back‑and‑forth on whether chatbots are useful tools or polished parlor tricks. We also cover benchmark gaming, data‑center water use, doomerism, and more. Hit play for a candid debate that will leave you smarter about where generative AI really stands — and what comes next.
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WSJ Minute Briefing - Trump Meets New Syrian Leader, Upending Geopolitics
Plus: the U.S. scraps Biden-era curbs on chip exports. And Microsoft slashes thousands of workers. Kate Bullivant hosts.
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WSJ What’s News - Tariffs Are About to Separate Retail’s Winners and Losers
A.M. Edition for May 14. We head to a gathering of top global retailers to hear why this week’s 90-day tariff rollback by the U.S. and China isn’t delivering the long-term certainty businesses are looking for. Plus, President Trump met with the new president of Syria, marking a major turning point in global recognition of the country’s leadership. And the U.S. reverses Biden-era export controls on advanced AI chips. Luke Vargas hosts.
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The Intelligence from The Economist - All talk, no sanctions: Trump lifts Syria embargo
As Donald Trump removes bans on trade with Syria and meets its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, our correspondent analyses the implications. Two feuding political dynasties in the Philippines use mid-term elections as a proxy battle (10:03). And introducing V-Tubers, creators behind live-streams of cartoon avatars coming to a screen near you (18:42).
Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
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Up First from NPR - Trump Meets Syria’s President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
President Trump is meeting with Syria's new leader as the administration prepares to lift sanctions on the country. Could he also participate in Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Turkey? Plus, on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to defend his sweeping changes at the Department of Health and Human Services.
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 Ryland Barton, Diane Webber, Ally Schweitzer and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ana Perez, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis, and our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
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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 Ryland Barton, Diane Webber, Ally Schweitzer and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ana Perez, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis, and our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Security Unlocked - Hacking at the Weeds with Felix Boulet
In this episode of The BlueHat Podcast, host Nic Fillingham and Wendy Zenone are joined by Felix Boulet fresh off his participation in Zero Day Quest. Felix talks about his unique journey from industrial maintenance to becoming a full-time vulnerability researcher, and how that background fuels his passion for hacking and bug bounty work. He explains his method for finding bugs in Microsoft products—particularly in identity systems—and why identity is such a valuable target for attackers. Felix also shares highlights from the Zero Day Quest event, where he focused on building connections, learning from Microsoft engineers, and experiencing the collaborative side of the security community.
In This Episode You Will Learn:
- Why identity-based bugs are especially valuable and dangerous in the security world
- When breaking identity controls can be the key to pivoting through an entire system
- How SharePoint's concept of "virtual files" impacts vulnerability validation
Some Questions We Ask:
- What was your first bug bounty experience?
- Can you explain what the flash challenges were and what your experience was like?
- Do you think sharing bug ideas could cost you a bounty?
Resources:
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Marketplace All-in-One - AI is more marketing hype than real capabilities, new book suggests
The excitement around AI has gotten a bit frothy. Those two magic letters are everywhere, promising everything. Authors Emily Bender and Alex Hanna want us all to take a beat and a more critical look, per their new book "The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want."
Bender is a linguist at the University of Washington who helped popularize the term "stochastic parrots" to describe large language models. And Hanna is the director of research at the Distributed AI Institute, formerly an AI ethicist at Google. She says claims of AI's artistic prowess can be misleading.
Headlines From The Times - Trump’s Saudi Deal, California’s Income Crisis, and Olympic Studio Plans
Trump signs a $600 billion deal with Saudi Arabia, including a record defense package. In California, making under $100K now qualifies as low income in several counties. Hollywood Park will become the global media hub for the 2028 Olympics with a new movie studio. Meanwhile, inflation slows again—but experts say Trump’s tariffs may raise prices later this year.