European leaders meet with Ukraine’s president with billions in frozen Russian assets on the table as the European Union and United States impose new sanctions on Moscow. Courts could rule this week on key legal challenges to President Trump’s National Guard deployments in multiple cities. And the Pentagon press corps gets a right-wing makeover as new reporters replace legacy outlets.
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 Miguel Macias, Alina Hartounian, Emily Kopp, Mohamad ElBardicy and Martha Ann Overland.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
For months, President Trump has been ratcheting up the pressure on Venezuela with increasingly aggressive military actions that the administration claims are about targeting drug traffickers.
But behind the scenes, some U.S. officials are pushing toward a regime change.
Anatoly Kurmanaev, who has been covering the story, discusses the battle in the White House over whether to topple the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Guest: Anatoly Kurmanaev, a reporter for The New York Times covering Russia and its transformation since the invasion of Ukraine.
Sources tell ABC News the White House’s entire East Wing will be demolished, contrary to some of President Trump’s earlier claims. A military strike in the Pacific Ocean opens up a new front in the war on drugs. And ABC gets an exclusive look at Google’s new step in “quantum computing.”
The government shutdown in America is now the second-longest on record. Yet there is no apparent urgency to end it, either from Republicans or Democrats. Why Ghana has escaped the jihadist violence of its neighbours in the Sahel. And bottled water is going upmarket.
In November 1989, the world changed when the Berlin Wall came down, marking the beginning of the unraveling of the Iron Curtain.
Almost a month later, on December 16, 1989, Romania faced a sudden revolution that led to the fall of its central government in just over a week.
While Romania was one of many Eastern European Communist countries that revolted in 1989, the revolution there, unlike those in other countries, was violent and deadly.
Learn more about the 1989 Romanian Revolution and how it unfolded on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Sponsors
Quince
Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order!
Mint Mobile
Get your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed
Stash
Go to get.stash.com/EVERYTHING to see how you can
receive $25 towards your first stock purchase.
Newspaper.com
Go to Newspapers.com to get a gift subscription for the family historian in your life!
AI is changing democracy. We still get to decide how. AI’s impact on democracy will go far beyond headline-grabbing political deepfakes and automated misinformation. Everywhere it will be used, it will create risks and opportunities to shake up long-standing power structures. In this highly readable and advisedly optimistic book, Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship(MIT Press, 2025), security technologist Bruce Schneier and data scientist Nathan Sanders cut through the AI hype and examine the myriad ways that AI is transforming every aspect of democracy—for both good and ill. The authors describe how the sophistication of AI will fulfill demands from lawmakers for more complex legislation, reducing deference to the executive branch and altering the balance of power between lawmakers and administrators. They show how the scale and scope of AI is enhancing civil servants’ ability to shape private-sector behavior, automating either the enforcement or neglect of industry regulations. They also explain how both lawyers and judges will leverage the speed of AI, upending how we think about law enforcement, litigation, and dispute resolution. Whether these outcomes enhance or degrade democracy depends on how we shape the development and use of AI technologies. Powerful players in private industry and public life are already using AI to increase their influence, and AIs built by corporations don’t deliver the fairness and trust required by democratic governance. But, steered in the right direction, AI’s broad capabilities can augment democratic processes and help citizens build consensus, express their voice, and shake up long-standing power structures. Democracy is facing new challenges worldwide, and AI has become a part of that. It can inform, empower, and engage citizens. It can also disinform, disempower, and disengage them. The choice is up to us. Schneier and Sanders blaze the path forward, showing us how we can use AI to make democracy stronger and more participatory.
Nathan E. Sanders is a data scientist focused on making policymaking more participatory. His research spans machine learning, astrophysics, public health, environmental justice, and more. He has served in fellowships at the Massachusetts legislature and the Berkman-Klein Center at Harvard University.
With the government shutdown in its third week, the House of Representatives is still out of session – and votes aren’t getting scheduled. That includes a vote on legislation that would force the Department of Justice to release files centered on financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. At the same time, House Speaker Mike Johnson has delayed the swearing in of Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who was elected in a September special election. If and when Grijalva is sworn in, she would be the final signature on a petition forcing the Epstein legislation to the House floor for a vote. We spoke with California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna about co-sponsoring the legislation to release the Epstein files, the shutdown, and his willingness to cross the aisle to work with Republicans.
And in headlines, President Donald Trump demolishes the East Wing of the White House to build a roughly $300 million ballroom, the new Pentagon press corps is made up of fringe right-wing outlets, and the Trump administration announces new sanctions on Russia.
