The Daily

Although one major strike, against Hollywood studios, was finally resolved this past week, another, against U.S. vehicle makers, is expanding. The plight of the autoworkers has now become a major point of contention in the presidential race.

Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The Times, explains why the strike could be an essential test along the road to the White House.

Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent...

After 148 days on strike, writers of movies and television are returning to work on Wednesday

 with an agreement in hand that amounts to a major win for organized labor in Hollywood.

John Koblin, a media reporter for The Times, explains why the studios acquiesced to writers’ demands and what the deal means for the future of American entertainment.

Guest: John Koblin, a media reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Afte...

In one of the most serious political corruption cases in recent history, federal prosecutors have accused a senior U.S. senator of trading the power of his position for cash, gifts and gold.

Tracey Tully, who covers New Jersey for The Times, tells the story behind the charges against the senator, Robert Menendez, and his wife, Nadine, and describes the role played by Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman at the center of the a...

California is poised to become the first state to outlaw discrimination based on a person’s caste. The system of social stratification, which dates back thousands of years, has been outlawed in India and Nepal for decades.

Amy Qin, a correspondent who covers Asian American communities for The Times, explains why so many believe a prejudice that originated on the other side of the globe now requires legal protection in the U.S.  — an...

“The weird thing about growing up kidnapped,” Shane McCrae, the 47-year-old American poet, told me in his melodious, reedy voice one rainy afternoon in May, “is if it happens early enough, there’s a way in which you kind of don’t know.”

There was no reason for McCrae to have known. What unfolded in McCrae’s childhood — between a day in June 1979 when his white grandmother took him from his Black father and disappeared, and another d...

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of rape, sexual abuse and death.

As an epidemic of fentanyl use continues in America, causing tens of thousands of deaths each year, lawmakers and law enforcement agencies are holding one group increasingly responsible: drug users themselves.

Eli Saslow, a writer for The Times, tells the story of a man whose friendship ended in tragedy and a set of laws that say he is the one to blame.

Guest...

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence.

The relationship between two democratic allies fell to its lowest point in history this week, after Canada accused India of assassinating a Sikh community leader in British Columbia in June.

Mujib Mashal, The Times’s South Asia bureau chief, explains this stunning accusation — and what India’s reaction to it tells us about the era of its leader, Narendra Modi.

Guest: Mujib Masha...

New research and polling show that more and more Americans now doubt a previously unquestioned fact of U.S. life — that going to college is worth it.

Paul Tough, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains why so many high-school students and their parents are souring on higher education and what it will mean for the country’s future.

Guest: Paul Tough, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine who has...

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive grinds on, it’s increasingly turning to a secret drone program that is hitting targets deep inside Russian territory. At least three different Ukrainian-made drones have been used in attacks inside Russia, including on Moscow, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

Christiaan Triebert, a journalist on The Times’s Visual Investigations team, explains the origins of that program. We also speak to...

Drugs like Ozempic are revolutionizing the treatment of obesity. The medications, originally used to treat diabetes, keep gaining attention as celebrities and other influencers describe taking them to lose weight quickly.

Dani Blum, a reporter for The Times, tells the story behind the drugs and describes some of the ramifications of using them.

Guest: Dani Blum, a reporter for Well at The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Ozempi...

Twenty years ago, a glamorous platinum-blond widow arrived at the Paris law office of Claude Dumont Beghi in tears. Someone was trying to take her horses — her “babies” — away, and she needed a lawyer to stop them.

She explained that her late husband had been a breeder of champion thoroughbreds. The couple was a familiar sight at the racetracks in Chantilly and Paris: Daniel Wildenstein, gray-suited with a cane in the stands, and Sy...

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has ordered an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, putting into motion the third formal attempt by Congress to remove a president in the past four years.

Luke Broadwater,  a congressional reporter for The Times, explains the unique realities behind this one.

Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. McCarthy, who formerly argued that the House must...

In a rare move, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, traveled outside his country this week to meet with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. 

Julian Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times, explains what Russia wants from North Korea and how far Mr. Putin might go to get it.

Guest: Julian E. Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Kim Jong-un has ammunition stoc...

On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. government recommended that almost every American begin taking a new annual vaccine for Covid, a milestone in the nation’s three-year battle against the virus.

Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times, explains why the era of booster shots is now over and how to navigate this latest uptick in infections.

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health report...

Later this week, as many as 150,000 U.S. autoworkers may walk out in a historic strike against the three Detroit automakers, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. The United Auto Workers union and the Big Three are still far apart in talks, and have only two days left to negotiate a new labor contract before the deadline.

Neal Boudette, who covers the auto industry for The New York Times, walks us through a tangled, decades-long dyna...

For years, the government has been trying to rein in Big Tech, pursuing some of the largest and most powerful companies on the internet. This week, the government takes on Google in the first monopoly trial of the modern internet era.

David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the case against the internet giant and what it might mean for the future if the it loses.

Guest: David McCabe, a technology policy co...

In early 2021, a Wikipedia editor peered into the future and saw what looked like a funnel cloud on the horizon: the rise of GPT-3, a precursor to the new chatbots from OpenAI. When this editor — a prolific Wikipedian who goes by the handle Barkeep49 on the site — gave the new technology a try, he could see that it was untrustworthy. The bot would readily mix fictional elements (a false name, a false academic citation) into otherwi...

This episode contains descriptions of severe injuries. 

Last week, a devastating fire swept through a derelict building in Johannesburg that housed desperate families who had no place else to go. The authorities had been repeatedly warned that it was a potential firetrap. Nothing was done, and at least 76 people died.

Lynsey Chutel, who covers southern Africa for The Times, explains how Johannesburg, once a symbol of the hope of post...

For decades, drugmakers have argued that patents are critical to bringing new drugs to the market. But in 2004, when a promising H.I.V. treatment emerged, Gilead Sciences decided to slow-walk its release to maximize profit on the company’s existing patents.

Rebecca Robbins, who covers the pharmaceutical industry for The Times, discusses one man’s case and how patents can create perverse incentives to delay new and better drugs.

Guest...